LASPARK TAKES CHILDREN ON ‘IKEJA CITY TOUR’
The General Manager of Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency, LASPARK, Mrs. Balikiss Adebiyi-Abiola has underscored the need to preserve the rich history of the Centre of Excellence, saying that one of the ways in which the Agency brings the younger generation closer to the history, culture and tourism sites of Lagos is through its programme tagged ‘Ikeja City Tour’.
According to her, the Ikeja City Tour initiative was specifically designed for children desirous of familiarising themselves with the sites and scenes of the city of Lagos either as part of their school excursion tours or as a way of enjoying their holidays with family members and relatives.
Adebiyi-Abiola, speaking recently at the Johnson, Jakande and Tinubu (JJT) Park during one of the tours organised by LASPARK for some schools in Lagos State, said that it was expedient for parents and teachers to embrace the initiative to further educate and enrich the knowledge of their wards and also allow pupils to have practical contact with some very important places in Lagos State.
She explained that Ikeja City Tour was not just an excursion or tourism experience but an avenue of increasing the knowledge base of the children
She added that more importantly, the visitation of the selected places and monuments would also ignite the passion of selfless service, dignity and hard-work in the children as exemplified in the lives of some martyrs of the State and what they stood for.
In her words “As I have said, this platform provides an opportunity for the children to have fun and also learn at the same time but in a relaxed atmosphere while also enjoying the serenity of the environment and city tour”.
The General Manager asserted that with the level of enthusiasm shown by the children and their parents for the city tour coupled with the success rate recorded in previous editions of the programme, the Agency is further encouraged to sustain the initiative and even make its subsequent editions more encompassing and interesting for the participants.
The school children, who were conveyed in a double-decker bus to different places within and around Ikeja, the capital of Lagos, visited places like the location of the Three Wise of Lagos by Jobi Fele Way, Alausa; the Statue of the Late Sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo by the roundabout close to Lagos Television, LTV; the effigy of the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and popular musician, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti by the Allen Round-out; the Ikeja City Mall; and the seat of the Lagos State Government at Alausa Secretariat Ikeja among others.
One of the children who took part in the tour, Enoch Oluwademilade Odunlade, speaking on behalf of his colleagues said, “We enjoyed the narratives given to us by our Tour Guide who explained to us the importance of each of the places we visited as well as the contributions of some important persons to the development of Lagos and the country at large”.