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Lagos
abandons N3.625 billion millennium classrooms project
By Lekan
Sanni,
Correspondent,
Lagos
There are
indications that the Lagos State government might have abandoned the
N3.625b Millennium Classrooms project, 17 months into the second term of
Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.
This,
according to sources, may not be unconnected with the high cost of the
project and paucity of fund.
The Tinubu
administration had promised to build 25 millennium classroom blocks with
at least one in each of the old 20 council areas in the state before the
expiration of its first term in office.
Each of the
classroom blocks was initially estimated to cost N90 million. But by the
time the four built so far by the state government were completed, the
cost per unit had gone up to N145 million.
The four
are located at Ajegunle, (Ajeromi-Ifelodun), Egbeda (Alimosho), Ojodu
(Ikeja) and Agege (Agege).
The
millennium classrooms was one of the projects, which was to be funded from
the N15 billion bond obtained from the capital market in 2002 by the state
government. The project should have been completed by the end of May last
year, but according to a source, this could not be achieved because the
fund was not there.
Other
projects listed for execution were roads construction, millennium housing,
global computerization programmes, millennium micro water works, waste
management and public transportation, among others.
The
government had decided on the classrooms project because of over-crowded
classrooms and inadequate infrastructural facilities in state
schools.
�At
present, classrooms in the state have an average population of over 100
pupils per classroom. A total of about 9,986 classrooms are needed in the
20 education districts in the state. However, there are only 4,491
classrooms currently in good condition,� the state government said in an
abridged prospectus for the bond.
�The
millennium classrooms project involved the construction of twenty-five
blocks of classrooms, which are expected to be completed before the end of
May 2003.
�Each set
of classrooms is expected to cost N145 million. The contract for the
construction of the 25 sets of classrooms is at a total fixed contract
price of N3.625 billion. At least one block of millennium classrooms
should be built in each of the twenty local government areas,� it further
stated.
Reacting to
the development at the weekend, Commissioner for Education, Dr. Kunle
Lawal, said that what the state government is doing now is to concentrate
on existing but old and dilapidated classrooms, some of them without
windows, doors and with the roofs leaking.
The
commissioner however, said that the Millennium Classroom Project has not
been abandoned. �But it does not make sense for government to concentrate
on that project, while pupils in the remaining public schools continue to
suffer neglect,� he stated adding that even if all of them were built by
the government, only a few pupils would benefit.
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