Friday, July 6, 2012

Collective Responsibility, A Must For Societal Growth - Fashola …Urges restraint, patience on the roads as winners emerge in 2012 Traffic Safety Advocacy competition Jul 5, 2012 - Pupils drawn from primary and secondary schools in the state on Thursday displayed their vast knowledge about how the roads could be made friendlier for the physically challenged at the finals of the 2012 Be Road Friendly (BRF) Competition with Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) asserting that the way forward lies in having a responsible and collective leadership from everyone. The Governor who spoke at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa venue of the event organised by the Lagos State School Traffic Safety Advocacy Programme added that this is not a time for finger pointing as to who should carry the can for the current state of things but to have a responsible leadership where everyone plays his part. He noted that it would require the participation of every member of the community to build the kind of state that they want as well as ensure that the people build the kind of City- state where the children can go out in the same way the generation of children before them could safely go out. The Governor said going by the content of the various presentations by the children they have spoken loudly and in unison that the parents are hurting them and are resolute about what they want in terms of road safety and would go to any length to achieve it. He added that the question to the adults should be: "Do we want to be part of this or we want to be left behind by them?".

Fashola Visits, Offers Scholarship To Students Of Vocational Centre For The Blind As He Turns 49

un 28, 2012 - As has been his tradition since the last five years, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Thursday celebrated his 49th birthday with students of the Nigeria Society for the Blind's Vocational Training Centre in Oshodi offering annual scholarships to the students and support for the development projects of the school. In his remarks at the occasion, Governor Fashola said the State Government would give yearly scholarships to the full capacity of inmates in the school as a way of showing appreciation to the founders, the Board of Trustees and management of the institution for the selfless service they render to the society. Governor Fashola said in the last five years, his administration has not only put in place a legislation to protect the physically challenge in the society, it has taken concrete steps to show a consciousness of the needs of the group. Among others, he said, Government had made it mandatory to include ramps and walkways while building hospitals, schools, courts and roads especially for the use of the physically challenged as a matter of law enacted by Government which sets guidelines about what it should do to give the physically challenged the opportunity to live a useful and fruitful life. The Governor, however, expressed dismay that some of the walkways have been turned to trading posts. He hinted that Government would continue to enforce the law to check those who fail to comply with the directive to keep the walkways strictly free for the purpose for which they are built. "It is not the money. It is the consciousness that they have abilities and we support them in living useful and fruitful lives", the Governor said adding, "Therefore, when we build roads, we must have walkways and this is what you see in many of the roads that the Lagos State Government is building today; pedestrian walkways to separate them from motorists". Appealing to the private sector to also contribute in making life more meaningful for the physically challenged, Governor Fashola declared, "Almost all the public structures we have built in the last five years – courts, hospitals and schools - have ramps where we cannot provide lift".