STOP BLAMING BABATUNDE FASHOLA: Argumentum ad hominem WOULD NOT RESOLVE THE COMATOSE STATE OF OUR INFRASTRUCTURES.

It is easy to blame others for our inadequacies as humans, it is a phenomenon well known of ọmọ adari hunrun.

If you want a good life you have to be willing to pay for it. Rome was not built on santa mentality neither was Paris nor London. Citizens pay their dues to achieve the reality of modernity that we go there to enjoy.

 

It is absurd to result to Argumentum ad hominem just to make a point that you disagree with certain decisions made by government officialdom.

Note, I used the word absurd carefully here instead of fallacious.

By attacking Babatunde Fashola's reputation, you are not doing justice to the issues you are trying to ventilate in my opinion.

The whole piece is demagoguery in nature and I don't think it is going to achieve the intended outcome.

Argumentum ad hominem:

There are three major forms of Attacking the Person:

ad hominem (abusive): instead of attacking an assertion, the argument attacks the person who made the assertion.

ad hominem (circumstantial): instead of attacking an assertion the author points to the relationship between the person making the assertion and the person's circumstances.

ad hominem (tu quoque): this form of attack on the person notes that a person does not practise what he preaches.

 

Babatunde Fashola's decision to re-introduce highway tolls as means of re-invigorating the moribound road networks and contracts, coupled with their sustainability is a good signpost for something wonderful in the pipeline.

Nowhere in the world where road construction and maintenance for good driving pleasure are done for free, even in the developed clime people pay road tax in order to enjoy greater benefit of driving pleasurably.

Note: That I used the word pleasureable because that is what driving is and can become if you have good roads.

There is no free lunch anywhere, if you are not paying someone else's is doing the payment directly or indirectly.

It is preposterous for anyone to claim that Babatunde Fashola has any ulterior selfish motives to the idea of tolling highways in Nigeria, it is self evident worldwide that it is a standard practice.

Most governments do not run toll gates on highways worldwide, rather toll gates on highways are erected because most of the roads are constructed through public private partnership and those who invested their money in such projects have the rights to make profit from their investments.

Governments in the developing world like ours do not have the funds to construct highways all/across their nations, so they have to source for funds else where like from Pension funds, Banks using their investment as equity, or Private individuals. So for anyone to quarrel arrogantly about the Minister looking for sustainable mannerism to fund government projects is unpatriotic and rubbishes the significance of doing the right things.

Nothing is free anywhere. It does not matter if you are rich or poor we all have to pay for the services we use everyday no matter which part of the world you lived in that is our daily reality as humans living in a consumption modernity.

I would not want to go into any discourse about other issues raised in your piece because they are red herring a reharsh of the propaganda cum character assasination peddled during the electioneering and confirmation proces of the Minister.

''My policies are based not on some economics theory, but on things I and millions like me were brought up with: an honest day's work for an honest day's pay; live within your means; put by a nest egg for a rainy day; pay your bills on time...'' Magareth Thatcher

        

God save us from freeloader Socialist who believes that everything must be free and people do not have to be responsible for their own consumption paradigms.

OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE is a philosopher

Twitter: @pearl2prince