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Tag: Babatunde Fashola

  • Fashola inaugurates Water Board

    Fashola inaugurates Water Board

    Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola yesterday inaugurated the Governing Board of the State Water Regulatory Commission.

    The five-man board is chaired by Mr. Taiwo Adesanya Shebioba. Mrs. Tanwa Basirat Koya is the Executive Secretary.

    Members are Mr. Abimbola Onafowokan, Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun and Mr. Adedoyin Owolabi as members.

    Urging them to ensure adequate water supply in the state, Fashola said the task before them is enormous, “considering the large bodies of water disappearing from the surface of the earth”.

    He said: “You were all recommended by your various professional associations and your responsibilities are enormous. You will be the think-tank for the state on how to optimise water and regulate the commission.”

    The governor urged the board to sensitise the people on environmental protection and the dangers of polluting water sources.

    He said: “We have been telling our people to stop burying bodies at home and digging boreholes beside graves. You might just be taking water from decomposed bodies and such has given rise to the prevalence of cancer related diseases.”

    Fashola said the state government was resolute in its 10-year plan to ensure adequate water supply in Lagos, adding that work is ongoing to improve the efficiency of the Ishasi Water Works, Oto Ikosi Water Works, Adiyan Water Works and Lekki Water Works.

    He said: “When they are up and running, we need advocacy and water conservation, so that we can preserve water and get it to those who need it most.”

    Shebioba thanked the governor for the confidence reposed in the board members.

    He said adequate water supply and management were vital to transforming Lagos into a mega city, adding: “There is need for private sector investment in this sector. With the right tariff policy, our water sector will attract investment within and outside Lagos.”

  • Tambuwal, Fashola, Aganga for group’s lecture

    Tambuwal, Fashola, Aganga for group’s lecture

    House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal; Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) and Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga, are among dignitaries expected at the second edition of the lecture series of January 9 Collective (J9C).

    The theme of the event, will hold tomorrow at the Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, is: Nigeria beyond Petrodollar: A Realistic Perspective.

    Tambuwal will deliver the key note address while Fashola is the host governor and chairman of the lecture.

    The lecture will feature key presentations by officials of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the Lagos Internal Revenue Service.

    The group’s Chairman, Percy Ademokun, noted that with the fluctuating global prices of crude oil and the advent of innovative technology, there was need to start exploring other economically viable avenues to reduce the nation’s current over dependence on oil.

    Oba Adedokun Abolarin, the Orangun of Oke-Ila Orangun, is the royal father of the day.

    The event will also feature panel discussions by seasoned professionals and a communiqué will be issued at the end of the deliberations.

    A statement by the group’s Publicity Secretary, Wole Olagundoye, said J9C was formed on January 9, 2012, in the wake of the anti-fuel price hike protests (Occupy Nigeria).

  • No rift with executive, says Lagos Assembly

    No rift with executive, says Lagos Assembly

    There is no rift between the legislature and the executive in Lagos State, the House of Assembly said yesterday.

    The clarification followed allegations of in-fighting between the two arms , which has reportedly caused a delay in the passage of the 2014 Appropriation Bill.

    The House, at its late plenary on Monday, said the delay was to allow thorough work on the proposed budget.

    Govenor Babatunde Fashola has sought the re-ordering of the budget proposal to accommodate an additional N500 million overhead cost in the Office of the Secretary to the State Government.

    The governor, in his letter to the House, stated that the additional sum should be deducted from N2 billion earlier budgeted for the general overhead in the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget.

    The Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, explained that the business of the House was to make laws for good governance, one of which is the budget.

    “We have to look into it as thoroughly as we can, while maintaining a cordial relationship with the executive.

    “Our governor presented the budget earlier than other states but of course, his is also the most sophisticated compared to other states.

    “So, the House has been made to look at it in all ramifications.

    “I assure Lagosians that there is no problem between the executive and legislative. We are doing our job as we are supposed to,” Ikuforiji said.

    The speaker also reassured Lagosians that the budget would be passed in due course. “In a few days, it will be over,” he said.

    Chairman, House Committee on Budget and Economic Planning Mudasiru Obasa said all outstanding documents from relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have been submitted to the committee and the budget report is due for presentation at the next sitting.

    He said: “I make bold to say that there is no friction whatsoever between us and the executive.

    “We have a good relation with the executive but not to the detriment of the independence of this House,” Obasa said.

