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Tag: MINISTER OF POWER

  • Budget comments: Senate attacks Fashola

    Budget comments: Senate attacks Fashola

    The Senate Wednesday descended on Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, over his comments that the National Assembly distorted the 2017 budget by inserting new projects in the budget.

    The upper chamber warned the minister to desist forthwith from accusing the National Assembly of over stepping its bound in the budget preparation.

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Mohammed Danjuma Goje who raised the issue, said that Fashola should be told in clear terms that the National Assembly is not Lagos State House of Assembly.

    He said that the National Assembly must not be treated as Lagos State House of Assembly by the minister.

    Goje said that Fashola should also appreciate the fact that the Senate is constituted by former governors and former ministers.

    The Gombe Central lawmaker said that the Senate would await the result of the House of Representative handling of the issues raised by Fashola before deciding the next line of action.

    Goje said that since the Senate and the House are running the same National Assembly, further action may be taken pending the decision of the House on the matter.

    Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki who said that the issue was not open for debate also said that it was good that the House of Representative was handling the matter.

    Saraki said that the actions of the House would determine whether the Senate would take the matter to another level.

    He said that it was important that Goje raised the issued and asked Senator to exercise patient until the conclusion of the engagement by the House.

  • Fashola calls for teamwork among agencies

    Fashola calls for teamwork among agencies

    Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has called for team work among departments and agencies under in the ministry to ensure better service delivery.

    Fashola made the call on Thursday in Abuja at the opening of a three-day retreat organized for heads of the ministry’s departments and agencies.

    He said that the retreat was organized to foster relationship among participants, and urged the directors to take advantage of the forum to improve their performances and be acquainted to each other.

    He advocated regular retreat for the ministry, saying that it would enhance teamwork needed to achieve its tasks.

    “This retreat is an opportunity for us to exchange our emails and telephone numbers because service delivery is more difficult if we cannot identify ourselves.

    “We must see ourselves as one of the privileged few that determine what affects the entire citizens of the country and to achieve our targets, we must apply civility and courtesy.

    “Our responsibility as government is to understand that we are serving the entire public, starting from the lowest on the street to the highest,” the minister said.

    He stated that the ministry had the highest fiscal allocation in the 2016 budget, because its services had the greatest impact on lives of citizens.

    “We must set out targets to get maximum value for our budgetary allocation, and to do this, we must understand that maximum value is not a destination but a journey.

    “We must understand that the performance of any government is measured by the prosperity of human lives,” he added.

    Some of the participants, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said that the retreat was a step in the right direction considering the need to know each other as colleagues.

    Mr Olatunji Ajayi, a director in the ministry said the forum had availed him the opportunity to meet other directors he had never met in the ministry.

    Ajayi commended the minister for putting up the programme and called for regular meeting of participants for performance evaluation and knowledge sharing.

  • FG to tackle high project costing in construction sector

    FG to tackle high project costing in construction sector

    The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, has called for a systematic approach in ensuring proper project costing to tackle high cost of projects and corruption in the construction sector.

    Fashola made the call at the 2017 Annual National Project cost Reduction Summit organised by the Quantity Surveyors Registration Board of Nigeria (QSRBN) on Thursday in Abuja.

    The Summit has the Theme: “Fighting Corruption through Proper Project Costing in Nigeria’’.

    The Minister, who was represented by Mr Sani Gidado, Director Public Building and Housing, Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, said this would guarantee the availability of more funds for the development of infrastructure.

    “The economy will be enabled to appropriate the maximum benefits from this strategic sector by ensuring efficient allocation and utilisation of resources in this manner.

    “All stakeholders have a duty to ensure value for money through proper projects costing in this all pervasive sector.”

    Fashola said that one of the root causes for high costs of projects in the construction sector was corruption in the form of deliberate inflation of cost to satisfy pecuniary interests.

    According to him, decayed infrastructure is one of the indices of underdevelopment that corruption promotes in a nation.

    “The construction sector is one of the most important in any economy because of the profound effects of the activities of that sector on the overall national economy.

    “Apart from its known capacity to generate employment on a large scale, its huge multiplier effect on the economy stand it out as one of the leading sector of economic development.

    “Not only is it capable of pulling an economy out of recession; it is always handy in reflating a depressed economy’’ he said.

