Press Releases

Lagos Teachers’ Strike: Fashola Assures Of A Speedy Resolution Of Dispute

Oct 2, 2009 - Public schools in Lagos, shut as a result of the on-going strike by the Lagos State Chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), will soon reopen for the first term going by the assurance given Friday by the State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN).

Governor Fashola, just back from a tour of the Middle-East and North America, told newsmen at a media interaction at the Government House, Alausa, Ikeja, that as a result of the series of meetings and negotiations already carried out in his absence by the relevant stakeholders, the schools would resume sooner than later.

The Governor, who described the teachers’ strike as a convergence of legitimate demands and expectations of workers, declared, “I think with the lot of work, a lot of meetings and negotiations which have been going on in my absence, I am sure that vey soon the schools will reopen”.

He, however, noted that the strike of the teachers should be seen in the context of the conflict between legitimate expectations “and what is the financial realities of the State; the conflicting management of resources, needs and expectations, especially where resources are not infinite”.

Noting also that the payment of salaries and allowances is only part of a component of what complements the State’s Education Sector, the Governor said as a result of the many competing demands from all other sectors of the State’s economy “We are stretched, finding all of the resources to respond to all these needs”.

Governor Fashola described the issue of special status for Lagos as a national one pointing out that correspondences had long been going on the issue between the Federal and the Lagos State governments both from the previous and the present administrations in the State.

The Governor reiterated that considering the fact that large a percentage of businesses and investments that form the economy of the country are located in Lagos, the issue of special status for the State “is something we must collectively think about for our own economic benefit”.

“In my view and what I call an Enterprise Management Approach, given the contribution of Lagos to the GDP, given the role of Lagos in the National Economy, in order to grow the economy, a manager will strike the most impactful blow where there is the largest concentration”, the Governor said adding, “The prosperity of Lagos will, certainly, mean the prosperity of Nigeria”.

According to him, “The quickest and the best way to start is to support Lagos, support the infrastructure, support Education, support Security, support development as a whole and, because so many Nigerians call Lagos home, first or second home, as the case may be. So many Nigerians have assets and investments here and the prosperity of those asserts is clearly a national prosperity”.

He said the State Government would continue to agitate for understanding and for the rationale that it is not just in the interest of Lagos State but in the interest of Nigeria that Lagos should be accorded a special status in order to accelerate economic growth and development in the country.

On the World Governors’ Forum on Global Warming which he attended in California, Governor Fashola said the meeting was aimed at activating the concerns of various state governors, local government chairmen, city and state managers across the world as the whole world prepares for the December 15 meeting of world leaders on the Environment in Copenhagen, Denmark.

He said the meeting was particularly important to Nigeria as a country and to Lagos State as it provided an assemblage of state and city leaders from six continents of the world who deliberated on the matter of the world environment, adding that while he represented Lagos State, he participated in the opening panel whose mandate was to discuss the hows and the solutions to developing the methods of approach to Global Warming.

He said as the world leaders prepare to meet in Copenhagen later this year and with all the treaties and conventions that will be signed, the outstanding issue from the whole meetings is that the issue of the Environment is no longer an issue anybody could play politics with, pointing out that the Scientific results made available at the meeting was that “the whole world has barely 100 months to stop the Environmental Time Bomb from ticking”. “It is clear now that we cannot reverse it”, he said.

The Governor lamented that Algeria and Senegal were the countries speaking on behalf of Africa at the meeting, a position he said he protested, adding, “If we have the largest population on this Continent, our voice must be heard at the international level, not only because of our size but because as a country, we are the most risk prone nation in this Continent being bordered in the North by the desert and in the South by coastal erosion”.

“We bear more risk in terms of our geographical spread as well as the danger that 140 million face at the Environmental level, and as I have said, I have made the submission, our voice must be heard not only to speak for ourselves but to speak for the Continent”, the Governor said.

He said one of the things expected to follow up from his visit to Saudi Arabia in terms of economic benefits for Lagos is the proposals the State Government has received from companies in Saudi Arabia for Housing Development in the State, adding that the proposal is in line with the State Government’s plan on housing construction and development in the way that it has been trying to deliver it through mortgages.