Babatunde Fashola: Making Giant Stride Quietly 

There is no better avenue to demonstrate one’s diligence than in a public office. Especially in Nigeria where there is somewhat low accountability until after the individual has left the place, devotion to duty is often interpreted by many officials as a pocket-lining opening. Not so for Babatunde Fashola, the Federal Minister of Works and Housing. After three years of holding at the Ministry of Works and Housing, Fashola continues to prove to all and sundry that he is one of the most useful public officers in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Thanks to Fashola and his team at the ministry, there is no informed individual in Nigeria who can chide the Buhari administration for neglecting infrastructure. Apart from a few states where certain governors insist on undermining the efforts of the federal government, Fashola’s steps can be seen on newly-constructed roads and bridges, some of which had never been imagined by the people of the area before Fashola came on the scene.

No wonder that when Fashola concluded his eight-year tenure as Lagos State Governor back in 2015, many people speculated that he will be summoned to bear the mantle of public responsibility almost immediately after. However, for some reason, the lawyer took that period to rest. It wasn’t until 2019 that he honoured the summoning call of President Buhari to take up the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing. And it has been a fascinating journey ever since.

There is something titillating about refusing to betray public trust. This is one of the many unique properties typical of the former Lagos State Governor. An individual with the most profound understanding of humility and modesty, Fashola’s commitment to the charge of his office is unquestionable and definitive, especially considering that he continues to slave away at the Works and Housing Ministry without mingling with peers who are idle public officials at best.