    The Registrar, QSRBN, Mr Godson Moneke, said that the costs of constructing projects in Nigeria are rated among the highest compared to other countries in the world.

    He said that corruption and lack of patriotism have caused Nigeria to lag behind her peers in all indices of development, industrial product and human-centred development.

    “Our hearts bleed for Nigeria when we watch with amazement as monies which could achieve three units of projects achieve only one, while the rest are shamelessly diverted for fraudulent appropriation.

    “To stem this anomaly, QSRBN is in the forefront of advocating the establishment of costing templates for all categories of construction projects across Nigeria.

    “Such templates should create a cost bands/ranges for roads, bridges, railways, public buildings housing projects among others showing central tendencies, environmental zones and geological zones’’.

    Moneke said that the summit was a way out of corruption which was induced by inflated project cost in the construction industry.

    According to him, the summit was aimed at bringing some sanity into this important sector so that it can play its rightful role as a leading sector of economic development.

    In his speech, Prof. Femi Odekunle, Member, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), said that in the current fight against corruption, the QSRBN should be commended for conceiving and executing this summit on corruption.

    He said that the committee’s engagement with professional bodies was justified by the fact that in this country many professionals are collaborators in the perpetration of medium–to-large-scale corruption.

    “In actual fact, and perhaps needless to say, there is hardly any instance of such corruption that could succeed without the collaboration of a surveyor, architect and engineer before or after the fact,’’ he Odekunle.

  • Akeredolu wants FG to dualise Isua/Okene road

    Akeredolu wants FG to dualise Isua/Okene road

    Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu has urged the Federal government to dualise the Isua-Akoko/ Okene road because of its economic importance to the state.

    Governor Akeredolu said the road, being the link between South West to the federal capital territory, Abuja will serve a great interest if dualised.

    The governor spoke at the exco Chamber of the governor’s office in Akure, the state capital while playing host to the minister of Power, Works and Housing,  Mr. Babatunde Fashola.

    The minister was on official inspection of federal roads in the state.

    Governor Akeredolu who lauded the federal government for investing so much on infrastructure than any other administration pleaded with the federal government to complete all ongoing projects in the state.

    He particularly said dualizing the Isua-Akoko /Okene Road will boost the economy of the state and also help to ease transportation in the area.

    He said “the Federal government  is doing a lot but there are so many things to be done, the Federal Government  have spent quite a lot on infrastructure,  far more than any other  administration, building infrastructure

    “The Ipele /Ifira / Isua  to Okene Road is very important.  I wish it could be made a dual carriage way,  it is important to the economy viability of Ondo State,  it is also good for commuters, coming from Abuja to Ondo State ”

    The governor also frown at the over four years of total blackout in the southern Senatorial District of the state comprising six local government.

    He wondered why the whole community would be thrown into darkness when the electricity body can deal directly with individual, saying anyone who refused to pay for elect consumed can be cut off from the system but not the whole community.

    The governor who noted that power is crucial to economic development, urged the Federal government to intervene into the situation.

    Fashola appreciated the state government for giving the federal government lands for the housing unit schemes which is ongoing in the state.

    He informed the governor that Federal government has concluded plans to commence work on the Akure/Ado express road.

    According to the minister, the federal government is concern about connecting roads between states, saying the main concern of the government is on highway.

    The former Lagos state governor also hinted that the federal government has concluded arrangement to ensure that gas is adequately supply for the Omotosho power plants.

    He said “we have concluded plans to commence work on Akure /Ado Ekiti high way,  so as to connect you to Ado Ekiti your neighbouring state

    “As far as power is concern, we are working to increase the gas supply in Omotosho power plant, your state owns the power plant

    “I like to thank your state for giving us land for the housing,  most of the people who will be working in the construction sites will be residents of the state,  by that,  the federal government is helping the state government  to create employment,  and stabilize the economy”

    Fashola also promised that the Federal government will soon offset the claims of state government over their investment on federal roads.

     

  • Fashola seeks extra 3,000MW with Niger Delta peace

    Fashola seeks extra 3,000MW with Niger Delta peace

    The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN has advocated peace, especially in the Niger Delta in order to secure gas for generation of additional 3,000Mega Watts (MW) .

