Osinbajo tasks Govs on security, healthcare, education, job creation

Mathew Dadiya, Abuja

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Chairman of National Economic Council (NEC) has charged state governors on the need to use their offices and work to better the life of the in the states by addressing the challenges of healthcare, education and unemployment.

The VP reminded the governors that in the next few years Nigeria’s population will double with the attendant challenges of jobs, education, health care, security and infrastructure.

Osinbajo made the call on Thursday during the valedictory session for members of the National Economic Council (NEC) held at the State House Council Chamber in Abuja.

According to him, every nation that has moved its people from misery to prosperity has depended heavily in fact almost completely on the political elite.

He said that the Nigerian citizens have nowhere else to look or to go, telling the governors that the bulk stops at their collective table.

“Many of us have led our states for these many years, no one needs to advise us on the importance of unity, on importance of tempering utterances with wisdom, with moderation and conserve expressing concern for those who are the usual victims of the conflicts that are caused by hate speech, the conflicts that are caused by careless and reckless statements.

“The ordinary Nigerian has no problems with his brothers and sisters of different tribes and religions, they share the same issues, they just want a decent existence, they want food on the table, they want good shelter and security of lives and livelihoods.

Unfortunately and frequently our political elite sometimes out of advancing political agendas or simply seeking relevance recklessly stoke the fires of ethnicity and religious conflicts.

“We must insist that this country truly belongs to all of us especially those who cannot defend themselves,” he stated.

Osinbajo advised that the state executives should use their influence and reach to the advantage of Nigerian people.

“You have seen and heard for yourselves the enormity of our national problems very few people have the advantage to see closely as we do the issues that concern our country, the issues that even concern our different states, we here have that unique advantage.

“So I think that we can help in one way or the other, we can do something in our states and other states in a way of advocacy or action on education and health care in particular and jobs.”

He stressed that it was important for some of them who have had the benefit of all of these experience and leadership not to now settle down to a life of business or “perhaps of enjoyment or sleeping for eight hours. I need this time for action.”

“We as leaders have a duty to keep the peace and welfare of our states, we must not only we rise above the temptation to take advantage of our country’s fault lines, we must definitely condemn and restrain those who do so,” he said.

The VP however, expressed deep gratitude to the governors’ tremendous support and cooperation that they have given him in the past four years.

But for that support and for that cooperation, Osinbajo said, it would have been completely impossible to achieve some of the modest strides that the Council has been able to make.

On his part, the outgoing chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum and Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, who spoke on behalf of the governors, said that they resolved at their valedictory session on that the Federal Government should review the laws of the revenue generating agencies particularly NNPC and FIRS and set a target for them.

According to the governors, what the revenue agencies remit to the federation account is meager compare to what they generate.

The governors also warned that the rate at which the Nigerian population is growing especially in the North West, if nothing is done to control, with the high level of poverty in the land, the country may be sitting on a time bomb.

“We need to work hard, look inward, and block leakages from any angle. And as we discussed it today in our valedictory session at the Governors’ Forum, we say proactive measures must be taken to ensure that some laws are repealed most especially the ones that have to do with the NNPC, the issue of Offshore, Royalties Payment and other issues.

“Also to put pressure on the revenue generating agencies and give them targets because they are just left opened to just put in the basket whatsoever they desire, most especially the FIRS.

“We must dictate to them how they are going to do in terms of their performance. But the way things are going Mr Chairman, with my experience from 2011 to date I think we are just giving them free hand. We need to give them a kind of target even the NNPC itself.

“What the NNPC is spending especially when it come to the issue of cash call, it’s in trillions but what comes into the basket for two million people to share is very meager.

And the size of the economy itself as noted by Aragbesola is very tiny and we need to expand it,” the governors said.

Yari acknowledged that the Federal Government has done tremendously well in terms of expanding the economy through agriculture by spending over N200 billion through the anchor borrowers programme.

He however, advised that government across board need to do more because agriculture is the mainstay of the economy.

According to him, agriculture provides over 80 percent of the employment.

“If two trillion Naira can be spent yearly oil development we need to increase our spending on agriculture too.

“With what we are seeing as governors especially from the zone where I come from, the rate of population growth, if nothing is done to address it, I am afraid Mr. Chairman, we are sitting on a time bomb. And that’s the truth,” the NGF chairman said.

Gov-el-Rufai decries poor policy implementation

Meanwhile, Governor of Kaduna State, spoke for North West.

Nasir El-Rufai, who spoke on behalf of the North West governors, expressed worry over poor implementation of policies in the country.

The governor said the current NEC has done very well in debating and articulating policies but implementation has not been as robust as the implementation of policy formulation and resolution.

El-Rufai, said that the last four years has been a learning experience for all of us and in the process of our interaction, we have come to the conclusion that Nigeria has only one economy and that economy can only grow when the 36 states and the FCT grow.

The governor commended. President Buhari and his Vice Osinbajo, for being equitable in the treatment of all the states federation without regards to party and other differences.

He said that one of the lessons the governors should learn from the last four years of experience is to have a team that will ensure proper implementations of these resolutions.

“We hope that this policy document will be a foundation for the future development of the implementation of some of the policies decisions we have taken.

Permit me to make one observation on behalf of my colleagues, many of the decisions and resolutions of NEC have not been followed through to conclusion,” he said.