Jul 24, 2010 – Lagos First Lady, Mrs. Fashola, Urges Assistance For Indigent Youths.
• His Excellency Gov. Fashola promises to support them to realize their dreams in life.

First Lady of Lagos State, Mrs. Abimbola Fashola has called on privileged Nigerians to come to the assistance of the nation’s indigent youths saying it is the only way to enable them develop their potentials for the benefit of the country.

First Lady Mrs. Fashola spoke in Lagos at the second edition of “Time Out With Youths. Daytime of Talk, Dance and Laugh”, a programme initiated by the Lagos Empowerment And Resource Network (L.E.A.R.N.) to achieve its goal of grooming young people to be confident, self-sufficient and socially responsible.

In her address at the occasion, the First lady said it is evident that so many Nigerian youths are incapable of attaining their full potentials in life without assistance both in the form of counseling, mentoring and even financially in other to overcome some of the difficult challenges in their lives.

First Lady Mrs. Fashola, who said the occasion would be an annual affair, declared, “The feedbacks we got from those who attended the first edition of the programme indicate that so many of our youths are in need of support and guidance in form of regular counseling, mentoring and, in some cases, financial support to be able to overcome difficult challenges at this crucial stages of their lives”.

Saying that a good number of professionals and entertainers were in attendance at the occasion to both inform, educated and entertain the audience, First Lady Mrs. Fashola urged the youths to listen attentively to all the talks and discussions as they are meant to enlighten and inspire them in life adding, “This is not just a show but something to inspire you to become role models in your life”.

Disclosing that all the professionals and entertainers present at the occasion volunteered to give their services free of charge, the First Lady urged the youths to always be ready to assist others free of charge, adding that it pays to contribute to others’ successes.

Meanwhile at the same event, Lagos State Governor, His Excellency Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) counseled these youths to always seek good knowledge and never to accept that anything is impossible, saying it is the only means to achieve the dreams of a great future.

His Excellency Mr. Fashola (SAN) promised to do everything he can as Governor of Lagos State to assist the youths to reach their goals in life.

Outlining the pedestals for greatness, His Excellency Governor Fashola told the youths, “Be confident, be focused, seek knowledge wherever it could be found, in your home, on television, stay away from bad knowledge, stay away from pornography, from drugs, from lies and seek explanation for what you do not understand; but never accept that anything is impossible”.

“We have demonstrated that those things that were thought to be impossible were things that we never tried. They told us BRT would never work, we told them it would work because it is possible; they told us that it was impossible to make Oshodi motorable, that we had to build a new road, but we told them ‘No, we can make Oshodi motorable because the people of Lagos have signed on to a new life and today you can drive through Oshodi”, he said.

The Governor also recalled that at inception, people thought that Lagos would never be clean pointing out that because his administration thought to the contrary, Lagos has not only become clean today, but recently won a national award as the cleanest capital in Nigeria.

Citing other examples of people who achieved what seemed impossible initially, His Excellency Governor Fashola said, “I know of a nation that has no water; no water supply or source as we have here. But today, they have the purest water in the world because they have developed the capacity to purify the little they have. That nation does not have oil but it has the biggest petrochemical industry in the part of the world where it is located. All these happened because it has great people and I believe that the children that I see here can be the greatest people in this continent”.

His Excellency Governor Fashola assured the children that he, as Governor of Lagos State, would do all in his power to ensure that whatever good dreams they have for their future would be realized adding that they should adopt the sentence, “It is possible”, as their motto in life.

“I know that your dreams will come true. As long as I am Governor of this State, I will do everything I can, I will use every energy and knowledge that I have to make sure that your dreams become true. I will use everything that I have to make sure that you have a better life than I did. It requires a lot of hard work, dedication, honesty and the capacity to speak the truth, but it is possible”, he said.

The Governor thanked the initiators of L.E.A.R.N., and all the organizations, departments, agencies and individuals who have donated money, time, knowledge and love to keep the programmes of the Network going, adding that they have invested in the greatest resource on earth.

“On behalf of Her Excellency and the children, I thank you all and I say you have invested wisely because you have invested in those who will look after you when you are old. You have invested in those who will keep your dreams alive when that time comes. You have invested a resource which every nation has; a resource that is better than oil, cocoa, gold and diamond; the human resource, the resource of the youth”, the Governor said.

Giving a brief background of L.E.A.R.N., His Excellency Governor Fashola, who said it has his full support, declared, “It is a programme whose contributions I could not be too grateful for because it has helped in many ways to actualize some of the things that our Government set out to do, such as, to empower the next generation, to empower the most important generation, to empower the future, to empower all of you”.

At this interactive programme, some of the entertainers and career counselors present included NICE, Mr. Peace Fowowe and numerous others.