Piqued by the infrastructural decay in his alma mata, the former Speaker Momoh Jimoh Lawal, has called on Governor Yahaya Bello to rescue Lenon Memorial College, Okene from total collapse.
The lawmaker, who represents Okene II constituency in the Kogi State House of Assembly, made the call on Saturday while donating two blocks of six class rooms to the school. He built and equipped the classrooms as part of his donation as the school marks her golden jubilee.
Lawal said it has become expedience for Kogi state government to declare state of emergency on infrastructural decay in secondary schools across the state. He lamented that students are now studying under harsh and inhabitable conditions.
According to him, the Lenon Memorial College’s contribution to his mental and socio-economic advancement was all he needed to confront life challenges. He said the donation of the two blocks of classrooms was his modest way of given back to the school that has made him.
The former speaker, while thanking the Anglican Communion to have established the school in 1967 in a Muslim dominated community, said the school has given them hope and brought oneness to the people of the area across religious lines.
“Anglican Communion came here and established a school in a Muslim dominated community which today has given people like me hope and has fostered unity among students and teachers alike as we interacted without borders.
“While the teachers acted as candle, consuming themselves to light the way for us, we as students then were our brothers keepers. In oneness, we played together irrespective of various backgrounds and in oneness, we shared our pains,” he recalled.
He noted that the vision of the founding fathers of the school to make it a torch bearer for the community became an inspiration to his fertile mind. He stressed that he was fulfilled by the donation to the school which was a beacon of light to him.
“LMC Ageva is so unique in my development. I came here in 1980 and left in 1985 and came here as a civil servant spending 17 years, leaving here to venture into politics and in my first tenure in the State Assembly, I became the Speaker of the House of Assembly. With this background, I promised to come back to contribute my quota for its greatness.
“I therefore call on all the former students to come back with their resources as a mark of honour to give facelift to the school which is currently suffering from infrastructural decay”, he said.
