Coming off from his duty as the head of three ministries— work, power and housing — during President Muhammadu Buhari’s first term, very few had doubts that Babatunde Fashola would be renominated.
So it became no surprise when his name was one of the 43 ministerial nominees sent to and screened by the Senate.
Mr Fashola came with a rich dossier in the public sector, notably: a two-term governor and about-to-be two-term minister.
This perhaps informed why his session with the Senate took about two grilling hours as himself would reckon on his Twitter page.
Questions he fielded ranged from what he would do differently, why certain projects have not reached certain parts of the country, depending who his interviewer was.
Regaled in his traditional agbada and his trademark cap, every question thrown at him, he tossed aside in measured, lawyerly tones.
“This renomination imposes a sense of immense responsibility,” he began when Senate President Ahmed Lawan asked him to tell the lawmakers what his CV was silent on.
“We recovered 720 containers of transmission equipment belonging to the Nigerian government that had been left at the port for over a decade,” he added, lapping his agbada on his shoulder for the umpteenth time.
After about two hours, he took a bow and left. He would later be appointed the minister of works and housing, with power yanked off, and Abubakar Aliyu was appointed the minister for state to assist him. Saleh Mamman now heads the ministry of power.
PREMIUM TIMES, in this report, examines how the ministry headed by Mr Fashola has fared in the last one year.
Works: How far thus far
Infrastructural development has been a focal reference point of the Buhari-led administration. A bulk of this has been piloted by the ministry of works and housing.
Across the six geopolitical zones, there are over 200 ongoing highway projects, all of which stretches to a total of 7,483.04 km with N2.4 trillion worth of contracts. Some are funded by local and external loans as well as sukuk bonds.
READ ALSO: “Mr. Minister, Building Low-Cost Housing For Nigerians Is Very Viable” – Festus Adebayo
This is alongside flyovers and bridges, particularly the second Niger River bridge, which, according to presidential publicist Femi Adesina, “should be completed by Q1 2022.” Also is the Loko-Oweto bridge linking Benue and Nasrawa States.
“As I speak to you, we are executing over 600 roads across all states in Nigeria, including in universities,” Mr Fashola told ChannelsTV in June.
Also is Bodo-Bonny bridge, Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Abuja-Kaduna highway, which Mr Fashola said “will be delivered in Q1 2022,” the Kano-Maiduguri, Benin-Lokoja highways, all done in collaboration with state governments.
Credit: Premium Times
