On a sweltering July morning in 2025, the newly sworn-in Executive Chairman of Itire Ikate LCDA, Hon. Oluwafemi Daniel Oduanyo, walked into Aguntasolo Primary School in Airways Ward and met a scene that would haunt any leader. The compound was a swamp. Classrooms sat on islands of cracked concrete while murky floodwater swallowed play areas, soaked books, and chased pupils home. For years, learning had drowned here every rainy season. That day, with his management team and legislators beside him, Chairman Oduanyo did not make promises. He made a plan.
The menace that stole a school’s future
Aguntasolo Primary School was once a pride of Itire. But unchecked flooding turned it into a symbol of neglect. During heavy rains, water rose ankle-deep inside classrooms, forcing teachers to suspend lessons and parents to withdraw their children. Desks rotted. The stench of stagnant water replaced the sound of morning assembly. Enrolment plummeted. Though the statutory responsibility to repair and renovate public primary schools rests with the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB never intervened. The school’s glory faded, and with it, the hope of hundreds of families in Airways Ward.
A leader’s walk that changed everything
Upon assumption of office in July 2025, Chairman Oduanyo embarked on a joint assessment tour of all primary schools in the LCDA. Aguntasolo stopped him in his tracks. “We met Aguntasolo Primary School like this,” he would later recount, “and it made us set plans on the way to rescue the school and pupils from this menace.” Where others saw a SUBEB problem, he saw an Itire Ikate problem. And Itire Ikate problems, he believes, deserve Itire Ikate solutions. That conviction birthed the Renewed Hope Agenda for Aguntasolo.
Engineering hope with interlocking stones
The Chairman’s response was swift and technical. Rather than cosmetic patchwork, his team ordered the complete filling, grading, and flooring of the Aguntasolo compound with durable interlocking stones. Engineers raised the ground level to defeat the flooding, created proper drainage channels, and laid a new, child-friendly surface across the entire premises. The intervention was deliberate: create a dry, safe, and dignified space where learning could thrive year-round, rain or shine.
A new face, a returned glory
Today, Aguntasolo Primary School wears a new face. The once waterlogged compound is now a neat mosaic of interlocking stones. Pupils run freely at break time where they once tiptoed through puddles. Teachers no longer stack benches to escape rising water. The air is clear, the classrooms are dry, and the school bell rings with renewed authority. The physical transformation has restored more than infrastructure — it has restored confidence.
Parents are coming home
The most powerful endorsement has come from families themselves. Parents who had withdrawn their wards due to the hazardous conditions are returning them in growing numbers. “Students that have been withdrawn from the school are all enjoined to return to a better academic environment,” the Chairman announced, and the community listened. Enrolment is climbing because safety is back, and with safety comes learning. For a working-class ward like Airways, this means children no longer have to trek far or pay private fees to access decent education.
Beyond mandate, into mission
Hon. Oduanyo is quick to acknowledge that primary school renovation is SUBEB’s job. But leadership, he insists, is about results, not excuses. By taking responsibility for Aguntasolo, the Chairman demonstrated a brand of governance that refuses to outsource the welfare of his people. It is the Renewed Hope Agenda in action — identifying critical community pain points and solving them with speed, quality, and accountability. In doing so, he has set a template for local government intervention that complements, rather than waits on, state agencies.
The people of Itire Ikate have a working Chairman
From Itire to Ijeshatedo, from Airways to Coker, the message is now clear: Itire Ikate LCDA has a Chairman who sees, who listens, and who works. The Aguntasolo story is not an isolated gesture; it is evidence of a leadership philosophy that puts people first. Roads, drainage, healthcare, education — the administration has shown it will enter the mud to lift its communities out of it. Hon. Oluwafemi Daniel Oduanyo has proven that local government can be the closest, fastest engine of hope.
A call to renewed partnership
With Aguntasolo’s lost glory returned, the Chairman’s work invites a new covenant with the people. To parents: bring your children back; the school is ready. To teachers: teach with pride; your environment now matches your effort. To the pupils: dream again; your future is no longer on hold. And to all residents of Itire Ikate LCDA: pay attention. The flooding that once swallowed lessons has been defeated by vision and interlocking stones. In Hon. Oduanyo, you have not just an officeholder, but a builder, a responder, and a Chairman who works.
The bell at Aguntasolo rings differently now — not just for class, but for hope renewed.
BY: PASTOR LEO OFFOR
CPS to Hon Oluwafemi Daniel Oduanyo Executive Chairman
Itire Ikate LCDA Lagos
