By Olasunkanmi Akoni
Relief has come the way of the families of school children who lost their lives in a boat mishap on February 13, 2012 as the Lagos State Government at the weekend gave cash as compensation to them. The children, who were ten in number, were on their way to school in Igbede in Ojo Local Government Area when they met their untimely end during a heavy rainstorm.

The state government also distributed three tricycles to the Ojota riverine community of Oto Awori Local Council Development Area, LCDA, as a palliative measure to enable the children to get to their school at Igbede safely instead of having to do so through canoes.

It also flagged-off the newly constructed Ojota to Ese-Offin, four kilometers road to the community so that the children will not have to travel by water anymore.

Speaking at the handing over ceremony, Commissioner for Rural Development, Mr. Cornelius Ojelabi, explained that the state government, after the boat mishap, promised that a palliative measure be put in place pending the time that the state would build a link bridge.

While giving the families of the victims of the boat mishap an undisclosed amount of money as compensation, the Commissioner urged them not to see the money as compensation for the life of their children but rather as a kind gesture of the government in cushioning the effect of their loss, particularly since most of them could not immediately return back to their means of livelihood after the tragic incident.

To ensure smooth and purposeful operation of the tricycles, Ojelabi said the materials would be managed by a five-man committee comprising of two members of Ojota community, two members from Education Authority and one from the LCDA.

Ojelabi went further to appeal to the community to cooperate with the electrical department of his ministry which would be moving to site soon to ensure proper electrification of the community.

He implored them to give maximum support to the engineers and to see the  project as their own, more so as  paucity of funds compelled the Ministry to rely on direct labour for the installation rather than contractors whose bills were considered rather too much.

According to him, contractors invited to do the electrification were asking for between N48 million and N52 million which is even more than the total amount the ministry has for electrification, adding that the department would use only N20 million by direct labour and as a result needed all the support they could get for the project to be successful. He said with the cooperation of the people, “Ojota should have light in the next four months”.