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MAKURDI – Major General Patrick Akem-Vingir rtd has solicited the support of the international community, corporate organizations, and philanthropists to come to the aid of over 400 surviving pupils of RCM Primary School, Yelwata, Guma Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State.
The retired military general, a son of Yelwata, a humanitarian, and an alumnus of the school, lamented the learning conditions of the children, who he said looked confused and traumatized from the attack on the community last year.
He observed that, “From all indications, the children need psycho-socio support, desks, books, toilets, and qualified teachers that will give quality teaching to enable the children to compete favourably with others globally.”
Speaking during a visit to the school in Yelwata, the former Provost Marshal of the Nigerian Army said the pupils need urgent intervention.
“The need is urgent. The opportunity is enormous. The cause is noble. The children are waiting,” he said.
General Akem-Vingir stated that among some of the urgent needs of the children are psycho-socio support for traumatized pupils, classrooms, textbooks for pupils from primary 1 to 6, desks, chairs, uniforms, exercise books, school feeding support, scholarships, computers, and sanitation facilities.
Akem-Vingir, an indigene of Yelwata and former pupil of the school, said his journey began at RCM Primary School. “I attended this primary school. I sat in these classrooms. I walked these grounds. I learned my earliest lessons here. I dreamed my first dreams here. Today, by the grace of God, I have returned. And what I see breaks my heart.
“I stand before you not merely as a retired Major General. Not merely as a pastor or a humanitarian. I stand before you as a son of this soil.”
“Yelwata suffered one of its darkest moments in 2025 when more than 250 men, women, and children were brutally killed. Families were shattered, and the community’s only primary school now carries the weight of that loss.
“Many come to school without adequate learning materials. Many are struggling against odds they did not create, yet when you look into their eyes, you see determination. You see intelligence. You see resilience. You see greatness waiting for an opportunity.”
He therefore solicited the need for volunteers and qualified teachers to be engaged to supplement government efforts in the school, warning that neglect will cost the nation.
“If we fail these children, we fail the future. If we abandon these children, we abandon hope itself. My life was possible because somebody taught me. Somebody invested in me. Somebody believed in me.
“Today, I ask the world to do for these children what others once did for me. The children standing before us today are not statistics. They are future doctors, engineers, teachers, entrepreneurs, military officers, pastors, governors, innovators, presidents, nation-builders.”
He appealed to Dangote Group, TY Danjuma Foundation, Tony Elumelu Foundation, BUA, Coscharis, MTN, Glo, Airtel, First Bank, Access Bank, Zenith Bank, UBA, GTBank, Fidelity Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Julius Berger, Lafarge, Flour Mills, Nestlé, Seplat, TotalEnergies, Shell, Chevron, Oando Foundation, among other donors to intervene in the lives of the children, so as to save Nigeria’s future leaders.
Earlier, the Head Teacher of the school, Pius Tyolumun, disclosed that the school is hosting over 400 displaced children and that they are in need of teachers, seats, computers, and other learning materials to improve teaching and learning.
Recall that Yelwata community was attacked on Friday, June 13, 2025, by armed men suspected to be marauding herdsmen, where over 200 farmers, including women and children, and the aged were killed.
