Press Releases

Fashola Urges The Youths To Be Creative
• See opportunities rather than problems, he says

Sep 14, 2009 - Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Monday urged Nigerians, especially the youths, to be creative by looking for opportunities in every challenge rather than seeing it as a problem.

Governor Fashola, who spoke when he played host to the Vice Chairman of DMT Mobile Toilets, Mr. Isaac Durojaiye (a.k.a. Otunba Ghadaffi) who paid him a courtesy visit at the Lagos House, Ikeja, said such approach would create a generation of self-dependent Nigerians and help solve the problem of unemployment.

The Governor expressed joy that DMT Mobile Toilets could venture into the area of human waste disposal, an area which, according to him, not many people thought about, pointing out that the spirit of enterprise that led to the venture is what the present generation of Nigerians must imbibe in order to provide services and create opportunities for employment.

According to the Governor, “One of the things that our Government is doing is to arrest and redress the problem affecting sewage management not only in terms of the disposal but also in the treatment of human waste across the State”, adding, “That is why we welcome your groundbreaking efforts in this area of disposal of human waste”.

The State Government, the Governor said, is spending more time and more money in developing the capacity to protect the environment, especially the underground water.

Thanking the Vice-Chairman of the company for his generosity in donating the toilets to public schools in the State, the Governor praised the enterprising spirit of the company pointing out that such initiative is what the nation needs for rapid economic development.

The Governor noted that the company would be at the forefront of a pioneering scientific effort in the country if it succeeds in generating electricity from human waste, pledging that the State Government would assist the company in what ever way possible to achieve its objective.

Governor Fashola recalled that his first contact with the Vice-Chairman of the company was a chance meeting in South Africa where he had gone to represent the State in the World Economic Forum in Johannesburg and where the Vice-Chairman also came to represent his company adding, “It was there that he very generously offered to support our environmental efforts, especially in sewage and disposal of human waste”.

“On behalf of the State Government and particularly the children, I thank you for that monumental generousity. It was a display of corporate social responsibility that was unsolicited”, the Governor said.

The Governor also expressed joy that the present generation is creating opportunities in many areas of human endeavour, including music and fashion. “That is how it should be”, he said pointing out that the State Government has created a new economy in the area of environmental sanitation where young men and women are now engaged in so many economic activities which have created employment for thousands of people in the State.

Earlier in his remarks, Otunba Gadaffi had said that the purpose of his visit was to thank the Governor for the opportunity given to his company to partner with the State Government in its efforts to keep the environment in the State clean.

The Vice-Chairman, who came with a team of the management of the company, including the Managing Director, Mr. Caje Oleforo and Mr. John Baker, said the company plans to produce gas from the human waste which it plans to convert into electricity for human use.

Also present at the occasion were the Special Adviser to the Governor on the Environment, Mr. Sesan Olanrewaju and his Governor’s Office counterpart, Mr. Sunny Ajose, as well as the Special Adviser to the Governor on Commerce and Industry, Mrs. Sola Oworu.