Fashola With Buhari’s Load, By Yusuf Ozi-Usman

One doesn’t know whether to rejoice with or pity the former governor of Lagos state, Babatunde Raji Fashola when President Muhammadu Buhari, today, announced the portfolios attached to him as a minister.
As a matter of fact, the reality of the challenging tasks ahead of Fashola when three powerful and demanding ministries – Power, Works and Housing- were placed on him, did not begin to dawn on some analysts until a few hours after the Presidential pronouncement.
Of course, those who wanted to be pleasantly mischievous referred to him as the Prime Minister of the Buhari’s government, by virtue of the vital and tough ministries he is to supervise. This was even as many of his fans believed that he has all the pedigrees to accomplish the multiple tasks ahead of him.
Whatever clout Fashola possesses, there are concerns in many quarters that for one man to handle any one of the three ministries could be energy-sapping, much more the three combined.
On Power, past governments have tried all they could to correct the anomalies in the system that continue to put the country in darkness but achieved little. Recalled that former President Olusegun Obasanjo promised, with all seriousness, to end power challenges within a year as President, but ended up admitting that the rot in the system was beyond redemption.
Billions of naira sank into the system, different methods used and the high level of determination of the past governments had yielded very little.
The same thing can also be said of the ministry of works, where the more the billions of naira was sank into it, the more problematic it became. As a matter of fact, the road construction segment of the ministry was for long turned into a drain-pipe to siphon the national financial resources with very little to show for it. The last administration made sure that the meeting of Federal Executive Council (FEC) every Wednesday was turned into mere award of billions of naria for road projects that never saw the light of the day. It was sickening.
The ministry of Housing too had been budged down by corruption, lack of a defined focus and total misunderstanding of what needed to be done to uplift the standard of living of ordinary Nigerians.
Fashola himself confessed, when he assumed duty today, shortly after his swearing-in, that the challenge he faces is how to bring together processes and activities of all the Ministries now put under his supervision for effective service delivery.
However, those who know Fashola and the wonders he performed in Lagos when he governed the state for eight years, would swear that he would deliver on the gargantuan tasks President Buhari has placed on his shoulder.
And, that is to say, that when the chips are down and President Buhari is to give account of his achievements as President, the person who would be the yardstick for Nigerians to determine such achievements would be Fashola. If he can wade through the thorns, the tumbles and man-made tribulations and fix power; if he can ignore the antics of powerful cabals and put the Nation’s roads in good shape, befitting of the country; and if he can refocus the housing sector with a view to making houses available for majority of poor Nigerians, then, he would have written his name in gold in the nation’s march to greatness.
And, of course, it is as if President Buhari, determined to re-engineer Nigeria as a nation, just told Fashola, ‘go ye and do the sensitive part of my job for me. [myad]