Dangote Fertiliser Limited (DFL) has constructed and handed over to the Lagos State Basic Education Board (SUBEB), a multi-million naira modern block of classroom and other infrastructures.
The project according to the company was to meet the quest of its host community’s for quality education by way of provision of teaching materials and conducive environment.
The donation of the school, which is meant to serve the Abejoye community in Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos is coming on the heels of provision of empowerment to farmers in the area whose land falls into the area taken over by the state government and designated as part of the free trade zone.
According to the Dangote Fertilser management, the classrooms, built as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility efforts of the company is to serve as replacement for the Abejoye Primary School which incidentally was part of the free trade zone area allocated to Dangote Fertiliser Limited, but relocated to Abejoye community. It consists of staff rooms, head teacher’s office, toilet facilities, power generator and borehole.
Speaking at the handover ceremony in Lagos, the group executive director, Strategy Capital Projects and Portfolio Development, Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, pledged the company’s continuous commitment to the provision of quality education, not only within the host community but in the country at large.
According to him, Dangote’s support for educational development involves assisting host communities to provide sustainable and qualitative education that ultimately reaches all the people. This, he said, involves active consultation with the host communities’ stakeholders at stages of development planning, implementation and evaluation.
He said, “We, as a company believe that education is the passport to the future and that an investment in knowledge pays the best interest. We are keen to develop, educate and empower local youth and we are achieving these objectives through various interventions such as the award of scholarship to 50 students selected across our host communities as well as the training of 200 young people in several vocational skill areas such as plumbing, electrification, carpentry, welding and others.
“The second phase of this training programme commenced in September and we are training another batch of 200 local youth draw from different communities covering Ibeju-Lekki and Epe Local Government Area.”
Edwin disclosed that the company embarked on diverse initiatives aimed at developing the local institutions within its host communities to enable them drive their own development initiatives.
Edwin noted that the company also distributed palliatives to its host communities to help cushion the effects of COVID-19.
