22nd July, 2014
Eromosele Ebhomele
An excited first civilian governor of Lagos State, western Nigeria, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, Monday told guests at an event to commemorate his 85th birthday that he never thought he could attain that age.
According to him, reaching the age is God’s blessing for him and his family.
Jakande, who was very happy to hear the majority of the guests confirm that they attended some of the schools he built during his time, said: “I never thought I could still sit here at 85, in 2014 to hear people saying they attended a Jakande school.
“I remember that when we started implementing all our policies in education while I was governor, many people said it could not be done. Today, it is a different story.
“It is God’s doing and it is marvelous in my sight,” he said and prayed for all those who attended the event where the Lateef Jakande Foundation was set up to project the ideals of the former governor.
The board of the foundation, which was also inaugurated on Monday include the traditional ruler of Ilupeju, Korede Bisade-Phillips, as the chairman while members include Mr. J. O. Sobayo, Dr. Lanre Adeboye, Ade Silver Rotimi and Seyi Jakande.
At a lecture delivered in Jakande’s honour by Professor Siyan Oyeweso of the Department of History and International Studies, Osun State University, Osogbo, the university don called for a review of the original objective for the setting up of the Lagos State University, LASU.
According to Oyeweso, a former lecturer with LASU, the institution’s fortunes have seriously depleted to the extent that the actual Lagosians, the reason for the establishment of the university, can no longer attend the school.
He recalled that in setting up the university, Jakande set up various committees whose findings and report would continue to position the school as an envy of other institutions in the country.
He said though increasing the school fees of the school was not too much of a problem, special consideration should have been given to indigenes of Lagos State.
“If you increase the school fees to the extent that Lagosians cannot afford it, then there is a problem,” he said
In the lecture titled: The Jakande Roadmap Not Taken, he said the former governor had played his part and that he and another former Military Administrator of the state, Mobolaji Johnson, belong to the set of real elderstatesmen that are fast disappearing from the country.
“The Lagos State University of today is not the Lagos University of the dreams of Jakande.
“It is never too late to go back to the Jakande vision for the establishment of the institution,” he said.