For the first time since Nigeria’s return to democratic governance in 1999, a female commissioner for works and infrastructure has been appointed in Lagos State. Adeyoye Aramide Monsurat, a certified civil engineer and construction practitioner, will be holding sway in the works ministry over the next four years.
She was sworn in on Tuesday by Governor Babajide SanwoOlu alongside 21 other commissioners and 13 special advisers who, together with the governor and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, secretary to the state government, chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, and head of service, form the kernel of the state executive council.
Recall that three other cabinet nominees of Sanwo-olu were on Monday denied confirmation by the Lagos State House of Assembly, without official explanations.
Speaking at the swearing in ceremony, which held at the state secretariat, Alausa, and attracted families of the new cabinet members, chieftains and grassroots politicians of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Sanwo-olu tasked them on diligence to duties, saying “we must accelerate the trajectory of growth and development of Lagos as we can’t afford Sanwo-oluto disappoint Lagosians.”
According to the governor, the cabinet members must be ready and willing to pay the price towards actualising the new administration’s vision of a greater Lagos. “Be prepared to pay demorder to accomplish our grand ambition of building one of the great cities of the 21st Century, a beacon of social, commercial and political excellence for the rest of our dear nation.”
Sanwo-olu reminded the cabinet members that the challenges whether security, waste management, transportation, or environmental sustainability, though not peculiar to Lagos, but could be tackled.
“They must surely be addressed before they undermine our achievements and hinder our progress,” the governor said. Congratulating them, he said their appointments were well deserved and a testament of their capacity, accomplishments and track record of hard work, commitment, dedication and professionalism in their private and public endeavours, which must be brought to bear in their new tasks.
“Let me emphasise that this is not just our goal, it is what the people expect from us and we cannot afford to disappoint them.” Some of the cabinet members and their portfolios include Tunji Bello, water resources and environment; Gbenga Omotoso, information and strategy; Olowo Onaolapo, finance; Gbolahan Lawal, agriculture; Folashade Adefisayo, education; Moyo Onigbanjo, justice/ attorney general.
Others are Olalere Odutsote, energy and natural resources; Lola Akande, commerce and industries; Samuel Egube, economic planning and budget; Frederic Oladeinde, transportation; Joe Igbokwe, special adviser on drainage and water resources, among others.
Global Wissen Consult (GWC) has called on youths to embrace the opportunities presented by digital marketing so as to become productive.
The firm said this recently in Lagos at a seminar convened to sharpen and improve the financial skills of youths in digital marketing, acquiring and usage of crypto currencies using block chains.
GWC is an organisation that aims at improving social and economic skills of people outside of the usual formal classroom school education in Nigeria. Speaking at the event, themed, ‘To the Moon,’ convener/ceo, GWC, Nwokeji Oscar, said, “We are promoting other skills that youths could pick up aside from what is taught in the formal education.
“There are many doctors, but few working hospitals in Nigeria, so, are other professions. Then, we saw the need to go ahead of normal school curriculum, by teaching them these new skills in a classroom setting they are already used to, rather online.
“We teach programming, Networking, Block Chains, Trading, and many others.”
On the topic of Block Chaining, he said, “It is the space of the future, whether anyone likes it or not, though the acceptance is slow in Nigeria, but, it will definitely come through
“That is why we organised this seminar for youths to prepare them ahead, and begin to invest in this future. It is an open space for the Nigerian youths to jump on, so we are showing them how, and revealing to them all the crypto currency, which are international coins.
“At this point, it is the youths who will go and learn and study properly, and equip themselves. They are the people who are going to be employed to manage those things.” Other speakers at the event were founder, Bitfxt, Peters Franklin; CEO, Naira Coin, Shekoni Oladimeji, and CEO, Crypto TV, Tony Emeka.
Franklin Peters, who spoke on the relevance of block chain in day-to-day activities, and its use in solving problems, said, ‘‘We are pushing for the right solution to society’s problems through Block chain, so that people will know the good in it. The block chain is transparent, it is open for anybody to see, it is fast, and it is secure.”
On his part, Tony Emeka, said, “Blockchain could help in Agriculture. It could help farmers know the time a particular crop is ready, and also let the consumers to know the particular place he could get a particular produce. “With the block chain, we can be able to track monies given to politicians to carry out projects, and ensure that those monies are used for their purposes.”
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