The former Lagos State governor said this on Wednesday in Abuja in his keynote, at the public presentation of a 341-page book titled ‘A Scholar’s Journey: Navigating Academia’, written by Prof. Pantami.
“I got to know Prof. Pantami as my colleague in the Federal Executive Council (FEC), where he served as Minister for Communication and Digital Economy during 2019 to 2023.
“His passion and attention to detail are very well known. His desire to have every ‘T’ and ‘I’ crossed and dotted in every document was almost annoying for some people.
“And if your vision and missions did not align, he would let you know very clearly. But he was Mr. Compliance to a good cause. As I said, our records are better off for the ‘Pantami effect’.
“At a time when truth is the endangered by fake news, when history is threatened by revisionists, books that profess a factual basis, which report history and events accurately, become all the more important to preserve the foundations of our civilization,” Fashola said.
Fashola said the launch is auspicious that such a book dwells on scholarship and academia, which are qualities urgently needed to drive national development.
The event was also attended by Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum; Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya; Nasarawa State Governor, Engr. Abdullahi Sule; former Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Danjuma Goje; former Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi; former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani Kyode; and former Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed among others.
Prof. Pantami in his remark expressed appreciation to everyone present and others who contributed to making the event a success, promising to continue to contribute to scholarship for national development.