COP’24 EVENT IN ALIMOSHO: WHY WE ARE GRATEFUL TO EXPECT GOVERNOR SANWO-OLU

AS CIVICS WEEKLY SETS TO UNVEIL THE HIGGEST HONOUR IN ALIMOSHO

From the Editor's Table

When Civics Weekly Magazine concluded to seek the honour of Lagos State Governor, Babajide Olushola Sanwo-Olu (BOS). To grace the occasion of COP’24 Event, hosting over 1,500 guests (1,000 Head Boys and Head Girls and their accompanying teachers per school) from across Lagos State in Alimosho Federal Constituency, two factors made the defining issues. The one is the intrinsic idiosyncrasy you will find him exhibiting out of passion for youth presence and matters. The other is about his footprints in his tread of governance across the territorial space of Alimosho. The COP’24 event appears to be one occasion the County’s residence would want to see him bringing forth this mannerism and simultaneously taking his induction into the highest honour of the land – to be unveiled at the event -- for his unique governance impact in his own five and half portion of the 25 years of this democracy.

The event is meant to be the maiden edition of an annual assimilation gathering for the graduating students of Senior Secondary Schools from across Lagos State. In context of social objective, it is a ‘Capping Orientation Programme (COP)’ on the subject of Civic Education studies they have undertaken in ten years of their academic journey (Basic 2 to SS2) through the primary and secondary levels. This maiden edition coming up this year makes the ’24 suffix.

Thus, COP’24 is meant to be a purpose vehicle for their seamless transition from the teenage phase to early adulthood. In essence, it is equally a reflection of their moving out of the four walls of regimented years of education to the open society, given the fact that even their immediate entry into colleges also equates to an ‘open society’ where their practice of adulthood life is guaranteed and imperatively the ultimate mode of life to encounter. The COP hopes to aide their integration for this as it could be so desirable. However, the implementation is designed as a delegated leadership breeding seminar for the pair of Head Boys and Head Girls as the peer group ‘contact agent’ through whom the objectives shall be made to percolate down.

Idiosyncratically, you cannot take away the passion of Lagos BOS to exhibit his love for the teenage class of the young’s demography – in words and actions – whenever and wherever occasion demands it by his encounter with them in whatever number. He had been caught on camera lenses to be engrossed in selfi postures with them, as much he had been found in razzmatazz of skilful legs on the rolling of round leather to the excitement of youth class in general. Once a student with Disc Jockey (DJ) fingers, his policies on creative economy as largely a youth affair could also tell some parts of stunts, hobbies and passion in his growth through the youth epic.

Exploring his nostalgia in reflection of these youthful pasts has been considered the best of inspirational asset value the participants would be taking home. Hence our explicit request of His Excellency to be present in person to dwell on the topic: “My Day in this Day of Yours and Your Future Today from Me”.

If co-curricular activities is to make the best of knowledge imparting on the affective domain, having an achiever in the capacity of state leadership and father figure is one assured pathway to it. To have a thousand audience in direct primary beneficiaries – even as contact agent spread across the state for the start – could never be a small measure of social significance in governance of any government.

In the amperage of his amity for Alimosho in the past five and half years of his government, he has made unique impact since he made inroads to the Federal Constituency, albeit in tow of his predecessors anyway. For the start, the pioneer governor, now President Bola Tinubu, laid the foundation with harmonisation of diverse party caucuses that ushered in this democracy in 1999 to build a progressives’ stronghold along human capital development and peoples’ empowerment. It should not count for his fault that the early beneficiaries of this generosity hopefully effected for the right multipliers effect would turn out to be a bunch of cavaliers that would make nonsense of his progressives’ mission to a retrogressive albatross for the people. The subsequent successors after him would however seem to have fixated their respective impacts on infrastructure development.

The factor of differences in their impact would seem to be in measurement of the significant weight of their respective projects. Even then, the value weight of such amperage would have to be in relative terms. You cannot dismiss Akinwunmi Ambode’s concentration of road development in the North of Alimosho (Agbado/Okeodo), which opened up seamless journey across interstate boundaries as so insignificant to Raji Fashola’s giant stride of urban renewal in the Egbeda/Orelope/Idimu axis of Alimosho Central. This is not to dismiss the acknowledgement that Fashola actually made the first inroads to road infrastructure development in the Northern part.

While all this is about links across lands, it is noteworthy that Sanwo-Olu’s link of Alimosho East in the Isheri Olofin side with the Western part in Baruwa/Ayobo is across river barriers. This could be so unique by the significance of its small big oxymoron in infrastructure growth.

In the archives of Civics Weekly is a memorabilia of the difficulty encountered by the community residents of Abule Odu and their counterpart at the hilly other side of the river in the Peace Estate side of Baruwa inward Two-storey end of Ipaja South (see photo above). Today, a standard road is about completion to run from Seliat Bus stop at Egbeda-Idimu Road straight through the part of hitherto river obstacle in the picture above to connect the Baruwa inward Ayobo/Ipaja.Interestingly, it is two of such gift of link roads across river barriers the Isheri Olofin alone would be getting in count of the Idowu Egba's wooden bridge also just converted to standard concrete one to take the commuters straight from Southern Alimosho to Anchor University Campus corridor in Ayobo town in just a few commutting time on the road.

Now that the beneficiary Isheri Olofin ancient Kingdom is nnoW the one privileged to host the maiden edition of the COP programme, to give the generous Governor his due induction honour in the town is surely something to give an everlasting impressions of the "BOS in transit" through Alimosho.