Press Releases

47 Birthday: Fashola Hands Over Crèche To Women Organisation
…Urges well wishers not to place congratulatory adverts for him

Jun 26, 2010 - Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Saturday handed over an ultra modern Crèche to the Catholic Women Organization of the Church of Annunciation in the Abraham Adesanya Estate, Ajah to mark his 47th birthday.

Meanwhile, the Governor has also urged all his well wishers not to place congratulatory adverts for him but to use such funds as donations to homes for the motherless and the needies spread across the State who would better appreciate it.

The Governor who personally donated the structure with his wife, Mrs Abimbola Fashola, while speaking at the handing over ceremony which took place at the Abraham Adesanya Housing Estate, Ajah said he hoped the crèche will have meaning for the children that it is expected to cater for.

He said he finds it difficult to understand why people celebrate their birthdays when no one can say or remember when he was born, adding that: "If the arrival of any child is considered momentous in the lives of certain people, the best way to continue that momentous occasion is to use what we have to also make it momentous in the lives of so many other people".

Governor Fashola appealed to the members of the Catholic Women Organisation to ensure that everybody within the estate have access to the Crèche and enjoy its usage subject to conditions that they set.

He also informed that the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA) will maintain a supervisory role over the crèche in dealing with issues of women and children.

The Governor added that this has become necessary because some people in the name of managing institutions like crèche and Orphanages have used them to perpetrate crime and engage in trafficking of children.

He said it is by setting non-discriminatory entry and exit conditions for the usage of the crèche that the society can be integrated by allowing the children of a Permanent Secretary and the child of a driver to grow up together.

In his words: "This is the way we can unify society. This is why it is important to continue to invest in public schools because they are the equalizers and stabilizers of the society".

"When the child of the high and the low and the medium grow together, the child of the rich sees poverty on one side while the child of the poor sees prosperity on the other side and is inspired to work hard", he added.

The Lagos State helmsman affirmed that this represents the only way to eliminate class and caste system in the society because when children grow up together they inevitably become lifelong friends irrespective of their backgrounds.

He commended the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs Adejoke Orelope Adefulire who supervised the construction for doing a good job, adding that she is one member of the cabinet who would be given a task and deliver on it creditably.

The Governor who told the audience that the construction of the crèche came about after he got a letter asking for assistance from the Catholic Women Organisation to build a crèche, said he felt compelled to support the good initiative of the women and dedicate it to mark his birthday.

Speaking earlier, the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire commended Governor Fashola for always using his birthdays to put smiles on the face of the underprivileged and the needy.

She recollected that two years ago, the Governor on the occasion of his birthday donated a Motherless babies hospital and that last year, he also handed over the Micheal Oyemade Ogunjobi children's home in Surulere.

In his welcome address, the Parish Priest of the Catholic Church of Annunciation in Abraham Adesanya Estate, Ajah, Reverend Father Cosmas Mordi expressed the appreciation of the church to the Governor for the gesture and wished him many more years in good health.

He promised that the church would make the best use of the facility in taking care of all the children without any form of discrimination.

The Governor later cut the tape and unveiled the plaque of the crèche to formally hand over the facility to the Catholic Women Organisation of the Catholic Church of Annunciation in Abraham Adesanya Estate Ajah to mark his 47th birthday.

The event was witnessed by a representative of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, Reverend Monsignor Francis Ogunmodede, members of the Catholic Women Organisation of the Catholic Church of Annunciation, Ajah.