As Nigeria is preparing to mark her 63rd Independence Anniversary coming up in a few days’ time, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, has urged all citizens to support the new government’s ‘Renewed Hope’ mantra.
Sanwo-Olu who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat at a special prayer session organised to commemorate the 63rd National Independence Day Celebration, held on Friday at the Lagos Secretariat Community Central Mosque, Alausa, made the call, saying Nigerians, irrespective of their political and religious affiliations should support their government, at all levels in their quest for a better Nigeria.
According to Sanwo-Olu, Nigerians must strive to sustain the peace that the government is aiming to achieve, noting that the government was trying to eradicate the different challenges currently being experienced in the country.
This, he said enables free movement within the country, anytime, any day, adding: “We know that there is no crime-free society but our prayer is that we are able to sustain peace in the country so that Nigerians can be free.”
The governor, while reiterating the need to support the leaders, recalled that during the campaign, all the presidential candidates spoke on the need for removal of the fuel subsidy, but said soon after the removal, people started criticizing the policy instead of coming up with recommendations or ideas.
He, therefore, charged Nigerians to desist from degrading their institutions and cease commenting on issues they don’t have adequate information about.
Stressing the objectives of the state government, Governor Sanwo-Olu noted that the government had a clear agenda encapsulated in the THEMES PLUS, comprising Transportation and Traffic Management; Health and Environment; Education and Technology; Making Lagos State a 21st Century Megacity, Entertainment and Tourism; and Security & Governance; Social Inclusion, Gender Equality and Youth Empowerment, saying that the different ministries put in charge were arranged in line with these objectives with the commissioners already getting acquitted with what they were to do.
Speaking further, Sanwo-Olu charged parents to protect their children as they were subject to peer influences on social media and in public places, urging them to always communicate with their children and guide them, “to make them understand what is right and what is wrong.”
He, therefore, admonished Nigerian Youths not to be involved in drug abuse and all other forms of negative vices but to be careful because what they put into their system may have negative effects that may lead to death.
Earlier in his sermon, Dr. Saheed Ahmad urged the people not to see the large population as a curse or a burden but an asset of human resources that can be gainfully employed in productive sectors of the economy.
Citing China as the most populous country in the world, Ahmad noted that China had never argued that population was their problem but rather, the population was utilized to make the country a contender to the number one or two superpower and most viable economic power in the world of today despite having a very large population, adding: “This should be a lesson to our government.
“Majority of the countries we call great today do not necessarily become great because of their natural resources, but rather, the people made their countries great, they are the ones that utilize the resources around,” he said.
He noted that Nigerians should be thankful to Allah despite all that had happened, especially for the continued co-existence which had made the country remain “one united despite all predictions and manufactured threats, internal and external threats to our togetherness.”
“We are gathered here to commemorate with ourselves on the occasion of the 63rd anniversary of the country’s independence. We need to be thankful that 63 years down the line we are still here,” Ahmad said.
. TheWitness
