The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has advised Nigerians not to misconstrue his disagreement with the House of Representatives over his ministry’s budget, saying he has no problem as an individual with the lower chamber.
The minister who made the clarification on Tuesday while fielding questions from State House correspondents, said, “let me make it very clear that many of the Senators and honourable members are my personal friends; so, you don’t fight your friends.’’
According to Fashola, “I say that the words that we use will potentially redirect our attention from what the real issue is. I don’t think that a feud is the right word to use.
“A disagreement; yes, a very healthy disagreement. Don’t forget that we are not disagreeing about who should head what. We are not disagreeing about who should take what share of the national cake.
“We are disagreeing about how to develop Nigeria and that for me is very healthy for our democracy.’’
He said the nature of his disagreement with the House of Representatives was not personal but geared towards finding the best ways of implementing the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan of the Buhari presidency.
Fashola expressed the belief that the leadership of the National Assembly are on the same page with the Executive on the implementation of the economic agenda of the present administration.
He, however, admitted that it was possible that “in the heat of the moment while trying to canvass our different positions we are misconstrued as fighting but I am not fighting anybody.’’
He added that his responsibility both as a minister and a citizen will be “to continue to engage,’’ stressing that he had no intentions of fighting anybody.
The minister, however, expressed confidence in the leadership provided by the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, the Senate President and the Speaker.
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