Babatunde Fashola: History beckons

By Joseph Edgar . . .

I have received the allocation of portfolios with excitement. Babatunde Fashola’s appointment as the Minister for power, works and Housing has come to me with bated relief and muted expectations. If there has been one appointment by this administration that has been on point it is this one. And it also sounds a death knell to the critics and public enemies who tried to foster enmity against their shallow thinking, when they tried to pull him down over the website and borehole scandals while he was the governor of Lagos.

Infrastructure deficit and corruption to me remains the twin debilitating reasons for our continued underdevelopment and poverty. I have been having a series of meetings with the present Commissioner of Energy in Lagos Mr. Wale Oluwo who has vowed to give Lagosians 24 hour power by the end of this administration.

For the first time in my life, I have come to see the reality that is the power challenge. From illiquidity, to red tape and lack of capacity on the parts of the administrators, I began to see the enormity of the issue.

Read also: FG, keep your N5, 000

I believe very strongly that if there is a Nigerian that could make an appreciable impact in all these, it is Fashola. I do not want to use this platform as a praise singing vehicle but let me just state that more than anything else, anybody chasing this dream must be imbued with strong principles, must be incorruptible, must be confident in team building, understand the dynamics that is the configuration in getting all forces converge at a point of vision, and much more importantly must have the capacity to track and understand the language of infrastructure while inning the confidence of international parties.

I believe Fashola has all of these and more and for once Buhari has made a right pick. Let me keep quiet and watch him commence work while wishing him well in this new assignment.

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now