By Ibrahim Tulu
In a deliberate move to dig up history and archives and to represent the true story of Lagos heritage and evolution to the world, the Lagos State Records and Archives Bureau (LASRAB), on Thursday, September 12, 2024, convened a one day symposium, tagged, Lagos: Bridging Knowledge, Unravelling History, at the Balmoral Conference room of the Sheraton Hotels in Ikeja, Lagos.
The event as planned, witnessed an influx of invited dignitaries, senior government functionaries, including the commissioner for information strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotosho, Lagos State Head of Service, (HOS), Olabode Shuaheeb Agoro, diverse stakeholders including the Lagos State Arewa Community (LASACOM), members of the Igbo Community in Lagos, religious leaders, historians, pupils and students of many schools and residents from across the five districts of Lagos State.
Keynote speakers for the day’s event, included former commissioner for justice and attorney general of Lagos State, Olasupo Sasore (SAN), former VC of Lagos State University (LASU), Mr. Olanrewaju Fagboun, current Secretary to the Lagos State Government (SSG), Barrister Abimbola Salu Hundeyin, amongst other illustrious sons and daughters of the State.
Commissioner Gbenga Omotosho, an information strategist, delivered the welcome address as expected.
A clear-cut picture of the true status of Lagos cultural values, heritage, evolutionary trajectory and emergence over the centuries was presented before the audience, which lucidly identified the aboriginal founders and owners of Lagos as the Oduduwa descendants.
Speakers at the event led by legal luminary, Olasupo Sasore (SAN), while, making their submissions, acknowledged the sociocultural and socioeconomic place and influences of colonialists and the proverbial greener pasture sojourns of citizens of sister regions of the Nigerian nation in the evolution of today’s Eko.
Secretary of the Lagos State Arewa Community, Alhaji Musa Saleh and Ibrahim Abubakar Jagaba, the Lagos State Publicity Secretary, represented the Arewa Community on behalf of the immediate past, Lagos State commissioner for Waterfront Infrastructure Development Ministry, Honorable, Architect, Ahmed Kabiru Abdullahi, who is the convener and chairman of Lagos State Arewa Community (LASACOM)
