A Chartered Public Administrator (CPA), Fellow, Nigeria Institute of Management (MNIM), and Security Consultant Comrade Razaq Olokoba has told the Minister of Works, Mr David Umahi that he was appointed Minister of works to work and not to complain, weep, lament or to condemn anybody’s previous job.
Olokoba, a frontline activist and Convener/National President, Campaign for Dignity in Governance (CDG), gave the minister this piece of advice Friday at a mini press conference in Lagos where he responded to the report that, Umahi complained about the state of the country’s roads which he was quoted as saying that none of them could last seven years.
Olokoba expressed the conviction that, if Umahi’s observations were right, it was a good clarion call to get him prepared for a task ahead and not for weeping and shedding tears because whenever his predecessor, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), confronted challenges, he used to face them squarely, adding, “he would only sweat to surmount the challenges and would not cry like a baby to whip up childish sentiment.”
According to him, what is expected of the new minister is to do his own bit before leaving office like those before him rather than go about weeping over non-issue, saying, “if truth must be told, all previous ministers of works, most especially the immediate past one, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), was exceptional in the way he discharged his duties with seriousness and earned both local and international accolades for jobs well done!”
While suspecting that Umahi’s lamentation and tears was an indirect indictment of his predecessor, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), the social commentator and political analyst asserted that, “nobody can rubbish Fashola’s achievements in the area of infrastructure development in the country,” warning the minister to thread carefully so as not to run afoul of the establishment that hired him.
Citing examples like the East West road and the second Niger Bridge, Olokoba reminded Umahi that, “service to the nation is continuous and continuum and so, he (Umahi) should settle down and do his own bit before his term runs out over unnecessary tear-shedding and time wasting trivialities,”
Castigating Fashola or any of the ministers that served under the Muhammadu Buhari Administration, most especially those political children of the present President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu like Fashola who was seconded to that administration from his (Tinubu’s) Political Academy, would amount to rubbishing the entire administration’s eight years efforts, reminding that, “Tinubu, whose children served the last administration on secondment was also a frontline player in that government.”
The renowned activist and leader of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), therefore cautioned Umahi to desist from any conduct that could pitch him against his current employer through hurting the feelings of any of his political children especially Fashola who is believed to the most golden of them all.
While urging the minister to think out of the box to bring on the table, progressive initiatives that can develop the country further assured him that, “Any genuine initiative he brings to the table would be welcome by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu because he is a man that loves laudable ideas and anybody with lofty ideas needs no ladder to climb to Tinubu to showcase it.”
Tinubu, according to Olokoba has huge respect for former President Muhammadu Buhari and it is doubtful if he could stomach any of his employees to castigate, directly or indirectly, any of the players in Buhari’s government.
