How Fashola’s portfolio may boost Lagos infrastructure

By all standards, Babatunde Raji Fashola is a super minister. To have been saddled with three huge portfolios is a clear testimony of the level of confidence reposed in him.

Analysts have however, reacted to the “bombardment” of Fashola with power, works and housing ministry, three core ministries merged into one.

According to observers, the appointment will be very tasking on Fashola, particularly since the ministries are not related.

An analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “For me, I am happy for Fashola because despite the mounted campaign to prevent him from being nominated in the first place, he has today turned out to be the super minister in the new administration. The power ministry needed someone with Fashola’s kind of ingenuity. I hope he will bring the solution that Nigerians have been yearning for. My only worry is that encumbering him with works and housing may prove a distraction in the long run. Had he been appointed works minister alone it would have been fantastic because nobody is in doubt of what he is capable of doing in that area.”

The pundit added that the encumbrance was capable of reducing Fashola’s capability.

“Fashola is a good catch, but I see a situation where he may be distracted by the enormous tasks he is likely to face. I fear that the man may become a Jack of all trade and master of none. The question to ask is, does Fashola have the requisite qualification to handle the power ministry? Give it to him; with what he did in Lagos, he can perfectly handle the works ministry as well as housing. But for power, time will tell,” he said.

Fashola’s emergence as a minister in the first place is a surprise to many, particularly those who followed the drama that preceded his nomination.

Prior to his nomination, Fashola was slammed with various allegations which critics said were too weighty to deny him any ministerial portfolio.

In reaction to the allegations, Fashola had said: “When you wrestle with a pig, the pig gets happy and you get dirty.”

According to him, “This statement of profound wisdom informed my silence in the wake of manipulated and unsubstantiated allegations of wrongdoing recently being levelled against me. They started a few weeks to the end of my tenure, and have continued till date. They range from allegations of extra marital paternity of children, to mundane and phantom conspiracy in the National Assembly, a debt profile for Lagos State and lately a website upgrade contract of N78 million, which is being distorted.”

Although it was alleged that the finger-pointing emanated from some powerful politicians in Lagos, it is not likely that the “bad blood” was potent enough to discourage Fashola from doing a good job for his beloved state, particularly as it concerns the projects he left behind onMay 29 this year.

When he came on board in 2007 as governor of Lagos, the state was like a jungle. There were heaps of refuse every inch of the way. Many parts of the city metropolis were not better than slum in terms of dirt.

He took it in his stride to recreate the state. Places like Oshodi that had become a den of robbers were recaptured and restructured. Sanity was restored. His Midas touch in the City of Excellence has become a reference point, not only in Nigeria but outside the shores of the country.

His lofty dream of a mega city project was expected to give Lagos an ambiance that will be soothing to the overall health and well being of dwellers. He put in place street sweepers, whose activities have enhanced the beauty of a state that is being described as micro-Nigeria. He initiated a tree-, flower-planting programme; from waste to wealth project where refuse is turned into many useful products and other initiatives that received global commendation. The most ambitious of them all is the light rail track project. Fashola’s footprints in Lagos as governor are bold for even a blind person to see.

For his sterling performance, he needed not to campaign for re-election as most indigenes and residents willingly gave their support.

Owing to paucity of funds because of too many projects competing for attention, Fashola left office without seeing to bed those projects that are dear to his heart.

While he was at Alausa as the chief executive officer of the state, tried as he did, Fashola could not secure the buy-in of the then Federal Government under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the mega project in Lagos even though he convincingly argued that the state should be given a special status and that the roads being affected in the mega construction were federal under categorisation.

It is expected that with the Federal Government under APC, Lagos being of the same party and Fashola now as the minister of works, indigenes and residents of the state will soon begin to enjoy infrastructure upgrade, including the early completion of the mega city project.