By Abasifreke Effiong

AKWA IBOM – Recently, social media platforms were awash with a video of a-15 year old amateur technician from Akwa Ibom State, demonstrating a model of an excavator he fabricated. The video attracted the attention of big companies, notably, Mantrac Nigeria Caterpillar Company and the BBC. Our correspondent tracked the 15 years old Idorenyin Robert to a workshop, where he and other kids are trained on fabrication of models of heavy-duty automobiles, by Harold Linus Bassey, an alumnus of the Akwa Ibom State Government owned Technical College, Ewet, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

Harold is in his late 20s. He resides in an old two rooms block-house in Urua Ekpa Street, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. On Harold’s living is a window in the front lobby; three glass louvers have broken out from the window-frame. The louvers were probably broken a long time ago. Harold uses the old design Nigerian blinds to shade the room from direct ray of the sun and strong wind. His house is about 1500 meters from the University of Uyo town campus.

Harold has designed and fabricated models of heavy-duty automobiles including, excavator, grader, wheelloader and dumpster. He uses scraps, plywood, aluminium sheets, CD motor and syringes fix his models to his specification. The exciting thing about his models is that they can excavate, grade, rotate, move, like the real machines.

Harold and his trainees are working on more ambitious projects next year.
“By next year, we are trying our hands on flying machines. We want to fabricate aircraft and drones. That is our target.”

He also intends to raise money to produce toy cars for children.

“I am hoping we will be able raise money to begin to produce toy cars for children, the kind you see in toy shops and malls. I can produce that and put them on sale.”
Harold did an A’level programme at Kwara State University in 2017. He is currently preparing to start an online programme called Technicians for Africa run by Caterpillar University.

“I am waiting for Idorenyin (one of his trainees), so that we can start an online specialised course for Technicians in Africa. The programme was introduced to us by Mantrac Nigeria Caterpillar Company.”

“The company got to us after they were tagged in a video done by BBC, where Idorenyin was demonstrating our excavator. The company gave us a laptop to run the programme.”

He said though the programme is free, they will have to source for money to buy data, get electricity, do assignments and exams.

He could not say exactly what the future holds for him and Idorenyin, after the programme. “The company did not say they will employ us after the programme. They only said when we are done, they will know the way forward.”

No one has given him or his trainees any substantial assistance, yet he is resolute and optimistic above the future.

A week ago in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, we met Caleb Otoabasi Etim, a-15 year old JSS 2 student of Community Secondary School, Itu, whom Harold has trained on automobile fabrication. Caleb was displaying one of the models, an excavator, along IBB way, Uyo. On Saturday, 31st August, when The Apex team visited Caleb, Harold granted him permission to take us to their workshop where he demonstrated how some of the equipment they have fabricated work.

Caleb has been trained for a year now, but he seems to have already mastered the sophistication of the design and fabrication of models of all the heavy-duty automobiles including excavator, wheelloader, grader, and dumpster, which were displayed in the workshop.

In this small workshop of about 4 by10 feet, great dreams, artistry and crafts which wow everyone are moulded. It is in that workshop that globally celebrated automobile wizkid, Idorenyin Robert, was trained. The workshop which was formerly a chicken coop, has no tool which is as sophisticated as the models that are fabricated in it. Nevertheless, it houses people with sophisticated ideas.

Two small tables, a locker, a crosscut hand saw hung on the wall and a J-S FACOM plastic and iron tool box, were the basic tools that adorn the workshop.

On the right flank of the wall of the workshop is the word “Hope”, written on. “Hope” is also written on the dumpster, one of the models in the workshop. This was what Caleb said of the word: “Hope is our company name. We have it in our minds that someday, someone will take us to a better place, that’s why we chose ‘hope’.”

These amateur technicians are pushing on, obviously by sheer hope. They do not know where help to actualise their tall dreams would come. They do not know where they can get money from to buy a length of plywood, CD motors, packs of syringe, shoe cork and leather to fabricate their next model. They hope people will appreciate their models when they go to town to display them.
Caleb said they spend about N25,000 to purchase the materials they used to fabricate an excavator.

