By: Ibraheem Abdullateef
Dear Maigida,
Allow me to dip my pen into the ocean of truth and sprinkle some water of reality on your blindfolded face. I sincerely hope this meet you well, after the shocking loss of your godfather the last time out. Pardon me, for not letting you mourn for long before I threw you yourself, this dart. I hope this catches your heart and jolted you into action, if truly you hadn’t sold it in the name of loyalty.
Dear Maigida, did you notice the ruthlessness in my choice of words? This is because I met the people whose travails are much more severe, tragedic and inhumane.
The wards and students at the Kwara State School For Special Need Oyun are the most unlucky humans on Earth. To me, the height of misfortune is having an unresponsive, unproactive and insensitive government.
And no sensible person I know, would describe the KWSG any milder, particularly when he / she visits the School For Special Need, Oyun.
I am very much afraid it’s just a matter of time before it descended into a beggars’ den, and you our ‘ modest performer’ would become the titled Maigida N Bara! I doubt that was not your aim when you allowed that school, out of insensitivity and incapability, to get so bad and unsightly. I hope you don’t let these fears come to pass.
May I, in all sense of sobriety and decency, give you the true but disheartening present picture of the School for Special Need Oyun Dokita Maigida?
The difference between the school and just any normal enclave is say, perhaps the residents, wear school uniforms. Aside that striking feature, nothing else worth been mentioned.
There’s a clear presence of lack and hunger in the students life. It was a great disbelief for me to learnt that a month feeding allowance meet another unpaid. I equally found it grossly inhumane that the allowance meant for feeding the Special children is specially small and inadequate. Dear Maigida, is this part of modesty too?
Pardon me dear governor, for I don’t know how best to describe the school hostel. I hope I am pardoned for my inability. However, none of the hostels look like the one your most hated child would sleep if one was there.
There’s a gross inadequacy with their beddings.The school hostels have no modern toilets and bathrooms. And it’s left to imaginations how the students are expected to live in a place lacking these necessities! Dear Maigida, was this the Legacy you promised?
Shall we talk about the school structures if at all there was one we could point at in government’s name?
The School for Special Need perhaps mirror this administration the best; abandonment.The school buildings left, right and centre clearly need urgent touch of renovation. From one class rooms to another, there’s virtually not one in a perfect classroom condition. What’s perhaps most strikingly unwholesome is how chairs and tables are also too much for this government to procure!
At this juncture, may I tell you in clear terms how I would describe your attitude to the School for Special Need dear governor? I would say unfatherly. No responsible father exposes his wards to danger and harms. I am telling you most sincerely that the students in this school are in harm’s way. The fences surrounding the school has fallen down. Alreadily, there’s been cases of theft and petty robbery and it’s a matter of time before animals, whether in human form, or in the real sense of it, starts infilterating the school to take advantage of these special children.Would you be happy by then?
I am beginning to wonder if there was a special offence these children committed aside being Special children. For I don’t know, why, they don’t deserve a school bus. Perhaps because they are not the ‘powerful’ types that threatens protest every now and then. Maigida,I am asking on their behalf, why must they not own a school bus?
Here I am, earnestly hoping that you garner your wits this time to correct the anomalies in that special school. I am hoping against all hope that you wouldn’t leave the ways to chase the games. And I doubt it’s unnecessary I advised that the intimidation antics won’t be able to cover the inequities in that school this time, dear governor. So I only wish you choose to be noble in your dispensation after reading this piece.
The world shall be watching how specially Maigida treats the special child. But posterity would determine how specially to judge you, dear governor.