Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will depart Abuja Monday to represent President Muhammadu Buhari at the swearing-in ceremony of Nigeria’s immediate past Agriculture Minister, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, as President of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The inauguration, according to a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, will take place on September 1 at the Ivoirian capital city of Abidjan.
It reads: “It would be recalled that President Buhari actively supported the candidature of the AfDB president-elect in a keenly contested election conducted in May this year even before the Buhari presidency assumed office.
“The Vice President will speak at the event and return to Abuja later tomorrow.”
Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) commenced its 11th Annual Conference in Yenagoa, Bayelsa, on Thursday with a verdict that Nigerians expect to see improvements in all aspects of their lives from the new government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Governor of the state, Mr. Seriake Dickson, who hosted and declared the event open and Vice-President Yemi Osibanjo, who was the special guest of honour , unanimously called for attitudinal change from leaders and the led.
In his welcome address, the acting President, NGE, Garba Muhammad, named the qualitative improvements Nigerians want to see from the new government as better wages for workers, jobs for the unemployed and better and affordable healthcare services.
He added that individual citizens also expect to see functional education for every child and freedom to lives without restrictions except those imposed by laws and personal judgments.
He said: “As a people we want a nation that is deserving of that name in every sense of the word. We want a country that we would be proud to identify with wherever we go. We want to have a country where basic ingredients of development such as stable power supply, reliable and safe transportation system and independent judiciary are seen as our inalienable rights.
“But more than anything else, we want a country that is free from threats whether internal or external. We want to see convicing performance from our armed forces and corresponding security agencies that they are up to the task of protecting the country all times.
“The insurgency in the northeastern Nigeria is no doubt one of the biggest sources of concern for every Nigerian especially those who are directly affected by its brutal consequences.
In his remarks, Dickson advocated for a change that would lead to total diversification of the country’s economy away from oil and gas.
He said the story of the dry oil well in Oloibiri, where oil was first discovered in commercial quantity in Ogbia local government area of the state, is a sad reminder that oil and gas are wasting assets.
He also called for political tolerance, saying that politicians need to know the difference between politics and development.
He said after the election, politicians no matter their political leanings should rally round President Buhari to move the country forward.
Osibanjo, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information, Dr. Folashade Yemi, said Nigerian media must be carried along in the efforts of the new government to move Nigeria forward.
He said: “Change occurs when we decide to take control of what we have full right over, instead of yelling control over what we don’t. There is no gainsaying that carrying the media along in our determination to move Nigeia forward is not only expected but a must do.
“The media create the most viable platform in promoting development and the media must do this through their watchdog role as well as influencing people to be agents of change, particularly in the area of attitudinal change.”
Diaspora Nigerians remitted home about $20b last year, the Federal Government said yesterday.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said the government will tap into the experience the Nigerians abroad to deepen the economy.
Those in the Diaspora will however wait for some time before they can start voting in elections.
Osinbajo, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari, spoke at the 2015 Diaspora Day held at the Old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The theme of the conference is: “Diaspora and Nigeria Change Agenda.”
The VP said legislation, huge finance, and confidence in the electoral system were required before diaspora voting can commence.
He said: “We are also aware of the importance of voting rights of Nigerians abroad. But to achieve this, the National Assembly will have to legislate. Diaspora voting is in Nigeria’s future.
“Because obviously there is a lot to be done including building confidence in the Nigerian electoral process. The skills and planning required in planning a number of national election in an atmosphere of continued suspicion of each party is a major challenge by itself.
“Our electoral process is evolving and as greater confidence is built in the institutions and processes associated with it we may then create voting opportunities for our citizens abroad in the not too distant future,’’ he said.
According to him, his administration was building a new Nigeria that requires the support and participation of all, including Nigerians in the Diaspora.
He said: “Permit me to take this opportunity to integrate the place and role of Nigerians abroad in the Change Agenda of the Buhari administration.
“This is because we have embarked on the building of a bold new Nigeria and we need all hands on deck.
“The time has come for talents from home and abroad to mix it up in patriotic zeal to fashion the Nigeria of our dreams.” He stated.
He added: “First let me quickly lay out our medium to long term strategy as a government.
“It is namely to build an economy led by a strong and responsible private sector.”
The President said government’s intervention would come in the provision of physical and economic infrastructure and social policies that provide opportunity and succour for the 110 million extremely poor Nigerians in the country.
He said the administration was targeting consistent generation of 5,000 MW of power daily by early 2016, describing it as a modest target from what was already available.
The President also said efforts were on to complete a variety of outstanding power-related projects in order to lay the foundation for 10,000MW and 15,000 MW subsequently.