    According to him, “that will give comfort to small businesses, villages, communities, welders, when we have the extra 3,000MW. Then it is in that atmosphere of peace that we can then solve the problems of our brothers. Everybody wins when there is peace and nobody wins when there is conflict.”

    Fashola, who spoke while touring on-going Federal road projects across the five South-South States of the country, said in spite of political and ideological differences, the most important objective of the nation was to develop Nigeria for the benefit of all Nigerians.

    His Special Adviser on Communication, Mr. Hakeem Bello disclosed this in a statement Tuesday.

    The minister, said the statement, noted that in all the States he paid courtesy calls on the Governors after inspecting the projects, the Minister reiterated the importance of peace as a vehicle of development through investments by both local and foreign investors pointing out that no investor would want to commit his capital in an insecure and conflict prone environment.

    Speaking against the backdrop of constant sabotage of gas pipelines in the Niger Delta region which had a negative impact on Gas supply to power plants in the country, Fashola told his hosts, “We need to find peace here very quickly and the story must change and this is not a place the story suggests you can’t work”, adding that the main reason for his visit was to come and see first-hand whether what was being said about the region was true.

    The Minister, who acknowledged that the grievances of those who sabotage the pipelines was equally important added, “You will see that in the last few days, the Acting President has been particularly busy in this area trying to reach out to communities to see what methods and efforts would bring peace; because that is really when we will begin to talk of the economy and prosperity, when we have peace”.

    “So as I continue to say, our brothers who are angry in this Nigerian family must understand that damaging the household is not the best way to express their anger. That does not make their grievances unimportant; but destroying the house and bringing down the roof does not solve their anger. So there must be a meeting of minds somewhere”, the Minister said.

    According to him, “Let us produce fuel, let us earn money; we fought for OPEC to cut production so that the price can go up so why are we now breaking the pipelines? It means that we can’t produce and benefit from what we fought for. The price of oil has gone up from over $40 to over $50. We made all the efforts through OPEC and now we can’t benefit from it, it doesn’t make sense”.

    The Minister, who pointed out that peace would mean that teachers and workers could be paid, while gas production would be enhanced to support more power production, declared, “That will give comfort to small businesses, villages, communities, welders, when we have the extra 3,000MW. Then it is in that atmosphere of peace that we can then solve the problems of our brothers. Everybody wins when there is peace and nobody wins when there is conflict”.

    Fashola, who said more ambassadors were needed who would be proud and feel safe to work in the region, said that would encourage investments in infrastructure which, according to him is desperately needed in the region adding, “But we can only do that by collaboration, by peace and partnership.”

    The Minister, therefore, advocated a better synergy between the Federal and State governments in the development of the country pointing out that the Federal Controllers of Work in the various states were sent as ambassadors of the Federal Government for the establishment of partnership between the two levels of government.

    At the Government House Yenagoa where he paid a courtesy call on the Governor of Bayelsa State, for example, Fashola reiterated his message to all the other Governors he had visited during the tour of the region, “I will urge you to accord the Federal Controller of Works here the same if not better treatment which we accord the foreign people that come here. They are our Ambassadors for partnership and collaboration with you and not to compete with you”.

    According to the Minister, “We can only address the infrastructure work that needs to be done here  by peace and partnership”, adding that not only did the Governor and himself have their jobs cut out for them but the governors in the South-South “must step up now and change the conversation” around the region.

    At an interview after inspecting the road projects in the State including the construction of the Yenagoa-Okaki –Kolo Road, the Minister, who acknowledged the challenges of infrastructure in the region due to its topography, however, said the importance of the region to the Federal Government was such that it must get all the attention it deserved.

    He reiterated that paucity of fund was not the major challenge to completion of road projects, especially in the Niger Delta region adding that it took the commitment of the Buhari administration, which he said increased capital budget from 15 per cent in the 2015 and previously to 30 per cent in 2016, to remobilize contractors back to sites they abandoned for more than two years due to non-payment of contract fees.

    According to the Minister, “As at the time when we had money, when a barrel of oil sold for $100 per barrel, we did not take the issue of roads seriously because the capital budget then used to be 15 per cent. It is the Buhari administration which is increasing capital budget to 30 per cent which means that this government is taking the issue of roads more seriously and that is why we are here.”

