The Lagos State Government has begun to equip over 100 schoolchildren in riverine communities with swimming skills and safety tips on waterways to avert recording boat mishaps and casualties in the state.
It said that this year’s week-long training edition of the programme would help make the children selected from four public schools sited in riverine communities in Ojo axis of Lagos become better swimmers and take away the phobia attached to waterways.
Speaking on this training, the General Manager of Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA), Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, yesterday, stated that the programme is tagged the “Lagos Water Savvy Kids Program.”
The LASWA boss disclosed that the participants were drawn from Salvation Army primary school, Ikare, Unity Grammar school, Ikare, Local Authority primary school in Ibasa, and Local Authority and Salvation Army primary school in Ibeshe axis of the state.
Emmanuel added that LASWA had partnered with the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and the Dolphin Swim School (DSS), a premier swimming program, serving women and children across the state.
According to him, the partnership aims to instill water confidence in school pupils by teaching them theoretical and practical knowledge on waterways safety, swimming skills, and basic survival techniques in an emergency.
The General Manager further explained that the participating pupils at the event would transfer the acquired knowledge to other colleagues in their various schools under the supervision of their school teachers.
“With this training, school children using the waterways will be more confident, be conscious of their safety, and be self-reliant in an emergency”, he added.
