‎Delta pupils battle floodwater to attend class‎

Children in a Delta State primary school are being forced to scoop floodwater from their classroom floor before lessons can begin, reigniting outrage over neglected public school infrastructure in Nigeria’s oil-rich south.
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‎• Video shows pupils aged 9 to 11 clearing floodwater from a damaged classroom in Okwue Primary School, Owa-Nta, Delta State
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‎• Tracka/BudgIT has called on Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and the Ministry of Education to fix the school’s drainage
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‎• Pupils at Okwue Primary School in Owa-Nta, Delta State, resorted to scooping floodwater out of their classroom before lessons could begin, in scenes that have sparked outrage over the state of public school infrastructure in the state.
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‎A video circulating since Wednesday shows children, estimated to be between nine and eleven years old, using containers to clear water that had invaded their classroom, while a teacher is heard appealing for help in the local language.
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‎”Please, I am begging for the future of these future presidents. They should come to our aid,” the teacher says in the clip, as sighted by Confiance News.
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‎Okwue Primary School is located in Owa-Nta, within the Anioma-speaking Delta North Senatorial District. Footage of the incident, as gathered by Confiance News, shows a damaged section of the classroom roof and windows without proper shutters, with limited seating forcing pupils to prioritise clearing water over lessons.
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‎The situation is not isolated. Public schools in Nigeria’s flood-prone South-South region routinely face disrupted learning and damaged infrastructure during the rainy season, a contrast critics say is stark in an oil-producing state like Delta.
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‎Tracka, a citizen-led project under BudgIT that tracks public infrastructure projects, brought the incident to wider attention, calling on the Delta State Government, the Ministry of Education, and Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to urgently construct proper drainage around the school.
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‎”A classroom should be a safe place to learn, not a place where children have to battle floodwater before they can study,” the group said, adding that “every child deserves access to a safe, functional learning environment.”
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‎The video has drawn strong reactions online, with users calling for accountability from local leadership and describing the situation as heartbreaking. Journalist Chioma Obinagwam and other social media users amplified the clip, while Sahara Reporters also picked up the footage.
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‎As of press time, Confiance News confirmed there has been no official response from the Delta State Government or the Ministry of Education. Confiance News has reached out to the Delta State Universal Basic Education Board for comment and will update this report accordingly.
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