    The Minister commended the members of National Assembly for their supportive role in approving budgetary provisions for the Ministry and especially for their cooperation towards the proposed new bulk budgeting system for infrastructure development which would help ensure that Contractors no longer abandon project sites simply because their names were not in the budget for a particular year.

    Fashola also thanked the lawmakers especially those representing the people of the Niger Delta states, for their contribution and support to the on-going infrastructure development across the country and Niger Delta saying their cooperation had enabled the government to forge ahead with the remobilization of contractors to previously abandoned road contracts including the Yenagoa-Okaki –Kolo Road.

  • Senate summons Adeosun over N2b planted in Housing Sector budget

    Senate summons Adeosun over N2b planted in Housing Sector budget

    The Senate Tuesday invited the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun to throw light on the vote of N2 billion discovered in the 2017 budget of the Housing Sector,

    Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola disowned the money saying he knew nothing about how the vote crept into the Housing Sector budget.

    Fashola told the Senate committee on Housing that the Ministry of Finance may have inserted the money in the 2017 budgetary profile of the Ministry of Housing as its own initiative tagged under “Regional Housing Scheme.”

    Chairman of the committee, Senator Barnabas Gemade had wanted to know how the regional housing scheme came about.

    Fashola said; “I know as much of it as you do because it is not our initiative”.

    Apparently not satisfied, Gemade ordered the committee clerk to write the Minister of Finance,  Adeosun to appear before the committee  to explain how the N2 billion was inserted into the budget.

  • Arepo residents protest five months of darkness

    • Estimated bills to IKEDC office

    Journalists and other professionals living in Arepo, an outskirt of Lagos State on Monday protested to the office of the Ikeja Electric Distribution Company (KEDC), Alausa, Ikeja, over  five months of darkness and estimated bills in the Journalists Estate, Beachland Estate and other estates in the area.

    As early as 7am the protesters blocked the entrance to IKEDC office brandishing placards. They called for the intervention of the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola. Some of the placards read,  ‘Fashola must Sack IKEDC’; ‘Arepo in total darkness’; ‘We say no to estimated billing without light’; ‘IKEDC is a fraud in journalist Estate’, Say No Billing without Light’, ‘Restore our Light’.

    Speaking on behalf of the protesting residents, Chairman of the Journalists Estate Residents Development Association, Mr Nosiru Salau said the entire Arepo Community has been without light for months, adding that despite IKEDC’s gross inefficiency, they are fond of bringing over-estimated bills at the end of the month.

    According to him: “Arepo and its environs have been without light for months. We bought a new transformer with our money but IKEDC refused to energise it because they insisted we have to bring some money for them to buy some accessories.

    “They used to bring estimated bills in which we are over billed. We have paid for prepaid metres for close to three years now, yet they have not brought the metres. That is why we are staging this protest to drive home the point that we cannot continue to be in darkness. We are calling on the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola to intervene.”

    He vowed that the protest will continue until the management of IKEDC give them a listening hear; even as he said further steps will be taken if their demands are not attended to.

    Also speaking, Secretary to Arepo Residents Association, Mr Friday Irabor said IKEDC does not provide light to the estates in the area until every month ending when it will supply light for an hour and an estimated bill of N36,000 per resident.

    He called on IKEDC to buckle up otherwise the estates will mobilise millions of residents for another protest.

    Another resident, who spoke with our correspondent, Mr Demola Bidmus said the residents decided to stage the protest in order to demonstrate their seriousness about the issue on ground.

    He said IKEDC is being fraudulent by giving the residents estimated bills without supplying electricity; saying “we are calling on Fashola to do something because he is the one in charge. We cannot continue to live in darkness, it’s not conducive for us.”

    Those present during the protest include Deputy Editor, The Nation newspapers, Lawal Ogienagbon and Managing Editor, Abuja Sports Day, Ben Alaiya.

  • 2016 Budget: FG achieves fifty percent capital expenditure implementation

    2016 Budget: FG achieves fifty percent capital expenditure implementation

    …FG releases N25 billion for social intervention investment

    The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed on Wednesday placed the implementation of capital expenditure in the Federal Government’s 2016 Budget at fifty percent.

    She briefed State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    She was with the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed and Minister of Power, Works, and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.

    The Minister of State also said that the Ministry presented a memo to council for notation and implementation on the progress of national roll out of the social investment Programme.

    The programmes, she said, are in four parts.

