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Tag: Osinbajo

  • Buhari seeks urgent reforms in judiciary

    Buhari seeks urgent reforms in judiciary

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday told the judiciary to brace up for the challenges of combating impunity and corruption in the country.

    The President, who called for urgent reforms in the judiciary, noted that corruption and delay in the administration of criminal justice constitute major hindrance to government’s efforts at retrieving stolen funds and punish those that abused public trust.

    He spoke at the opening session of the year’s All Nigeria Judges’ Conference in Abuja.

    Represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the President said it would be difficult for the government to effectively tackle corruption and encourage investments unless the judiciary addresses its identified challenges and shortcomings.

    He identified some of such challenges to include judicial corruption, integrity questions surrounding the conduct of some judges, delays in the administration of justice process, the burden of relying on outdated rules and legislation in a fast modernizing society, infrastructure inadequacy, weakness in the appointment process for judicial officers and the overall performance of judges.

     

     

  • Buhari to Kogi electorates: Vote for change, progress

    Buhari to Kogi electorates: Vote for change, progress

    Ahead of Saturday’s governorship election in Kogi State, President Muhammadu Buhari has urged the people of the state to opt for change and development by voting  for the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Prince Abubakar Audu.

    President Buhari made the call  at the APC governorship campaign rally held at the Confluence Stadium, Lokoja, Wednesday.

    He said the time for change in Kogi has come.

    The President, who was represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo,  noted that Nigeria is already moving forward and Kogi State must not be left behind.

    Earlier, the National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, officially received some PDP chieftains, including 15 elected council chairmen, Senior Special Advisers and Special Advisers who defected to the party.

    Oyegun assured them of equal opportunity in the APC, urging them to work for victory on Saturday.

    He said the exercise required the collective responsibility of all to vote for change for the overall development of Kogi State, noting that the APC candidate, Prince Audu remains the best option at this critical moment in the history of the state.

    He said Audu has record of development, adding that “he has done it before and he will do it again.”

    Audu implored the people to vote enmass for the APC to rescue the state from  PDP.

    The former chairman of North Central of Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Comrade Mohammed Ali, who spoke on behalf of other defectors, said they have decided to join the progressives, commending the APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was on the podium, for championing the progressive cause in Nigeria.

    He assured the APC leader that as youth leaders, they will deliver Kogi to APC on Saturday.

     

  • Osinbajo tasks NCCE on quality of teachers

    Osinbajo tasks NCCE on quality of teachers

    The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has urged the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) to expedite action towards improving the quality of teachers in Nigerian schools.

    Osinbajo said there had been public outcry against the quality of NCE teachers in Nigeria, urging the NCCE to address the challenge through ongoing reforms.

    He urged the commission to ensure that the physical, psychological and academic environments producing Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) teachers meet the expected prescribed minimum standards.

    Osinbajo, who spoke in Abuja on Tuesday at the Silver Jubilee celebration of the NCCE, added that the quality of teaching and learning is expected to improve greatly at the end of the ongoing reforms being carried out by the NCCE.

    The vice president, who was represented by the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, said with the establishment of the NCCE at the instance of Ashby Report’s recommendation, teacher training institutions, especially colleges of education in Nigeria now operate on national benchmark.

    He said: “I want to use this opportunity to draw attention of the NCCE to the public outcry on the quality of NCE teachers in our schools, and it is my hope that the commission will address this soonest via the ongoing reforms.

    “The commission is therefore challenged to ensure that colleges will henceforth produce specialized and right caliber teachers to teach at the various levels of basic education.

    “NCCE is called upon to rise to the challenge posed by illegal colleges of education operating in different parts of the country and to ensure that the physical, psychological and academic environments producing NCE teachers do meet the expected prescribed minimum standards.”

  • Osinbajo: Nigeria’ll develop under Buhari

    Osinbajo: Nigeria’ll develop under Buhari

    •Bello, Oshiomhole storm Okene for Audu’s rally

    Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) has assured Nigerians that the Muhammadu Buhari administration will develop the country, despite the nation’s current challenges.

    Osinbajo spoke yesterday in Okene, Kogi State, during the campaign rally of the state’s All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu.

