Speeches

Opening Ceremony Of The 11th Annual COWLSO Conference

Nov 15, 2011 - Permit me to heartily congratulate the Chairperson of the Council of Wives of Lagos State Officials (COWLSO), my darling wife, Dame Emmanuella Abimbola Fashola, the conference organizing committee Chairperson, Mrs. Mosun Junaid, members of her committee and entire body of members of COWLSO for keeping faith with tradition and organizing yet another annual conference for women in Year 2011, the 11th in the series.

It is one of the many bold testimonies of fortitude, sustainability and continuity that have become the hallmark of Lagos State in institution building.

Of course, I must welcome, and I do so very heartily and warmly, the Chairman of the Governors Forum of Nigeria, the Special Guest of Honour at this opening ceremony, my very kind brother, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, the Governor of Rivers State of Nigeria.

On behalf of my wife, COWLSO, the Government and people of Lagos State, I thank you very much for accepting our invitation and honoring us with your presence.

Without prejudice to our political leanings and differences, I thank you for your unique leadership role of our forum of Governors and your commitment to the attainment of true federalism in the fiscal and political sense.

I thank you also for the commitment you have displayed to good governance in our country through your developmental initiatives in Rivers State in the areas of basic education and infrastructural renewal.

You have risen up to be counted as an ambassador of our generation.

As I said, I acknowledge your developmental initiatives without prejudice to our political differences because while your party is committed to the common good in Rivers State, I am convinced that because of the Action Congress unyielding pursuit of the very best, an Action Congress Government in Rivers State has the capacity to deliver even more, given the same resources.

As we gather to open this year's conference and await your opening address, let me quickly speak to the theme of this year's Conference which is "Women, how relevant are we?"

It seems to me that every annual Conference of COWLSO has become richer not only by the variety of speakers, participants and innovations, but indeed by the depth of provocative thinking and reflection that each year's theme evokes.

If any examples are required, I beg to roll back and re-cap the themes for the last 4 (Four) years. In 2007, it was"Setting Your Goals – Making it happen", in 2008 it was "Woman, who are you?" in 2009 it was "Rethink, Review and Resolve your Challenges" and of course in 2010, the theme was "Celebrating the Passionate Woman".

This year, I believe our women have chosen to ask themselves and us, what role they have played and can further contribute by the evocative theme, "Women, how relevant are we?".

If I may borrow a cliché, I will start by saying that charity, that very ennobling virtue of selflessness must start her sojourn from home.

Accordingly, let me acknowledge the relevance of our women in Lagos State and salute them for their valued and invaluable contributions to the widely acknowledge developmental programmes that have taken place in our State.

From the higher echelons of the Lagos State public service amongst the directors, the Permanent Secretaries, in the critical sectors of public service that are life defining such as teaching, nursing, waste management and sanitation, you will find that our women have been the critical drivers of change, leading from the front.

In the Lagos judiciary, which is not only the largest but the most progressive and productive in the country, women have not only dominated amongst the Magistrates and Judges, they have been definitive in service delivery and leadership.

The State judiciary is led by a woman, Hon. Justice Inimidun Akande, while I acknowledge the rapid progress witnessed in education reforms and job creation through skill acquisition under the leadership of the immediate past Deputy Governor and the current Deputy Governor, two women who have served our State with distinction.

On the political front, not only have our women led at the campaigns and rallies, mobilizing men, women and children to a most unprecedented victory for our Party, it led to a crushing defeat of opposition and the delivery of a historic sweep stake of all seats and a record voting return of over 1,500,000 votes.

It produced a woman senator out of the 3 (three) available, in the person of Chief Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, 2 (two) House of Representatives seats, 5 (five) House of Assembly seats and 7 (seven) cabinet seats in the re-constituted Lagos State Executive Council.

At the Local Government level, there is a rich representation of women amongst the Chairmen, Vice Chairmen, and Secretaries to the Local Government.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, if this theme has been provoked by any self-doubt about the relevance of women, which I seriously doubt, the representation in Government to which I have just referred must indelibly erase those doubts, because they point very clearly to the contributions on a day to day basis of women in the decision making and resource management process of our State.

If the theme has been provoked by a desire for increased relevance and participation, those representations and the success of our State and Government are the strongest indications for increased relevance of women in the nation building process.

The relevance of women in our daily lives is not a myth. It is a reality from creation. It is rooted in the rich history of humanity, in religion and in our homes. We see it in our economy.

All we need to do is to pause and reflect on examples that we may not often pay enough attention to, such as how much space we men occupy in the family bedroom and wardrobes; how many departments are available for men in stores, malls and supermarkets, how many cater to women as against men; how many women are involved in trade and commerce that drives our national economies and produces vast incomes and feeds millions of families as against the men.

As the discussions in the Conference open our minds to the vistas of the relevance of women, let us come to terms with the primary fact that they are the vessels of life; the drivers of human existence and realize that even if some men may think erroneously that it is a man's world, I acknowledge the relevance of women and their critical role in the making of that world.

On this note, I wish you all very fruitful deliberations and will now gratefully yield the podium to our esteemed Special Guest and Chairman of the Governors Forum to declare the Year 2011 COWLSO Conference open.

Thank you for your attention.

Eko o nibaje!

Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
Governor of Lagos State