The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Custom Service, Dr Adewale Adeniyi, on Monday advanced reasons for the agency’s expenditure of a whooping sum of N70 billion on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects across geopolitical zones in the country.

He emphasised that the development was informed by the critical need to bridge infrastructural gaps and create enabling environment for educational advancement and other socioeconomic sectors capable of making life more meaningful for Nigerians.

Speaking during an interview with journalists on the sideline of the commissioning of the renovated Ife Girls High School, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Adeniyi, who disclosed that projects and other infrastructural interventions under CRS were equally spread across the country charged Parents Teachers Associations (PTAs), alumni associations and charitable organisation to prioritise educational needs of students.

Four blocks of classrooms, a laboratory building, staff building, and the principal’s lodge were part of the structures rehabilitated by the Nigeria Custom Service under its CRS projects to improve learning environment and encourage more girls to enrol in public schools.

Adeniyi further stressed that girl child education must be accorded topmost priority in Nigeria with a view to create opportunities for female students to access quality educational services which will create stronger platforms for their future endeavours.

He state, “The level of decay before our intervention in Ife Girls High School was appalling. A practical example was when we entered the laboratory where we pursued squirrels and snakes before we can gain access. This is because the whole place was bushy.

“It was quite huge amount that we have expended on the projects. I am happy that for the Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) in Nigeria Customs Service, we are committed to donate a quarter of our yearly salary into these projects.

“Last year our budget for CSR in January up til now into these interventions was in the region of N70 billion and from there we are able to commit what we have done in this school. You are all products of one school or the other and you don’t want to get to your school and see the level of infrastructural decay we met in this school.

“It is a challenge for all of us and we have to take that as a responsibility. It is practically impossible for the government to do it all alone. The budget they have for education will not support this kind of renovation.

“Like-minded people, Parents Teachers Associations (PTAs), charitable organisation, and foundations will have to prioritise education as it concerns infrastructure.

“We have identified educational facilities in several schools located in all parts of the country where intervention like this can help us improve learning environments and make education attractive to the younger ones.

“This school is 60 years old we felt that we need to do this intervention so that girl child education will be given important place it deserves and I am happy that all other stakeholders are beginning to see that. This includes the old girls association, Osun State government and the Ooni of Ife.

Earlier in her remark, the Principal of Ife Girls High School, Mrs Akinremi Iyabo, lauded the NCS for the initiative of renovation and vowed to ensure proper maintenance of the facilities and good conduct by the students.

“We are grateful for generosity and magnanimous support for the successful completion of this project. This is a great investment in the future of our students and, indeed, in the future of our society, “she posited.