Asiwaju was scared and opposed my nomination at first - Tinubu Ojo

The new Iyaloja General of Nigeria, Chief (Mrs) Folashade Tinubu Ojo has debunked the rumour that her father, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu imposed her as the leader of Nigeria Association of Market Women and Men saying the chieftaincy title is frightening to Asiwaju.
Folashade who was officially installed as Iyaloja General at the Iga Idungaran palace of Oba of Lagos also debunked the rumour that her educational attainment is not beyond Secondary School level.

Speaking with journalists at her office in Ikeja at weekend, Folashade explained that contrary to the reports about town that her father imposed her on the market women and men. She said, “Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is scared and opposed the idea at the beginning when ‘Mama’, Alhaja Abibat Mogaji muted it.

“Those who said my dad imposed me on the association don’t know how he opposed the idea when Mama came up with it. For three separate occasions, Mama kept on pestering my dad that she wants to take over from her as the leader of the association.

“I learnt that it was when it got to a stage when Mama uttered a statement from the deeper side of her heart that if my dad will not want his children to disobey his directives, he should support her desire. It was at this stage that my dad tactically heeds to the demand from Mama,” she said.

“Aside this, I have stand in for Mama as the leader of the association at various occasion since 2010. I have been acting in her capacity while she was alive. I have garnered experience deputizing for Mama since 2010. I have the experience and virtually all the market leaders knows me quite well and I relate very well with them even when Mama is still around,” she explained.

On the leadership role threw on her shoulder, Folashade described her attainment of the President General, Association of Nigerian Market Women and Men as an assignment from God. “To be honest with you, I never thought of becoming Iyaloja in my dream in life. Before now, I have always had ambition to go into politics like my dad but now, such cannot happen any longer. God had said Iyaloja assignment is what HE wants me to do and who am I to say No when God say this is how HE want me to live. I am not the type that queries my creator,” she said.

However, Folashade admitted that despite the fact that her grandmother, Alhaja picked her as successor while she was alive, her choice did not take place with fiat as people thought. “It is not unexpected because for any public position, whenever it is time to choose a candidate, there could be as many aspirants as one could think of but only one will be chosen at the end of the exercise. If the chosen candidate is well accepted by the majority as it happened in my case, other contestants will need to hands down and prepare to work together as a team for the development of the association or political party.

The Iyaloja General admitted that the responsibility of an Iyaloja General is enormous. “There is no way I can do it alone. The job before me is beyond what I can do all alone by myself. I need everybody contribution, support and prayers,” she said adding, “ I will try not only to improve on the record of Mama, Alhaja Abibat Mogaji but will break new grounds of which generations born and yet unborn are to live with.

Police set to check men in uniform’s disobedience to restriction laws on motorcycle usage, abuse of BRT dedicated lanes

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abubakar Umar Manko, has said that the state Security Council had decided to set up a joint taskforce of all the security services, to go after men in uniform who flout restriction laws on use of motorcycles and those of them who abuse the dedicated lanes meant for the use of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) vehicles.

 He revealed this after the weekly State Security Council meeting chaired by Governor Babatunde Fashola at the Lagos House, Marina.

 “We are not very happy about that and that is why we are saying it clearly that we will go after (the men) ourselves and I think that is a warning to other people that would want to disobey these laws, that if we can go after our men they should be prepared for that too,” Manko warned further.

Also responding to a question on importation and storage of fireworks during the festivities, the Commissioner said fireworks are items of restricted use adding that there are laws guiding the importations and usage of such items.

“The Council today agreed that anybody who wants to import these items into the country must follow the rules, must follow the laws because the security agencies will not allow what happened last year to come up again. Therefore, we are going to go after the importers of these items to ensure that they comply with the rules, with the laws, for both importation and usage,”,he said.

Where is the Sunborn Yacht Hotel?

 

Have you noticed that the first African luxury hotel on water, The Sunborn Yacht Hotel, is no longer around?
Yes, it has ‘disappeared’, after more than four years of occupying Lagos waters in Marina and no one knows the whereabouts.
I could remember the former commissioner for tourism, Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, defended the mooring of the N4.5bn luxury yacht with 102 elegantly furnished suites in Lagos Marina. He came up with excuses of repairs and some other ones I can’t recollect now for the ship ‘wasting’ away.
It has disappeared and Lagos State Government is washing its hands off it.
Commissioner for tourism, Oladisun Holloway, allegedly said, “As citizens of the state can’t find it, so is the state government also. The government can’t say precisely where the yacht is berthed at present.
“The state government doesn’t have any commitment in the yacht. And I don’t know why the residents of the state should be interested in whereabouts of the Sunborn yacht”.
Does this means that Afikuyomi worked alone on this? Who actually own that yacht? I rest my case.

World Malaria Day: Lagos promises to sustain malaria control activities

As we mark World Malaria Day, Lagos State Government has promised to continue to sustain and improve upon all activities geared towards malaria control.

This was stated in a press release signed by the state health ministry’s PRO, Jide Lawal. The release listed some of the activities embarked on by the state as the diagnosis of malaria cases and treatment with effective medicines, distribution of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) to achieve full coverage of populations at risk of malaria, and the Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) exercise.