    The Vice-president said no stone would be left unturned to ensure that the country regained its greatness.

    He said Nigeria has great potentials, adding that efforts should be made to restore the nation’s lost glory.

    Osinbajo urged Nigerians to support the Buhari administration to put the country on sound economic footing.

    The vice-president hailed Kogi State residents for voting en masse for President Muhammadu Buhari and other APC candidates in the March 28 and April 11 elections.

    He advised them to sustain the tempo in the November 21 governorship election.

    Osinbajo stressed the need for the people to vote massively for the APC in the governorship poll, maintaining that a vote for the party would translate to development.

    The vice-president noted that the combination of Audu and his running mate, James Abiodun Faleke, would lead to the rapid transformation of the state.

    He advised the electorates not to return the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state to power.

    Niger State governor and Director-General of the Prince Abubakar Audu Governorship Campaign Organisation, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, urged Kogi State electorate to vote for APC to ensure the state’s progress in the November 21 poll.

     

  • Osinbajo wants vehicle purchase credit scheme

    Osinbajo wants vehicle purchase credit scheme

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has urged the National Automotive Design and Development Council to fashion out a comprehensive vehicle credit purchase scheme that would enable Nigerians afford new vehicles.

    Stressing that the policy should be detailed, he said the Council bill, which had been taking time, should be made to work for those who could not afford new vehicles.

    The Vice President spoke yesterday at a briefing by the Council at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Osinbajo, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, said he was concerned about the strategy for raising funds and the pressure which the importation of used vehicles had on the foreign exchange.

    He said the Council’s plan to develop the automotive industry through bring back vehicle assembly operations, under the National Automotive Industry Development Plan (NAIDP), was laudable and had the capacity to grow the automotive industry.

    Osinbajo said there might be need for a high tariff on used vehicles, although he expressed concern about the effect it might have on Nigerians who could not afford new cars and on transportation in general.

    He also expressed concern about the spate of smuggling of used vehicles, which had impacted negatively on the economy.

    The Vice President enjoined the Council to work with other agencies, such as the Nigeria Customs and a soft-ware that could check the menace.

    He told the Council to put up a strong case for the credit purchase policy, the timing of the policy and the cushion effect it might have on those who could not afford new vehicles, while promising to take up the case with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

    The Director-General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council, Aminu Jalal, said the objective of the policy “is to ensure the revival, development and growth of the Nigerian automotive industry, using local human and material resources”.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Osinbajo, others honour Jackie at book launch

    Osinbajo, others honour Jackie at book launch

    Pastor Jackie Omotosho last Saturday launched her book titled Practice and influence of elegance: Inside Out at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos. The book which came in two volumes brought dignitaries from all walks of life.  Some of the people in attendance included the wife of the vice president, Dolapo Osinbajo, and the author’s husband, Modupe Omotosho, a pastor of the RCCG in the United States.

  • Glamour as UNILAG honours Osinbajo, five govs

    Glamour as UNILAG honours Osinbajo, five govs

    Last Saturday was different at the University of Lagos (UNILAG). The array of exotic cars, presence of heavy security operatives and the buzz around the Multipurpose Halls, were signs that high-level dignitaries were on campus.

    It was the institution’s Alumni Homecoming programme, which the Vice Chancellor, Prof Rahamon Bello, described as “historic”.

    Bello was glad that at his request, the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, Governors, Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa-Ibom) and Willie Obiano (Anambra) as well as the Deputy Governor of Abia State, Sir Ude Chukwu, all alumni of the institution, came together under one roof to mingle as alumni of UNILAG.

    It was a night of reminisce, which left nostalgic feelings in the minds of the dignitaries, who were decorated with the distinguished alumni award of the university.

    In the words of the Vice President, “Of course it is only the University of Lagos that can bring us all together as we are today, from different political ideas and platforms.”

    Speaking in the red and gold themed hall, Osinbajo, said UNILAG moulded him into his current status.

