Babatunde Raji Fashola, the Minister of Works and Housing, has addressed those criticizing President Muhammadu Buhari for awarding contracts days before his exit from office.
Fashola stated that President Muhammadu Buhari will continue to award contracts till the last minute.
Speaking in Akure, Ondo State while flagging off the N90 billion dualisation of the 49km dilapidated Akure/Ado-Ekiti highway on Thursday, May 25, Fashola who reacted to the controversy that has trailed the recent contracts awarded, stated that the outgoing government has the right to award contracts till the last hour.
He said;
“Buhari can award contracts till the last minute. So we will work till the last minute. Those criticising us are ignoramus. Some people are saying that why are we still awarding contracts with few days to go, but they have forgotten that tenure of this present administration ends at midnight of 28th May 2023 at 11.59 pm and when it is 12 am, Bola Tinubu takes over the government and that is why we are still working.
“They forget that you the people of Nigeria through your representatives have passed a budget for us to implement. Some people are still saying why are they borrowing a few days to their expiration, it’s because we don’t have enough money and people want infrastructure. If you don’t want borrowing that means the government will increase your taxes because that is another way to pay the deficits and that is how it is done in any part of the world.
“So this road is going to cost over a 90billion naira, we want the road and we are saying that Buhari’s administration is borrowing money, who is now going to give us money to do it? Some states are borrowing money outside the country, still, they will pay it back. So this road is not funded by debt, is funded by a policy of Buhari’s called ‘Tax Credit Policy’, where the private sectors invest their tax in advance and it is paid back later. So what it means is that Federal Government has agreed to sort for other revenue to have a road. But that policy is working.
“I’m also here to tell you that we will be leaving behind sustainable development here whether we are still in the office or not. This road will be built because NNPC through the tax credit has committed to fund it.”