    She said: “First is the homegrown school feeding Programme which is targeting 5.5 million primary school people in all the states of the federation from primary 1-3.

    As at today, 11 states are fully ready to start and first phase will feed 3.5 million school children.

    “The second Programme is a job creation Programme which is aimed at preparing 500,000 university graduates; they will be equipped with devices contained information to train them as teachers, agricultural workers and also as health support workers. They will be deployed to work in their local community. They will be receiving a monthly stipend of N30, 000 monthly for a period of two years.

    “The third is the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), where one million care givers will be given N5000 monthly for a period of two years. Focus has been given to the extremely poor and vulnerable in our society and special emphasis is being place to providing as many as possible the northern eastern part of the country where a lot of internally displaced persons.

    “The fourth is the Enterprise promotion Programme which is essentially the loan scheme which will be handled by the Bank of Industry. 1.6 million People made up of market women, traders, artisans, small businesses, youths will be given loan from N10, 000 to N100, 000 with a repayment period of three to six months and administration cost of five per cent.

    “N500 billion was budgeted for the social investment Programme in the 2016 budget. We are rolling out with this first four programmes and it will continue till 2017.” She added

    According to her, there is approval from the steering committee in sum of N150 billion, but so far only N25 billion has been released into the account while another N40 billion is in the process of being released into the account.

    She also pointed out that implementation will be done in stages as the states ready for each of the Programme will be added into each of the schemes.

    The school feeding Programme, she said, has started in some states like Kaduna and Osun while the federal government is only adding its resources to it.

    “The federal government will handle from primary 1-3 while the states will handle from 4-6.

    “The cooks have been selected, banks are in place. The only thing that needs to be done including training the persons as well as taking data of the school children have been done in those nine states.

    “There is no spending yet on the national social investment Programme, we are just kicking off, the funds will be released to the Bank of Industry this week for the EIP Programme and for the school feeding Programme is only after the cooks have performed that they will get their first payment.”

    For the job creation Programme, she said that money will only be released when the graduates have resumed and have worked for the first month.

    The 2017 budget preparation, she said, is at an advanced stage.

    According to her, the Economic Management Team has reviewed it extensively, while it will soon be presented to the federal executive council for approval, before going to the National Assembly.

    On the borrowing plan, she said that Mr. President has sent to the National Assembly the borrowing plan for the amount required for both local and foreign borrowing to fund the 2016 budget deficit.

    “The budget implementation itself is on course, the 2016 budget is fully performed to date in terms of personnel, that is to say we do not owe,” She stated.

    Fashola said that the Council approved two memos including 215 megawatt Kaduna power plant and construction of sub-station to evacuate 40 megawatt of power from the Gurara hydro electric power plant phase one.

    On the first project, he said: “The memo sought procurement and implementation defects and lack of budget support for the project which was started 2009 and should have been completed in 2012.

    “But we are now in the position that we can complete this project by next year to add 215 megawatt of power to the national grid. And in particular dedicate some of the power to Kudana dam in Kaduna to support industrial complex there.”

    On the second project, he said, it will enable interconnectivity to Mamdo transmission substation and strengthening the transmission grid.

    He said: “What these two approvals will do is to complete ongoing projects which is a commitment of this administration, create work because contractors will return to site and also increase our power by 215 megawatt, from Kaduna and we will get 40 megawatt extra into the grid from Gurara phase 1 and we are also expanding the transmission across the country.”

  • Buhari will dualise Trans Saharan routes – Fashola

    Buhari will dualise Trans Saharan routes – Fashola

    Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has said that President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to dualising Trans Saharan routes in the country.

    The Minister also disclosed that future road projects in the country would be upgraded to double-lanes.

    Fashola who spoke at the 65th session of the Trans Saharan ‎Road Liaison Committee, Monday in Abuja stated that the present administration attached great importance to developing the Trans Sahara road which traversed Algeria, Tunisia, Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Mali.

    He said the country had so far made significant development, including the 127.70km Lagos-Ibadan‎ and the 50km Oyo-Ogbomosho.

