The Lagos State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the the immediate past Governor of Lagos State and current Minister of Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola did not achieve during his eight years as governor and as such would fail as a minister.
Speaking via a telephone interview with Punch, the Publicity Secretary of Lagos PDP, Taofik Gani enthused that it is a fact that the number of homeless Lagosians increased during Fashola’s tenure as governor.
On part of Fashola’s portfolio as minister of housing, Gani accused Fashola of running an elitist style of leadership, wondering why slums were demolished while expensive estates were built by the Fashola administration.
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.”
On his new job which covers Works, Gani said Fashola performed abysmally as most of the projects flaunted by Fashola were done by concessionaires and private companies and banks as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility programmes.
His words: “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.”
As regards electricity, which Fashola would now oversee as minister of Power, Gani recalled that while criticizing former President Goodluck Jonathan during the electioneering campaign in March, Fashola had said that he could fix the country’s electricity problem in a year, adding that he must live up to his words.
On the new Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, Gani 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.”
