By Abiola Olawale (The New Diplomat’s SouthWest Bureau)
The Lagos State Government has disclosed plans to set up the Lateef Jakande Leadership Academy in honour of late Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, the first civilian Governor of Lagos State.
Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu made this known during ‘A day of Tributes’ held in honour of the late Jakande.
The New Diplomat had reported that Late Jakande, fondly called ‘Baba Kerere, passed on at age 91 on Thursday, February 11, 2021, and his remains was interred at Vaults and Gardens Cemetery, Ikoyi on Friday, February 12, 2021.
Meanwhile, Governor Sanwo-Olu has announced the immortalization of the first civilian governor of the state through the creation of a Leadership Fellowship Academy.
Sanwo-Olu, who was speaking at the tribute program which held at the rehabilitated Mobolaji Olufunsho Stadium, said the academy is expected to produce new leaders that can stand and live the spirit and aspiration of the late governor.
Governor Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, among other dignitaries, were in attendance at the tribute organized by the state government in honour of the first civilian governor.
Speaking, the Sanwo-Olu described the late Lateef Jakande as a great and selfless leader and an outstanding journalist.
In his words, “We are going to set up an endowment to be called Lateef Jakande leadership fellowship academy…This is what we believe that the transformational leadership that Alhaji stood for that indeed we can create leaders of tomorrow on a year-on-year basis, we can have 20 or 30 leaders that can stand and live the spirit and aspiration of Alhaji Lateef Jakande. That will be backed up by the enabling act and law, and we will give it a treat that generations that are coming behind us will not be able to reverse. Alhaji Jakande is an epitome of what all of us are standing for today. Everything in Lagos has an emblem of Jakande in it, to immortalise Jakande is an everyday thing as a government.”
It would be recalled that Jakande, 91, was the Lagos State Governor from 1979 to 1983. He was also a former Minister of works and housing under the military government of General Sani Abacha.
His administration as Lagos State Governor left a legacy of massive infrastructure development during his four-year stink, especially through numerous Jakande estates built across the state as well as his investment in education sector in the state.
His work during his time as the governor was also widely believed to have laid developmental blueprints for Nigeria’s economic nerve center, Lagos.