Buhari said government was pursuing a long overdue reform in the hydrocarbon industry and reorganising the NNPC and holding the officials accountable for past revenue losses.
He said government would improve the local refining capacity to reduce the over 37 per cent of foreign exchange applied to the importation of refined products.
In agriculture, he said a programme of self-sustenance was on in the production of rice, wheat cotton in order to reduce foreign exchange requirement for importation of such items.
He said rice importation alone gulped about $4 billion annually adding that seven rice producing states were working in concert with the Federal Government to map out the pathway to self-sustenance in rice production within 30 months.
He said the agricultural and agro-allied value chain remained a priority of government in job creation plans as it would support local agriculture.
He said plans were on to create a friendly and efficient environment for investments by removing bureaucracies and red tapes in approval processes stressing that the incentive regime in the country would also be reviewed.
Efforts, he said, are on to return all garment and textile factories to full production capacity within the shortest time possible.
He said to address youth unemployment, government will invest in infrastructure, technology, agriculture and mining while the one-meal-a-day programme for primary schools would also create many jobs and business opportunities.
The President said that government would implement social intervention schemes to make no fewer than 110 million extremely poor Nigerians to participate in the new Nigeria.
According to him, the experience and exposure of Nigerians abroad would be tapped to building a thriving economy as done by other nations.
He pointed out that India, Japan, China and Korea attained global status following the contributions of their nationals abroad.
The President said the administration was convinced that the nationals abroad could participate in the change agenda with their 15 million population with about four million in U.S. and Canada and about one million in London.
He said: “Besides, the financial remittances from Nigerians abroad have well reached an estimate of over $20 billion in 2014.
“With the potential of such huge populations abroad and attendant financial muscle, no government can actually totally ignore such persons.”
He said the place to start was to develop a reliable data of Nigerian citizens abroad using the Embassies and missions.
The President said the proposed Diaspora Commission if signed into law would open a new chapter and create the platform for engaging Nigerians abroad and allowing their expertise to permeate the country.
Urging Nigerians in diaspora to be good ambassadors in their host countries, he assured that the government would ensure that their rights were protected.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said yesterday that official corruption and privatisation of public enterprises have led to huge losses in public revenue.
Osinbajo spoke at the 55th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja.
According to him, the penchant for graft was high and Nigerians spent a lot of time meant for creativity to pursue wealth.
He said: “Official corruption and privatisation of public resources have caused massive losses in public revenue.
“Indeed the truth is stranger than fiction in this matter of corruption in the public service. Dysfunctional government bureaucracies, waste and misallocation of resources.
“A great deal of talent and enterprise that should focus on creativity and innovation is concentrated in wealth seeking activities,” he said.
The Vice President also urged lawyers to find means of changing the public impression that justice could be bought and also remove the legal profession from all sorts of compromise.
He noted that enforcing contracts and the general area of dispute resolution in the country were bugged down by “judicial process that is slow, burdensome and notoriously open to dilatory tactics.”
Osinbajo went on: “Perhaps even more damaging to attracting investments is the largely and compelling narrative that Justice can be purchased.
“This is a major problem of perception in our justice system and of cause a major problem of bringing business in the country. Even local investment suffers when there is a sense that the Justice system can be compromised.”
The Vice President said that it was absolutely important that integrity in the judicial system is dealth with, just as the overall question of corruption is dealth with.
He pointed out that if corruption is not handled squarely, the justice system will be so degraded that it will be practically impossible to get very much done or to encourage anyone to come into Nigerian economy.
He advised the NBA members to find ways of ensuring that authentic dispute resolution were not caught up in the slow moving justice system.
“Applications of all types in the civil courts to stop or delay arbitrary processes run their slow course in many business disputes. An economy that must provide jobs for 80 per cent of graduates from our universities and a youth unemployment population of 40 per cent cannot afford destructive delays in creating these wealth opportunities.” He said
The Vice President said it was the plan of the administration to initiate consultations at the highest levels of government to re-write the story of the nation’s business environment.
He listed some current challenges in power, infrastucture, employment, and monetary policies as he assured that the administration was committed to finding lasting solutions to them.
A former President of the NBA, Mr Olisa Agbakoba, (SAN) said that the citizenry needed more action from the government to demonstrate the need for change in the country.
He said the NBA was glad that government was talking tough on corruption and that the Association was ready to key into the programme.
“One of the challenges we are posing to government is that we have had so much of talking on different issues. What we would now like to see is action.
“So, if for instance you say you want to fight corruption, in what way? How will you be able to recover all the loot because access to that is easy? I think the essence of the conference is that when we leave here government can begin to take action that we can measure.
