By Dipo Awojobi – Due to the dilapidated state of Ogba Primary School 1 located in the busy Ogba area of Lagos State, the state House of Assembly has ordered the Deputy Governor, Dr. Idiat Adebule, to immediately commence an integrity test on the two-storey building.
The building, according to the lawmakers, was showing signs of collapse 23 years after its construction and that it needed an urgent attention.
The report, as presented by Hon. Lanre Ogunyemi, Chairman of the House Committee on Education, recommended that where the dilapidated building meets the test, it should be immediately renovated before the pupils are returned to their classrooms at the earliest possible time.
The House also directed the Ministry of the Environment of the state to de-flood the school.
A photograph sighted by our correspondents showed some of the pupils swimming and playing in the flood.
Ogunyemi said that his committee visited the school following a petition by the school’s Parents-Teachers Association and that it observed that “the building is indeed dilapidated and therefore not conducive for learning. Besides, it is also unsafe to the lives of the pupils and teachers in the school.
“The pupils have to be moved out of the building to share classrooms in Ogba School 2.”
Some of the lawmakers observed that some of the classrooms were overcrowded thus endangering the lives of the pupils. They also noted that there were no toilet facilities in the school and that the pupils are forced to use the facilities in the school 2.
“The only toilet in the school is blocked and the school shares convenience with Ogba Primary School 2,” the report stated.
Contributing to the report, Hon. Rasheed Makinde suggested that integrity test should be carried out on all schools in the state, adding that a school in Ojokoro had the same problem.
Some of the lawmakers noted that parts of the building was falling off.
Another lawmaker, Hon. Abiodun Tobun, said that part of the recommendation should be that if the building fails integrity test, it should be urgently demolished.
The lawmakers wondered why a building that was supposed to last about 100 years was crumbling 23 years after its construction.
They urged the government to henceforth engage professional contractors in carrying out projects in the state.
