Ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi has criticised former Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, for accepting his appointment as Federal Minister of Power, Works and Housing, saying the three portfolios are too big for an individual.
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Akinyemi made this submission in an interview he granted Vanguard when asked about his view on politicians, who agitated for certain things but as soon as they are in government at the federal level they turned around to condemn what the stood for in the past.
“Simple. Ego. I’m glad you asked the question because people then see transfer of issues and transfer of responsibilities for those issues as transfer of power, as if what you have on your plate is not enough. Babatunde Fashola is a good example of three heavy-duty issues, ministries.
“Yes, he’s not the President; he didn’t allocate them to himself. But you mean you couldn’t tell the President, ‘no sir’. Nobody can handle that job and this has nothing to do with nor is it a reflection of one’s own capability.
“Give the President examples of developing countries. Take transportation: In India, there’s a whole minister in charge of just railways, a whole minister, because they’ve identified railways as being critical to the infrastructural and economic development of India, such that you need the concentration of the person in charge. Here, you make it part of transportation – he’s hooked on to waterways, hooked on to this, hooked on to that. It’s just an ego trip,” the former Director General of the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, NIIA, told the paper.
