Date: 2017-01-10

Kazeem Adekanye, Chairman, Irepodun Local Government Council of Kwara, has urged the people to imbibe the culture of maintaining and protecting public infrastructure in their domains.

Adekanye made the call during a visit to Ansarul Islam Local Government Education Area (LGEA) Primary School in Ijomu-Oro, which was gutted by fire recently. An evening fire had last Friday destroyed the roof and walls of one block of two classrooms in the school.

He said the call for protection of public facilities and infrastructure was informed by the need to reduce waste of scarce resources in view of the nation's unimpressive economic situation.

"Maintaining government facilities in our care should be part of our topmost priority, that is the only way we can attract more goodwill in terms of our basic infrastructure from the government," he said.

Adekanye, who was at the school to assess the extent of damage, described the incident as unfortunate.

He added that absence of the pupils in the affected classrooms saved the situation from getting worse, expressing relief that no life was lost during the fire.

"“We have to thank God first that there are no casualties during the incident as it could have been worse had it been the children were in school as at the time of the incidence," he said.

The council boss said the state government under the leadership of Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed was doing its best to impact the education sector.

He cited the primary schools renovation project across the 16 local government areas of the state as a good pointer to the administration’s commitment to the education sector.

Adekeye pledged the council's readiness to partner with the state government in ensuring the desired transformation envisioned for the sector, especially at the grassroots.

He also used the visit to call for adequate legislation against bush burning to prevent unnecessary fire outbreak, particularly during the dry season.

Adekanye asked the Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Irepodun Local Government Chapter, Gabriel Opatola, to come up with a comprehensive report on the fire for possible assistance.

He was accompanied on the visit by some principal officers of the council. Earlier, Opatola had briefed the chairman on the incident and said the effect had reportedly brought down the bricks on one side of the building.

He disclosed that all efforts by some youths and sympathisers to put out the fire had proved abortive.

He thanked Adekeye for his quick response to assess the incident and urged the council to come to the aid of the affected school.