Etim Effiong
A teacher in Akwa Ibom State, Aniepon Nseyo, has distributed facemasks and hand sanitizers to over 3000 students in rural schools ahead of school reopening for the West African Examinations and the National Examinations Council candidates.
Nseyo, who is the coordinator and sole financier of a Non-Governmental Organisation, Students Helpers Initiative Project against COVID-19, said he initiated the gesture to curb community transmission of the virus.
Nseyo, who teaches English and Literature at the Comprehensive Secondary School, Nkana, Etinan, said most students in rural schools are so poor that they cannot afford hand sanitizers and even facemasks to protect themselves.
Speaking at Government Technical College, Mbioto 2, Nseyo stated that he had covered many villages and communities in many parts of the state to give COVID-19 materials to students about to resume classes.
He said, “I am the coordinator of an NGO called Students Helpers Initiative Project against COVID-19. We have been going round different villages and communities in Etinan LGA to give COVID-19 materials to students in SSCE 3 because of the forthcoming examinations for their protection against COVID-19
“We’re here in Government Technical College Mbioto 2 with sanitisers and facemasks to be given out free of charge; we don’t need anything from the students, to give what we have given to other students in other communities.
“This is the third school in Etinan LGA alone that we have visited; we have visited Comprehensive Secondary Nkana and given to students there and this is the third school in our journey to schools.
“For those who are not here shall get theirs later. When exams start, we will revisit schools to make sure everyone gets his or hers.”
According to him, in 2018, his organisation gave financial assistance to three brilliant students, who are less privileged, in Comprehensive Secondary School, Nkana, Etinan LGA.
He said the beneficiaries of the initiative were all orphans and were given different cash gifts totalling N350,000 only, adding that one of them, Mr Jabez Sunday, had been admitted to study pharmacy at the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
Responding, a biology teacher at Government Technical College, Mbioto.2, Mr. Enobong Etukakpan, who witnessed the distribution, thanked the donor for his goodwill and prayed that others can emulate the kind gestures and reach out to the vulnerable in rural areas.
“I want to express our heartfelt gratitude to this organisation. I believe that this is one of the methods we can reduce community transmission of the Coronavirus. May the Almighty God reward his selfless efforts,” he said.The senior prefect, male, Idongesit Monday, on behalf of the students, thanked Nseyo for his benevolence and expressed confidence that those safety materials would protect them from contracting the COVID-19