For the sustenance of a safe learning environment, the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB) engaged in a strategic session with the management of the Lagos State Planning and Environmental Monitoring Agency (LASPEMA) in order to sanitize setbacks and incidental open spaces in public primary schools during a courtesy visit to the Board.
At the meeting, Hon. Wahab Alawiye-King, Executive Chairman, LASUBEB, commended the agency’s efforts in maintaining compliance in accordance with the state’s environmental plan and its seamless drive in the actualization of Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu’s T.H.E.M.E.S agenda.
He noted that the infractions on setbacks and incidental open spaces are becoming alarming, adding that the Board frowns at such encroachment and would soon commence an enforcement exercise to dislodge illegal informal operators occupying the setbacks. They say that such activities will hinder teaching and learning in the academic environment.
Alawiye-King emphasized the misuse of setbacks in schools and the indiscriminate construction of shanties in open spaces, which would no longer be tolerated.
General Manager LASPEMA and Town Planner Daisi Oso stated that all forms of criminal activity take place on setbacks and incidental open spaces, which are threats to the wellbeing of the pupils and teachers in the learning environment.
Oso reiterated that LASPEMA is the agency saddled with the statutory responsibility to plan, supervise, and designate setbacks for use in the State.
He noted that LASPEMA is ready to collaborate with the Board in strategizing a model for landscaping around the school walls; putting creative paintings on the walls to improve the aesthetics; and creating a secure environment by ensuring closed-circuit television is installed around the setbacks for surveillance purposes.
At the end of the strategic meeting, a five-man committee was constituted, comprising members from LASPEMA and LASUBEB, charged with the responsibility of developing a model to facilitate the synergized visions with other MDAs of the State Government who have similar mandates.