Fashola: “I prepared my handover note last September but…”
By Elegbede Abiodun
Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.
Three days to the end of the regime of the President, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari’s (retd.), the outgoing Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said he would have stopped work as minister last year as his handover note was prepared in September 2022.
He disclosed this at the contract signing ceremony for the value-added concession under the highways development & management initiative.
The minister was reacting to the recent uproar by the public after the president directed all cabinet members to continue work in their various offices till May 29, 2023.
But Fashola said that left to him, he would have stopped working and left the remaining work to the incoming administration to continue.
He said, “So there is a conversation going on out there, asking why we are still working. People are asking why we are awarding contracts, so maybe we should stop here and wait for the incoming administration to sign this agreement.”
“Is that not better,” Fashola queried with the participants echoing a loud “No” in response.
He continued, “There is an argument going on out there. I think it is a conversation we must have because some people don’t like the party in government.
“And I think in order to enrich our democracy, we must begin to have conversations if the government must stop work.
“For me personally, I prepared my handover note last year in September, but more work kept coming, so I would have stopped work since September.
He added, “Even today, some people are still sending me messages to sign a Certificate of Occupancy.”
Punch
