Abia community cries out over alleged sale of school land

By Ugochukwu Alaribe

ABA—The Ehere community in Obingwa council area of Abia state has cried out over alleged sale of plots of land belonging to the Secondary Technical School, Aba, by the proprietor of the school. Secondary Technical School, Aba, is one of the schools handed over to individuals identified as original owners by the Abia State government  during the administration of Theodore Orji, in September, 2012.

Traditional ruler of the community, Eze Young Nwangwa, who stated this in Aba, lamented that the objective of his community who donated the land for the building of the school has been defeated as the new owners of the school have allegedly  given out  plots of  land belonging to the school to private individuals who erected structures at the premises.

He condemned the decision of the government in handing over schools to the churches and individuals without the consent of the communities who donated their land for the schools.

The monarch recalled that the school was rebuilt by the community when it was destroyed during a crisis among students and urged the government to address the situation as the community would not watch school lands being sold off to strangers.

“The land on which Secondary Technical School, Aba, stands today was donated by the Umuiheukwu and Umuakara kindreds of Ehere community. It was not sold off to anybody. It was a land we gave for the building of the school and training of our children. The proprietor who erected structures at the school in agreement with the community had been compensated by the East Central State and the Old Imo state governments who took over the school.

”What happened in 2012 was that the state government returned the school to the same individual who has now started selling off parcels of land belonging to the school.

“90% of the land belonging to the school has been sold off. People have erected fences and buildings on the school compound. Classrooms have been partitioned and rented out to tenants. About two months ago, an official of the state government led a team to demolish a shopping complex built on the school compound by a private individual. Since then, nothing has been done.”

 

“What kind of learning could take place in an environment where trading take place and students share classrooms w

The post Abia community cries out over alleged sale of school land appeared first on Vanguard News.