Babatunde Fashola, minister of works and housing, says presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Bola Tinubu is the best person to move the vehicle of Nigeria to prosperity, JustNews reports.
Fashola said this when he featured on Sunday Politics, a Channels TV programme.
In the backdrop of the exchange of words between presidential candidates of APC and PDP, Bola Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar, over the weekend, the minister was asked if he feels there was a miscalculation in the choice of the running of mate of his former principal.
Responding, Fashola said “I am going to say first and foremost, that for both men with whom I have personal relationship , I think perhaps the exchange of words, at best I would call it a stumble. I hope it’s not a tumble, and I mean this in the sense that they should quickly recalibrate and get back to the issues. That’s what concerns Nigerians. Those are the debates we should really have. How do we move ourselves to the prosperity that is imminent that this country will have, because I know it will happen. Who is the best person to drive that vehicle? In my own opinion, Asiwaju is the best person to drive that vehicle, because I worked with him at very close quarters. I know his capacity , I know his tenacity”.
Continuing “And I think sometimes we need to test some hypothesis and the opportunity to test the hypothesis is there. My position about religion has been made known on different platforms. I think religion should leave public space and go back to where it belongs, to the homes and the religion centers. There is so much religion in our public life, and there are no nations that I know that will want to be like valorising religion. It’s a private thing. Praying in public and the rest. I think we should just stop there and get down to the real business. When you are in the office, you should go and do your work”, he said.
Also, Fashola reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to delivering infrastructural projects to Nigerians, saying the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project will be delivered before December 25, 2022, as he commended President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts in delivering the dividends of democracy to Nigerians.
When asked when the project will be completed, the Minister said the Federal Government plans to deliver the project before Christmas.
“People used to do a one-week trip for a whole day so that is progress. We plan to finish this year,” the minister said.
Fashola however said that the government is waiting for the Oyo State Government to play its role to aid the speedy completion of the project.
“It is less than two hours now to go to Ibadan, you can do Ibadan and come back twice a day now and we haven’t finished. We don’t want to finish and the road is open again.
If you see, the lane marking is already going on, the road furniture is simultaneously being installed road marking is going on and we are waiting for Oyo State. Governor Makinde and I will resolve that pretty soon,” he stated.
Second Niger Bridge
The Minister also unveiled the government’s plan toward ending the Second Niger Bridge project in the South-Eastern part of the country.
Fashola said the current administration also plans to open the bridge before Christmas, despite the challenges facing the project.
According to Fashola, he has directed the contractor to see that the project is delivered before the deadline, adding that the main bridge deck has been completed.
“We are planning also before Christmas to open that to the public for use because that is when there is a large movement.
“Hopefully, by Christmas, it will be opened. That was the last meeting I had with the contractor about three weeks ago.”
