By Olasunkanmi Akoni & Monsur Olowoopejo

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has said the greatest honour that could be paid to members of the nation’s Armed Forces who sacrificed their lives in the service of the country is to keep the peace.

Fielding questions from newsmen, weekend, at the Secretariat Mosque, Alausa, Ikeja after a special prayer organised in commemoration of the Armed Forces Remembrance week, Fashola said it was equally important to remember the depen-dants and families whom the fallen heroes left behind and to ensure their continued welfare.

He said: “One of the ways to honour these men and women who have paid the supreme price so that we can live in peace is to keep Nigeria peaceful. They laid down their lives to keep the country peaceful so that we can sleep, prosper and develop.

Makes case for heroes’ families

“We must remember that they left families behind, they left dependants behind and many of them had their dreams cut short. Therefore, we must promote development; we must create opportunities; we must promote enterprise and eradicate poverty, squalor and disease in such a way that their dependants can find opportunities to venture legitimately to actualise their own dreams.

“They must be made to believe, understand and realise that their parents, guardians and uncles who sacrificed their lives that this country may exist did not do so in vain.”

The Governor said it was important to continue to renew hope in the lives of the members of the nation’s Armed Forces, to show that the rest of the country cares about them and are concerned about their welfare, adding that this will inspire them to continue to remain committed to their primary assignment which is to defend the territorial integrity of the country.

He said: “If we fail to do so, we open the Military to vulnerability and that will not augur well for the country and our democracy. Of course, if we take them away from their primary assignment, we make ourselves vulnerable.”

He addd that the Lagos State has continuously supported the Military community just like every other community in the state adding, “as I stand here, I make bold to say that there are quite a number of instances where we have intervened in Military formations either in the provision of water supply or provision of schools.

“Recently, we commissioned a block of about 82 classrooms in the Military Cantonment, Ikeja.”

“Our work is not yet done. We continue to give support wherever we can. We also support the Cadets and the Academy to make their training less cumbersome. In terms of discharging their primary assignment, we continue to work with the OPMESA and all the officers who help us to maintain peace and security and, in that sense, we give them logistic support in form of patrol vehicles and allowances for the men who work 24 hours to keep us safe”, the Governor said.
Governor Fashola said the State Government is working assiduously to make the State an agricultural state in the country. “Agriculture is the foundation of industrialization. Without raw materials, we cannot produce anything. It is from the products from agriculture that every nation has moved to industrialization”, he noted.

“In specific terms, we are supporting our farmers of all types; Poultry farmers, vegetable farmers, fish farmers and others with varying initiatives and policies. We have gone back to the idea of Farm Settlement, receiving support from the Israeli University of Agriculture through the Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES)”, Governor Fashola said, adding that the first 100 graduates from the school would be getting their cheques of about N540 million as their agricultural support loan with each also getting one hectare of land.

According to Fashola, “They will form themselves in five cooperative units of 20 people each. It is a project we have started and we intend to take Lagos to great heights in agriculture. We are already building silos. It is work in progress, but we are moving in the right direction”.

Also present at the Special Jumat Service were the Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture, Mr. Tunde Balogun, Commander of the 9th Brigade, Nigeria Army, Ikeja, Brigadier General Sanusi Nasiru Muazu as well as other top military officers and government functionaries.