Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola said yesterday that his face-off with the National Assembly is to get better results for the country.
He spoke with State House correspondents at the venue of the Presidential Quarterly Business Forum at the old Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.
He said he was not fighting the lawmakers, but only had disagreement with them.
Stressing that he has many friends among the lawmakers, he said his relationship with them would not stop the right thing from being done.
He said: “There is no problem between me as an individual and the National Assembly. And let me make that very clear, many of the senators and honourable members are my personal friends, and so you don’t fight your friends.
“But we have a disagreement. And the context of that disagreement, you will remember when President Muhammadu Buhari launched the economic recovery and growth plan, he had enormous support from the leadership of the National Assembly. So, it means that we all agree there is a problem.
“There is also disagreement, which I don’t think should make us disagreeable about the best way to implement that plan and I think that is all there is to it.
“It is perhaps possible that in the heat of the moment while trying to canvass different positions, we are misconstrued as fighting. But I am not fighting anybody. We have a disagreement; it shouldn’t make us disagreeable.”
The minister added: “So, my responsibility is to continue to engage. Also even if I wasn’t a minister, I am a citizen and so the parliamentarians are also representing me. So, these are the issues and if I have been misunderstood, my intention was not to quarrel with anybody, but to see a better Nigeria, which I believe they also want to see,” he said.
On the belief that the feud may delay the presentation of budget virement and the 2018 budget to the National Assembly, he said: “Again, I say the words that we use potentially redirects our attention from what the real issue is. I don’t think a feud is the right word to use. A disagreement yes; a very healthy disagreement…
“I’m sure with the leadership of the National Assembly – Senate President, speaker of the House of Representatives, the principal officers – and the Acting President, we will resolve this in the ultimate interest of the Nigerian people,” Fashola said.
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