    His words: “The efforts of the Federal Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari are fully committed to the dualisation of the entire section of the Trans Saharan route in Nigeria

    “The 65th session of the Trans Sahara Road Liaison Committee further offers member countries the opportunity to strengthen the existing bilateral relations and provide an avenue to assess the extent of work that has been undertaken in ensuring the completion of the Trans Sahara route

    “The fact that out of a total length of 9, 500km of the Trans Saharan Route, more than 8, 000km of it has been surfaced with bituminous material which is a great achievement and more is expected to maintain and ensure the serviceability to the benefit of member countries and its peoples.”

    In his remarks, the Secretary General of the Committee, Mohammed Ayadi lauded the progress at which the project has witnessed.

    He said despite limited resources, three of the six countries‎ where the road passes had constructed almost all the totality of their respective sections and were involved in dualizing their roads.

    Ayadi described the project as a good example of active cooperation stressing that participating countries and institutions would immensely benefit from its proceeds when completed.

  • Nigeria’s future can no longer depend on oil revenue- Fashola

    Nigeria’s future can no longer depend on oil revenue- Fashola

    Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has said that Nigeria could no longer build its future on oil revenue following the fall in global price of oil.

    The minister spoke on Hard Talk, a weekly programme on British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) monitored by our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday.

    He stated that Nigeria failed to spend oil money wisely by building infrastructure despite making huge profits from oil in the past.

    The minister specifically blamed the last administration of President Goodluck Jonathan for failing to save profits made from the sale of oil.

    ‎Nigeria, he said, is now facing the consequences of global downturn in oil price resulting from making “regrettable choices.”

    Fashola explained that although Nigeria had made bad choices on how oil money was spent in the past, the present administration, he said, was ready to change that by focusing on taxation as a source of revenue.

    He said: “As I have argued, at the time when there was a lot of prosperity, there was money to spend, we made some now regrettable choices.

    ‎“No nation is immune from what is happening now and people who are better able to weather the storm are perhaps those who invested wisely in educational assets, in security assets, in transportational  assets, power generational assets but it does not make them immune. So it is like preparing for winter really.

    “It is evolving in an era where there is a global economic downturn and there will be local consequences. ‎We did not spend on investments particularly on infrastructure and therefore we consumed all our extraordinary income.

    ‎“You can’t plan a future around extraordinary income that you don’t control the circles. This budget will be driven by resources from taxation and any serious government, any forward looking government like this government must understand that the boom that comes from commodity prices really is extraordinary income.

    “We may have made some very poor choices over the time about how we spent that money (oil money), this administration has a focus now that we will deal with our funding issues first from taxation, corporate taxation.

    “No country survives on her own investment but every country thrives first on the investment of her people and as first Nigerians are responding and investing on that economy ‎I think that we will turn this corner.

    “There is a global downward trend. National growth projections are been revised downward and in this downward global times, there will be diverse local consequences. Ours is not different‎. We are not under

    Performing. We are facing a turbulent time, difficult time but we will navigate. We will come through and I see that happening within a shorter time than a longer time.”

    Speaking on the fight against Boko Haram in the North-East, the minister said that president Muhammadu Buhari had done well in restoring peace to the region.

    Fashola, who debunked claims that thousands of children were dying daily of malnutrition in the region, noted that Buhari had ordered the release of food to the region.

    He said: “Again I have issues with those numbers. They are people who are displaced but to the point to make also is that there is progress now in the north-east.

    “The president has fulfilled his mandate to taking control of the security challenges of the north-east.

    “In terms of restoring order to the north-east I believe the evidence that speaks today, people beginning to trade today on the streets of Borno, and Damarturu, in Yobe.

    ‎“In the last three to four months the president himself ordered release of food support from our strategic reserves of agriculture. So we are mindful of the problems.

    “Construction going on in Adamawa that I am aware of.  Roads being built means that order has return. Securing law and order is the first leg to being able to provide for those child, to put them back, to relocate families back to their homes. It is already happening as a result of government taking responsibility, states and civil society organization.

    ‎Fashola also said Buhari was winning the war against corruption, adding that Nigerians now believe that there is consequences for stealing public funds.

    “The people of Nigeria believe that the president has walked his talk in terms of corruption. Now how many people you ultimately see in jail ‎is one thing and I think that the point must be made and very clearly too that there are many interests here involved.

    “The interest to see people convicted the interest to recover, and the interest to ensure that it won’t happen again. And all of these are going on simultaneously and that people believe that there will be consequences for their actions,” he added.