THE joy of pupils, parents and teachers in selectprimary schools in Sagamu Local GovernmentArea of Ogun State knew no bounds last week, as multimillion naira education projects bankrolled by Lafarge Cement WAPCO in collaboration with the Sagamu Community Development Council (SCDC) were inaugurated.The projects included a block of six refurbished classrooms at A.U.D Primary School, IsaleOko; a block of five newly renovated classrooms at Saint Paul's School, Ijoku; and two blocks of six classrooms at the Local Government Primary School, Kanuyi.The education facilities had completely fallen to disuse and were hitherto constituting threat to the safety of the pupils in the school and impeding effective learning.Not only were the classrooms renovated, Lafarge also promised to provide furniture so as to make the school environment conducive to the delivery of qualitative education to the pupils and thereby create a future for the nation.While the renovation work only covered some of the schools in the government, Lafarge, through its collaboration with SCDC, also funded the production of about N176,000 exercise books distributed free of charge to all the pupils in the 56 primary schools in Sagamu area.These projects, which represent some of the many achievements of the SCDC under the leadership of Chief Michael Oyedele since SCDC's inauguration in March 2011,came a few months after SCDC and Lafarge teamed up and gave kisses of life to about 78 hitherto dysfunctional boreholes sunk in the various communities within the Sagamu Local Government Area prior to the advent of ChiefOyedele and his team of goal-getters.SCDC chairman, Chief Oyedele, in a welcome address at the ceremony to inaugurate the projects, described the event as the celebration of 'rich corporate social responsibility of Lafarge and the beautiful collaboration of SCDC.'Permit me to state that the commodity that we are delivering today represents an area of acute need that cuts across the whole Sagamu Local Government and we intend to carry on with this effort for some years. I should like to commend and appreciate Lafarge for impacting so positively on the lives of our people in Sagamu Local Government Area through its laudable corporate social responsibility.'What we are doing today comes under community projects. Other areas like security, youth development and empowerment, skill acquisition, health and environment and other educational areas, not leaving out information communication technology, are all being well taken care of. There is no tangible area of the lives of our people that the impact of Lafarge is not being felt.'Let me use this medium to appeal to other corporate bodies operating within our local government to emulate the very good example of Lafarge. The least that all our corporate bodies can do is to show that they appreciate the good gesture of the community that gave them enabling environment to perform by putting back a little to better their lives,' he said.Expressing satisfaction with the environmental friendliness of Lafarge activities in its host communities through the use of zero emissions, he appealed to the company to explore the possibility of purifying waste water currently being wasted away into drinking water to be supplied to the local community as water.'Also, we want to register our appreciation to Lafarge for the efforts it has put into making the Sagamu/Ikorodu Road motorable. While we know that it is not the responsibility Lafarge to repair the road, having paid its taxes, rates and dues to the relevant government agencies, we are strongly appealing to its management to try and do something really positive to put the road, particularly passing in front of its company in order,' the chairman said.He pledged that SCDC under his watch would continue to make judicious use of the facilities received from Lafarge for the development of Sagamu Local Government Area.Speaking on the occasion, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Lafarge, Mr Joe Hudson said the company's social investments in Sagamu community reminded the company and its management as well as all people the basis of communal existence and that 'we need each other to improve our society.'He stressed that the education projects marked seven years that Lafarge had been investing in the development of Sagamu, describing education as the bedrock of development.'In the area of education, we have executed other educational programmes in Sagamu like our annual bursary award scheme for community undergraduates, which has benefited a total of 793 community undergraduates between 2005 and 2011. In October last year, we launched extramural coaching classes (WAEC/NECO) in science and Mathematics for final year students in public secondary schools in Sagamu.'Permit me to underscore that beyond these physical donations and infrastructures, what gives us the greatest joy is knowing that we are contributing to providing a comfortable learning environment for our students and teachers, that we are bringing smiles to their faces and that we are supporting the development of these young talents that hold the key to the future of this great. This, for us, is The Lafarge Way in social responsibility,' Hudson said.He thanked Chief Oyedele and the SCDC as well as other stakeholders for their support and for sharing in the vision of the company for a better society.While performing the inauguration of the facilities, the state Commissioner for Education, Mr Segun Odubela, who commended Lafarge for the projects, expressed happiness that the Governor Ibikunle Amosun-led administration's mission to rebuild the state had become shared responsibility as demonstrated by Lafarge.Presenting a historical account of the projects, chairman of the Implementation Committee of SCDC, Builder E.O Sokoya, said the journey began in March 2011 when the committee was inaugurated. He added that the committee visited all the 56 primary schools in Sagamu council and found that many of the blocks of classrooms had become terribly dilapidated, while the boreholes inherited by SCDC had equally gone dysfunctional, prompting the intervention of SCDC in collaboration with Lafarge.Eminent sons and daughters of the council area at the event included the representative of the Akarigbo of Sagamu and Paramount ruler of Remo kingdom, Oba M.L.S Gisanrin, who is also the Odofinof Isoyin; Oba M.A Sanni; the Chief Imam of Ogun State; chairman, Sagamu Local Government council, Mrs Olufunmilayo Efuwape; and many others.
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