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Dame Abimbola Fashola (R) receiving the Certifi-cate of Honour from Engr. Babatunde A. Odufuwa (L) during the 5th Convocation Ceremony.


Dame Abimbola Fashola (M) putting on the Ceremonial Gown during the Fifth Convocation Ceremony of the Lagos City Polytechnics.

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Feb 24, 2011 - 5th Convocation Ceremony Of Lagos City Polytechnic And Conferment Of Fellowship Award

I cannot express how honoured I am today to receive the fellowship award of the Lagos City Polytechnic on the same platform with very eminent and distinguished Nigerians including His Royal Highness De Wheno Aholu Menu-Toyi I, OFR the Akran of Badagry, Dr. Adamu Mohammed Yabani OFR, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa MON and Sir Ademola Aladekomo. I wish to express my sincere appreciation to the Chairman, Engr. (Chief) Babatunde Odufuwa, members of the Governing Council and management of Lagos City Polytechnic for this great honour. I am indeed most humbled by this recognition coming from an institution that takes pride not only in being the first private Polytechnic in Nigeria but also a citadel of learning committed to maintaining high standards in tuition, facilities and equipment.

Let me also use this opportunity to congratulate the Governing Council, management, staff and students particularly the graduating students on this 5th convocation ceremony which also marks the 20th anniversary of the Polytechnic. Kindly accept also my felicitation on the very recent approval of the South Western University of Nigeria at Okun-Owa. I pray that this Polytechnic and the new University will grow from strength to strength as centres of academic excellence.

Distinguished academics, Ladies and gentlemen, there is no gainsaying the fact that education is the bedrock of development and the most enduring legacy that can be bequeathed to the youths. If we truly desire a brighter rewarding future and greatness for our nation and generation coming behind, we need to equip our youths with sound and functional education that will enable them compete favourably in the present global system driven by knowledge and ideas.

The establishment of the Lagos Empowerment and Resource Network (LEARN) was inspired by the desire to contribute to the collective effort aimed at empowering our youths to become confident, self sufficient and socially responsible through education, skill acquisition training and recreation.

In its 4 years of existence, I am happy to say that we have made modest impact as shown by the very encouraging feedback we have continued to receive from some of the youths who have had the opportunity to participate in some of our regular programmes including the Indigent Scholarship programme, Summer school, Graduate Empowerment, Career Enlightenment programme among others.

At this point, I need to state that value re-orientation and attitudinal change amongst our youths are key aspects of our programmes because we strongly believe that education that is not complemented by sound moral value is not complete and as such can never be fully beneficial to the society.

While we try as much as we can to inculcate these moral values through various seminars and motivational talk shows, it is very important that we leaders must set good examples for the youths to follow. I believe the message of value reorientation including hardwork, honesty, decency, modesty, God fearing etc will only make the desired impact on the youths when these values are reflected in our conduct whether in public and private. In other words, according to the legendary social crusader, Mahatma Ghandi, we must be the change that we desire to see in the society.

Our achievements in LEARN could not have been possible without the support and encouragement of friends and associates whose believe in our vision and aspiration has been a major strength. One of such wonderful people, distinguished ladies and gentlemen is the Chairman, Governing Council, Lagos City Polytechnic, Engr. (Chief) Babatunde Odufuwa. We cannot thank you enough sir for the very remarkable role you have played in our success story through your generous financial and moral support. May God continue to reward and bless you.

Once again, I am profoundly appreciative of this award which I am proud to dedicate to all our youths, the hardworking staff of LEARN including our numerous volunteers and indeed the good people of Lagos State for their support and believe in us.

I thank you for your kind attention.

God bless you all.

Her Excellency
Dame Abimbola Fashola
First Lady of Lagos State.