Enato, Making Heroes out of Ajegunle Kids

Your refreshingly new Daily Times, recently discovered a people, stripped of the barest of human dignity during the week, in Lagos, the Centre of Excellence. If you are squeamish, reading this may upset your vision, but inside this squalor, our correspondent found something unique, something struggling to break forth in the midst of an otherwise uninhabitable environment. GBUBEMI GOD’S COVENANT SNR welcomes you to Hero’s Academy.

Shogbesan community, comprising other little settlements, is tucked away at the extreme end of the over one-kilometre long Ezeagu Street. Accessing this settlement would task a visitor to walk through squalor beyond description through a long canal that stretches from Okoya bridge to the uncommonly crowded Ezeagu Street, all the way to Shogbesan community, running parallel to the canal. This area falls under Ifelodun Local Council Development Authority (LCDA) while the opposite is under Ajeromi LCDA; both made up the Ifelodun/ Ajeromi Local Government Area and, in case you are unaware, this is the core Ajegunle, a place where just about anything goes, passionately called Jungle City, by its inhabitants.

If you are squeamish, this area is not for you, but because you must see this, our correspondent braved a tour of the area with a guide who is Ajegunle personified.

“You are lucky we are in the dry season”, he warned; “otherwise you just cannot come this far; only core dwellers here can move about in this terrain”, and he was right: our correspondent came out of Shogbesan community looking like he had spent time in a swamp!

Now, if doctors believe that stench and filth can kill a man, woman or a new born baby for that matter, this environment just proved them dead wrong; medical science cannot fathom man’s inherent capacity to absorb and adapt to even the filthiest of environments. If they are refugees, there would be hope that someday, the conflict that vomited them out of their land would be resolved and they would have their humanity restored, but not here: these are core Nigerian citizens living in and breathing filth without a hope of someday getting out of this nightmare.

Daily Times learnt that Shogbesan is not a current development. Strangely, a resident boasted that “this place is as old as Ajegunle. “There is improvement now, that is why a visitor like you can come here, and the people living here are those doing the development.”

Further down the filthy terrain, our man traced the sound of merrymaking to a joint nursery school, primary school and college; the pupils/students were enjoying their end-of-year party. Curiosity led our correspondent to the school, and behold, it was found that, out of the heap of filth, something intellectual had been struggling to break forth. The principal’s story and the structure and nature of the school will give you food for thought.

HERO’S ACADEMY

46-year old Enato Israel Ase is from Otutwe town, in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, the same LGA as President Goodluck Jonathan. Enato, a name meaning ‘God’s decision’ has been operating this academy for six years.

Hero’s Academy, encompassing a nursery, primary school and college is indeed a hero’s dream; it would require a passion that would hope to find gold in the belly of a pig to dare this vision. It is a kind of vision that, if he failed, anyone would say he must have been crazy to imagine he would succeed, and if he succeeds, they would just shrug and say, in the Ajegunle parlance, ‘Na wa for you’.

Convinced Enato did not leave Bayelsa to Ajegunle with a school in mind, our man sought to know what drove him to come this far. His story. “When I first set eyes on the people living here, I saw the very wide gap between the government sector and the private sector, both in education, economic capacity, facility, resources, even in their humanity, and it grieved my heart that these people here don’t fit into any of the two.

“In the government sector, the schools are over-populated; if you go to government schools, you will see over 150 students in a class; then if you come to the private sector, the school fees are strictly out of reach of the poor people here, and most, if not all families, really want to send their children to a private school but they don’t have the means to do so. Bearing in mind that in the government schools, their expectations are not met because children are not properly taught, sometimes there are no teachers and they face a lot of challenges.

“The result was that I saw children of all ages, especially the young ones spending the day in this environment, eating what they can find, and sleeping and waking up and starting the day as before. This circle put a great burden in my heart, I couldn’t sleep; the disconnect was so wide, even now, that it doesn’t look like it is the same country we are all living in.”

