Iponri community in Lagos Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State on Tuesday laid the foundation of the three-block unit of its nursery and primary School, 32 years after it was approved by the state government.
Alhaji Jimoh Daramola, the Baale of Iponri Community, appealed to the Lagos State Government to assist the area in the building of the nursery and primary School classrooms.
Daramola told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that many important personalities had laid claim to the land because of the delay in using it for its purpose.
He said the government had continued to promise the residents of the area that they would construct befitting classrooms for the pupils, but kept forgotting to include it in the budget.
“Many important personalities have tried to lay claim to the land but we kept telling them that it was meant for the building of our children’s school.
“After waiting endlessly, we approached the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) official and appeal to them that we wanted to lay the foundation of the school and they approved it.
“What we are doing today will keep away people from the land because they will know that the construction has commenced at last.
“We decided to task ourselves some amount of money, hoping that the state government will come to our assistance,” he said.
The Vice-Chairman of Iponri Community Development Association (CDA) Alhaji Yekinni Lasisi, said that the community was presently using a small hall as its primary school.
Lasisi said the hall was approved by the then Lagos Mainland Council Chairman, Mr Oladele Adekanye, who is now representing the Lagos Mainland Constituency 1 in the State House of Assembly.
The vice-chairman said that Adekanye also assisted the community in sand filling the land.
“At present, we have over 220 pupils studying inside the small hall.
“We feel the pain these children are going through to acquire primary school education.
“The foundation we are laying today does not indicate that we have the money, but it is painful that our children are going through this hardship to acquire knowledge.
“We are appealing to the government to come to our aid because we cannot do it alone,” he said.
Lasisi said that the community had provided about 800 blocks, 100 bags of cement and many loads of sand and gravel for the school project. (NAN)