To address the issue of flooding, the Lagos State government through its Resilience Office (LASRO) has sensitised students of schools across its six education districts on both urban and personal resilience.

The sensitisation programme was conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Basic and Secondary education.

Speaking at the workshop themed, ‘Nurturing Resilience Thinking in Students of Public Secondary Schools: Preparing for a Changing World’, Chief Resilience Officer, Dr. Folayinka Dania, explained the need to educate the students to develop the value of resilience.

She said the purpose of the programme was to mainstream resilience thinking in students of public secondary schools.

“We want to entrenched resilience value in the students, which will help Lagos State realise its dividends  in the future.

“This is one of the commitments of Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to equip the students with the soft skills they need to be more resilient today and in the future,” she added.

According to Dania, urban resilience is the resilience of the city, which is the capacity of Lagos, in this case, to survive despite any stress or shock it experiences whether it is flooding, fire outbreak, building collapse, traffic congestion, among others.

On personal resilience, she pointed out that the students must be equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to face any challenges as students and be better people.

“After this programme, we expect the students to go back to their schools, communities and parents to be resilience ambassadors and practice what we have taught them,” she said

The guest lecturer, Mrs. Williams Oluwatoyin, tasked the students to be resilient, saying it would help them to get through difficult circumstances.

She encouraged the students not to be discouraged when passing through shocks and the stress of life, advising them to devise their own coping mechanisms to tackle situations.

Oluwatoyin said actions taken by the government through LRS implementation to improve resilience in Lagos State include expanding ICT education in public primary and secondary schools; improving waste collection and disposal; consideration for people with disabilities; training residents on technical and vocational skills and provision of public toilets.