9th August, 2012
Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, has blamed Nigeria’s problems on the extreme selfishness and greed of the ruling class.
Ikuforiji, who spoke at the grand finale of the debate and essay competitions he organised for students of the Lagos State University yesterday, said if just 30 percent of the country’s leadership could focus on meeting the expectations of the citizens, Nigeria would be the envy of other African countries.
“If you have 30 percent of the Nigerian leadership from the Federal Government to the local governments doing like Adeyemi Ikuforiji, in fact, Nigeria would be another haven for most Africans to come and enjoy.
“We have all it takes; it is extreme selfishness; it is extreme greed that are troubling us and those are what we should get rid of.
“We need to think more of the society and the people,” he stated.
The Lagos House Speaker expressed happiness that he was able to impact the lives of the students, adding that one of the ways to solve the country’s raging problems was to involve the youths in meaningful academic ventures.
“We still have hope in the future. I agree with the fact that if we take care of the education of individuals in the society, the nation would be better for it,” Ikuforiji said, adding that he introduced the programme to improve the lot of future generations.
Representatives of the Faculty of Law, led by Omolaja Olayemi, came first in the debate and they were given a cheque of N50,000 and a laptop.
The second prize of N30,000 went to students of the School of Communication, while a cheque of N20,000 was given to the representatives of the College of Medicine for coming third.
In addition, all the participants would enjoy free computer training, courtesy of the Speaker.
For the essay competition, Busari Olalekan, a law student, came first and won the N50,000 prize while Adebayo Ogunseye from the Department of History and International Relations came second and was given a cheque of N30,000.
Third prize of N20,000 went to Jokotoye Moshood Oluwatobi of the Sociology Department.
The Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Professor John Oladapo Obafunwa, was represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration, Professor Omolara Bamgboye, at the event.
—EROMOSELE EBHOMELE