HOUSING! BUHARI RENDERS MR 3-In-1 FASHOLA USELESS
The ego and super persona of the Work, Housing and Power Minister, Babatunde Raji Fashola was brashly deflated by President Muhammad Buhari who tasked the 22 APC governors to ensure they put in place 250,000 housing units each year of their tenure.
The President who made this known at the just concluded National Economic Council Retreat in Abuja which had Raji Fashola in attendance did not bat an eyelid whilst dropping the charge. State house sources told Global News how the President kept a straight face whilst highlighting the myriad of problems facing the housing sector and how the APC-led government is ready to fulfill one of its electioneering campaign promises of providing a lasting solution to the housing problem in the country.
Global News learnt the ”Super” Minister Raji Fashola was visibly shocked and dumbfounded immediately the president whom we gathered did not discuss the move with the minister released the shocker. Fashola’s ‘ body language’ said it all as he was not at ease throughout the session as President Buhari’s speech was laced with many underlying nuances that ruffled the composure of Fashola and his portfolio.
And if feelers from Aso Rock is anything to go by, it appears the Minister – who many fear might soon ‘collapse’ and cave in to pressure because of the dictates of the assignment under his belt – has already started feeling the heat. The power sector which he once said ”should be fixed by any serious government in six months” and which he now oversees is currently proving to be his number one Achilles’ heel. With the recent purported hike in electricity tariff by the minister and the heated controversy it generated across the country coupled with the inability to generate the needed megawatts that could somewhat put a stop to incessant power outages, the minister’s rating is fast dropping to the lowest ebb.
Meanwhile President Muhammad Buhari whose main portfolio in this administration is (to rid the nation of) corruption, seems to be losing his patience with members of his cabinet – especially the front-liners like Fashola – who are not proactive enough. With many political analysts and technocrats cum power experts picking holes in the policy of PMB in the power sector, it appears Raji Fashola who came into office as a political high-flyer is now bereft of ideas and lacking in ingenuity as far as turning things around in his ministry is concerned.
A few months ago,Fashola was being touted in many quarters as one of the few cabinet members of Buhari who could really turn things around by effecting the necessary changes in the key sectors of power and works/housing, however this is not meant to be as he is yet to find a template that will re-position things under his ministries and this is seriously giving his boss who believed he had found a trump card in him many sleepless nights.
