By Ngwuoke Ngwuoke

In what looks like a vote of no confidence on the present management of Colliery Comprehensive Technical College, Ngwo, Enugu North Local Government Area, Enugu state, the Old Boys of the school have sent an SOS to Enugu State Government to take over the running of the school to save it from further neglect and decay.

Investigation reveals that the College is being managed by the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Diocese of Enugu North.

Speaking to newsmen in Enugu, the founder and Chairman of Colliery Comprehensive Technical College Ngwo Old Boys Association, Donald Nnaemeka Agu said the Church has nothing to show since it took over the management of the school from the government in 2009.

Agu gave reasons why Old Boys want the government to take over the management of the school.

“In the first place, Ngwo has 20 villages and 7 autonomous communities with just 1 Government Secondary School – Community Secondary School, Ngwo Uno while Ngwo Asaa, with 7 villages and 3 autonomous communities, has no government Secondary School. The result is that our children have to trek long distances, with the attendant risks on the road, to be able to access a government Secondary School.

“If government takes over the management of Colliery Comprehensive Technical College, government school will be nearer to the people and it will eliminate double fees paid by students in the school.”

According to him, students in the school pay double fees, one to the mission and another to the Government. He said government take-over of the school would streamline fees paid by the students.

Agu said the former students also have problems with decay of infrastructure in the school and general indiscipline meted on the students.

“When the Church took over the management of the school, we had 9 hostels full of students, today there is no single boarder in the School. In the past, Colliery Comprehensive Technical College formerly known as Colliery Comprehensive Secondary School boasted of one thousand students but today, they have only about one hundred.

“Since 2009, the Church has not done anything tangible in the school. The few interventions we have recorded such as the renovation of the residence of the first Principal of the School, T.V. Haines and JS 2 block were done by the Old students and recently DECA League Ngwo, an association of Ngwo graduates, who renovated the Carpentry and Woodwork Workshop which the principal, Mrs Marble Ozoude has turned into classroom.

“The unkindest cut of all is the carving out of great chunk of the school compound containing science laboratories, hostels, the kitchen, and farms in School land and converting it to a moribund College of Education which they named after an illustrious son of Ngwo and a one time Governor of Old Anambra State, Chief C.C. Onoh.

“As the founder and Chairman of the Colliery Comprehensive Secondary School Old Boys Association, I can tell you the position of the old boys. Our position is that we will have nothing to do with the development of the school so long as the Anglican Diocese of Enugu North is still managing it.” Donald Agu said.

Also speaking to newsmen, a member of Colliery Crisis Management Group, Jesse Chineme, said Colliery Comprehensive Technical College was a legacy school, fought for and gotten by C.C. Onoh, to cater for the children of coal miners and the immediate environment.

“When the Church took over the management of the school, expectations were high and people were looking forward to seeing the transformation that took place in the College of Immaculate Conception, CIC and Union Secondary School both in Enugu, replicated in Colliery. But unfortunately, things kept going down and even worse.

“The management of the school under the Church has been characterised by dilapidation, neglect and mismanagement.

Chineme said the group has raised memos to the Church but nothing positive had come out of them.

He revealed that he had formally written to the Enugu State Government, prompting the governor to dispatch a team from the State Technical and Vocational Schools Management Board (STVSMB) and the Ministry of Education to asses the current state of the school.

“The best thing the Enugu State Government can do to the memory of Chief C.C. Onoh and honour his legacy is to take back the management of Colliery Comprehensive Technical College Ngwo,” Chineme concluded.