Goodluck Jonathan Refused To Contest Outcome Of 2015 Election Because Of Already Collapsed Infrastructure ..Babatunde Fashola

The then-collapsing economy and mess created by his administration discouraged former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, from contesting the outcome of the 2015 election, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, said.

Speaking in Lagos yesterday at an interactive session themed: ‘PMB’s Scorecard On Power, Works And Housing: The Journey So Far’, Fashola said when government changed in 2015, people voted for the message of the All Progressives Congress (APC) which was anchored on ‘Change’ because many were dissatisfied with what was going on.

 “Many didn’t know what happened in detail. One of the reasons, it seems, that they did not contest the outcome of the election was perhaps because the economy was already paused. It does not matter whichever government that took over, they knew everything was down. The foreign earning from crude oil at the international market was falling at an alarming rate. So, when the cash was no longer coming in, they felt like, ‘let them come and take it over’, after all this is a sinking ship,” Fashola said.

Lamenting the state of his ministry when he took over, the minister said it was appalling that in the 2015 budget, only N19billion was earmarked for road construction out of N9billion released. “When you put that into perspective that when I was leaving as the Lagos State governor in May 2015, a total of N74 billion was earmarked for road construction and somebody was seated somewhere and happy that N19billion was all that was earmarked for all roads in Nigeria.”

On power, the Minister said though the major stakes in the sector had been privatized, the current administration hadraised power generation from 4000 megawatts met on assumption office in 2015 to the current 7000 megawatts. He added that power stations including the ones at Azura, Kaduna and Afam were ready to function and provide additional 1000 megawatts any moment from now.

Speaking on the second Nigeria bridge,Fashola said everything is now in place to fully construct the bridge as needed funds are now available.

The delayed according to him was due to the inablity of the fomer administration to design the roads leading to the bridge.

He also said the rehabilation of several bridges across the country is ongoing.

On the State of Ikorodu road,the Minister stated that Ikorodu road beginning from Jibowu to Ikorodu has been handed over to Lagos State Government .

On the 3rd Mainland bridge,he urged Lagosians to cooperate with his Ministry as the bridge will be shutdown t the end of this month for assessment for about 3 days.

Also speaking on the Lagos Badagry expressway,Barrister Fashola said the award of contract for the completion of the section of the road leading to Badagry has been captured in the 2018 budget of the ministry.

He berated the former governments for the congestion at the Lagos State,saying the FG has awarded a contract for the procurement of Scanners for containers as the sea port to ease the means of doing business.


CKN NEWS

Chris Kehinde Nwandu is the Editor In Chief of CKNNEWS || He is a Law graduate and an Alumnus of Lagos State University, Lead City University Ibadan and Nigerian Institute Of Journalism || With over 2 decades practice in Journalism, PR and Advertising, he is a member of several Professional bodies within and outside Nigeria || Member: Institute Of Chartered Arbitrators ( UK ) || Member : Institute of Chartered Mediators And Conciliation || Member : Nigerian Institute Of Public Relations || Member : Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria || Fellow : Institute of Personality Development And Customer Relationship Management || Member and Chairman Board Of Trustees: Guild Of Professional Bloggers of Nigeria

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