Former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola has come out to advocate for the preservation of Lagos’ history.
This is coming as street naming in Lagos State continues to generate controversy on social media and offline.
Speaking at the public presentation of “Discover Lagos State: A History Puzzle Book (Volume 1)” held at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, revealed that preserving the state’s history will promote key values.
Referencing the works in the digital archives of the University of Glasgow, Fashola noted that the efforts of the university’s staff and students played a role in influencing the historical development in other countries, even in the area of landmarks.
“The archival heritage is a valuable testimony to the sociopolitical and economic development of humanity.
For instance, the Glasgow University archives service gives fascinating insights into the influence that the university, its staff and students have had in the history and development of many countries, including Nigeria,” he said.
According to him, records contain information about the first Nigerian students at the University of Glasgow at the time, including Dr Issac Ladipo Oluwole, who was enrolled in 1913 and graduated in 1918.
He stressed that Dr Oluwole came back to Nigeria to become the first African medical officer of health in the Lagos colony.
“Dr Ladipo Oluwole returned to Nigeria to become the first African medical officer of health in the Lagos colony.
He pioneered school health services, with school inspection and vaccination of children in their schools, and started the first Nigerian school of hygiene at Yaba in Lagos in 1920. So that’s the Ladipo Oluwole. But the records were kept well in Glasgow, Scotland.
So those of us who drive through streets such as Ladipo Oluwole Street in Ikeja will probably now understand and contextualise the contributions of such a man and why it was considered such a high honour to immortalise him by naming a street in his memory.
But it is perhaps instructive that we are discussing street naming and street unnaming and I keep my gunpowder dry,” Fashola said.
He concluded by saying that the work of LASRAB went beyond the production of educational books, emphasising that the ultimate goal was to create a central hub of a reliable repository of Lagos State memory.
“To make this a reality, LASRAB must be adequately resourced. Mr Governor, LASRAB must be well-funded,” he added.
