FASHOLA’S GRAND FAILURE

for one more proof why the economy fell into recession, look no further.

Did members of the council need maps and surveys to understand the fierce urgency to fix that road - the international gateway into Nigeria? If yes, then shame on them all.

The question for Fashola is who in the federal executive council doesn’t know that the Lagos Oshodi/Airport road is a disgrace to Nigeria? Who in that council hasn’t passed through that road and let out a sigh of disappointment when returning from abroad at the state of the road? Maybe, the honourable minister has not.

Now that acting President Yemi Osinbajo has by executive order granted Lagos State permission to fix the road without Fashola’s drama, or strict adherence to “debate and vote” by council members, will it diminish or enhance the way government works? Did the acting president even review the maps and surveys before granting Lagos permission to reconstruct the road which had been awaiting debate and voting for months? Why didn’t the minister just write a recommendation to the president, with justification, seeking expeditious approval of the request by the Lagos State government? Would that not have been a more pragmatic approach?

What if the voting had taken place and gone against the request, does it mean the road would have been left in the same state of disrepair? Or perhaps, a narrower form of it which Fashola’s ministry had proposed would have been built? Who loses in such a scenario? Is it not ironic that under Fashola, access roads to two critical premier infrastructure - the international airport, Ikeja and Apapa and Tin Can ports - that investors need to do business are in an unpardonable state?

In the conundrum of what these people say and what they do, or lack of it, I probably may have lost my sanity to this season of anomie where one can hardly distinguish between facts and fiction, truths and falsehoods, realities and propaganda. In many great cities around the world, bridges and flyovers form the architectural allure that give urban landscapes character and form. With advancement in engineering possibilities and innovation in technology, designs have become more spectacular and ever more daring and aesthetically beautiful - a testament to a city’s progress. They have become the cynosure of all eyes. They receive regular checks and top-notch maintenance to keep them structurally fit and safe for vehicular traffic.

But here, the managers of our cities lack the maintenance culture. It is absolutely vexatious for our leaders to utter patriotic urgings to citizens of this country when they can’t fix such ordinary basic infrastructure as roads. Their appeal for understanding in the face of failure has become a constant irritation to us.

Many of us are even struggling to understand the motivation that drives our public officials, and what they mean when they exhort us to be patriotic and make sacrifices for the betterment of the collective. These officials of state usually regale the world at conferences - local and foreign - with tales of how opportunities abound here and the certainty of huge return on investments. They promise all sorts of enabling infrastructure to further the Ease of Doing Business for investors to risk their capital. It has become such a boring routine only meant for the cameras. Let me send them a message if they claim not to know: No one takes them seriously anymore because nothing ever happens after the applause at the end of their posturing.