“Our parents are not rich. We don’t have money. What we do is to take the things we have made to traffic-light and show it to people; when people appreciate it, we use that money to buy materials.”

This is how they hope to raise money for their next projects, fabricating an aircraft and a drone.
When Caleb was asked if the aircraft and drone they intend to fabricate will fly, he said, yes.

“It will fly. We will do a wireless remote and power it with a wet-cell battery. Then, we will use CD motor to propel it.”

Caleb’s trainer, Harold, is also training 12 years old Ebuka Oke Ogbonna, on making models of houses. Ebuka can construct nice models of different types of houses, but he needs to be trained on mechanical and architectural drawings.

“Now I’m teaching him models, he will have to enroll in a technical college to learn mechanical and architectural drawings. He won’t understand those strictly professional aspect yet; he is still very young for that. So, I encourage him to enroll in a college for further studies”, Harold said.

Harold is seeking support for his works and sponsorship to enable him and his trainees attend the World Youth Skills Day, in Lagos, holding on 15th July 2020. Harold is from Ikot Obio Atai, Itu Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State.

UYO – The Akwa Ibom State Government says it will close down 1,200 private schools operating illegally in the State, this month.

“The closure will be disastrous to pupils in the affected schools, if the State government goes on with it”, Mr. Samuel Ufuo, former chairman of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly Committee on Education said.

Atleast 11,400 teachers will lose their jobs if the State government goes on with the closure. Each of the listed school employs at least 10 teachers.

Last month the Ministry of Education released a list of 1,140 private schools it claimed were operating illegally.

This week, the Commissioner for Information in the State, Mr. Charles Udoh, said 1,200 schools will be shutdown.

The State government in 2017/2018 listed about a thousand private schools it said it were to be close down, for not meeting its standard.

It was learnt that only a few of the delisted schools were shutdown at the end of the exercise, even though temporarily.

“Heads of Local Education Authority in the respective local government areas later gave the schools approval to re-open for business. In the end, no school was closed”, our source who knew about the exercise said.

Our correspondent gathered that Heads of Local Education Authority (LEA) in the respective local government areas were encouraging the proliferation of ‘illegal schools’.

Sources in some local education authority alleged that heads of LEAs were collecting bribes from proprietors of those ‘illegal’ schools.

The sources said there were schools with very poor facilities and personnel which the LEAs have not mentioned to the Ministry of Education, because of the relationship they have with their owners.

Mr. Samuel Ufuo, who was Chairman of the House of Assembly Committee on Education in 2018 when government first threatened to close some schools, said schools listed for closure then did not have suitable environment for learning and teachers.

“The schools that were marked, ‘illegal’ did not have structures befitting of such institutions. They did not have qualified teachers. Most of the teahers did not study education. In some nursery schools, those who were teaching did not even have WAEC.”

Ufuo who represented Mbo State constituency in the 6th assembly, however said the closure of 1,140 schools will be disastrous to the education sector in the State.

“The impact of that decision will be disastrous, in the sense that there are no alternatives jobs for the teachers who will be disengaged.”

“The future of the pupils will be affected, because fees in private schools that survive the clampdown.”

The former lawmaker called on the government to set the standard of infrastructure, personnel and attitude to work in all public schools.

“What makes a school legal and what makes it illegal should be clearly spelt out by the government. There must be a standard for it, and government must set that standard.”

Ufuo posited that if public schools are of better standard compared to private schools, parents will withdraw their children from private schools and the number of such schools will reduce effortlessly.

The Commissioner for Education, Prof. Nse Essien, has said his Ministry will review the condition for issuance of authority to operate private schools and will set up a committee to review schools’ curriculum to ensure compliance with acceptable standards.

Essien at the meeting with National Association of Proprietors of Private School urged all private school operators to forward their curriculum to the Ministry for standardization, saying that the Ministry of Education will reappraise approved schools to ensure maintenance of standard.

The Commissioner disclosed that the State government will commence the closure of illegal and unapproved schools this week.

Abasifreke Effiong

AKWA IBOM – Local Government councils in Akwa Ibom State have not received its allocations for the months of June and July from the Federal Account and Allocation Committee (FAAC).

