THE Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and the Dolphin Swim School, have partnered to train 200 school pupils on waterways safety, swimming skills in four years.
The Commissioner for Transportation, Mr Oluwaseun Osiyemi, made this known at the swimming training for public schools in Somolu/Bariga Local Council Development Area (LCDA) in Lagos recently.
The swimming training is one of LASWA’s advocacy programmes tagged, “The Lagos Water Savvy Kids Programme.”
Osiyemi said that the initiative, which was in its 4th edition, had been in stages with 50 pupils being trained annually. According to the Lagos State Commissioner of Transportation, “It goes a long way if the children can pass the message of confidence to their parents and break the phobia and fear of water transportation.
“Our waterways is very important to us for transportation. We all know the congestion issues plaguing road transport in Lagos.
“The governor is particular about transportation because moving people and goods from Point A to B is something we have to be intentional about in Lagos, bearing in mind that we have a very small state in size, but with over 22 million people residing in Lagos.”
The commissioner said that government was creating other options to move people around, which was why it introduced the multi-modal transportation – road, rail and water, in Lagos.
Earlier, the General Manager of LASWA, Mr. Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, noted that the programme was to promote swimming culture, and to get more people attuned to the fact that Lagos was surrounded by water.
“This is the fourth edition of the Water Savvy Kids Programme, which is our contribution to ensuring that we get Lagos residents more acquainted with waterways transportation, cleanliness and also sustainability of the waterways system in Lagos State,” he said.
“The programme holds once a year, and this year we have 50 pupils from schools in Somolu and Bariga. And the selection was done by SUBEB through a random selection.
“It must be primary school because we want to start from when they are young, right from the bottom, as part of the pyramid in the educational system,” he said.
Also, Manager/Head of Dolphin Swim School, SopuluchukwuOnuegbu, disclosed that the school had so far trained 200 children since partnering LASWA in the past four years on water safety skills and survival around the water.
