By Andrew Ikehi
An appeal has gone to the Edo State Government to, as a matter of urgency, come to the aid of students and staff of Igbanke Grammer School, Igbanke in Orhionmwon Local Government area of the State by rehabilitating the block of six classrooms that was recently razed down by a midnight fire outbreak.
Members of Igbanke Grammer School Development Association, (IGSDA) made the appeal at the weekend during an on-the-spot assessment of the building and other dilapidating structures in the school.
Speaking with our correspondent during the visit, leader of the delegation and president of the association, Mr. Jacob Erhabor, expressed shock at the level of damage caused by the inferno which, according to him, was said to have occured in the night of Friday, January 6, this year.
Flanked by other members of the association, Erhabor, an old student of the school, expressed concern that except an urgent attention was given to salvage the situation, students and staff of the school could remain in disarray.
The association’s President who, few years ago led members of the association to undertake the rehabilitation of the administrative block of the school, told our correspondent that the association would have considered doing same, but for the level of damage.
The cause of the fire, according to Erhabor is still unknown, stressing that indication are high that it may have been caused by bush burning.
He therefore, called on the “state ministry of education to do the needful, and, urgently too in order to put smiles on the faces of both the students and staff of the school.”
Beyond the affected block of classroom, Erhabor is also asking the state government to consider the possibility of undertaking complete overhaul of the structures in the school which he described as already old and weak.