The burden made Enato keep late nights, thinking how he could bridge this gap and especially, find an inroad to start off with something these families and children around him could afford. “It was a sensitive situation because every family’s priority was what to eat; school for their children cannot be considered because of the social disconnect, so my starting point has to be something that would convince the people to join forces with me and believe that it is feasible.”

With the little money he came with, Enato bought a half plot of land for N600,000, besides other side payments and put up planks for structure and whatever else he could find.

“Then I had to come up with a fee that these people, who don’t have enough to eat or feed their children would not be discouraged with, so it has to be something they can pay at their convenience and that meant I was going to be very patient and encouraging.

“I also had a dream of giving the children a high standard of education, the very best attainable and more than even parents here can hope for. So what you will see in our present situation is a school with very moderate fees and a school with very good educational working system.

TAKE OFF

Enato started first with nine children; this increased to 17 and all from this environment. “The few teachers I got started by visiting families in their various homes; we talked with them and shared our dream with them, and some of the families gave it a try.”

But the advertisement that brought the windfall was the pioneer pupils of Hero’s Academy. “Because of the high standard I moved my team to accomplish, any child that spends a term with us, the family and neighbours will see a comprehensive change in that child; the children truly became heroes because of the ability to read, write and speak with confidence. I was particularly encouraged because I noticed a thirst for knowledge in the children. Other families began to ask, what school is your child attending? How are you able to afford it? and so on. But the fruit he had sown really blossomed when families outside the community began to make inquiries about the school and actually send their children there in spite of the filthy environment.

ROCK BOTTOM FEES

“I started with a fee of N2,000 for the nursery and primary classes and I had to encourage them to pay at their convenience; I created a system where they can pay in bits and pieces, as they can gather the money; some would pay N200, other times N300 and so on, because many of these families don’t have any means of livelihood; but at least they made efforts to complete the payment before each term runs out and, to the glory of God, they have been cooperating and we all are happy.”

While some of the children in the college graduated from the ranks within the school, others came from outside to register and belong here. Today, six years on, Heroes Academy boasts of 450 students in all the classes; a staff of over 20. All the teachers come from far and near. How is he able to pay his teaching and other staff ?

“We manage quite well; everything is structured to fit into our little income and everyone is happy and giving their very best; I don’t compromise that.”

On the recruitment of his staff, Enato disclosed they were having their final year students passing out. “None of the teachers were taken within because they are having their first final year students; all the teachers actually came from outside this environment; they applied, were interviewed and started.”

On the future of his outgoing students, he is confident they will stand out. “They can stand their ground and compete academically and intellectually anywhere. They have been pre pared to fit in comfortably into the higher education system.

“We are discussing with them to find out what they plan to be in future; we are liaising with universities with respect to their courses so that they will be well placed. We also pray for their parents, especially those children we have raised from nothing to something in this environment that their parents will be able to continue funding their education. Where there is a will, God will make a way.”

THE GREATEST CHALLENGE

The link through which water gets to this environment is already blocked. Our man gathered that the communities have made various efforts to see that the channel was freed and open for water to flow through without success. “We have gone to the Ministry of the Environment, to the state government, we have met the people in power; they have even sent people to this place to see the state of the canal and we held discussions with them.

“They tried to dredge the canal, but the challenge is not in digging the canal. When we explained the complexity of the environment, we were told the only way out is for government to award the contract for that major Okoya road that leads to Baale Street; there’s a bridge linking Okoya road and Baale; it is only when a major contract is approved that the bridge can be demolished and the bridge will be rebuilt in such a way that the blockage will not be there anymore; then only can the people in this environment be free from flood, and we’re still looking forward to that day. All our efforts thus far have been futile.”

EPIDEMIC

“Look at the environment, we need the help of our government. The people have been doing their best to help themselves, to manage the situation but as you can see, we are not getting anywhere.” During the Ebola outbreak, was there any case reported from this environment? “Neither Ebola nor any disease called by any name has surfaced in this environment.” Luck, you would say? “More like the divine Hand of God, I believe”.

*Published in the Daily Times newaspaper of Thursday, January 8, 2015