I was shocked to the marrows, to read in the newspapers, that our Senate, this ever uninspiring Senate, slashed the budget for the completion of Lagos-Ibadan expressway from N30bn to 10bn, apparently to slight the Works Minister, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN.
It is so sad that these people who claim to be representing the masses are the real enemies of the masses. For God’s sake, which is the busiest road network in Nigeria? Knowing how pivotal the Lagos-Ibadan expressway is to the economic wellbeing of Nigeria, it is appalling, to say the least, that our lawmakers could play politics with the fortune of this country and also with the destinies of Nigerians.
Countless lives had been lost owing to the bad state of this all-important road and a lot of robberies that led to dispossessions and loss of lives had taken place along this, road as a result of traffic snarls deriving from pot-holes and other damages.
If the senators can assert that Fashola intended sharp practices in the figures that he quoted for the completion of the road, they should say it out. But alas! They have not been able to justify their action. This means that as a way of punishing Fashola for appearing too heady before ‘Their Almighty Senators’, he should be punished by making him fail in his determination to speedily conclude the Lagos-Ibadan expressway!
This is sad enough for a nation that is sick and in need of genuine physicians.
-Alhaji Kareem Aliyu,
Gonin Gora, Kaduna State
