Lagos girls’ school’s alumni donate N32m building to alma mater

ALL is set for New Era Girls’ Secondary School, Surulere, Lagos, to inaugurate the multi-purpose building donated to the school by its old students association.

The one-storey building erected at the cost of N32 million has an audiovisual hall, e-learning section, offices, as well as toilets and was also furnished with computers, chairs, tables, fans and a standby generator.

The president of the old students association, Dr Tamra Runsewe-Abiodun, who is an associate professor at the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, explained to newsmen at a pre-launch media briefing what informed the donation of the building to the school and how the money was raised among the members.

According to her, the building, which will be inaugurated on December 7, is a way of giving back to the 74-year-old alma mater that produced them to serve three major purposes.

These are: to boost the girl-child education through effective teaching and learning, career guidance and counselling, sexuality and moral education.

She said this was based on the needs assessment of the school which was conducted by the association, as well as other information supplied by the teachers in the school, the students and their parents.

She said fund was raised among members of the association as every member was passionate about giving back to their alma mater.

Mrs Runsewe-Abiodun, who is also a consultant paediatrician at the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, noted that the cost would have been more, but for the direct labour employed in some aspects of the work which lasted 18 months.

This, she said, saved the association up to a total of N10 million.

While noting that the gesture is not the first intervention by the association in  recent years, she revealed that the association on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the school raised up to N20 million to do landscaping, pavement interlocking, erection of new entrance gate, planting of flowers, among others for the school.

She said the association had decided to engage two adhoc professional counsellors to attend to current students in the school in career guidance, sexual and sexuality issues, as well as adhoc teachers to teach subjects such as Further Mathematics and Technical Drawing in order to inspire students to study engineering courses.

She said the overall goal is to ensure the school sustains the production of well-rounded girls for national development.

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents

In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. This report x-rays the lives and experiences of residents in getting clean, potable and affordable water amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in the state.