AFRICAN TIMES MAGAZINE
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this event. Barely two months ago, in this same auditorium, I delivered a goodwill message via a pre-recorded video to a large audience of youth in the Lagos East Senatorial District in commemoration of the 2021 International Youth Day.
I want to reiterate like I espoused on that day that young people are at the core of our legislative agenda. The minimum we can do as leaders and in fidelity with our social contract with the esteemed constituents who majorly fall within this demography is to provide support for their dreams to have full and maximum expression.
Distinguished Ladies and gentlemen, I want to let you know that I am passionate about ensuring ‘greater good for greater number’. This mantra guides my philosophy and strategy in giving a lease of life to our people as much as is within my power. The tactics to drive home this strategy is encapsulated in the resonating and reassuring ‘DOING GOOD’ drive.
One of the major agenda on my social contract with the good people of Lagos East Senatorial District is youth development for global readiness.
This, I have sought to achieve with multi-dimensional approaches, which include: collaborations; co-creations; funding; infrastructural interventions, capacity building; etc. It is a part of this that has given birth to the annual ‘’Senator Tokunbo Abiru Bursary endowment fund’’ to support and encourage our star students in their respective tertiary Institutions of learning- the reason we are all here today.
The objective of this scheme is to promote higher qualitative education by supporting brilliant students but who have challenges funding their education in furtherance of their academic pursuit.
In this maiden edition, Six Hundred (600) eligible students across the 98 wards in the 16 Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas in the Lagos East Senatorial District, were shortlisted and screened by the TACT Bursary Advisory Board which is an independent Committee. The board is chaired by an erudite scholar, Dr. Abiodun Fatai-Abatan, a lecturer at the Lagos State University, LASU and comprises of the following eminent scholars;
1. Dr. Abiodun Okedeyi
2. Dr. Gabriel Benson
3. Mr. Peter Oluwo
4. Dr. Muritala Seriki
5. Lekan Biliaminu-Oba
6. Mr. Segun Anifowoshe
7. Dr. Saheed Ibikunle
I want to appreciate the board for conducting the selection process in a most competitive and merit-based manner.
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Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, this our modest intervention which is targeted at providing good to the greatest number of our people is an altruistic attempt to lift the hearts of many in these dark and challenging times and to once again reignite hope in those in despair. That is the paradigm we are pushing as a trustee of the peoples’ mandate.
The appreciation we have received from beneficiaries is an indication that the scheme will provide the intended succor and relief to many distraught students and their parents. We believe that this gesture will translate into better academic performance and by extension a secure future.
Let me add at this juncture, that this laudable Bursary Scheme has come to stay. Dear beneficiaries, if you will give your studies the best shot, we are ready to stand by you all the way! So, the ball is entirely in your court!
Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, our strides in terms of providing effective representation for our people have been phenomenal in the last 10 months in the saddle. I won’t bore you with details that are unnecessary for now. However, in fulfilment of our promise during the electioneering campaign to provide financial supports for widows, physically-challenged persons, unemployed youths and others who were mostly impacted by the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, about 2500 people have been benefitting from this scheme which took off this January and will terminate in December.
Everyone is important in our reckoning, including our little children. At the heat of the pandemic in February,2021, One Hundred and Fifty Thousand (150, 000) facemasks were donated to primary School pupils in the Senatorial District through the Lagos State Universal Basic Board, LASUBEB.
That is not all. I am glad to inform this honorable gathering that the fully-equipped ultra-modern four-blocks of twenty-four classrooms and sixteen toilets we facilitated to Aga Primary School have been completed and our children are currently enjoying improved learning experience and outcomes.
We are also concerned about upskilling our youth to be relevant in the job and entrepreneurship spaces. In partnership with Co-Creation Hub, CcHub, Africa’s leading innovation hub space, we are setting a Community Innovation Centre in our district. This concept will leverage on social capital and technology in accelerating economic prosperity for our teeming youth population. It will be up and running in a few months from now.
In the same manner, next month, between November 8 and 9th, we will in partnership with Fate Foundation, train one thousand Micro Small and Medium Business Owners across the entire district at a two-day MSME Clinic.
The Copyright Act Repeal and Re-enactment Bill, 2021 which we sponsored is geared towards creating a better rewarding system for the creativity of the youth in tech space and allied creative sectors. It is no news that the currency of tomorrow is innovation. Therefore, it is not enough to create enabling environment for our youths to dream, their ideas and ingenuities must equally be protected and allowed to translate into economic prosperity. The Creators, Innovators and Inventors amongst our youth MUST be effectively safeguarded. This was my motivation for championing the repeal and reenactment of the Copyright Act.
May I seize this opportunity once again to congratulate the recipients of today’s bursary awards, while I equally enjoin them to be good ambassadors of Lagos East and ensure that their academic excellence continues.
I WOULD ALSO AT THIS JUNCTURE LIKE TO SPECIALLY ACKNOWLEDGE AND APPRECIATE HIS EXCELLENCY, MR. BABAJIDE OLUSOLA SANWO OLU FOR HIS GOVERNMENT’S INTERVENTION IN EDUCATION AND THE GIANT STRIDES HE HAS TAKEN TOWARDS ENSURING THAT LAGOS REMAINS THE CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION.
In conclusion, I want to assure you that we are ever committed to serving you. This mandate you have entrusted to us will be used to ensure greater good to the greater number.
I wish to sincerely thank the party leaders who are busy coordinating party activities and keeping the foundation intact. I cannot end this meeting without acknowledging the astute guidance of our national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who has provided us with robust framework to thrive on.
My profound gratitude goes to the electorates who have entrusted me with this onerous responsibility.