  • Traders resettled as Fashola opens market

    Traders resettled as Fashola opens market

    Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola yesterday commissioned the Isopakodowo Market in Oshodi and urged market men and women to desist from street trading.

    Fashola said the market was provided to facilitate the resettlement of traders who once traded on the Oshodi rail line.

    He explained that the ultra-modern market comprises 571 shops out of which 374 had been allotted to the rail-line traders, while 50 were handed over to the Market Women Association in line with his promise to their departed leader, Alhaja Abibat Mogaji.

    The governor, who said the remaining shops would be allotted in due course to interested persons, urged occupants of the market to resist the temptation of setting up extension or trading on the car park. He also urged them to maintain the toilets and generating set provided in the complex.

    While commending the role of the late Alhaja Abibat Mogaji during the construction of the market, he urged the traders to vacate the roads for free traffic flow.

    Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Dr Obafemi Hamzat said the market was another signature of the government to develop every sphere of the state, adding that the market consists of 22 toilets, fire-fighting equipment and 64 Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras.

    He assured that government would continue to improve market infrastructure to discourage street trading.

  • Lagos names Gbagada Recreation Park after Aka-Bashorun

    Lagos names Gbagada Recreation Park after Aka-Bashorun

    lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola yesterday inaugurated the Recreational Park and Garden in Gbagada Phase II, named after a former President of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), the late Chief Alao Aka-Bashorun.

    The late Aka Bashorun, who founded the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), died in October 2005.

    Shortly before unveiling the bronze-made bust of the late rights activist, Fashola said the significance of the garden would add value to the residents.

    He said: “In 2007 when I assumed office, I promised to build and reclaim all the parks and garden in the state. People complained but I did this to protect life and property. The protection of life and property doesn’t begin and end with guns or hospitals, rather it lies with sanitation and well-being. And nothing can be healthier than a clean environment.”

    He said more than 180 parks and gardens have been reclaimed and redeveloped in different parts of the state. He said over five million trees have been planted since he assumed office.

    He added that a number of prominent residents of the state “have asked me what will happen to the trees when I leave office next year. In order to cater for this, we have set up an agency to create and maintain the parks and gardens. That is the Lagos State Parks and Garden (LASPARK).”

    He extolled the virtues of the late Aka-Bashorun, who, he said, stood up for the oppressed in the country, noting that he was one of the heroes “who sacrificed their lives for people like me to stand here today”.

    He added: “It was important to begin writing their stories even if they are no longer physically present with us. We can immortalize their memory. We believe that when all of us are gone, the next generation will ask who is this and this.

    “This was how we started with the Beko Ransome Kuti memorial park and we move to commissioning of the Prof. Ayodele Awojobi and the Gani Fawehinmi Park, which became an international park due to the role it played as the venue for people to demand for their rights in 2012. All these are great men. This will tell everyone that this is a land of great men and women.”

     

  • Insecurity, poor infrastructure worry residents

    Insecurity, poor infrastructure worry residents

    Residents of Masafejo community in Oshodi area of Lagos State yesterday appealed to Governor Babatunde Fashola to arrest the insecurity of lives and property and poor living condition of dwellers in the community.

    They made the appeal when the governor, accompanied by members of his cabinet, visited the community, which is notorious for harbouring hoodlums.

    A resident, Dare Akinbolusere, said the major challenge facing the community was security, lamenting that unknown persons seek refuge in the community to perpetrate evil acts.

    “People within the age of six and 10, once they fall out with their parents or for any other reason, they leave their homes and come here to stay. These are some of the boys that roam the streets in the wee hours of the day and at night,” he said.

    Some leaders of the community, while appealing to the governor to upgrade the community, noted that many great men who had served the nation in various capacities in the past once lived in the community.

    Fashola said he visited the area following reports that hoodlums often take refuge there after carrying out nefarious activities.

    He added that he was out to see how government could improve the quality of lives of residents.

    He decried a situation whereby some residents had turned the roads in the area into business centres and parking lot, saying that the trend hampers development.

    Fashola, who promised government intervention, urged the residents to organise themselves and provide land for government to build blocks of houses for the community.

    He added that any move by the government to develop the area must come with some discomfort and concession which the residents must give. “No doubt, conditions here are not too good. I am sure you residents do not like to continue to live here this way. If you really don’t like to continue to live this way and you need help, we will help you to redevelop this place.

    “We will help you to redesign this place so that you can still build on your property and get amenities like schools and so on. But you need to provide the land for us to do this. So, go and meet and tell us when you are ready so that we can begin to take the necessary steps,” the governor said.

