16th October, 2021
By Olanrewaju Akojede
Sen. Olamilekan Adeola (APC-Lagos) has donated a 16-seater executive bus to the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Lagos chapter.
Adeola made the donation during the distribution of educational materials to primary and secondary schools in Lagos West Senatorial district at the Vantage Point, Acme Road, Ikeja.
The donation was in response to the call for support the Chairman of NUT, Mr Akintoye Hassan, made in his remarks at the event.
Adeola acknowledged that he appreciated teachers equally as he did the students.
“I listened attentively to the NUT chairman when he was making his remarks because they are the ones that can speak the truth concerning the education in the state.
“They are the ones that know how the educational system is being run and they are passionate about education.’’
Adeola promised that he would not relent in contributing to the development of education in Lagos, adding that other infrastructure projects were in the pipeline.
“The distribution of the textbook today is the first phase of the programme that has 15,000 textbooks for Mathematics and English given out to a total number of 97 schools as beneficiaries.
“A total number of 97 Junior Secondary Schools will also be beneficiaries of the textbooks and a total number of 200 Primary schools will benefit from the Mathematics and English textbooks.
“The second phase will be coming up next month with a total of 15,000 textbooks in Mathematics and English language for the same number of schools; 97 Junior and 200 Primary schools.
“We are looking at giving free Mathematics and English books to 20,000 students in Lagos West Senatorial district,” he said.
He added “A total number of 10 newly-constructed classrooms will also be built across the schools in Lagos West Senatorial District.
“Each of the schools will have six classrooms, two staff rooms, six toilets and a borehole but I have yet to determine the beneficiaries of these projects.
“I will want to leave the Educational District Office to direct us on what to do and how to go about it.
“The district will look out for critically disadvantaged schools where the issues of inadequate classrooms and staff rooms are a bit of a challenge.
“The consideration is that there must be space to build the classrooms,” he said.
The Senator said that he had his basic educations from the public primary schools in the constituency that remained key to his achievements.
“I am one of you, I attended public schools, and the names of my schools are State Primary School, Alimosho, Community Grammar School, Akowonjo and Anwarul Islam College, Agege.
“I am proud of those schools and grateful for coming under the tutelage of the teachers in the school, whatever I become in life, the teachers have contributed to it.
“I want to appeal to the students that they should make the best use of this opportunity because, later, they will be competing with the best of the best all over the world.
“Among these students are senators and doctors, we can even have among them a president,” he said.
He said that the donations were not to flaunt wealth but to give back to society.
“The poverty situation of Nigeria may be on the high side, but we are also preparing for the challenges ahead, that is why we are going this direction.
“I am imploring the students to make good use of the textbooks and note that they are not for sale; they can be transferred to the younger ones coming behind.
“By taking care of our education, we can bail ourselves out of the lost glories in our education system.
“I also commend the efforts of the governor of Lagos State Babajide Sanwo-Olu for his excellent efforts in the area of infrastructures for our schools,” he said.
Adeola added “I also want those in the upper level of education to enjoy these benefits, so I have decided to embark on training for Microsoft Certification for graduates from Lagos West Senatorial District.
“All graduates who are interested are free to apply for this programme as well as the teachers; they are going to be trained in advanced usage of Computers.
“We have set up this programme so that 1,000 graduates will be trained in various computer applications.
“The beneficiaries will be Microsoft Certified at the end of their course and compete with their pairs anywhere.
“We want the ones that study in Nigeria to also have a competitive advantage with others that studied outside the shores in the employment market, he said.
Earlier, the NUT Chairman, Akintoye, noted that the Lagos West Senatorial took pride as the winner of the best schools in Nigeria.
“Our education district just emerged as the best school in Nigeria at recently conducted and concluded world teachers’ day as announced by the Federal Government.
“This investment came at the right time and the right place because we are the district that produced the best school in the whole of Nigeria.
“We are proud to be partakers of this historic moment, our students being prepared to be the leaders of tomorrow.
“We thank our distinguished senator for providing the real free education,” he said.
Akintoye urged the students to use the textbooks judiciously and be ready to make the best use of the opportunity by coming out tops in their education.
NAN reports that Mathematics and English textbooks, mathematical sets, school bags, marker boards and exercise books were distributed to students present at the ceremony.