Gboyega Akinsanmi
A Lagos lawmaker, Hon. Lasbat Meranda-Lawal has canvassed the need to strategically reposition the country’s education sector and build capacity of the upcoming generations for sustainable development.
Lasbat Meranda-Lawal, currently representing in Apapa Constituency I, has called on the youths in the state to shun violence and embrace peace while promising to empower them and make self-reliant.
The lawmaker canvassed the position at a recent town-hall meeting in Apapa, where she distributed over 800 educational kits to the representatives of eight schools in her constituency.
The town-hall meetings were held simultaneously across 40 legislative constituencies in the state and attended by party leaders, security chiefs, traders, captains of industries and traditional chiefs among others.
At the Apapa meeting, the lawmaker identified major needs of her constituents to include roads, health and empowering the indigents, thereby promising to present their needs the Lagos State House of Assembly for deliberation and subsequent approval by the state government.
She expressed resolve to do all within her capacity to position her constituency for future benefit, explaining the rationale behind the educational kits to 800 pupils from eight public schools in her constituency.
Meranda-Lawal, thus, called for improvement in the system of education in the country, noting that there is urgent need for strategic development and that the governments should give priority to education.
The lawmaker emphasised the need for governments at all levels to rescue the education sector as a condition for sustainable development, noting that every citizen should be availed the opportunity for personal development.
She said once the pupils “are well-educated, the sky is the starting point for them. I believe so much in empowering the youth. They are the leaders of tomorrow. That is the main reason I am doling out these educational kits to 800 educational kits in all public schools in my constituency.
“We have about eight primary schools in Apapa Constituency I. At least, we are empowering 100 pupils in each of the eight public schools. About 800 pupils benefitted from this initiative. Education and health issues are of so much concern to me, though my primary assignment.
“As a lawmaker, my first job is to make law for the development and prosperity of Lagos. I believe I can make some things happen in my constituency. So, the little I can do as a lawmaker, I will stop doing it, at least for the purpose of making impact on my constituents.
“Only education can provide such opportunity to citizens, therefore, governments at all levels should give priority to education. Education should be given priority and made accessible to all our children.”
She explained the significance of the town-hall meeting, noting that much would be achieved when the constituents are afforded an avenue “to express their views on issues that pertain to their development. The essence of this is to get back to our constituents who elected all of us. Without them, we could not have been elected. So, we are representing them at Lagos State House of Assembly.
“We must intimate them about what government has done since the inauguration of the 8th Assembly. Most importantly, they should be able to express their views as we prepare the 2017 budget,” she added.