  • Fashola named among 100 top global thinkers

    Fashola named among 100 top global thinkers

    Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), was at the weekend named with other global personalities like Pope Francis of the Vatican; Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, and Mayor of Warsaw Poland, Hanna Gronkiewicz-waltz as 100 Top Global Thinkers for 2013. The rating was conducted by a global personality assessment organisation, Lo Spazio della Politica (LSDP).

    Lo Spazio della Politica, which is based in Italy and Brussels, is an independent Think Tank fashioned after the prestigious Foreign Policy (FP).

    It lists personalities, organisations and institutions that have made significant impact on the lives of people as well as objects, research projects and public policies which have inspired thinking globally.

    It is founded by young Italian scientists and scholars.

    In its list titled “The LSDP Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2013,” the organisation said it included Fashola “because he made Lagos an African hub of innovation, launching the Lagos Innovation Advisory Council, with the help of the Harvard Kennedy School”.

    Fashola has, in the last seven years, received numerous local and international awards as well as recognitions by prestigious global bodies for his innovative and people-oriented leadership.

    Such awards include the 2009 Good Governance Award from the United Kingdom-based African Business Magazine, 2010 Award for Excellence in Leadership of the Martin Luther King Jnr. Foundation.

    His dogged pursuit of renewal of the infrastructure of Lagos as the critical strategy for economic growth and poverty alleviation has also won the state honours from far- away as Australia for undertaking the fastest infrastructure renewal ever in Africa.

    The organisation named Pope Francis as number one “because he reminded the world that the Catholic Church is a Global Power.”

    It placed the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, 31 on its list “because 2013, for better and for worse, has been the year of Abenomics.”

    The organisation stated that the list emphasises mostly political leaders, scientists, businessmen, academics and intellectuals even as it tries to balance the geographical representation between Europe, the United States, Africa and other continents adding, however, that the balance varies on yearly basis.

    The President of South Korea, Park Geun-Hye, was also listed “because she has created a Ministry of Science and Future” while Nigeria’s Adefunke Ekine, Fellow, Echidna Global Scholars Nigeria, got on the list “for her experience in teaching and directing schools in Africa in particular for the promotion of science among female students.”

    Three women, Jenet Yellen, Elvira Nabiullina and Karnit Flug from the United States, Russia and Israel respectively, took the second position in the list “because they showed that the Central Bankers’ Club is not ‘Men Only’ anymore while Brazilian Scientist, Ruth Nussenzweig, made the third position in the list “for her research on malaria and her will to work again with her husband in Brazil at the age of 85.”

    Also included in the list are Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and King Albert 11 of Belgium, “for their role as Monarch innovators in Europe,” the famous Japanese Film Director, Hayao Miyazaki, “because he keeps making adults and children dream even in the years of his retirement.”

    There was also Bill Maris, the Managing Director of Google Ventures, United States, “because he was the first to use a quantitative and algorithmic approach in the field of venture capital.”

  • Fashola named among 100 top global thinkers

    Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) was at the weekend named along with other global personalities like Pope Francis of the Vatican, Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe and Mayor of Warsaw, Poland, Hanna Gronkiewicz-waltz as 100 Top Global Thinkers for 2013 by a global personality assessment organization, Lo Spazio della Politica (LSDP).

    Lo Spazio della Politica which is based in Italy and Brussels is an independent Think Tank fashioned after the prestigious Foreign Policy (FP), which lists personalities, organizations and institutions that have made significant impact on the lives of people as well as objects, research projects and public policies which have inspired thinking globally. It is founded by young Italian Scientists and scholars.

    In its  list titled “The LSDP Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2013”, the organization said it listed Governor Fashola “Because he made Lagos an African hub of innovation, launching the Lagos Innovation Advisory Council, with the help of the Harvard Kennedy School”.

    The organisation, which named Pope Francis as number one”because he reminded the world that the Catholic Church is a Global Power”, and the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, as 31 on its list “Because 2013, for better and for worse, has been the year of Abenomics”, said its list was an opportunity to identify some of the trends in global Politics, Science and other aspects of life for any particular year.

    The organisation stated that the lists emphasizes mostly political leaders, scientists, businessmen, academics and intellectuals even as it tries to balance the geographical representation between Europe, the United States, Africa and other continents adding, however, that the balance varies on yearly basis.

