A vocational center, Lagos State School Leavers Modern Apprenticeship, has been inaugurated by the Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola for street urchins, popularly known as Area boys in a bid to get them off the streets.
The center which was inaugurated on Tuesday is expected to not only provide a base for young school leavers to acquire vocational skills but also provide a base for the urchins to be trained without fee.
At the inauguration of the center, Mr Fashola noted that most of the urchins dropped out of school and did not have good parental care.
According to him, the situation the urchins found themselves forced them into taking drugs and other vices, adding that “these youth if trained could be very useful members of the society. That is why we feel it is imperative to train these miscreants.”
He explained that this scheme and amongst many others are responsible for the fall in crime in the state. “This is what we have been doing to secure the state from crime. Before 2001, you could not walk on the streets of Lagos without being molested by these miscreants. We have about 17 other skill acquisition centers to arrest the situation and prevent crimes.” he said
