OFONIME UMANAH
Sometime in 2020, just a few months after he was inaugurated as member of the House of Representatives to represent the interest of Abi/Yakurr people of Cross River State, Dr Alex Egbona decided to do what others before him never thought of.
For about a week, he went on a tour of all the 23 council wards of the federal constituency. It was not just to thank them for giving him their mandate and standing by him in the course of the stiff opposition he faced from political foes.
From community to community, he consulted the elders, the youths, the women and political stakeholders. He consulted everyone, to know what they would want him to do for them as he got ready for legislative work in the National Assembly.
When he was taken to Lehangha community in Imabana Ward 2, what he saw was a shocker. Initially, people thought the structure was an abode for goats. But no. It was a classroom block, where pupils, those children politicians call leaders of tomorrow studied, sitting on bare floor.
Egbona was miffed at what he saw. That day, he had told some of those who accompanied him on the tour, that if it were possible, he would have turned the place around in a matter of days. He was sad. Really sad, that children were made to learn in that kind of environment.
There was a mango tree near the building. TNN learnt that some of the pupils studied under that mango tree. This added to Egbona’s pain during the tour. Apparently, what he saw was very troubling, that he started almost immediately to push for the reconstruction of the classroom block at the Government Primary School, Lehangha. Incidentally, it was under the same mango tree that Egbona and all the dignitaries sat when they got to the school for the commissioning.
He succeeded. And on Monday, January 5, 2026, he was in the community to commission the project, to the excitement of the community, the pupils and the teachers.
The school, in the address of welcome they presented through one of the pupils, expressed appreciation to Egbona for giving the school a facelift, taking away the batcher that used to be their classroom and replacing it with a block of four classrooms.
Phase one done, Egbona told them that he would also take steps to ensure the furnishing of the classrooms, while also urging the school to maintain what they have got from the federal government through him.
To further support the children, he distributed branded exercise books and school bags to all the pupils, in what many said was the children’s new year gift from the lawmaker.
Before going to Lehangha, Egbona was at the Primary School, Mboti-Imabana, where he also commissioned a block of classrooms which he equally facilitated, demonstrating his passion for educational advancement. He had earlier sent furniture to the school during his first term, as he did to many other schools across the federal constituency.
At the Government Primary School, Ediba, where another classrooms building was commissioned, Egbona was very clear about why he chose to do the things he was doing: no child must be denied quality education.
He told the crowd that gathered to witness the inauguration of the project that in line with the request by the community, efforts would be made to liaise with relevant government agencies to attract a JAMB centre to the area and that a section of the building could be used for an ICT centre.
While other pupils only went him with the branded exercise books and school bags, Miss Success Charles, a Primary 5 pupil who read the welcome address was luckier. She got scholarship from Egbona who promised to pay his fees once she starts her secondary education.
Elder Ejom Ejom, a community leader and the PTA Chairman of the School, Chief Odohi poured encomiums on Egbona for refusing to play politics with the education of his constituents.
