Former Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has congratulated the Island Club of Lagos on its 80th anniversary.  He described the 80th anniversary as a great feat and an opportunity to tell those that question the Island Club’s capacity to produce enduring institutions like the club.

Speaking at a press conference to unfold plans for the anniversary, Fashola said the club started as a centre that accommodated people of different races at a time when the country was under colonial government, saying it killed the idea of black men and black people creating alternative platforms to express themselves.

He said: “For those of us who are members of this club, there is a lot of history of Nigeria that is embedded in all of these walls.”   He noted that many policies that shaped the country were first inaugurated or unveiled at the annual Charismas or New Year’s Eve celebration at the club.

“In those days, Island Club was a place to be if you were anybody in Nigeria. So, many positive things happened in the development of our country, it was also a conscience for the government. Some of the debates within the club filtered back to the government in shaping policies and opinions.”

There is a lot to unpack about the club and indeed, I dare say many other recreational clubs adopted the practices of Island Club.”

Fashola urged members of the club to reposition the club, saying: “Today, we have all kinds of unacceptable associations that are deleterious to the development of the country. It is, perhaps, because the clubs are not evangelised to take more people and give people an alternative form of expression. This is where the best lawyers, judges and public servants in Lagos emanated.”

Chairman of the Club, Prince Rabiu Adio Oluwa, said the anniversary is 80 years of impactful existence of the club and Nigerians are aware of the historic role played by the Island Club in challenging the discrimination against Nigerians during the Colonial era which represented one of the dark periods in the geographical space.

“Island Club was founded on October 29, 1943, by the visionary forebears made up of fifty Nigerians and Non-Nigerians who met in the private residence of Barrister Omooba Oladipupo Odunsi to form the great club that is today acknowledged as the Premier Social Club in Nigeria.”

Oluwa noted that Island Club soared so much after independence that membership became a prerequisite evidence for diplomats and foreign dignitaries to their home country that they have been properly inducted into the elitist, high society in Nigeria.

“Our Club attracted the interest of both the Colonialist and the colonized. While the primary focus is social, we have since been intervening in national debates aimed at shaping the trajectory of our collective peaceful struggle for political and economic emancipation.

“Our Club and members are staunch advocates for unity and peace, promote combined and even development, we are interracial, and stand for fellowship and comradeship.

He said the oak anniversary will be marked by a series of events.

“There will be an anniversary lecture on October 29, 2023, with the renowned Kenyan lawyer, Activist and Pan Africanist Prof Lumumba as the Guest Speaker.

“Our Grand Patron, President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with top government officials, and a foreign Ambassador from the Caribbean will grace the event which will end on Sunday 31st October with a Church service,” he said.

The Vice Chairman, Lagos House of Assembly Head Committee on Information Strategy and Security, Otunba Kayode Ogundipe, said the club is focused on empowering the youth and the vulnerable in society.

“We are in tune with the coming realities, a club of 80 years need to engage the youths. The majority of the members are getting old and we are bringing the young ones on board so that there will be posterity and hand over to them to continue flying the flag,” he said.