Lagos aquires branded Monopoly Board

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Lagos State has recorded another first as it became the first African City State to have a branded Monopoly Board Game dedicated to it. The State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) who performed the official launch of the Game expressed the hope that the useful lessons of the game will impact the current generation of children in a much better way than those before them.
Governor Fashola who performed the official unveiling at the City Hall, Lagos expressed the hope that the Lagos Monopoly Board Game will help in reuniting families as children and their parents spend quality time together playing the Lagos version of the Monopoly Board Game.
The Governor said it is beyond imagination to say that Monopoly Board Game is a global brand which has been with Nigerians for over a generation despite the fact that its origin and landmarks are in faraway places like Kent, Parklane and Old Bond Street.
He added that despite this, the appeal of the game was very high as the players proudly became very happy millionaires or very sad bankrupts as they competed across the brightly coloured board in the journey of life from childhood to adulthood.
“As young children, the long hours on the board engaged our minds and hands and kept us out of mischief. It kept us indoors, because it was an indoor game, so our parents knew where we were”.
“For others, it sharpened additional skills and created business dreams that many were later to go and live in real life as business and property moguls. The community and chance cards were useful building blocks for young minds about developing a sense of responsibility and law and order. The punishment for driving badly, evading taxes and so on, shaped the values of my generation”
The Governor said the first African City version of the Monopoly Game Board is a version that replaces those faraway places with those destinations and local land marks that dot the cityscape in Lagos.
He added that places like Civic Centre, City Hall, MUSON Center, the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Tinubu Square, Freedom Park, BRT Bus Terminals, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Tin-can Island, Iddo Terminal and Oshodi Heritage Park are also included in the Lagos version.
“The community and chance cards have been modeled to our local circumstances to teach our people, especially our children about critical institutions like LASTMA, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Waterworks, Kirikiri Jail, LAWMA, National Psychiatric Hospital Yaba, Lagos State Drivers Institute, Lagos State Internal Revenue Service and 767 Emergency Number”.
He emphasized that in the bid to become Africa’s model mega city, the state will consider any old idea that it can remake to suit her needs as indeed she will embrace new ones.
While describing the Monopoly Board Game as one of such old idea made to suit Lagos, he added that the road to this day had so many co-travellers to whom the state owes a debt of gratitude.
He commended sponsors such as First Bank of Nigeria, Guarantee Trust Bank Plc, Ruff and Tumble, Nigerian Stock Exchange, First Securities Discount House, Terra Culture, MUSON Center, Mansard Insurance, Quintessence, Kings and Queens College, Lagos State University and Wheatbaker Hotel and also acknowledged the selflessness of the promoter of the City of Lagos edition of Monopoly, Mrs Opunimi Akinkugbe in ensuring the successful launch of the game.
Governor Fashola said despite the fact that Mrs Akinkugbe is not a native of Lagos, she has made Lagos her home as a proud member of the extremely diverse population whose aspirations find expression in Lagos as a result of the famous hospitality that encourages multi-ethnic human capital to be all that they can be.

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