“If you want to turn around poverty we can see so. If you want to see new jobs, NBA is demanding action from our government.’’ he said
He said that it was not true that counsel were deliberately slowing down legal processes and said it was the responsibility of judges to speed up all legal matters.
The National Economic Council (NEC) comprising of state governors on Thursday held a meeting at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The meeting presided over by the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo started at few minutes past 11:00am.
Most of the states in attendance were represented by their deputy governors.
While details of the meeting is unknown, some of the outstanding issues that may be considered include the clamour for bailout by state governments and updates on probe of the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other revenue generating agencies.
The meeting is still in progress at time of filling this report.
Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo yesterday said there are 110 million poor Nigerians.
He added that some past polices and planning, including budgeting, did not reflect the needs and conditions of the people, who have become disempowered.
He spoke while receiving the Alumni Association of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS), in Abuja.
Expressing concern about extreme poverty in the country, Osinbajo said two third of the population had become disempowered following the policy formulation in the past.
“When you look at the economic and social policies, and you look at the level of illiteracy, some are extremely bad and some with cases of about 80 or 90 per cent of children out of school, and other cases of unimaginable decayed infrastructure,” he said.
Stressing that policies should address the needs of the people, he said the main challenge now is how to make this possible.
“Governments have not been accountable to the people, otherwise policies should have roots in the real condition of the people.”
The Vice President challenged the notion that a country could be described as rich when about two-thirds of its people were extremely poor.
He said one of the challenges of policy formulation is how to speak to the people and address their plight, adding that the people were concerned about “how do I get a meal, how do I get health care and how to send children to school.”
Vice President Osinbajo urged the Alumni Association to discuss how policy formulation ought to take root in the conditions of the people.
Speaking earlier, President of the association, Major-General Lawrence Onoja, appreciated President Muhammadu Buhari’s determination to fight corruption and reposition the economy.
He pledged the support of the Association for the actualization of what he called the Three-Point Agenda – Security, Corruption and Economy of the Buhari Administration.
Onoja urged the Administration not to only conduct a forensic audit of the government agencies but should jail all those found guilty of looting the country and seize the looted assets as well.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday commended the progress being recorded in the South Sudan peace talk.
He made the commendation while signing as a witness to the peace deal brokered between the warring parties in the crisis in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
According to a statement issued on Tuesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, Osinbajo expressed hope that the conflict in the world’s newest country may come to an end soon.
The vice president was involved in the diplomatic talks that lasted at least two sessions on Monday in the Ethiopian capital under the auspices of the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) with the addition of a number of other key African countries like Nigeria and international agencies including the African Union, the United Nations and the European Union.
He said: “I am excited that this might be the end of the mystery that has engulfed South Sudan thus far.”
Osinbajo, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari at the summit, spoke after a long drawn diplomatic effort that produced an agreement initiated by the President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit and fully signed by the leader of the warring faction of the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM), Riek Machar, who was a former South Sudan vice president.
The statement reads: “One of the key leaders of the ruling Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM), Pagan Amum, signed the peace agreement, representing former political detainees in the South Sudanese conflict.
“While the South Sudan President is yet to fully sign the agreement, he has promised to conclude consultations on the power-sharing aspect of the agreement and then return to append his full signature very soon, expectedly within weeks.”
Other aspects of the agreement fully endorsed, according to the statement, included providing access for humanitarian assistance and the cessation of hostilities.
Speaking with journalists at the end of the meeting, Osinbajo said Nigeria and other stakeholders should be justifiably proud of Monday’s achievement.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the weekend revealed what inspired him to become a law teacher; it was after watching Prof. Akin Oyebode in action.
He disclosed this at a dinner organised in his honour by the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, held at the Oriental Hotels, Victoria Island.
•Prof Oyebode
Osinbajo, a professor of Law, told his audience Prof. Oyebode persuaded him to be a good teacher by his conduct, adding that he resolved to become a law teacher after observing the renowned international law professor when he taught some Sociology students law.
He said: “Prof. Oyebode was my inspiration to teach well. I always saw myself as an advocate. He persuaded me just by his conduct. I made up my mind to teach law after observing him in a class where he taught some Sociology students law,” the Vice-President said.
Appreciating the faculty for honouring him, Prof. Osinbajo noted that it was a great thing to be honoured by friends and colleagues.
“I really feel honoured, thank you all very much, God bless you, you also would be honoured better than this in Jesus mighty name.
“We have a great tradition of intellectual liberty-ability to argue and to disagree without being disagreeable and I think that’s one of the great traditions of our faculty, the Faculty of Law.
