Babatunde Raji Fashola who is Nigeria’s Minister of Works and Housing has given a scorecard of the ministry for the eight years he has been in office under the Buhari-led administration, insisting that it was targeted at improving the living conditions of Nigerians, and a drastic reduction of multidimensional poverty.
Presenting his scorecard with the theme: ‘Tour of Duty as HM of the Federal Republic of Nigeria: A Time and Economic Resource Report (2015-2023)‘ Time, at the Ministry’s Conference Hall, in Abuja, Fashola, who rated himself high on project delivery, pointed out that his strides in the ministry were hugely influenced by the ideologies of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Fashola hinted that, so far, from all the projects carried out, the ministry had been able to generate about 412,991,000 jobs in works and housing sector.
He revealed that when the ministry came into office, it met a budget of 18 billion when he came into the ministry but that was increased by the President to 224 BN in the first year of his administration.
He also stated that over 6,000 Certificates of Ownership, Cs-of-O, were issued, adding that a total of 826 programmes and projects were carried-out in the power sector.
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He added that in 2019 -2022, about 9,290 kilometres of roads were constructed, and about 2,270,319 linear metres of lane were marked, including about 254,690 installed road signs.
Among other things, on housing, Fashola said about 2,870 housing units have been successfully delivered in the 35 states and Federal Capital Territory, FCT, while housing projects that had been undertaken but are yet to be completed are 6,068.
‘The other thing is that we’re dealing with challenges, one of which, of course, those who like numbers, and those who like hyperbole will say ‘Oh, yes, thousands and Millions of Nigerians are living in multidimensional poverty’.
‘They fail to see actions at local, state and federal government levels that are targeted at resolving these issues. I will speak to some of those issues and I will ask you to test and see whether or not this responds to multidimensional poverty,’ he said.
Fashola said that upon his appointment in 2019, part of his target was to improve human lives by venturing into construction of long-neglected capital projects inherited from previous administrations, including several new mega projects that were.
Specifically, he said the Second Niger Bridge, which, according to him, had stayed untouched for about three decades under the watch of different administrations, formed one of his major successes.
Also, Fashola said the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, though originally completed in 1978, but with the population boom and a lack of commensurate expansion meant for the road, gained priority in his time.