OWERRI, Imo State; December 17, 2021: The OFO Educational Foundation is delighted to share the news of the formal registration of the Blessed Fr. Tansi Primary School, at UmuabazuAmuzu, in AbohMbaise Local Government Area of Imo State. The registration was facilitated and paid for by the OFO Educational Foundation, founded and headed by Dr. Ugorji Okechukwu Ugorji. The school had been providing educational services to the community without formal registration with the Imo State Ministry of Education yet.
On Saturday, September 18, 2021, Dr. Ugorji, who is the Special Adviser on Homeland Security and Intelligence to Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State, made a working visit to the Daughters of Divine Love Convent, within which the school is located. That working tour of the convent was at the invitation of Reverend Sister Mary Gabriel Izuorah, the Matron of the convent. Sister Izuorah wanted to discuss security concerns in the area, as well as other needs of the historic Convent of the Catholic Church.
Among the needs at the Convent were security within the Convent, a dilapidated hospital, a school that is yet to be formerly registered, and a chapel and living quarters for the sisters that need amenities and finishing.
The school at the convent is named after Reverend Father Cyprian Michael IweneTansi, who was beatified by Pope John Paul 11 on March 22, 1998. It is headed by Sister Mary Charity ChiomaOgugbu, who said the school is currently housed in a building that was a wing of the hospital. According to her, the school needed final formal approval from the state but the Convent lacked the funds to process it.
Dr. Ugorji, who holds a doctorate degree in Education, promised the Catholic Bishop of Umuahia, Most Reverend Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, who is also the Apostolic Administrator of
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theAhiara Catholic Dioceses that his Foundation (OFO) will help them get the school registered with the state. That process has now been completed, at an approximate cost of Six Hundred Thousand Naira (N600,000), including three years of tax clearance that was required for the registration.
In a message of gratitude to Dr. Ugorji and the OFO Foundation, Sister Ogugbu said “Thank you for being the source through which our long said and awaited prayer has been answered.” The Sister went on to say “May you always meet people who will make your challenges easy and your loads lighter.” The Convent’s Matron, Sister Izuorah added “Thanks a million for your love and care towards us. It is only God that will reward you.”
The school, which has classes from Primary One to Primary Six, looks forward to attracting more students next year, as the news of the formal registration gets around. On his part, Dr. Ugorji says he will continue to work with the school to provide scholarships for some of the students who choose to attend the school. “I am a product of Catholic school education at various levels. I am honouredby the opportunity to enable a different generation get the same experience.”
Dr. Ugorji has also assured the sisters of the convent that he will continue to work on getting help and support from state government and other sources to rehabilitate the community hospital within the convent. “Those are much bigger ticket items in terms of cost, far beyond what OFO can do by itself,” he explained.
The OFO Educational Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan, and non-governmental organization registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission in Abuja. The initials of OFO stand for Organizing For Opportunities. Its motto is: “Individual Self Actualization; Community Self Determination.”
