Newly Built Abuja School Becomes Ghost Site as Teachers Show Up Once a Week

A newly built primary school in Abuja’s Abaji Area Council has been abandoned as teachers show up only once a week, leaving over 100 pupils without education and exposing a wider crisis of neglect and poor supervision in Nigeria’s rural schools.

A newly completed public primary school in the Abaji Area Council of Abuja has been abandoned, leaving more than 100 children without access to education.

According to the Monitoring and Implementation Team Nigeria (MonITNG), the situation is “heartbreaking and a clear failure of governance.”

Pupils Abandoned as Learning Collapses

During a field visit to LEA Primary School, Dumi, in Gawu Ward, MonITNG discovered that academic activities had completely stopped despite the school’s completion and initial enrolment of 113 pupils.

Teachers reportedly appear “only once a week, stay for barely an hour, and then disappear for weeks or even months.”

As a result, pupils have stopped attending school, classrooms remain locked, weeds have overtaken the premises, and parts of the building are already deteriorating.

“What should have been a center of learning and hope now stands as a symbol of neglect and government failure,” the organisation stated.

Parents Forced to Seek Alternatives

The report revealed that many parents have withdrawn their children and enrolled them in schools in neighbouring communities.
Those who can afford private schools have done so, while others—unable to pay fees—have kept their children at home.

MonITNG described the situation as a waste of public funds and a violation of children’s right to education, citing poor supervision, teacher absenteeism, and lack of accountability as the main causes.

Calls for Immediate Government Intervention

The monitoring group called on FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and Senator Ireti Kingibe to ensure that the FCT Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) takes swift action.

“We call on the Honourable Minister and Senator Kingibe to ensure UBEB acts immediately to bring back teachers, rehabilitate the school, and strengthen monitoring systems,” the statement read.

“The children of Dumi deserve better. Education is not a privilege — it is their right. The government must act now to restore learning and hope to this forgotten community.”

A Reflection of a Wider Rural Education Crisis

LEA Primary School, Dumi, was built to provide quality education for children in Gawu Ward and surrounding settlements, sparing them long walks to distant schools.

However, despite being completed and once thriving, the lack of supervision and teacher commitment has left it inactive.

Education observers say the situation mirrors a broader problem across rural Nigeria, where many public schools suffer neglect due to weak management and oversight.

Advocates are calling for stronger accountability and monitoring within the Universal Basic Education framework to ensure that public schools fulfil their purpose.

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SOURCES: ALLSCHOOL, GISTREEL