Nasarawa College’s 43 years of open defecation ends with water cistern toilets

The teachers and students of Government College Doma, Nasarawa State, have over time been suffering as a result of poor and dilapidated structures in the school, such as toilets. Daily Trust gathered that the college, which was established in 1980, has been using a single pit latrine to serve both teachers and students, a situation […]

The teachers and students of Government College Doma, Nasarawa State, have over time been suffering as a result of poor and dilapidated structures in the school, such as toilets.

Daily Trust gathered that the college, which was established in 1980, has been using a single pit latrine to serve both teachers and students, a situation that is demoralising and affecting the teaching spirit of the teachers as well as the learning process of the students.

Our correspondent also learnt that teachers and students had to queue to make use of the only pit toilet in the school or trek back home to ease themselves due to a shortage of water in the toilet in the school.

A management staff of the school who didn’t want his name mentioned, told Daily Trust that owing to the absence of toilet facilities in the school, the teachers had to go to a nearby bush to excrete, adding that sometimes such teachers might not return to discharge their constitutional responsibilities because of the long distance to trek, thereby affecting the academic activities in the school.

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To address the challenge, Ibrahim Addra, the Chief Press Secretary to the state governor, Abdullahi Sule, donated a water cistern toilet to the school.

The principal of the college, Yakubu Ladan, while speaking said staff of the college, since it was established in 1980, had never used water cistern facilities.

The principal, who was represented by the vice principal administration, Mr Othman Ogaji, explained that they have been battling with a pit cistern that was constructed by the Parents Teachers Association (PTA), over 30 years ago.

“If you look around, this is a school that was established over 43 years ago and since the boarding school relocated to this particular place in 2001, it has no staff quarters or a conducive kitchen. And the most painful and devastating aspect of the situation is that a boarding school of this nature has no perimeter fence that will protect teachers and students from being exposed to kidnappers and other criminal elements.

“The school is at the centre of the town, and we hardly differentiate between the students and a passerby if not for the compound wear,” he said.

He appealed to the state government to come to the aid of the school and build a befitting perimeter fence to protect the students from being exposed to kidnappers and other criminal elements in the area, noting that the fence would go a long way in aiding a conducive learning environment for the students.

Earlier, while unveiling the four restrooms in Doma LGA, the chief press secretary to the governor said the donation was to address the plight of the teachers and students.

He said the donation of the cistern was to respond to calls by the state governor for his political appointees to give back to their communities.

“It’s my small way of supporting the good work of my boss, governor, Abdullahi Sule. Governor Sule, has severally reiterated the call on his political appointees to endeavour to give back to their communities, as a means of alleviating the plight of those at the grassroots,” he said.

He further said: “The principal of the school brought an appeal, which I thought was a very touching one. The teacher said the absence of restrooms in the school is affecting educational activities.

“I was particularly touched when I visited the school and discovered that it didn’t have a modern water cistern. I was told that if a teacher needed to ease himself, he either defecated in the bush or went back to his residence.” 

While noting that most often than not, the teachers who went home hardly returned to teach the students, he said, “I took it upon myself to ensure that I alleviated the problem currently confronting the college and the students. So I decided to make a personal sacrifice and build the four restrooms for the school.”

He stressed that education is of utmost importance to the present administration and that the governor, on the assumption of office, carried out a baseline survey to address a set of problems that had been bedevilling the education sector in Nasarawa State with a view to ensuring that the ugly trend is reversed.

He added that in budgetary allocations, the governor devoted more money than UNESCO’s recommendation of 36 per cent, saying that the problem of education, like any other sector, was multifaceted as such one individual alone cannot solve them all at once.