UK politician Kemi Badenoch has spoken about her difficult school years at the Federal Government Girls College (FGGC) in Sagamu, Ogun State, Nigeria. She described the experience as feeling like prison.
In a video interview shared online, Badenoch explained how she had to do hard chores like cutting grass with a machete and cleaning toilets without running water during her time at the school.
She said it was her first time away from home, and she was sent to a boarding school where life was very tough. The dormitories were overcrowded, with around 20 to 30 girls in each room, and about six rooms in total.
The students had to maintain the school by themselves. They were given machetes to cut the grass because there was no one else to do the work.
Badenoch said this was part of an old system where students who passed national exams were placed in federal schools across the country. This method aimed to spread students around and avoid one school having all the best students. Some were sent very far from home.
Though she wasn’t sent too far, she said it still felt like she had been thrown into a difficult world with no family support. She compared the environment to the chaos in the book Lord of the Flies, where students had to manage everything on their own.
She also said the conditions were harsh, especially when it came to cleaning toilets without running water. She didn’t go into detail but made it clear it was a very unpleasant experience.
Over the years, Badenoch has been outspoken about her tough experiences in Nigeria. She recently said she no longer feels connected to the country where she was born.
