Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday met behind closed doors with the former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ali Modu Sheriff at the Presidential Villa Abuja.
The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), John Odigie-Oyegun, later joined the duo at the meeting.
The meeting is still in progress at the time of filing this report.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has urged financial institutions to uphold a high level of integrity and forthrightness in the discharge of their duties.
Osinbajo spoke when a delegation from the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) paid a courtesy call on him at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The Vice President said financial institutions have a crucial role to play in helping the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to fight corruption, as well as in improving the country’s economy.
He noted that, as a financial body, ANAN should call out individuals who are allegedly tied to some levels of financial crimes to step down from their positions, so as to help curb corruption in the financial sector.
“The level of integrity that we expect is not necessarily what we are seeing, especially in respect to financial statements and all of that,” Osinbajo said.
He also commended the association for the important roles it has played in regulating the country’s financial sector since it was incorporated in 1979, adding that a high level of integrity by financial institutions would help improve the lives of citizens.
Earlier, the ANAN delegation, led by its President, Alhaji Shehu Usman, praised the Buhari administration for its leadership role in the nation, the fight against corruption, insecurity and improving the economy.
The delegation appealed to the Federal Government on the appointments of their members into key positions in the civil service.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Saturday in Yola, reinstated the commitment of the Federation Government to keep one, indivisible Nigeria.
Osinbajo made the commitment while speaking at the reception in Yola in honour of the new President of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the Most Reverend Musa Filibus.
The vice-president, therefore, urged Nigerians to sustain the unity which he said was the dream of the fore fathers of the country.
According to him, Christians are encouraged to pursue justice and reconciliation with people of other faith.
While congratulating Filibus for being the first Nigerian and second African to emerge President of LWF, Osinbajo urged him to work toward uniting the church and promoting peace and love.
“It is our role as Christians to bind people together and we must do so by self sacrifice and love.
“On behalf of the Federal Government and Mr President, I wish you an excellence and God guided tenure as President of LWF.”
Earlier, Gov. Mohammed Bindow of Adamawa, who also congratulated Filibus for his elevation and making the people of Adamawa and Nigeria proud, assured him of his administration’ support to succeed.
In his remarks, Filibus thanked the government of Adamawa and Nigeria for standing behind him and urged more support and prayers for a successful tenure.
Filibus vowed to make Nigeria proud by being a good ambassador.
“I will stand to be one among many to prove that Nigeria stands tall among the comity of nations.
“I give thanks to all who contributed in making me what I am today,” Filibus promised.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that LWF is a global communion of 145 churches in the Lutheran tradition, representing over 75 million Christians in 98 countries.
Other dignitaries that graced the occasion were, the Governor of Plateau, Mr Solomon Dalong, Mr David Babacir and representatives of the Speaker, House of Representatives, Governor of Taraba and his Benue counterpart.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday, expressed optimism that the success of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) would reduce poverty and unemployment in the country.
He spoke in Abuja during the inauguration of the Presidential Council on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
He said: “Progress on the goal will have a positive effect on poverty and unemployment numbers, it will reduce the number of mothers who die during childbirth and our children who are unable to mark their fifth birthdays and of course on figures of out of school children. It will empower our girls and women and bridge the gender inequality gap.
“Success with the implementation of the SDGs will have impact on our cities and on the quality of lives of those who live within them.
“It is therefore clear that the achievements of the goals equal a quantum social economic leap for Nigeria. Failure to achieve the SDGs will have exponential implication on our generation and for those yet unborn,” he said.
According to him, President Muhammadu Buhari will join other heads of states and governments to adopt the SDGs, towards ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring peace and prosperity.
He added: “Audaciously ambitious as the goals may appear, they capture the urgency and rage of the major challenges that confronts humanity especially developing nations. They underscore the reality that only global partnership supporting home grown and inclusive solutions stand a chance of achieving the goals. Building on the MDG, the SDGs open new priorities such as climate change, economic inequality, innovation, sustainable consumption, peace and justice.
“The goals are interconnected, succeeding in one will involve dealing with issues fundamentally associated with another. With a number of time bound targets and indicators against which national progress will be measured till 2030, the SDGs have begun to galvanize development planning and execution programme.
“Our government has taken the firm view that the implementation of the SDGs agenda has and will have decisive implications for Nigeria’s development which explains why the SDGs occupy a prominent place in our economic recovery and growth plan which the President launched in April to guide Nigeria along the path of inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
The Vice President also said that the Presidential council on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will provide policy direction for the implementation of the SDGs in Nigeria and ensure that there is coherence at national and sub national levels.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Friday expressed optimism that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) would help reduce poverty and unemployment in the country.