    The President of South Korea, Park Geun-Hye, was also listed “Because she has created a Ministry of Science and Future”, while Nigerian’s Adefunke Ekine, Fellow, Echidna Global Scholars, Nigeria, got on the list “For her experience in teaching and directing schools in Africa; in particular for the promotion of Science among female students”.

    Three women, Jenet Yellen, Elvira Nabiullina and Karnit Flug from the United States, Russia and Israel respectively, took the second position in the list “because they showed that the Central Bankers’ Club is not ‘Men Only’ anymore while Brazilian Scientist, Ruth Nussenzweig, made the third position in the list “for her research on Malaria and her will to work again with her husband in Brazil at the age of 85”.

    Also included in the list are Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and King Albert 11 of Belgium, “for their role as Monarch innovators in Europe”, the famous Japanese Film Director, Hayao Miyazaki “because he keeps making adults and children dream even in the years of his retirement” and Bill Maris, the Managing Director of Google Ventures, United States, “Because he was the first to use a Quantitative and algorithmic approach in the field of venture capital.

    Other personalities on the organization’s 2013 list include Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov ” for his diplomatic skills shown in the discussions over Syria”, Human Rights Activist, Musimbi Kanyoro of Kenya “for her career defending women’s rights which brought her to the Head of Global Fund for Women, Vice President of the Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank, Inger Andersen, “for her work on sustainable development”, and Professor Calestous Juma of Harvard Kennedy School, Kenya, “for his Faith on new Africa-based on innovation, science and research”, among others.

  • Fashola calls for unity

    Fashola calls for unity

    Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) has advocated unity of purpose among Nigerians to solve the nation’s problems.

    In a goodwill message to the residents, the governor said the problems bedevilling the country were mainly man-made and would be collectively solved with the people’s unity.

    He said when the people agree to remove any impediment to the nation’s progress, the myriad problems facing the country would be thus be surmounted.

    Fashola noted that the country’s problems, whether economic, social or political, were rooted in ethnic and religious intolerance.

    The governor said the solution to the nation’s challenges was in the people’s belief in the Nigerian Project and their resolve to work for the country of their collective dreams.

    He said: “Looking back at all that we went through in the past year, perhaps, the time has come for us all to take an introspective look at ourselves in an attempt to get to the root of our problems and challenges. The truth of the matter is that whether it is the downturn in the economy or our worsening security situation, the challenges are traceable to ourselves.”

    “We have, as a result of myopic self and group interests, created an octopus that is threatening to devour our collective heritage. That octopus is embedded in the twin evils of ethnic and religious intolerance.

    “Recently, I had the privilege of attending the Command Performance of Kakadu: The Musical, and it reminded me of the Nigeria of the early post-Independence era, when it did not matter where you came from. It is a story that we all must imbibe in order to recreate that glorious era when we were all Nigerians, though tribes and tongues and religions differed. It is set against the background of a newly Independent Nigeria brimming with hope, dreams and expectations. So, we have a reference base.

    “The hopes, dreams and expectations must not be lost; we must resolve this New Year to return to ourselves and give impetus to them.

    “To do this successfully, we must begin to believe in Nigeria and the Nigerian Project once more. We must start by defining for ourselves the kind of future that we want. It is only when we agree on this that we can unite our efforts towards recreating the Nigeria of our collective dreams and make it come true.”

  • ‘Use National Sports Festival to develop new talents’

    ‘Use National Sports Festival to develop new talents’

    Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has said that the National Sports Festival should remain as a grassroots sporting programme for the development of new talents.

    According to Fashola, this would always provide the nation a pool of talents to draw from when the old athletes leave the stage.

    Fashola stated this at the end of the 5th edition of the Governor’s Belt boxing competition held at the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Centre in Yaba.

    The governor also appealed to the State’s Boxing Association to organise enlightenment programmes to educate boxing spectators and lovers on the new rules and regulations of the game.

    Addressing a mixed audience of boxing enthusiasts, government functionaries, local and foreign dignitaries, traditional rulers and school pupils, Fashola expressed delight at the large number of talents being produced through the various grassroots sporting events organised by the State.

    “This is why I have always insisted that the National Sports Festival should be retained as a grassroots sporting event where we can discover and develop new talents instead of an open event where only already developed talents participate. It will ensure that we will always have a pool of talents for any competition at any time,” he said.

    The governor said the enlightenment programmes have become expedient as a result of the fast changes going on in the game and the need for both boxers and spectators to be conversant with the new rules.