Senator Gbenga Ashafa: Transforming FHA with Landmark Innovations

HighLife

Good people are good people, there are no exceptions to this. Similarly, great people are great people, and there are also no exceptions here. For people like Senator Gbenga Ashafa straddling both categories with their good work, you can bet that there are heaps and heaps of awards decorating their walls and showing how exceptional they are.

It has been almost a year since President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Ashafa to the position of MD/CEO of the Federal Housing Authority of Nigeria (FHA). Since then, some Nigerians have shyly expressed their shock and disappointment that it is not business as usual with Ashafa. Instead, the proper son of Lagos has taken all things housing in Nigeria far beyond recognition, showing his mettle as a progenitor of new and good things.

A sad but regular occurrence with ministerial appointments in Nigeria is that the appointee inaugurates a handful of high-profile projects in the first two to three months of their appointment. After then, it is game over and a retirement to the United Kingdom or a practical application of the principles of world tourism. And so curses are heaped on them and they end up dying before their time.

Ashafa has shown himself to be different from this lot. The FHA has experienced wave after wave of demonstrative transformation with Ashafa in charge. How many housing projects have cropped up in Nigerian cities? How many public estates have seen renewal exercises that restored the dignity of their residents? And how many poor Nigerians have had Providence smile on them in the form of cheap homes offered to them by the Ashafa-led administration?

Recently, Ashafa promised to add employment generation to his achievements. The way things are going, this is possible and will bring new light to what Nigerian ministries and agencies are capable of doing once there is a capable and willing person in charge.