Ogun State government has disclosed that it is removing shanties and makeshift structures around school environments to make schools in the state safe for learning, and to also prevent distractions and criminality.
Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Environment, Farook Akintunde stated this on Tuesday, 30 July, 2024 during an enforcement exercise at Ifo LGA of the state, where shanties and illegal makeshift structures at the fences and sides of Methodist High School, Arigbajo, were removed.
Akintude, who is also the Chairman, Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Taskforce, stated that the structures cause distractions to proper learning and could be used as hideouts by kidnappers if they were not demolished.
“A situation where public school fences are covered with these shanties and makeshift structures is unacceptable as they impede learning and expose students to dangers which the state government will not allow to happen,” he said.
He pointed out that some criminal elements use the structures as hideouts and lure students into illicit acts and warned traders with shanties and makeshift structures beside fences of public schools to voluntarily remove them to pave way for a serene environment.
In his remarks, the Global and National President, Old Students’ Association, Methodist High School, Ifo, Mr. Seyi Oyegbami, commended the government for the initiative, assuring that the body would join hands with the taskforce to ensure sanity in and around the school environment.