He stated this during the inauguration of the Presidential Council on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Abuja.
He said: “Progress on the goal will have a positive effect on poverty and unemployment numbers. It will reduce the number of mothers who die during childbirth and our children who are unable to mark their fifth birthdays and of course on figures of out of school children. It will empower our girls and women and bridge the gender inequality gap.
“Success with the implementation of the SDGs will have impact on our cities and on the quality of lives of those who live within them.
“It is therefore clear that the achievements of the goals equal a quantum social economic leap for Nigeria. Failure to achieve the SDGs will have exponential implication on our generation and for those yet unborn.”
According to him, President Muhammadu Buhari will join other heads of states and governments to adopt the sustainable development goals, towards ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring peace and prosperity.
Osinbajo added: “Audaciously ambitious as the goals maybe appear, they capture the urgency and rage of the major challenges that confronts humanity especially developing nations. They underscore the reality that only global partnership supporting home grown and inclusive solutions stand a chance of achieving the goals. Building on the MDGs, the SDGs open new priorities such as climate change, economic inequality, innovation, sustainable consumption, peace and justice.”
THE Federal Government is to feed 5.5 million primary school children as part of efforts to ensure quality and accessible education to children, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said.
Speaking yesterday in Kaduna at the 28th convocation ceremony for the 64 and 65 regular courses of Army, Navy and Air Force and Short Service Course 44 of Army at the Nigerian Defence Academy, the Vice President said President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has a mission to provide quality education to Nigerians to ease the burden of education on the common man.
The vice president, who was represented by the Minister of Defence, Mansur Mohammed Dan Ali, hailed the Commandant and staff of NDA for “discharging military and academic training and both roles are being performed creditably” to churn out “well trained officials for our armed forces in maintaining territorial integrity and national security”.
He added that the institution has done well in the area of research, teaching and community service.
“The Federal Government is aware of the significance of education. It is in this regard that we are giving priority to the development of education sector. Over N398 billion had been budgeted for education sector, which remains one of the highest so far.
“In the Federal Government’s school feeding programme, 5.5 million school children will be provided with meals in our schools to ease the burden on our parents and to enable our children have access to quality education. It is gladdening that NDA had received National University Commission accreditation in arts and social science, engineering and science.
“I urge NDA to put together good infrastructure, curriculum and facilities required to sustain and maintain the accreditation. This convocation ceremony is slightly different from the NDA calendar as 64 and 65 regular courses will be graduated, 65 cadets have a year to go in their various services in the Navy and Air Force to complete their military training,” Osinbajo said.
The convocation ceremony saw 1,163 students graduated from the institution with 34 bagging doctorate degree, 165 students bagged academic masters, 356 students (post graduate diplomas), 608 (received professional masters), 573 cadets graduated with bachelor of science, including foreigners from Benin Republic and Togo. Three of students bagged first class.
Three eminent Nigerians: legal luminary Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), Emir of Kazaure, Alhaji Najib Hussein Adamu and former Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ola Saad Ibrahim (rtd) were awarded honorary doctorate degrees of letter and management science.
The NDA Commandant, Maj.-Gen. Mohammed Tasiu Ibrahim hailed the Federal Government for supporting them in building a 3,000 capacity auditorium and fencing the 37 kilometres academy, a project previously put at N9.7 billion but was completed with N1 billion.
He said two regular course – 64 and 65 – were combined because the institution will henceforth run its cadet programme for four years instead of the previous five years.
“NUC visited nine undergraduate and three postgraduate programmes with cheering outcome as all NDA academic courses enjoy full accreditation. NDA has submitted applications for new courses in faculty of military science and interdisciplinary studies.”
The Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said on Wednesday the ongoing National Conference on livestock would address persistent clashes between farmers and herdsmen in the country.
Osinbajo stated this during the livestock stakeholders’ conference organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and other stakeholders in Abuja.
He said the conference was a deliberate plan to converge all key stakeholders in the livestock industry in order to provide a lasting solution to several challenges confronting the industry.
Osinbajo said the effort would eventually contribute to national security, adding that the Federal Government has established agro-rangers to protect ranches.
The vice president noted that about 3,000 rangers are currently undergoing training in order to discharge the duty effectively.
According to him, the agro-rangers will be strongly armed to protect ranches across the country.
