Gwoza/Bama IDPs in Abuja rejoice over library donation
“This library, with the attractive hard cover children’s books on the shelves will attract more children and encourage them to stay in school and learn, Aminu Abubakar, the only teacher in the nursery and primary school at the Gwoza/Bama Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Camp in Durumi, Abuja, has said.
Abubakar, who was commenting on the impact the library, which was donated yesterday by Nwachinemerem Elizabeth Oduenyi Foundation (NEOF), to the school at the camp would have on the distraught community, appreciated the gesture.
He said the nursery and primary school had enough classrooms but lacked furniture, teaching materials and teachers, adding that he was the only teacher in the school.
“It is not easy teaching about 442 pupils but sometimes, I get help from organisations who volunteer to teach here for a while. Right now we have about three volunteers and we hope that these books will help us in the work we are doing here and at the end of the day, the children too will turn out to be better people,” he said.
Abubakar said he was not one of the displaced persons but he chose to help in education the children so that their futures would not be wasted.
Chairman of the Gwoza/ Bama camp, Ibrahim Ahmadu, also expressed happiness over the donation of the library, saying it will help both teachers and pupils.
“The challenge for us now is ensuring that when the children finish this school, they proceed to secondary school,” he said.
Ahmadu, however, said the Arewa Foundation had taken 50 of the children to schools across Abuja and was hoping that other organisations too could help in educating the children.
The library, a cabin, constructed with zinc sheets and plywood, was commissioned by Mr. Julian Makeri, a staff of the National Library of Nigeria (NLN), who represented the National Librarian at the event.
He said the project was very important to the NLN and, on behalf of the national librarian, encouraged the founder of NEOF, Oduenyi E. Ogba-Onuoha, to do more of such projects across the nation.
“Knowledge is power so it is important that the children here have access to books. This library will be a foundation for what they will become in future, and whatever they become, they will remember you as one of those who laid the foundation for them.
“The national librarian is very appreciative of what you have done and as part of his contribution to improving reading culture in the country, he has asked us to donate some books to the library,” Makeri said.
He asked the foundation to reach out to the NLN and collect more books for the children.
Founder of NEOF had earlier said she was moved to contribute to the education of the displaced children when she visited the camp last year.
Ogba-Onuoha said she had renovated the shanty and provided it with shelves, reading tables, chairs and books so that the children, who were already traumatised by the insurgency in the Northeast, could create new worlds in their minds by reading children’s books.
“If you educate, a child, you have helped in building the society. So the donation is to help improve their literacy so that they can forge new lives separate from what they had experienced in their native state of Borno,” she said.
She promised that her foundation would make concerted efforts to ensure that IDPs in other states too get libraries so that their children could learn even while at the camps.
“You don’t need to have millions to make a difference. I believe that wherever one goes, one should leave footprints. That is where I get my inspiration from,” she added.
One of the people who witnessed the commissioning of the library, Mrs Chich Onoha, Director Britarch Schools, Abuja, promised to let some of teachers do volunteer work at the IDPs’ school.