Children from Bodo City at the school’s 10th anniversary graduation ceremony in June 2004.

Members of the Tijen Pegg Mothers Association posing for a photograph in front of the newly opened 5 classroom school building in Bane.

 Michelle De Young and Tijen Pegg with members of the Tijen Pegg Mothers Association in Bodo City during the Timmy Foundation’s visit to the schools in June 2004.

Bebor Model Nursery and Primary School
Bodo City, Nigeria

Project´s Mailing Address: 
Reverend Moses Nyimale Lezor, Director
Bebor Model Nursery/Primary School
1 Bebor Avenue
P.O. Box 74
Bodo City, Gokana Kingdom, Ogoni
Rivers State, NIGERIA

Contact: Scott Pegg

Email address: smpegg@iupui.edu

Phone number: 317-278-5749

Website: www.bebor.org

            The Bebor Model Nursery and Primary School (BMNPS) was founded in the rural village of Bodo City, Rivers State, Nigeria in 1995 with one teacher and four pupils.  The school’s founding and current director is Reverend Moses Nyimale Lezor.  Charity Nnee, the school’s first teacher, is now the headmistress.  BMNPS was founded as a community school to respond to the failure of the Nigerian government to maintain viable primary schools in the region.  BMNPS originally met in St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Bodo City.  This arrangement initially worked fine but as the school’s population expanded to more than 200 pupils in 2000, the church was no longer able to house all of its students.  The school eventually received a grant from the Canadian consulate in Lagos, Nigeria which enabled it to begin construction on a dedicated five classroom school building.  The Canadian funding finished about eighty percent of the building but it was not sufficient to complete the entire building.  Scott Pegg, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at IUPUI, first visited the Niger Delta in April 2000 on a research trip and met officials from the school while there.  Dr. Pegg and his wife Tijen began raising funds for the schools in October 2000.  In January 2001, the first round of funding delivered by the International Friends Committee of BMNPS enabled construction to be completed on the school’s five classroom school building.

            As word of the school’s success spread, the student population continued to increase.  The school’s initial five classroom building almost immediately proved inadequate to its needs and the International Friends Committee of BMNPS soon began raising funds for a second six classroom nursery school building.  The school also established a satellite campus in the village of Bane, approximately 30 minutes drive from Bodo City.  To date, most of our initial efforts have been directed toward providing classroom buildings for each campus.  We have also provided annual tuition fee scholarships for the poorest pupils at each school.  At present, each school has two finished classroom buildings and we are nearing completion on the third and final buildings for each location.  Between them, the two schools now serve well over 1,000 pupils who are overwhelmingly the children of local subsistence farmers and fishermen.  Our immediate goals are to finish construction on the third and final buildings at each campus and to build boys, girls, and teachers latrines for each school.  The schools currently lack toilet facilities and the children must go into the bush to go to the bathroom.  After construction of the buildings and latrines is finished, we hope to devote more attention to funding children’s tuition fee scholarships and to providing teacher training and basic supplies for the schools.  Ultimately, we hope to build a community secondary school in Bodo City.

            BMNPS became part of the Timmy Foundation’s family of projects in early 2002.  Glenn Bill, a long-time supporter of the Timmy Foundation, introduced Scott and Tijen Pegg to Dr. Chuck Dietzen and Scott Keller who subsequently agreed that the Timmy Foundation would provide administrative and legal support to the project.  In June 2004, Dr. Chuck Dietzen paid a formal inspection visit to the schools on behalf of the Timmy Foundation.  During his visit to Nigeria, Dr. Chuck was made an honorary chief in the village of Bane.  Scott and Tijen Pegg currently serve as the Timmy Foundation liaisons to BMNPS and they regularly report on the school’s progress to the Timmy Foundation’s Board of Directors.  In total, the International Friends Committee of BMNPS has now delivered $49,000 worth of funding to the schools – $41,900 of which has been delivered since we started working with the Timmy Foundation in 2002.

Nigeria

Picture courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Background:  Nigeria is located in western Africa, the capital is Abuja, and English is the official language.  The most common native languages spoken are Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba.  Shortly after World War II, Nigeria gained its independence from the United Kingdom.  In 1999, a civilian government was established after years of military rule.  The country continues to struggle with government corruption and violence.

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and is the 5th largest exporter of oil to the U.S.  The country has been devastated by HIV/AIDS and accounts for nearly 10% of the infection burden in the world.  Over one million children have been orphaned with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. 

Socio-economic Statistics (USA comparison in parenthesis):
Population:  131,859,731 (USA 298,444,215)
GDP per capita (Intl $, 2004):  1,085 (USA 39,901)
Unemployment rate:  2.9% (USA 5.1%)
Population below poverty line:  60% (USA 12%)
Average economic aid per year (recipient):  250 million received (USA 6.9 billion donated worldwide)
  
Health Statistics:
Infant mortality rate:  97.14 deaths/1,000 live births (USA 6.43/1,000)
Life expectancy at birth (m/f):  47/48 years (USA 75/80)
Total fertility rate:  5.49 children born/woman (USA 2.09/woman)
HIV/AIDS – adult prevalence rate:  5.4% (USA 0.6%)
HIV/AIDS – people living with:  3.6 million (USA 950,000)
Total health expenditure per capita (Intl $, 2003):  51 (USA 5,711)
Physicians:  1 physician/3775 people (USA 1/380)

Government:
Type:  Federal republic
Head of Government and Chief of State:  President Olusegun Obasanjo (since 29 May 1999)
Elections:  President elected by popular vote for four-year term
Military:  Nigerian Armed Forces, Army, Niger Air Force

Climate:  The climate in Nigeria is variable based on location.  For more information visit the Britannica website.

Recommended Vaccinations:
Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Malaria, Meningococcal, Rabies, Typhoid, and Yellow Fever.  For more information regarding travel to Nigeria visit the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website. 

Recommended Reading: 
Nigeria – The Culture (Lands, People, and Cultures), by Ann Rosenburg.

Nigeria: The Bradt Travel Guide, by Lizzie Williams.

Culture and Customs of Nigeria, by Toyin Falola.

AIDS in Nigeria: A Nation on the Threshold, by Olusoji Adeyi, Phyllis J. Kanki, Oluwole Odutolu, and John A. Idoko

References and Links to More Information on Nigeria:
USAID Website
CIA World Factbook
World Health Organization
Embassy of Federal Republic of Nigeria in USA

Nigerian News:
Nigeria Daily
Vangaurd
This Day Online
Nigerian Guardian News

Background and History of Nigeria:
Wikipedia Encyclopedia
Nigerian Embassy - History
Nigerian Embassy - Overview
The World Bank
The British Broadcasting Corporation