By Modestus Umenzekwe
It is obviously not in my character to discuss individuals, but there is understandably one man, for me, who has consistently and undeniably caught my attention and fancy in all he does in and out of government, and I must give honour to whom honour is due. That one man is His Excellency, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), Former Executive Governor of Lagos State and Immediate Past Honourable Minister of Works and Housing, not forgetting that he was Minister of Power at a time. Indeed I have so many ways to describe Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN, CON), I have described him in so many ways and those ways fit in because it is the truth and nothing but the truth.
He is not just one of the finest, thorough bred politicians in Nigeria; he has a unique mannerism and personal idiosyncrasies that are simply unique to him alone; he hardly talks, but when he talks, it is full of wisdom; he is one man who believes that his productivity is enough to speak for him. He talks only when it is absolutely necessary.
As a Minister, Fashola was a performer; Fashola came to the ministries that he superintended with great panache, innovation and with a master-plan. He didn’t assume the work on the mantra of trial and error, no, His Excellency Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) came to the ministries well prepared and well packaged for the job and he delivered.
Fashola is a man, to the best of my knowledge, who keeps promises; he is a man that is detribalized, he is not a flamboyant human being, very cerebral, if he is passing here, you will not know he is passing here, unless if someone tells you. He is a political thinker, Philosopher and a great speaker. If you have ever listened to his lectures, on governance, on social problems, on Nigerian society, you would marvel. He occupies a position of dazzling intellectual ability in the world of academia. This is a man that returns text messages, picks calls and returns calls no matter where you come from.
I have said it repeatedly that if the former President, Muhammadu Buhari achieved much, Fashola contributed 70% to that administration. That is why in one of my publications, I counted him as one of the Heroes of Buhari’s Administration and till tomorrow I stand by that statement. He doesn’t struggle for positions; he speaks for the downtrodden, a good listener, and above all, a friend of the six geopolitical zones of this country, and a well-respected, peaceful family man.
As a governor his signature landmark achievements remain indelible, and as a minister, it was eight years of unblemished service to the nation and eight years of service to humanity. It was also eight years of nation building. So Fashola is such a man that if you decided to talk about him, a big note book is not enough to encapsulate what you would want to say about him. He came into limelight when he was appointed the Chief of Staff to the then Governor and now the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Lagos. To tell you how tall the man is, at the inception of Buhari’s administration in 2015, Fashola was given three key ministries, Power, Works and Housing and he excelled. In 2019, the three portfolios were unbundled and pruned down to two, Works and Housing, to avoid weighing him down, after all, he is a human being. Of course, his achievements dots entire Nigeria landscapes, the six geopolitical zones bear imprints of his great work, including the famous 2nd Niger Bridge.
Today, he has put down his thoughts about Nigeria and ready to unveil it. Indeed, the book Nigerian Public Discourse, an intellectual masterpiece, is a Clarion call for us to have a sincere discussion about myriad of issues that concern all of us, a discussion that is devoid of politics, religion, class or creed. For me, as a nation, we must start looking at the nation from the prisms of people like His Excellency, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) who have honest and patriotic zeal for the country, an incurable optimist who believes sincerely that this country will be better if all of us would come together as one and make positive contributions towards its growth and development, I sincerely encourage us to pick up the book, read it, digest it and work with it.
Speaking on the book Public discourse: Did you listen to his lecture at the University of Benin when he talked about Justice Idigbe? Fashola believes that as a Nigerian, and he is a true Nigerian, you don’t run this country down. If a particular government has committed an offence, you blame the government not the entire country; he believes that if you want to lead this country you must love the country as your own country by trying to protect the image of the country but blame whoever that committed an offence, not the entire country. So I am not surprised that he is coming up with a book like this; he is focused and organized.
You see he doesn’t talk much, but he listens more, and that is a very good attribute of a good philosopher; that is why he was able to come out with this book, Nigerian Public Discourse. Watch out on the day of the book launch, you will see what will happen, the whole world will be there, Nigerians will be there, it will be another occasion to showcase native intelligence, social intelligence, academic intelligence, and prominence in governance.
