The Bakin Kogi Project

Bakin Kogi is a small community in Nasarawa state, just a few kilometers to the Capital of Nigeria, Abuja. The village is situated at the bank of a river hence the name "Bakin Kogi" meaning “River Bank”. The community, in Nasarawa state, is off the national grid, has no government presence, no good road, no portable water and the only school in the area (EMS Academy), is a three-room structure which was donated by a Church in the village early 2018.

The school accommodates more than 50 pupils. However, as it only has three classrooms, this leaves many other children in that community, who are also of school-age, out of school. One class accommodates Nurseries 1 to 3, another accommodates Primaries 1 and 2, while the third class accommodates Primaries 4 and5, leaving the school with no provision for Primaries 3 and 6.

The school structure has neither doors nor windows, thus exposing the rooms to the elements no matter the weather. The children were sitting on wood planks mounted on stones, Only two teachers cater for the entire number of children in attendance.

School fees per child is two thousand Naira (NGN 2,000), about 6 Dollars only. However, only two of the pupils in the entire school had parents who could afford to pay this amount. This means that the teachers could also not be paid their salaries consistently throughout the year. Unfortunately the only other primary school is more than 10 kilometers away. The state of the Bakin Kogi school and the entire community leaves you wondering how a place could be so close to the Federal Capital Territory, yet be neglected, with no basic amenities.

I visited a farm in the village in late 2018, Saddened by the poor and pitiable state of affairs there, my foundation, Orah Bayit Foundation, which I had started in that year, decided to create “The Bakin Kogi Project” to address these issues.

So far, there has been several visits by the Foundation to the Village. On many occasions, we visited with books and writing materials for the children.

Our volunteers also took out time to teach the children and had some social activities with them. We all had fun.

We were also able to pay three months’ salary for the two teachers who volunteered to teach the children as a way of bridging the gap caused by lack of recognition from relevant authorities.

The Foundation, with my personal resources, has constructed and donated 20 desks for all 3 classes, however the school is still in dire need of some very vital items and infrastructure to create a conducive atmosphere for learning.

The village is in desperate need of portable drinking water also, but this is a story for another day.