The ministry stated that Lagos State is currently the only state implementing the integrated vector management project which consists of three components; Long Lasting Insecticide Nets (LLINs), Indoor Residual spraying (IRS) and Larviciding.

Larviciding operation primarily attacks the mosquito larva and its ability to breed and has been implemented in Agboyi Ketu and Ikosi Isheri in Kosofe local government area.  Five rounds of larviciding spraying were carried out on over 544 hectares of land and 934,614 estimated numbers of people have been protected. 

It would be recalled that in 2011, the state government distributed 4.2 million LLINs with a target of two nets per household in mind through a mass campaign exercise.

The state has continued to implement the Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) exercise in the last three years with the six local government areas of Ojo, Ikorodu, Badagry, Amuwo-Odofin, Kosofe and Ibeju-Lekki and their adjoining local council development areas benefiting from the intervention.

No fewer than 334,769 rooms have been sprayed in these local governments areas with an estimated population of 3,570,113 being protected.

“In collaboration with our partners, microscopes and Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kits have been pushed into the system while Artemisinin Combination Therapy (ACTs) anti-malarias are provided free for treatment in all our facilities”, the release stated.

In line with this year’s world malaria theme: ‘invest in the future: defeat malaria’ and the slogan ‘Time is now’, a series of activities which include LLINs hanging-and-utilization campaign has been lined up to emphasize the role of all stakeholders.

Fashola, pls open up this part of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

 

I think the Lagos State Government should pull down the gate erected by Bi Courtney and allow the effective and efficient use of that road.

In 2009, Chief Wale Babalakin’s Bi Courtney Highway Services Limited was made the concessionaire of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

Although they had not really done anything on the road, they informed motorists that they may collect between N100 and N200 as tolls after they might have finished their job there.

In additional, they fenced off a portion of the road at the Lagos end of the toll gate thus creating a bit of bottleneck while they were still contemplating on which equipment to import for their job.

Unfortunately, the Federal Government kicked them off the contract last year. They moved their equipment from the area but the gate is still there and that portion of the road is still not being used.

World Oral Health Day: Lagos eyes World Record Toothbrushing Challenge (PHOTO)

Some of the pupils drawn from the Lagos State Educational District IV looking ahead for the flag off ceremony of the Lagos World Record Toothbrushing Challenge to mark the World Oral Health Day 2013.

Here, they brush their teeth for the Lagos World Record Toothbrushing Challenge to mark the World Oral Health Day 2013 organised by HEIT Solutions in partnership with the Office of the Special Adviser on Public Health, Close Up Unilever, Core Media and others at the Sports Hall, Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos on Wednesday March 20, 2013.

Lagos warms up for World Record Toothbrushing Challenge

Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Health, Dr Yewande Adeshina (middle) with the Brand Manager, Close-Up Unilever Nigeria, Mr. Dexta Adeola (right) and the Project Head of the World Record Toothbrushing Challenge, Dr Bakare Lawal (left) at the press conference on the Lagos World Record Toothbrushing Challenge held at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa Secretariat, Lagos on Sunday, March 17, 2013.

Lagos has announced the flag-off of the Lagos World Record Toothbrushing Challenge to mark the World Oral Health Day on Wednesday, March 20. The Challenge plans to break the Guinness Book of Records earlier set by India by assembling 300,000 students to perform the act of brushing their teeth at the same time.

Special Adviser to the Governor of Lagos State on Public Health, Dr. (Mrs.) Yewande Adesina, made this revelation recently at Alausa, Ikeja.

The latest Guinness Book of Records on the event currently held by India is the bringing together of 176,000 people to brush their teeth at the same time. 

The Special Adviser enjoined all corporate bodies in the State and other stakeholders in dental health and general health to support the programme, adding, “We will be taking on the actual challenge in a few weeks time when we will have 300,000 students brushing their teeth at the same time in an attempt to break the record set in India of about 176,000 people brushing their teeth at the same time”.

The World Oral Health Day is celebrated on the 20th of March every year and the aim was to remind the public of the important role healthy mouth gum and teeth play in the overall health of an individual.

The theme for this year’s World Oral  Health Day is, Healthy Teeth for Healthy Life.

Could this be a coincidence?

On Monday, February 25, officials of the Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement),  Bayo Sulaiman, stormed Ladipo auto spare parts market in Mushin as early as 4a.m and shut it down.

The same Monday, members of the Igbo Council in Lagos State, led by its president general and leader, Professor Anya O Anya paid a courtesy visit cum new council members’ introduction to the Governor Babatunde Fashola at State House, Ikeja.

I am pretty sure that the Igbo leaders had an interesting discussion with the governor thus intelligence would have met with intelligence/smartness, if you know what I mean.

President General and Leader of the Igbo Council in Lagos State, Professor Anya O Anya discussing with Gov. Fashola during a meeting to present the new Council members to the Governor at the Lagos House, Ikeja, on Monday, February 25, 2013.



Gov. Fashola in a group photograph with the leader and and members of Igbo Council.