Babatunde Fashola,
outgoing minister of works and housing, says feedback received from Nigerians
shows that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari improved the
country.
Speaking in an interview with
Channels Television on Friday night, Fashola said the Buhari
administration fulfilled the 2015 mantra of change.
On May 29, Buhari is expected to leave office after eight
years as Nigeria’s president.
Giving an assessment of the Buhari administration, Fashola said the road infrastructure projects executed by the outgoing government have reduced the hours Nigerians spent travelling on roads.
“I think it is a very difficult place to self-assess, but I
think that from the feedback that we get from those we serve, clearly, the
feedback is encouraging and it indicates that things have moved in a better
direction from where we picked it up and that means that we have moved the
needle,” he said.
“We made things better than they were and we lived our
mantra of change in that sense.
“Travel time, for example, on some of the major roads when
we did a survey about a year and a half ago has generally on average reduced by
about 55 percent.
“Subject to the
inflation and cost of living increases being experienced, we also saw that cost
of travel had dropped by about 55 percent around the same period when we did
the survey and that is good news for the economy.”
On Buhari’s anti-corruption drive, Fashola said most of the
looted funds recovered by the outgoing administration were devoted to
infrastructure projects, adding that the anti-corruption war is not all about
arresting and jailing suspects.
“I tell people that this anti-corruption crusade is not all
about arresting and jailing people. It is not also about the forfeiture of
funds alone. It is also what you choose to do with it (referring to looted
funds),” he added.
Asked what he will do if he is retained by the incoming
administration of Bola Tinubu, Fashola said it is “extremely hypothetical” that
he will be among the next set of ministers, adding that it is time to give
young people a chance.
“I think that is
extremely hypothetical and when you look at it, I think you should go to our
conference room and it will tell you the reason why I should not be here
anymore,” he added.
“Just go and look at all of those who served from Shagari to
Femi Okunnu, Obasanjo to Inuwa Wada, and Tafawa Balewa, they were in their 30s
when they took this job.
“If we say really and truly that this is the time for young
people and you don’t move the production line, how do you inject new capacity?
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