Whitney: Chrisland School violated child protection policy – Lagos social officer

A Deputy Director with the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development, Mr Yakubu Abisogun, on Monday, told an Ikeja High Court that Chrisland School Ikeja failed to comply with the state’s safeguarding and child protection policy.
Abisogun, a Level 16 social wellbeing officer, said the ministry’s findings showed that the school’s preparedness for emergencies during the inter-house sport was close to none.
He said the school had just one nurse and there was no available ambulance to convey any student to the hospital in case of any emergency situation.
The witness, who was led in evidence by the Director of Department of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Dr Babajide Martins, said he was the state’s coordinator for all the districts.
The witness noted that there were over 1,722 private and public secondary schools, and they were divided into districts based on their locations.
He said the school did not have a designated Child Safeguarding Protection Policy personnel as required by the Safeguarding Executive Order of the state.
According to him, the policy demanded that there should be a retainer hospital that was close to the venue but in the case of Chrisland, there was none.
“The designated safety protection child policy officer takes the lead responsibility in terms of risk and every other information surrounding the place of event of such magnitude but in case of Chrisland School, they did not have any.
“We got to know about the incident at Chrisland School through the social media.
“We have a Safeguarding and Child Protection Alliance group, it comprises of all relevant agencies that ensures child safety.
“We called for an emergency virtual meeting immediately we heard of the issue,” he said.
The witness further told the court that findings showed the school had over 556 students out of which 377 were prepared to participate.(NAN)