'HISTORICAL' ABARANJE SECONDARY SCHOOL: KEHINDE JOSEPH REASSURES ON DECEMBER DELIVERY DATE AS WORK SETS FOR CASTING OF THE DECKING

'BUILDING OF THE SCHOOL IS HISTORICAL IN THE ANALS OF POLITICS AND GOVERNANCE IN LAGOS STATE AND NIGERIA AS A WHOLE’ – ANALYSTS

Hon Kehinde Joseph (in white) with the Contractor on the decking floor of the building

Story by Razaq Adedeji Jimoh

ASSURANCES on the December delivery date of the “historical” Abaranje Comprehensive High School has again been reaffirmed by the sole sponsor and private financier, Hon Kehinde Olaide Joseph. The Lagos State Assembly’s Chairman of the House Committee on Public Finance gave this reassurance after he visited the project site to inspect the pace and stage of works exactly two months after he turned the surds for laying the foundation. Kehinde Joseph is a member of the Assembly representing Alimosho Constituency 02.

The building of this Abaranje Secondary school is now being described as historical in consensus of opinion by observers of politics and governance in Lagos State and Nigeria as a whole, especially that it is coming as the utmost altruistic representative value a state legislator could deliver to his Constituency. This observation is made against the backdrop of similar gift of a direly needed public Junior Secondary School by the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, now the Chief of Staff to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila. This what our analysis of this Kehinde Joseph's initiative will centre upon as he made this quote in line with the philosophy of his membership of the State Government:

Fondly called “KJ” by admirals and political allies, Hon Joseph who visited the project site on Sunday was visibly elated at the pace of work when he saw that it had reached the decking stage. He described what he met on ground as a cause for his “personal vote of confidence” in the contractor handling the job.

He noted that not only was the contractor moving the pace of work to his satisfaction but also delivering expected quality job. He revealed that the report of “excellent job quality” he was getting from the independent state’s statutory supervisory engineers was quite impressive.

He said: “At my visit to the project site of ongoing Abaranje Comprehensive High School today, I have a cause to reiterate my satisfaction with the pace of works so far in two months of our formal turning of the surds to lay the foundation. The contractor expressed confidence that, given the significant achievement within the first two months, we are well positioned to meet the project's delivery timeline.

"Thus, it gives me the joy to again reassure the beneficiary Abaranje/Okerube communities that I am deeply committed to the December delivery date when we shall all witness the takeoff of academic sessions with the first 700 beneficiary pupils in a vision to gift tens of thousands of our children the light of life in about the next first five years as the short-term social benefit of this project. My focus remain steadfastly on community development, recognising the profound impact this project will have on our collective identities and lives of our citizens. Like I always say from my conviction of the set goal, thousands of students will benefit directly and numerous employment opportunities will be created. I am deeply committed to public service and I hold that to be my divine calling to humanity service.

“And as a matter of fact, My joy today goes beyond the truth that I am fully satisfied with the pace of work that has come to the decking stage in the short while. I am equally more than impressed with the excellent job quality I’ve been getting as feedback from all independent state supervisory engineers statutorily charged with the responsibility to ensure standards in such a building construction meant to host about a thousand of pupils and teachers on almost a daily basis. As a public servant, and a law giver for that matter, we made the law to enforce such standards. It thus makes the reason I take the job quality as the foremost priority irrespective of the desirable cost to invest in that. That is why I cannot thank the contractor enough for this beautiful report of job quality I’m getting”.

From what Civics Weekly met on ground upon its independent inspection visit to the site on Tuesday, it was also not too difficult to discern the job quality emphasised by the Honourable. The use of Marine plywood for the concrete base of the beams, columns and the decking in view should suffice enough for the verity. And for the expertise testimonials to get from independent building expert, our correspondent revealed his coincident meeting with Engr Ojelade at the site.

The community pointman was quoted to be full of praises for Kehinde Joseph for being too generous in endowing the structure with "too much enough pillars". He described it as one of the best ever to be obtained anywhere in the world.

PLEASE VIEW THE VIDEO CLIP OF THE DECKING UPDATE

ANALYSIS OF THE PROJECT'S UNIQUENESS IN NIGERIA'S GOVERNANCE HISTORY

In a special opinion sampling from political analysts, not a few of them described the sole financing of such a huge project by a State Assembly legislator as historical in the matter of governance in Nigeria. They point to its uniqueness in that it must have taken a deep compassion for any legislator to go beyond a case of "Constituency Project" to give what is found to be a dire need of a part of his constituency. While some are wont to believe that Hon Kehinde Joseph might not be deemed to have set the precedent in Lagos State, indeed Nigeria as a whole, in kind of donation of a whole school building built from the scratch and from his pocket like this, Civics Weekly would want to say that might be so only to the extent of Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, being the first to inaugurate his own about two months ahead of the KJ's December date set to deliver his own.

The new Gbajabiamila Junior Secondary School, Itire-Ikate, Surulere: photo source: The Punch online

Just in the exact notion of the Kehinde Joseph's cause to build the coming Abaranje Comprehensive High School as surely needed by the community, Hon Gbajabiamila, now the Cbief of Staff to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, delivered a U-shaped three-story building for Itire-Ikate Junior Secondary School to takeoff just a couple of days back -- October 22nd to be precise. He said the event was "not (about) merely opening a new institution but the birth of opportunity, progress, and renewed hope for generations to come", adding that "for the first time in the history of Itire-lkate, this community now has a public secondary school within its borders".

It is in the light of this history making that Hon Joseph's gift of a first ever Secondary school to Abaranje/Okerube communities not only in the about 26years of this democracy, but the first since their creation. It is first worthy of note that the both givers of schools are legislators when we begin to evaluate the similarities they share. But their depth of compassion would show them to not one of the ordinary. They are one who would not bat an eyelid to give the best to their constituencies as another similarity of value they share. But in relative time of dispensing this value -- to mean their giving back to their societies, Kehinde Joseph may seem to hold the laurel.

Gbajabiama had just been re-elected back into the National Assembly for the fourth time before the President Tinubu poached him into the Executive arm. Amidst those years of representation of Surulere Federal Constituency at the National Assembly, he was a Speaker of the Fedetal parliament for a whole term Assembly. But here is Kehinde Joseph just serving a second Assembly term. It should makes a strong case to praise him for achieving within six years of Assembly membership what Gbajabiamila could be said to have taken 16years to do. This is not to slight Chief of Staff, but to put something on premise and that is to query why the people Surulere have continued to return him back to National Assembly for their representation? the possible answer to get might be their satisfaction with his performance. However, the imication to note about his repeated return is that legislators, especially those of the Lagos stuff, stockup more values to dispense to their constituency the longer they stay in the legislative service.

This was the point of note Hon (Prince) Bisi Yusuf raised at the 10th Annual Lagos State Assembly Stakeholders' Meeting of the Alimosho Constituency 02 when he tacitly raised the motion that Kehinde Joseph should be given the opportunity to return back to the Assembly in 2027. It is good to know that Bisi's proposal is a constitutionally endorsed offer, which the people must be advised to accept. There must be more in the kitty of the Honourable to dispense in years ahead. It is only left for the people of Egbe-Idimu and Igando/Ikotun to grab the opportunity to retain the best hand they have seen at governance.