Ogun State government has reiterated its determination towards ensuring a conducive and safe learning environment for students across the state, as it constituted a committee to conduct integrity tests on various school infrastructure.
During the inspection of a collapsed building at Agbado District Comprehensive High School, Ifo, the special adviser to the governor on education, science and technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, who led the team from the Education and Housing Ministries said Governor Prince Dapo Abiodun had earlier directed that a formidable committee be put in place to cater for school maintenance and rehabilitation.
Arigbabu said the committee would quickly move around the schools across the state to carefully evaluate the viability of the existing structures to ascertain the possibility of usage alongside the newly rehabilitated and constructed ones.
He said the construction of the collapsed eight-classroom building started in 2007 and has not been put into use because the present administration in the state could not guarantee its desirability for usage.
Arigbabu, therefore, gave assurance that the present administration in the state would not entrust its projects into the hands of any contractors without the requisite capacity to meet up with the standard required by the government.
He said, ”The incident happened on Saturday and there was no casualty of any sort. There would be quick intervention soon to replace the collapsed structure.
“We are setting up a technical committee to quickly ascertain the viability of similar structures in our schools which we inherited and still meticulously working to confirm their desirability for usage because we are so conscious about the safety of our children and would stop at nothing to protect them and make them comfortable in the course of learning.
“I appreciate the school management and the entire staff for being diligent, hardworking and supportive.”
In his reaction, the Principal of Agbado District Comprehensive High School, Junior, Mr Ayodeji Ogunleye, applauded the two ministries for the quick response, promising to do all within their capacity to maintain school infrastructure.
