Determined to ensure that children of the Nigerian Army and civilian populace have quality education in a conducive classroom environment, the Nigerian Army Officer’s Wives Association (NAOWA) has taken the bull by the horn by remodeling the NAOWA Nursery and Primary School, located at 174 Battalion, Odogunyon Barracks, Ikorodu.
The Commissioning was performed by the National President, NAOWA, Mrs Umma-Kalsum Tukur Buratai, who was represented by Mrs Gladys Yusuf.
The two blocks consisting of 10 classrooms and offices with 120 students and 16 teachers, was remodelled to provide conducive learning environment for the pupils.
In her opening remarks, the NAOWA President, 81 Division, and wife of the General Officer Commanding, (GOC) Mrs Grace Enobong Udoh said “education is a necessity and a long term investment for our children which no reasonable parents would toil with and must be embraced with seriousness that it deserves.
She observed that the era that education was acquired in crowded and stressful environment was now a thing of the past hence NAOWA has taken a firm stand in ensuring that education is a top priority in its agenda.
“Education is vital component and crucial in the attainment of wealth creation and economic growth. However, despite the huge financial commitment to the remodeling and upgrading of the facilities, there is still much to be done in providing affordable and qualitative education to the children,” Mrs Udoh reiterated.
To further make education more accessible to Nigerian children, NAOWA disclosed that it intends to establish a Senior Secondary School for the NAOWA College Badagry so that the junior students would graduate into the senior class successfully.
Speaking during the commissioning, the GOC, 81 Division, Major General Enobong Udoh said “life takes place within the web of social interaction and for learning to be effective, the environment must be conducive especially as a child’s development has a lot to do with the environment.”
Emphasising that NAOWA is a non-governmental organisation that does not enjoy statutory subvention, but depends on donation, enjoins donors agencies to donate to the organization to be able to meet competing demands.
The Head Teacher of the school, Mrs Okoye Apollonia, expressed gratitude to the President of NAOWA and its members for assisting the school to improve teaching and learning environment.
Present at the occasion were the 9 Brigade Commander, Brig General Moundhey Ali and his wife, representative of College of Logistics (NACOL), the Commanding Officer, 174 Battalion, Odogunyon barracks, Lt Col BC Ezeh and members of the Nigerian Army Soldiers Wives Association and pupils of the school.
It would be recalled that the NAOWA Nursery and Primary School was formally commissioned by the wife of the former Chief of Army Staff, Mrs Nenna Ihejirika on the 16th May, 2011 after the project was initiated by Mrs Felicia Minimah