“Our faculty has always been a place of ideas and our country today needs big ideas to solve the problems that we have,” he said.
At the event were Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola; former Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Oye-Ibidapo-Obe; Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Rahman Bello, represented by Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics and Research, Prof. Jide Alo; Dean, Faculty of Law, Prof. Akinola Ibidapo-Obe; Prof. Taiwo Osipitan (SAN); Justices Ellen Morenkeji and Lawal Akapo, and Pro-Chancellor, University of Benin, Senator Effiong Bob.
•Adetola-Kazeem
Others included former President, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Wole Olanipekun (SAN); Prof. Oluwole Smith (SAN); Adetola Kazeem (SAN); Dele Adesina (SAN); Mike Igbokwe (SAN); O.A. Omonuwa, and former Speaker, Lagos House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, among others.
Earlier in his remark, the Vice Chancellor said the school supported the faculty to honour Osinbajo because it is always a good thing to appreciate, acknowledge and identify with success.
For Oyebode, Osinbajo’s nomination as the Vice Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) did not come to him as a surprise, giving the strides he recorded as Attorney-General of Lagos State.
He recalled how two of his sons, who were taught by Osinbajo would narrate how he usually came to class without index notes, but would teach for three hours off hand, to the excitement of his students.
He said: “As a student, he was a bit reserved, but very perceptive. The way he discussed issues, you will be left in no doubt that he is a master in the making.
“It didn’t come as a surprise to some of us that he became a teacher. Anyone privileged to listen to his lecture will know he is a man of the hour.
“I want to salute you as Vice President. You are a proud alumnus of the Faculty of Law and a distinguished lecturer, who has become a role model for the leading generation.”
The Dean of law, Ibidapo-Obe noted that Osinbajo’s position as Vice President signaled fundamental change in the history of Nigeria, adding that even the international community has expectation and strong confidence in the present government.
While extolling Osinbajo as one of the best products of the faculty and the university, he highlighted some of the qualities that have stood him out.
•Chief Olanipekun
Similarly, the former Vice Chancellor, Oye-Ibidapo-Obe expressed hope that with Osinbajo as Vice President, Nigeria will be among the first 20 nations by 2020.
He noted the the Vice President has 21 attributes that stand him out, recalling how Osinbajo developed the Department of Public Law when he was the head.
Ibidapo-Obe urged the university to create a link on its website that will talk about the Vic “He has the midas’ touch, anything he touches succeeds. He is also multi-tasked. He can do many things at the same time and do them well.
“We have donated our best and finest to the nation; our own loss is the gain of the nation.
“To every Nigerian out there, I say keep on doing what you know to do. Put in your best, without expecting any reward. Somewhere, somehow, someday, the Almighty God will reward you. Because he (osinbajo) was doing his work diligently without expecting any reward, he’s not a typical polictician, but from nowhere, he was located and positioned as number two in Nigeria. It is just a reward for his hardwork,” said Osipitan.
Bob described the Vice President as an epitome of humility, resourcefulness, integrity and excellence.
He said: “It’s good to honour somebody that deserves honour and the Vice President deserves to be honoured not only by the University of Lagos community, specifically the Faculty of Law where he spent most of his years in teaching.
“He is an epitome of humility and resourcefulness. A man of integrity and excellence, that’s why the faculty has decided to celebrate him.
Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo yesterday left Abuja to represent President Muhammadu Buhari at a peace mediation summit on the situation in South Sudan in Addis Ababa.
The summit, which will hold today, will be on the platform of the Inter-Governmental Authority (IGAD Plus).
IGAD is the regional trade group of 8 African countries from the Horn of Africa, Nile Valley and the Great Lakes.
Joining IGAD for this important peace effort are a number of leading African nations including Nigeria, and others, such as the United States, China, United Nations, European Union, among others in the international community.
The Vice President will join other leaders from the continent and outside, including the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Mr. Hailemariam Dessalegn, will return to Abuja today.
Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, departed Abuja Sunday to represent President Muhammadu Buhari at a peace mediation summit on the situation in South Sudan Monday in Addis Ababa.
The Senior Special Assistant ( Media and Publicity) to the Vice President, Laolu Akande explained in a statement that the summit will be on the platform of the Inter-Governmental Authority, ( IGAD)
IGAD Plus is the the regional trade group of eight African countries from the Horn of Africa, Nile Valley and the Great Lakes.
Joining IGAD for this important peace effort are a number of leading African nations including Nigeria, and others like the United States, China, United Nations, European Union, among others in the international community.
The Vice President who will join other leaders from the continent and outside including the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Mr. Hailemariam Dessalegn, will return to Abuja later on Monday.