The 31 local government councils have temporarily forfeited the money to the federal government due to its failure to abide by the new guidelines on receipt of federal allocations dished out by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).

The two months allocations for the councils are stuck up at the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The money is held up at the apex bank following the commencement of implementation of the new guidelines on direct allocations to local government councils, issued earlier this year by the NFIU.

The NFIU had fixed June 1 for the commencement of direct allocation to local government councils.

The NFIU has directed respective local government councils to send a bank account each where their allocations can be paid to.

But the Akwa Ibom State government kicked against the directive, saying that it was in violation of the constitution.

Sources who are familiar with the case told our correspondent that local government councils in Akwa Ibom State working under the instructions of the State government ignored the directive and forfeited its allocations to the federal government.

“Directors of finance in the councils were told to ignore the request”, it was learnt.
Our correspoendent gathered that the governor has had to borrow money to pay salaries and other entitlements at the local government councils in the last two months.

“The governor had to borrow money to pay salaries and security votes in June and July. No one knows how he raised the money. But, what I can tell you is that we have received our salaries and security votes”, a member of ALGON in the State confided to our correspondent.

The Akwa Ibom State Government and chairmen of local government councils in the State are in court challenging the constitutionality of the NFIU guidelines.

The plaintiffs had approached a federal high court seeking injunction to stop the federal government from implementing the NFIU guidelines, but were turned down by the court.

Sources said the local government councils will run without releases from the federal government until judgment is given on the case.

The case was jointly filed by the Akwa Ibom State government and the 31 local government chairmen.

However, there are concerns that the State government may plunge the councils into debts arising from interests payable on the facilities obtained by the governor to pay salaries of the councils.

The current local government administration in the State has hardly undertaken any serious development projects in the last 18 months.

Some of the council chairmen are struggling to complete a single point borehole project they started at assumption of office in December 2017.

“The councils have been cash-starved. Since we are not directly in-charge of funds, we can’t do anything,” an elected official in one of the local government councils said.

The official who did not want his name on print claimed that the State government decides how much it gives to each council at the end of the monthly Joint Account Committee (JAC) meeting.

Efforts to get the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Charles Udoh, to speak on the forfeiture of the allocation proved abortive as he did not take his calls for two days and did not respond to questions sent to him through SMS, though he acknowledged receipt of the SMS.

Also, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Udo Ekpenyong did not respond to phone calls from our correspondent as at the time of going to press.

AKWA IBOM – Governor Udom Emmanuel has commiserated with Senator Chris Ekpeyong over the demise of his wife Dr. Grace Ekpeyong.

The State Governor who was accompanied on the condolence visit by the Deputy Governor, Mr. Moses Ekpo, Director General Divine mandate Otuekong Idongesit Nkanga, National Legal officer of the PDP, Barr. Emmanuel Enoidem, Senator Anietie Okon, SSG Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, former SSG, Obonganwan Grace Ekong, Dr. Udoma Ekarika Dr Etido Ibekwe,Elder Aniekan Umana, some members of the state executive council and political stalwarts.

Emmanuel said the news of the demise of Late Mrs Grace Ekpenyong came as a shock and urged the family especially, the bereaved husband to be consoled by the fact that God who created her knew that a moment like this would come.

The governor said there is no better moment to loose a loved one.

He prayed God to comfort the family and to grant her eternal rest in the bosom of the Lord.

Responding Senator Chris Ekpeyong thanked the Governor and his entourage for identifying with him in his grief described the wife as a daughter of Zion and committed Servant of God as well his pillar of strength.

He thanked the Governor for the support given her during her travails to receive medical attention both at home and abroad.

Senator Chris Ekpeyong said that his late wife was an ardent supporter of the Governor and the PDP when he aspired for the Senatorial seat she gave him her blessings.

He recalled fond memories and said that he will greatly miss the companionship and her wise counsel.

He appealed to the state government to stand by him and the family to give his departed wife a befitting burial.

Prayers were offered for the family and for God to grant her Soul eternal rest .