…says it’s not good to build roads while schools dilapidate
The Executive Chairman, Orile-Agege Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Mr Johnson Babatunde, on Friday said that it was not good to only construct roads while schools were in dilapidated conditions.
Babatunde spoke with newsmen while handling over some blocks of classrooms, offices and store in schools in the area.
Babatunde handed over a block of six modern classrooms at Araromi Primary School, a block of four modern classrooms with a store at Yewa Primary School, a block of five modern classrooms and a block of three offices at Saka Tinubu Primary School.
Babatunde said: “When we saw the dilapidation of these buildings, we looked at it that if we cannot bring out own children here, why shouldn’t we make these schools to be conducive enough for the children.
“The whole structures were dilapidated, when it rains the teachers and school children cannot stay in the class, so we decided to come in and intervene.
“We cannot be building and construction roads while neglecting our own future.
“Our future are these children and that is the more reason we came here to put up these structures.”
He said that his intervention was based on the fact that the administration was noted for impacting on the lives of the people.
“If children in Ikoyi and Victoria Island are enjoying this kind of facility, what stops our own children in Agege from enjoying this kind of facility. That is why we decided to intervene,” he added.
According to him, the administration has given same transformation to 12 out of the 24 primary schools in the LCDA and was working hard to make others conducive for teaching and learning.
Babatunde said that his administration had done same at Alaagba Primary School, Methodist Primary School, Ideal Primary and Shiloh Primary School.
The chairman said: “We are promising the teachers and pupils new set of furniture.
“We have a lot of laudable school programmes. We are going to build school fences and put gates for security.
“We want to also provide adequate and modern toilet facility. We want to see what we can do on provision of temporary teachers so that these children will not be left behind.”
According to him, some of his administration’s school projects have been attracting so many children to schools.
He said that some parents who had taken their children away from public schools were now bringing them back.
Babatunde, however, said that the council was only making the classroom available for students’ use while the proper inauguration would be done later when other projects were concluded.
The chairman, who noted that he was using tax payers money to fixed roads, healthcare centres, and schools, appealed to the teachers and pupils to maintain the facility.
Speaking, Mrs Sherifat Adedoyin, the Permanent Board Member, Lagos State University Basic Education Board (SUBEB), who described the projects as laudable, said it would go a long way to affect teaching and learning process.
Adedoyin said: “Making our own children to learn under serene, good, comfortable and convenient environment is the best gift for them.
“There is no how these children will not concentrate. It (the building) is very serene for teachers to always teach well and for the pupils to understand.”
The excited pupils and teachers sang praises to God and to the council boss for the renovations and the others ongoing.
The new classrooms and offices had iron doors, casement windows, modern ceiling, fans and other facilities.