I also congratulate Fashola (SAN) for being able to put together his thoughts about Nigeria in spite of his very tight schedules, it shows a man that is multi-faceted, multi-talented, multi-dimensional and versatile. Fashola is not just a politician but a decent, intelligent, indefatigable and passionate one at that.
As I said earlier during Buhari Administration, Fashola’s ministries represented the positive face of Buhari’s administration and I called him the Hero of Buhari’s administration. People said so many things about the administration, criticized it, talk about security, economy, but once you get to Works and Housing, you must crosscheck the records. When you talk of the great achievements of that government, you are indirectly talking about Works and Housing under Fashola, as you can see in various road and bridge constructions and housing facilities which sprouted all across the nation. He is a man with a Midas touch; you cannot take it away from him.
Let us begin with Housing. The FHA, of course you know, was under his ministry then, undertook key projects, 778 housing units in Oshogbo, Owerri, Gombe, Kaduna, Lagos and Port Harcourt. Also, over 2,200 housing units were completed in Apo, Abuja, Odukpani in Calabar and Yenagoa in Bayelsa State and Awka, Anambra State. Before he handed over the ministry many were completed while others were at their various completion stages. Also, a total of 764 housing units were constructed in the Zuba Mass Housing Project site.
The authority carried out direct development of 330 units of various house types with complementary infrastructure in six states across the country namely: Awka – Anambra State, Gombe – Gombe State, Makurdi – Benue State and Osogbo – Osun State, among others, among others
On road infrastructure, Fashola was in a class of his own, our Progressive government under the auspices of President Muhammadu Buhari, through Fashola handled over 1,019 roads and bridge projects nationwide and even within 18 days towards the end of that tenure, commissioned 941 kilometers of roads connecting 10 states across five geo-political zones which are impacting positively on the lives of the people in many more ways. The six geo-political zones bear imprimatur and signature of is wonderful commitments.
Fashola did not disappoint when he was in Lagos as Governor?
He is full of innovation. Recall, when a skyscraper caved in on Marina, Lagos, there was hysteria everywhere as people were worried on how to bring down the building without hurting the people and environment, but Fashola deployed an implosive device that brought down the building without hurting anybody. Up till date Lagosians still testify that Fashola is a good man with good ideas. Apart from education being free, he bought textbooks for students, paid WAEC and NECO fees for students. Good work is in his DNA.
As a passionate Nigerian, he is making another clarion call which is very vital for us as a nation, as organisations and as individuals. Fashola has consistently pointed out that the nation does not have accurate statistics to work with, and maintains that something must be done urgently about it. Dr Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, CON, as far as I am concerned is a true Nigerian; he is a man that believes in straight records, authentic records. That is why when people are flying figures up and down concerning housing deficit, concerning the population of Nigeria, he is not comfortable, because he knows that those figures are not accurate and has not helped us in doing our budgeting, and from time to time, he keeps debunking those figures calling for accurate one; that is Fashola for you. In an interview with ThisDay he said “…Let us look at all the census for example. How many are we? Some people say we are 210 million, 230 million. It’s just whatever numbers you put out. That can’t be a basis to plan. If the census figures are wrong, planning will be wrong. If planning is wrong, implementation will be sub-optimal. If the implementation is sub-optimal, quality of life will be sub-optimal. That is how it affects people.
“If two people are coming to my house, and I go and prepare for twenty, I have taken resources from another place to prepare for a non-event. That is a waste! If twenty people are going to come, and I assume only that there are two, and twenty come, that is a shortage.
“This applies to the number of schools, hospital beds, classrooms, desks and chairs, energy per capita, water supply per capita, and how many people need water. So, we need to have near-accurate figures. Then, we set ourselves impossible tasks by our hyperbole, exaggerations, negative exaggerations.
“Some say we have a 17 million housing deficit.
Do you know what one million is? So, how many millions are we going to build, before we can have sufficient housing? That is not a rational way to address housing. It looks impossible. So, when a nation begins to set impossible tasks, it is depressing. It diminishes hope!
“Then we say we are the poverty capital of the world, who says that? And we just own all of the negative statistics. That is not the environment in which to raise people. We just have to come out and say, this thing doesn’t make sense. Not just because we want to say so, but because, as a matter of fact, it doesn’t make sense, compared to other jurisdictions.”
