Nasarawa community where only ‘the lazy’ are sent to school
and was only rebuilt after the intervention of ActionAid Nigeria under Project Agape, renovated and equipped with chairs and tables through the MDG project in 2013.
The project was a partnership between the locals and ActionAid signed in 2001 to focus on education as a thematic area of intervention.
According to Akpe, the poverty level and lack of external support apart from that from ActionAid and a few others necessitated the decision of the elders to locate the school in Tako North and a health centre in Tako South. The community members refer to the two areas as Tako Makaranta (Tako school) and Tako Clinic.
Despite the poverty and educational backwardness, Tako and surrounding villages are getting the much needed sensitization and encouragement to make progress.
The Village Head of the community, Mallam Yusufu Ekah, said the project was a turning point for the community, as the building of the school led to the establishment of the clinic.
He said they recorded loss of lives, especially during childbirth, if labour became complicated and could not be handled by local midwives.
Chairman of the project, Dr Vincent Aya, said though they had other non-governmental organisations they were working with to better the lives of the people, ActionAid’s contribution was the highest in sustaining the programme.
A community leader in nearby Azuba Bashayi, Manaseh Enjo, said the secondary school in the community was abandoned years after its commissioning as the bad terrain discourages teachers posted there.
“Many of them barely stayed for days before they worked their transfer to other places. It was only two of the teachers that stayed for some time due to the assistance they provided for them to make them stay. It was later that the local government intervened and posted some teachers to us,” he said.
He said the tutelage they enjoyed during the project launch and the training were