Fashola Swears-in Folarin Coker as SA, Central Business District

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola has sworn in Mr. Folorunsho Folarin-Coker as his new Special Adviser on Central Business District, CBD charging him to operate an administration that would include all the critical stakeholders as well as ensure harmonious development in the area.

The 49-year-old Folorunsho Folarin-Coker, who until his appointment, was Managing Director of Lagos State Number Plates Production Agency, replaces Mrs. Aderinola Disu who resigned recently to devote her full time to family commitments.

In his remarks after the brief swearing-in ceremony at the Chambers of the State Executive Council at the Lagos House, Ikeja, Fashola said the challenge facing the new Special Adviser was how to ensure inclusion between the various businesses in the District in a way to maintain law and order, cleanliness, safety and security in the area.

Noting that the Central Business District is essentially the State’s Financial Centre that hosts important financial institutions as well as old and historic family properties, the Governor said the district also accommodates several hundreds of thousands of people who engage in small businesses which contribute to the economy of both the State and the country.

“The Central Business District is essentially our financial centre hosting the Stock Exchange, the Central Bank and many old and historic family properties and assets. It is also a place where several hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people engage in small businesses trying to contribute their quota to the economy of the State and the country”.

“Perhaps, whether the place is a viable financial centre or a place where people are struggling to eke out a living, it leaves a challenge of how to ensure inclusion between those people who struggle to make a living everyday in a way that there is law and order, in a way that the place is clean, in a way that the place is safe, in a way that the place is secure and at the same time to ensure that businesses don’t take flight as a result of human activities”, the Governor said.

Fashola told the new Special Adviser, “You are welcome to a very enormous challenge and I hope that, like your former predecessors, you would be able to add value”, adding, “I believe that visiting the entire area and the families who are the critical stakeholders there would be a defining asset in ensuring how to proceed.

Wishing the new Special Adviser an exciting time on the job, the Governor urged him to work closely also with the local governments in a way that there would be harmonious development devoid of conflict of interests and to ensure that the roles of the local and the State governments are clearly preserved, defined and protected.

“I hope you will work also with the local governments who are the governments there in a way that there is no conflict of interests and there is harmony in how the place develops with roles of the local governments clearly preserved and clearly protected while the role of the State also is clearly defined and protected”, the Governor told the Mr. Folarin-Coker urging him to bring his skills to bear on the job.

Present at the ceremony were members of the State Executive Council including the Deputy Governor, Hon. (Mrs.) Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, Chief of Staff, Mr. Lanre Babalola, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mrs. Olusola Oworu and her Information and Strategy counterpart, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba among others.