The Agbami parties – comprising Star Deepwater Petroleum Ltd (A Chevron Company), NNPC Upstream Investment Management Services Ltd (NUIMS), Famfa Oil Ltd, Equinor Nigeria Energy Ltd and Prime 127 Nigeria Ltd, have donated a model classroom block to Special Education Centre, Agbor, Delta State.
Director, Star Deepwater Petroleum Ltd, Michelle Pflueger, in her address at the inauguration of the facility weekend, thanked the state government and the people for their support and partnership, underscoring the social investment initiatives of the partners across Nigeria.
“Beyond our core business, the improvement of the quality of life of the people is an important value to the Agbami parties.
“From Lagos to Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, and Kaduna, Maiduguri to Port Harcourt, the Agbami parties have continued to add value through our social investment initiatives.
“Several other projects in the areas of education, health and economic development are either on-going or completed across the country. These include science laboratories, model classroom blocks and chest clinics, among others.
“Today the parties are adding even more with this Model Classroom Block that we
are donating to the Special Needs School. Please join me in applauding the Agbami parties.
“We have, in addition, instituted specialized educational scholarship programs in
support of manpower development in Nigeria through targeted support for medical, nursing, laboratory sciences and engineering students. And we are happy that many of our students in Delta State have benefitted from this scholarship scheme.
“It is our hope that today’s donation will lay the foundation that will enable students with special needs to achieve their life-long aspirations and compete favourably in their future endeavours among individuals from various backgrounds as they complete their studies successfully and develop into critical manpower assets for our dear nation,” she noted.
Chief Upstream Investment Officer, NUIMS, Bala Wunti, and the representative of the state government, Augustine Oghoro, the permanent secretary, Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, urged the school management to make judicious use of the facility, just as Oghoro urged other stakeholders in the private sector to support development of their host communities.
Oghoro said the state government would always appreciate all forms of interventions in the education sector and commended the company for the initiative.
The facilities at the centre include six classroom block, well equipped science laboratories, library, sick bay and an electricity generator.
Oghoro noted that the project was unique and would address the needs of the learners with special needs in the locality, adding that the facility would also help to improve the capacity of teachers and learning process in the school.
He also called on corporate organizations and well meaning individuals to emulate the gesture of Chevron Nigeria Limited.
The Principal of the centre, Mrs. Ezeh Francisca, expressed gratitude to Chevron for the gesture.
Mrs. Ezeh said that the centre was established in 1995 by two specialist teachers, herself and one other from the Post Primary Education Board, Asaba, stressing that at the inception, accommodation was a teething problem.
She stated that the centre offered formal education and vocational skills for persons with disabilities in primary and secondary school levels
Mrs. Ezeh highlighted the challenges facing the centre to include inadequate teachers, lack of funds and means of mobility, especially to convey the students, saying that the student population of the centre dropped drastically as a result of the high cost of transportation.
