12th January, 2016
Jethro Ibileke/Benin
Sections of Ogbe Secondary School, a public secondary school in Benin City, Edo state, have been razed by an early morning fire.
The fire, which reportedly occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning, destroyed the administrative building of the junior secondary school arm and another block of three classrooms and the administrative office of the secondary school arm.
Surprisingly, a three-classroom block that separates the two burnt buildings was not affected in the incident.
The incident has left the senior secondary arm of the school, which hitherto had two blocks of six classrooms, with only a three-classroom block.
Some teachers in the school who believed that the incident was a case of arson, pointed out that the incident could not have been caused by fire as none of the classrooms in the school is connected to electricity.
One of the teachers who spoke on condition of anonymity, said important documents, including class register, records of students, books and some learning aids were lost to the fire.
He confirmed that no certificates were lost to the inferno as they are not kept in the school premises.
He said, “we (the teachers) have no doubt that the buildings were set on fire. What we do not know is the intention of the people who did this. The incident occurred a day to the resumption of students.
“Now, we must manage the three classrooms left for the over 600 students in this school. We are appealing to the state government to come to our aid. There is also no security in this school. In fact, people use the school as a short cut to Airport Road or Akenzua Road.”