A US-based businessman, Dr Samuel Ileaboya on Monday handed over a new borehole he sunk for his alma mater, Uzebba Grammar School, Uzebba, in Owan West Local Government of Edo.
Ileaboya, while handing the water project to the school Principal, Mrs Peace Unuigbokhai, said that the project was his own way of giving back to his Alma mater and host community.
“It gives me joy and sense of fulfilment that I am able to give back to a community and a school that contributed so much to whatever I am today.
“I am an old student of Uzebba Grammar School, and I passed out in 1982.
“I re-collect that through my days here; the greatest challenge for both staff and students was access to portable water supply.
“As students in the boarding house, we used to trek almost three kilometres to wash, bathe and fetch drinking water from a stream.
“Since leaving the school, I was worried that the school, which was established in 1965, nearly 60-years ago, has not been able to surmount this challenge.
“That was why in 2021, I decided that it was time to break the jinx,” Ileaboya said.
Ileaboya pledged to do more projects for the school and the community.
“This project will not be the last from me. I will continue to contribute more to projects that will uplift the people of Uzebba community and its environs.
“Just yesterday, I inspected the abandoned water project in another community called: Ibwighu village, which I learnt was due to a bad pump.
“To the glory of God, I have provided funds for its reactivation,” he said.
The philanthropist commended Gov. Godwin Obaseki for his giant strides in community development in the past eight-year of his administration.
He stressed the need for private citizens to support and complement government efforts.
“There has been a great transformation of our rural communities, and we hope and pray that the administration that will succeed him will continue in that laudable trajectory,” he said.
Responding, Unuigbokhai and Head Girl of the school, Divine Okosun thanked the donor for the gesture.
They said since the school was established in 1965, students in the school had faced the challenge of portable water supply.
“For almost 60-years, the only source of water has been a stream, which is about three kilometres from the school
“With the functioning of the new borehole, the school will now enjoy uninterrupted water supply to all facilities in the school,” Unuigbokhai said.