    He said: “There is nothing nobler; nothing that gives one greater joy than the recognition of one’s colleagues, friends and associates and I think that this particular recognition is one that is very dear to my heart. The University of Lagos has been a place, which has in so many ways defined my life. I started to teach here in November 1981. And from that time, till 2013, practically every step of the way, the university has influenced my life in one way or the other; and I dare say that even today, the first thing that is known about me is that I am, not was, a University teacher.”

    The Vice President also expressed his value for tertiary institutions as a place of great inspiration and ideas that build the nation.

    “It (being a teacher) is a place of great pride for me because I very well believe that the university is a multimedia place of ideas and inspiration and whatever it is that we can contribute to making that the case, we must do it. In the years when I was here as a lecturer in the 1980s, those were the years when there was great inspiration and ideas.

    Of course they were the years of the dialectical tension between the Materialist School and the Ajere School and the great thinking and the great debate that went on in political philosophical terms. You had to be defined one way or the other in those days. You could not be neutral. You had to belong to one side or the other of the argument. If you were a law teacher and you presented a paper, the socialist school, the materialists would attack the paper, not just on its merits or by way of argument but the philosophical foundation would be questioned; its whole thinking would be questioned and by the time many of them would be through with you, you would rethink several of your ideas.

    “The University must continue to be a place of ideas. The future of the nation depends on the thinking of those in the university. It depends on the great ideas that emanate from a place like this… and the importance of great teachers. I remember an evening in 1977 when I walked in to a jurisprudence class and this was the first time I was coming across the gentleman called, at the time, Dr Akin Oyebode, now Prof Akin Oyebode.  There he was teaching on the sociological school and as I recall the occasion, he did not have any prepared notes, though he reminds me that he had cue cards which I do not remember seeing. But he spoke for about an hour and half on the sociological school of jurisprudence. By the time he was through, I made up my mind that I would teach law and that for me was the inspiration that led to my coming to the University to teach law four years after,” He said.

    Also, representatives of the UNILAG Students’ Union chanted solidarity songs to usher his decoration.

    Speaking after his own decoration, Ambode recalled values he learnt while studying Accounting at Unilag.

    “My commitment is such that every day of my life is dedicated to the service of Lagos State based on what I have learnt in UNILAG,” said Ambode.

    Obiano on his part promised to help their alma mater.

    He said: “Of all the awards I have received in my life, this is the best and I promise this will spur me to do more. I also promise to assist the university in any way I can when I am approached… I also appeal to all of us that let the word that opens all doors be ‘UNILAG.’ From today, anytime you want to see me and you say UNILAG, the door would be opened to you.”

  • How we plan to boost naira, by Osinbajo

    How we plan to boost naira, by Osinbajo

    To diversify the economy, the Federal Government is collaborating with rice-producing states in the North to step up the commodity’s production.

    Self-sufficiency in rice and wheat production, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, would ease the pressure on the naira.

    The naira currently exchanges for N197 to the dollar at the official market.

    It is over N200 to the dollar at the parallel market.

    Osinbajo said the naira which has plammeted against major currencies would gain value, by moving away from the current mono-product economy; ensuring an increase in earnings; exporting more products and driving infrastructural development through local and foreign direct investment.

    The vice president, who spoke in Enugu, said President Muhammadu Buhari’s economic policies would produce a stronger naira and by earning and exporting more the currency’s value will improve.

    The government, he said, was exploring self sufficiency in rice and wheat production which would also help in strenghtening the naira. “We are trying to ensure that we are self-sufficient in

    rice  and wheat production, so that there will be less pressure on the dollar. One of the major issues is that we have to earn more foreign exchange to raise the value of the naira. We also have to do more

    business internally to  raise the value of the naira. So diversifying the economy is an important way to strengthen the value of the naira,” he said.

  • Fed Govt won’t devalue naira, says Osinbajo

    Fed Govt won’t devalue naira, says Osinbajo

    CHAMPIONS of devaluation may have lost the battle following the Federal Government’s resolve to retain the naira value against the dollar.

    The naira currently exchanges for N197 to the dollar at the official market.

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said yesterday that devaluation is not the appropriate option under the prevailing economic realities.

    Many experts, including former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor and Emir of Kano Muhammad Sanusi II have been advocating devaluation of the currency.

