Tag: Osinbajo

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo  has said the Muhammadu Buhari administration will no longer accept excuses that suggest that delivering sustainable socio-economic development to Nigerians is not attainable.

He spoke yesterday at the Cabinet Retreat on the Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP) and the 2018 Budget preparation at the State House, Abuja.

In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, Osinbajo said: “After listening to Dr. Idris Jala all I can say is as the opposition leader in Malaysia said, this is what I have been saying for the past 50 years!

“But seriously he is so right; the challenge is this, the discipline to be unreasonable in our targets and objectives. The discipline of attending the labs diligently and accepting to be locked in a room for as long as it takes to iron out what it is that needs to be done.

“I like the point also that Dr Jala made that the excuse that it won’t work here, the Nigerian factor, or some say exceptionalism, or the acceptance of failure before you even start is certainly not tenable any more.”

Osinbajo went on: “We simply have to accept that there is nothing Nigerian about failure, because as we know in our personal lives, failure and success are commodities on offer to everyone all over the world and every individual and every country makes a choice of which to buy and I will say on our behalf that we will choose success.

“Dr Jala, I have heard motivational speeches, but this is one I think that challenges our whole legitimacy as persons entrusted with leadership.

“I think it goes beyond motivational speech. I think it really challenges the core of our relevance as leaders and I am challenged and I know that many of us here are and I think that we will do what we need to do to make sure that we see through the labs that we have to identify specific areas where we will do this labs. We must see to it that this works.

“I want to thank you again for this exceptional moment you have taken us through and to thank all of you also for taking the time to come. So the work has just begun.”

Permanent Secretaries and heads of Ministries Departments and Agents (MDAs attended the retreat at the old Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.

The retreat, which is on the Implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) and the 2018 budget preparation. It was with the theme:  “Building Synergy For Effective ERPG Implementation”.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved the 2018-2020 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

At the end of the retreat, Minister of Budget and National Planning Udoma Udo Udoma told reporters: “It was basically about the ERGP and preparations for the 2018 budget and linking the plan with the budget and we will be briefing cabinet members about the linkages between the plan and the budget.

“Basically, we have to keep on reviewing at every stage. So, this is review about where we are, what needs to be done and what steps we need to take in areas that we need to fast track.

“We are moving ahead in terms of the modalities that have been defined. This is not the time to actually say what stage and so on. We will be giving briefings.”

On when the MTEFF will be sent to the National Assembly, Udoma said: “National Assembly is on break, so, nearer the time they will resume in September but ours is to follow the Fiscal Responsibility Act which has some timelines and we are trying to keep strictly by those timelines.”

•Acting President inaugurates five fighter jets

THE Federal Government has sanitised the military procurement process to prevent corruption,    Acting President Yemi Osinbajo said yesterday.

This, according to Osinbajo, followed the $2.1 billion armsgate that rocked the military in the last administration.

He spoke while unveiling five brand new Super Mushshak aircraft procured to deal with insecurity, including Boko Haram fighters in the Northeast.

The Acting President was represented by Minister of Defence Mansur Mohammed Dan-Ali at the induction of the aircraft and graduation ceremony of 16 student pilots at the Nigerian Air Force Base Kaduna.

Osinbajo described the procurement of the aircraft as timely, especially with the renewed ambushes by Boko Haram elements in the Maiduguri, Borno State.

According to him, “We have sanitised the procurement process of military hardware with a view to eliminating corruption and inefficiency. I make bold to say that we have achieved remarkable savings and infused quality into the system.

“This has contributed in no small way to the acquisition of these new aircrafts without any encumbrances. I have no doubt that the acquisition of the Super Mushshak aircraft would add impetus to the training efforts of 401 FTS

“This administration as promised two years ago is determined to protect everyone living in the country and their property. That is why it has taken the issue of insurgency and terrorism very seriously.

“The Federal Government is also including training and capacity-building to what we are doing – that is acquisition of more Air hardware and training so that our armed forces, especially the Air Force personnel, can perform better in securing our national integrity.

“On corruption in the system and Boko Haram, we have re-strategised and all these attacks you see are just sign of weakness and we have been doing a lot to see that all these ambushes come to an end. We also want to train civil defence and police, so they can join us where we are and move forward instead of remaining in one place.”

He added: “You will recall that Mr. President promised in his inaugural address about two years ago to build the capacity of the armed forces to effectively address the Boko Haram insurgency as well as other national security threats.

“This has been a major security policy thrust of this administration. We have since embarked on qualitative training and acquisition of new platforms and other supporting equipment for the Armed Forces and security agencies.”

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo said on Tuesday the administration’s change mantra and policies are not mere rhetorics.

He said the administration embraced a comprehensive and holistic approach to address the myriads of challenges confronting the country.

Osinbajo explained that besides the challenge of economic diversification, the country is also grappling with problem of infrastructural deficit.

The acting President, who spoke while declaring open the Smart City Summit organised by the Federal Ministry of Communications in conjunction with other stakeholders at the Transcop Hotel, Abuja, said the key to Nigeria’s future prosperity lies in ICT.

He said: “The Federal Government has big plans for the Nigerian ICT ecosystem. There is unrealized ability in other assets the nation possesses besides oil, which are capable of growth and development that can generate surplus, one of such is ICT.

“ICT can lead grand expansion of the economy that is needed to provide opportunities and benefits to many Nigerians. The key to change and our future prosperity lies in leveraging ICT in its entire ramification.

“The federal government plans to establish innovation hubs across the country. In partnership with several major technology companies, the technology hubs will be fully resourced with infrastructure and capacity building tools.

“Each hub will be designed to produce relevant innovative technology solutions to a wide range of business, commercial and government problems. Government intends to create a reservoir of human capacity in technology that can be exported internationally.”

Osinbajo, who was represented by the Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu said government plans to encourage innovative technologies to spearhead Smart domestic production, Smart Agriculture, Smart e-government and Health delivery, Smart Mobility, Smart Energy and  Environment, Smart policing, and indeed Smart cities.