Fashola’ll fail as housing minister – PDP

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The Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party says the immediate past Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who is now the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, is not an achiever.

The party, therefore, stated that Fashola might fail as a minister.

The Publicity Secretary of Lagos PDP, Mr. Taofik Gani, said this during a telephone interview with our correspondent on Tuesday.

The PDP spokesman said it is a known fact that there was an increase in the number of homeless Lagosians during Fashola’s eight-year rule.

Gani recalled that Fashola had said in 2013 that there was no such thing as low-cost housing because there was no low-cost cement or low-cost labour.

He said many slums were demolished while expensive estates were built by the Fashola administration.

Gani wondered if Fashola would continue with his ‘elitist style of leadership’ even in poor areas of the country.

He said, “Can Fashola point to any low-cost housing scheme he did in his eight years as governor? The houses he built under the Lagos Home Owners Scheme cost about N15m on average. Can the Eko Atlantic – which cost hundreds of millions of naira to buy – be classified as affordable housing? Can Fashola be compared with former Governor Lateef Jakande who built over 20,000 housing units in four years?

“There is nothing super about Fashola. He was only compensated by President Muhammadu Buhari because Lagos contributed greatly to Buhari’s campaign.”

The PDP said Fashola’s performance in the area of works when he was governor was abysmal. Gani said most of the projects that Fashola took credit for were done by concessionaires and private companies.

He noted that on the Victoria Island, some banks implemented various projects through their Corporate Social Responsibility programmes.

Gani said now that Fashola is in charge of all Federal Government infrastructures across the country, his deficiencies would be exposed.

He added, “Fashola was a governor that relied heavily on propaganda. Most of the projects he did were through Public-Private Partnerships while some came about through the CSR programmes of some companies.

“Projects were done by private investors and concessionaires. So, as far as we are concerned, he never merited the praises showered on him. He ran a government of mediocrity.”

The PDP spokesman recalled that Fashola had said, while criticising former President Goodluck Jonathan in March, that he could fix the electricity problem within a year. Gani, therefore, urged Fashola to live up to his words.

Gani, while evaluating the performance of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, said he did not need to criticise Ambode since Lagosians were doing that every day.

He, however, urged Lagosians not to be deceived by the inauguration of 200 BRT buses by Ambode.

He said, “Ambode has not performed well. Ambode inaugurated some BRT buses but what has the state benefitted from the ones on the ground? And now the Senate has approved $200m for Ambode’s government. It is unfortunate.”

Source: Punch