    According to Sanusi, the “current value of the naira is unsustainable”.

    But Osinbajo, while receiving some envoys and officials of Citybank led by Mr. Jim Cowles, in Abuja, said: “Devaluation is no solution as far as the Buhari administration is concerned”.

    Osinbajo, who also received Italian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Fulvio Rustico and the Canadian High Commisioner in Nigeria Mr. Perry John Calderwood, said: “It is not a solution, we are not exporting significantly. And the way things are, devaluation will not help the local economy.”

    He added: “What we need to do is to start spending more on the economy and then things will ease up a bit.”

    The issues around the economy, Osinbajo said, were no exact sciences, stressing that what is important is to be reasonably flexible in dealing with them.

    He outlined the government’s plans to set-up a $25 billion Infrastructural Fund to be sourced from local and international sources including through Nigeria’s Sovereign Wealth Fund and the pension fund, among others.

    The Vice President said other sovereign wealth funds have indicated interest in the fund which would be used to address the nation’s decaying road, rail and power infrastructure. “This is our approach to speeding up the country’s infrastructural development.”

    Osinbajo described as temporary measure the current foreign exchange restriction, adding that it is to ensure that “we don’t deplete our foreign exchange substantially,” at a time when oil prices are falling in the international market.

    The restriction is also to bring some stability to the foreign reserves without which Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), might be affected.

    To him, FDI is more forward looking than portfolio investments, which are being affected by the decision to manage the foreign exchange resources of the country at this time.

    “I am not sure devaluation is the issue, but how to ensure foreign direct investment which is more useful, “ the vice president said, adding that he expects a bit more stability and direction in the next few months.

    He said the government would work with the CBN to ensure that legitimate businesses are not badly impacted by the current foreign exchange restrictions, especially those who have previous contracts and loan commitments.

  • Osinbajo: Why Buhari is against devaluation

    Osinbajo: Why Buhari is against devaluation

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday declared that devaluation of the Naira was not an appropriate option in the current economic realities in the country for the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

    According to him, a further devaluation of the Nigerian currency is not healthy for the Nigerian economy.

    He spoke at the Presidential Villa, Abuja while receiving Ambassadors from Italy and Canada.

    Osinbajo, in a statement by Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, said “I don’t agree on devaluation and it is not that I am doctrinaire about it. In the first place, it is not a solution-we are not exporting significantly. And the way things are, devaluation will not help the local economy.”

    “What we need to do is to start spending more on the economy and then things will ease up a bit,” he added.

    He said that the issues around the economy are no exact sciences and that what is important is to be reasonably flexible in dealing with them.

    He outlined federal government’s plans to set-up a $25B Infrastructural Fund which would be sourced from local and international sources including through Nigeria’s Sovereign Wealth Fund and the pension fund among others.

    The Vice President disclosed that already other sovereign wealth funds have indicated interest in the fund which would be used to address the nation’s decaying road, rail and power infrastructures.

    He said; “this is our approach to speeding up the country’s infrastructural development.”

    Prof. Osinbajo restated that the current foreign exchange restriction is a temporary measure to ensure that foreign exchange is not depleted substantially at a time when the price of oil in the international market is dropping.

    He said that the restriction is also to bring some stability to the country’s foreign reserves without which Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) might be affected.

    According to him, FDI is more forward looking than portfolio investment which is being affected by the decision to manage the foreign exchange resources of the country at this time.

    “I am not sure devaluation is the issue, but how to ensure foreign direct investment which is more useful,” the Vice President noted adding that he expects a bit more stability and direction in the next few months.

    He disclosed that the federal government would work with the Central Bank of Nigeria to ensure that legitimate businesses are not badly impacted by the current foreign exchange restrictions, especially those who have previous contracts and loan commitments.

    The Vice President received the Italian Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr. Fulvio Rustico and the Canadian High Commisioner in Nigeria Mr. Perry John Calderwood.

    He expressed the appreciation of the federal government to the two envoys on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari and also looked forward to closer and deeper ties between Nigeria and the two countries.

    A delegation of top executives from Citigroup led by Mr. Jim Cowles also paid a courtesy call on the Vice President earlier Thursday.