St. Saviour’s School Launches Admin Block, Swimming Pool
Funmi Ogundare
Peace Obi St. Saviour’s School, Ebutte Metta, Lagos, recently commissioned its administration block and swimming pool donated by a foremost businessman, Sir Kessington Adebutu, to boost swimming life skills among the pupils and to ensure that the administrative building becomes a one-stop service office for stakeholders and the community.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, the Chairman, Board of Management, Mr. Tom Ogboi, said the move by Adebutu was aimed at giving back to the school where his children and grandchildren passed through aside being impressed with the quality of education.
“We are here to celebrate a family; the Adebutu family who having gone through this great school believes that it is only honourable to give back to the school. Our records show a long standing association with Adebutu when he took the initial step of sending his first child here.
Our records show that since then, 11 direct children and eight grandchildren have passed through the portals of this school. During my meeting with him, he informed me that he was so impressed with the quality here that he also ensured that many of his extended family came here on sponsorship.”
Ogboi affirmed that swimming would be incorporated into the curriculum of the school as a core subject such that every child would have a swimming lesson during school hours.
“Just as the children come to school with their pens, they will also come to school with their swimming accoutrements when they have swimming on their time-table. The import of this is that before a child leaves St. Saviour’s, he would be proficient in this life skill of swimming.
He appealed to stakeholders to support the school so as to continue to lay a good foundation for the leaders of tomorrow. “We make this appeal because we have no sponsors. All developments here are from our resources or loans from our bankers. We are not for profit, so all monies are invested in the school.”
In his remarks, Adebutu, who also donated N100 million for the funding of the school’s projects, as well as N600,000 for the maintenance of the swimming pool for the next one year, described swimming as a healthy, recreational activity for people of all ages that takes off stress from the body, builds endurance and supports muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness.
He thanked the chairman, the board of management and others who have been supporting the school, saying, “ninety per cent of my children were privileged to pass through the steward of St. Saviour’s Schools and as one of the numerous parents, I am glad I did.”
The wife of the Lagos State Governor, Mrs. Abimbola Fashola, who commissioned the projects, congratulated the school and urged the management to invite other schools in the community to come and swim.
“With this the children can learn to interact with others in the community. The more they use it, the better because you can generate funds from so doing.”
The Chairman, Infrastructure Committee, Mr. Onaro, who pegged the total cost of constructing the pool at N60 million, said the school has put in place safety measures to prevent any form of accident.
“We built it in such a way that will make it look like a mini stadium; there is also a changing room and the toilet block. It’s a fantastic facility. We also considered safety around the swimming pool. Any child that must swim must be under supervision. We have engaged two life guards and swimming coaches.”
On the administrative block he said, “the roof is still as it was in 1951, the original fire alarm is still there, there are some things we did not touch because we wanted to maintain our heritage.”