Osinbajo, who was represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said the service would be rendered free while the rangers would be supervised by the Federal Ministry of Interior.
“In the face of expanding human population, food production and demand have increased in a commensurate manner. The pressure on land is great. There is a decline in soil fertility and farm holdings are small while grazing lands are being degraded due to increasing livestock activities, poor management, effects of climate change and increased conversion to farmlands due to high population of humans.
“We have heard so many have lost money, 300 cows rustled and other 200 taken. We have now put together a new security group called agro-rangers. This group is being trained by the ministry of interior. They are heavily armed. 3000 of them are heavily trained.
“If you have a ranch or big agricultural project, approach us, we will post them to you at no cost. They will protect your investment,” Osinbajo said.
•VP: N35b injected into amnesty programme
•’Ogoniland clean-up on course’
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday pledged the determination of the Federal Government to re-invigorate the National Council on Niger Delta (NCND) for the region’s grow.
Besides, he said N35 billion had been injected into the Niger Delta Amnesty programme for the people’s benefit.
Osinbajo, who spoke in Akure, the Ondo State capital while opening the second NCND meeting, said the clean-up in Ogoniland embarked upon by the President Muhammed Buhari administration was ongoing with the aim of sanitising its environment.
He noted that the Niger Delta region has greater potentials apart from crude oil, stressing that Ondo State is the second largest producer of Bitumen in globally – second to Canada.
The vice president contended that the summit was in fulfilment of the past failed promises to pay prompt attention to the region’s growth.
He expressed the Federal Government’s commitment to the amnesty programme with a view to ensuring peace in the region. The initiative, he said, has recorded tremendous achievements.
Osinbajo assured that the Federal Government would continue to invest in the region for overall growth.
He sought the co-operation of stakeholders in the region for sustenance of peace.
According to him, “We have started with the clean-up of Ogoniland and we will continue with the exercise, which is still ongoing. We will ensure clean-up of all polluted areas.
“What we are doing in the area is called hydrocarbon clean-up and this will not be limited to Ogoni land.”
Osinbajo added that the Buhari administration had set up various inter-ministerial committees on the development of the Niger Delta region, adding resumption of academic programmes at the Maritime University established by the Federal Government will kick off next month.
According to him, the Federal Government had committed N2 billion to the establishment of the university, which he said would focus on maritime training.
The vice president expressed the readiness of the Federal Government to diversify the economy, stressing that oil would soon go into extinction.
He advised the Niger Delta states to diversify into agriculture, culture, tourism and other areas to boost the area’s economy.
Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu stressed the need for the Federal Government to develop the Niger Delta region.
He maintained that the people’s welfare should be paramount to the Federal Government.
“Issues of gross infrastructural deficit, security challenges and the general absence of social amenities expected in a modern society remain intractable.
“This region presents a cruel paradox; the entire country depends on it almost entirely for sustenance. It, however, lacks evidence of development depicting its status as the proverbial goose that lays the golden egg.”
Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Usani Uguru Usani noted that the story of Niger Delta outlived imaginations of people who have never visited the creek communities.
He noted that a vision remains a mind map until it is manifest in its practical implementation.
Usani said a clear path of action has been defined and roles identified, adding that that the evidence of these are in the current initiatives of the regional agenda.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will today lead other Federal Government’s delegation to Ondo State for the Niger Delta Summit.
The conference, with the theme: Fast-tracking the Development and Peace in the Niger Delta Region, is being hosted by Ondo State government in conjunction with the Niger Delta Affairs Ministry.
Also expected at the summit, which will hold at the International Events Centre, Akure, the state capital, are: the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and the Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs, with representatives of the nine oil-producing states and other relevant stakeholders.
Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) is expected to lead the state’s delegates as the host.
Crucial policy decisions are to be taken on uninterrupted productivity and other relevant operations in the nation’s Oil sector.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday disowned a group, which claimed to have launched on campaign for his election as president in 2018.The vice president said he was not interested in the 2019 presidential election.
The Osinbaji volunteers, which has started recruiting people for the project, wants Osinbajo to contest the election.
While its website featured the activities of the Vice President, the group exonerated Osinbajo from its activities.
It states on its website: “Note that Osinbajo did not endorse this volunteer group. We have never met him.
“We are strong believers in the fact that he is the right ruler for Nigeria and must create a peoples volunteer base for him.”
Distancing the Osinbajo from the group, his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, on his Twitter handle, stated: “Please disregard this website created by faceless people for mischievous purposes.
“It has absolutely nothing to do with the Vice President.”