By Esuka Mafany
Decentralization and Local Development Minister George Elanga Obam has praised the Special Council Support Fund for Mutual Assistance (FEICOM) and local authorities for building and equipping the Government Primary School Administrative Center in Dembo.
The Minister was speaking on Friday, October 23, during the official inauguration of the school in Dembo, a border locality in the Benoue Division of the North Region. He expressed great satisfaction with the quality of the infrastructure.
The ceremony drew a broad cross-section of the population, including the Governor of the North Region, Jean Abate Edi’i, and the Senior Divisional Officer for Benoue, Oumarou Haman Wabi.
“I am pleased to see the involvement of FEICOM, the education community, and the administrative and traditional authorities in the realization of this magnificent project,” the Minister said.
Before the Minister’s address, the Mayor of Dembo, Dr. Hayatou Hamagado, presented some of the major education and healthcare projects completed in the municipality through effective decentralization. He then appealed to the government, through the Minister, to deploy more teachers and healthcare personnel to Dembo to meet the population’s growing needs in both sectors.
Representing the FEICOM General Manager, the Director in charge of Follow-up and Investment said the project cost about 160 million FCFA. He stressed that the funding was a gift from FEICOM to the people of Dembo and not a loan.
The new school comprises two blocks of three classrooms each and an administrative block housing the head teacher’s office, a storeroom and a meeting room. It also includes the head teacher’s residence, a solar-powered borehole, and a toilet block with six compartments for both boys and girls. Each classroom is furnished with a teacher’s chair and table, and the school has 30 benches in total.
Created in 1993, the Dembo municipality has about 50,000 inhabitants and covers roughly 750 square kilometres. Decentralization has enabled it to benefit from key projects, particularly in education, healthcare and water supply.
In education, 106 classrooms have been built and furnished with benches and other essential equipment. Five buildings have been constructed to house teachers, a nursery school has been built and equipped, and six primary schools have been created. The municipality has also seen about 200 boreholes drilled, 12 health centres built, and an ambulance donated to the district hospital.
