Chris Oyakhilome Foundation International, a Non-Governmental Organization, has laid the foundation bricks for a tuition-free Nursery and Primary School in Atali community in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.
About 500 impoverished children from the host community would receive free meals and access to comprehensive educational facilities from the school, which is scheduled to open in September 2024.
The Zonal Director of Christ Embassy, Port Harcourt zone one, Pastor Amaechi Udeaku, speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday in Atali community, stated that the school would not discriminate against pupils in terms of their religious inclinations, but cater to their educational needs.
Udeaku said the school, which is in partnership with Innercity Mission for Children, will operate on the principle of its founder and popular cleric, Dr. Chris Oyakhilome, who believes that every child is his child.
Udeaku stated, “God’s love and God’s mercy goes to everyone and the vision of our man of God, Pastor Chris, is actually to reach every indigent child; so, irrespective of their religious inclinations, we are bringing this gift of education to every child.
“Pastor Chris has said every child is his child, so this opportunity is open to every child. This initiative would have tremendous and multifaceted impacts on the society.
“We know that there are many reasons why children are out of school. We have children that are out of school because of economic reasons and we know that when a child is not in school, that child would be susceptible to all kinds of vices in society.’’
“So we know that as we bring the children out of the streets and put them in the school, families who could not pay for their children’s school fees and meals, that would be taken care of because the school would be providing not just free education but also free meals every day.”
On her part, the Director of Innercity Mission for Children, Pastor Omo Alabi, said the free school in the state is the 16th of its kind globally and 13th in Nigeria.
Pastor Alabi stated that the school would be opened in September for the 2024/2025 academic year, adding that the foundation is committed to helping people and nations live purposeful lives.
He enthused, “This is the 16th school globally, but our 13th in Nigeria, strategically located in most of the geo-political zones of the country.
“We are here today to break grounds for this school in Rivers State under the auspices of Chris Oyakhilome Foundation International, a non-governmental, apolitical development organization, committed to helping people and nations live purposeful lives.
“The school is early years, nursery to primary and it is free, what the children get here is high-quality educational services in terms of academics, we also provide extra-curricular activities like the ‘school me’ programme, we provide skills acquisition, the play and learn, it’s a robust programme.”
Pastor Alabi added that “we are targeting 500 or more pupils for this school, but the host institutional partner mentioned that this is the first, which means he has a vision working under the auspices of the Chris Oyakhilome Foundation International to build more schools. So, we are building more schools.”
She added, “We are going to open this school for the new academic year in September 2024/2025 academic year.”
Rivers State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Chinedu Mmom, urged the management of the school to abide by the guidelines of the government in its operations while thanking the originators for the intervention.
Represented by the Director of Administration, Ministry of Education, Prof. Mmom emphasized that the church has a long history of partnership with the government in providing education in the state and beyond.
He added, “We went to thank the Christ Embassy Church and the founder for coming up with this initiative of setting up a school in Atali in Rivers State.
“For a very long time, the church and the government have been partners in raising our children. In the early 70s, the state government took over all mission schools and years later, they were returned to the missions and since then churches have come up to set up new schools in the state.
“The government and the church are partners, so whatever school the churches are setting up should also be regulated by the government. There are procedures for setting up a school in Rivers State, by the time the buildings would be ready, I think the zonal head Obio-Akpor will visit the school if the school management does not visit the ministry.
“On behalf of the state Ministry of Education, we thank Christ Embassy for coming up with this initiative to partner with the government of Rivers State to uplift education in the state.”
Also speaking at the ceremony, the Chairman of Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of the state, Hon. George Ariolu, expressed his delight over the development, adding that the church has relieved the council of part of its burden to provide quality education for the Atali people.
Represented by his vice, Dame Chinyere Agbara, the chairman added that the initiative of the church was in tandem with the council’s prioritization of education, stressing that Obio-Akpor council had in the recent past given grants to 311 postgraduate scholars on the council.
“The entire council loves education and we have so much passion for education, we have given grants to 311 masters and PhD scholars, he said.
“On that note, we are very happy that Inner-city Mission is here working in synergy with Chris Oyakhilome Foundation.
“We are saying a big thank you because you have come to relieve us in this local government, people believe it is the government that would do everything, but you have stood out to show people that it is not only the government that would give our people education, the church has also taken it upon themselves to do this.”
Meanwhile, Theophilus Ejekwu, a monarch, who graced the event, express gratitude to the church for the school in his kingdom, adding that he had warned the youths not to disturb the project with indirect taxation.
