A new Nigeria is happening and it will require the
commitment of all Nigerians. This is according to
Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo during an
interactive session he held with Nigerians living in
Addis Ababa Wednesday night.

The Vice President who had just returned to Abuja
today after speaking and participating at the 3rd
international conference on Financing for
Development hosted by the United Nations at the
Ethiopian capital had his first meeting with
Nigerians abroad since assumption of office.

At the meeting hosted by the Nigeria’s Envoy to
Ethiopia and the African Union, Ambassador Usman
Baraya, the Vice President said, “there is so much
hope and expectations. A new Nigeria is happening,
we are going to see a new Nigeria.”

According to him, “the reason I am so convinced is
because everyone of us, one way or the other,
believe that there should be a change. I am not
saying those who voted for President Muhammadu
Buhari and myself, even if it was the other
government, everyone of us expected some kind of
change.”

He noted that Nigerians were committed to the
“good of our nation, as it is the only place we can
call home and there is no reason why it cannot be
the best place in the world.”

Continuing, Vice President Osinbajo said, “the
President and I are committed to the good of
Nigeria. Our country deserves the very best and
does not deserve what it has got for so many
years.”

Prof. Osinbajo recalled the level of hope and
expectations from Nigerians during the campaign,
narrating how people showed that hope even to
Buhari and himself, including “when poor people
were offering us small amounts of money because
they believed and expected a better Nigeria. Even in
poverty, Nigerians are noble.”

Reiterating the President’s determination to deliver
the change promised during the campaigns, VP
Osinbajo assured that the new administration will
ensure that things are done very well.

Said he: “the ideas are there, we just need to do a
good job with implementation, and that is what we
shall do.

Asked about the current workers’ salary bailout by
President Muhammadu Buhari, the VP clarified
again that the monies from the Excess Crude
Account was not used but proceeds in dividends
and taxes from the LNG were released for sharing.
Specifically, the Vice President explained that the
bailout package approved by President Buhari was
a three-pronged relief package that will end the
workers’ plight.

These are:

*The sharing of about $2.1B from LNG proceeds,
made up of $1.6B in taxes and $500m in dividends.
The money is released for the payment of workers
salaries, which has been unpaid for several months
is many states.

* A Central Bank-packaged special intervention fund
that will offer financing to the states, ranging from
between N250B to N300B. This would be a soft
loan available to states to access for the purposes
of paying backlog of salaries.

*A debt relief program designed by the Debt
Management Office, DMO, and the CBN which will
help states restructure their commercial loans
currently put at over N660B, and extend the life
span of such loans while reducing their debt-
servicing expenditures.

He said the third option, by extending the
commercial loans of the states, would therefore
make available more funds to the state
governments which otherwise would have been
removed at source by the banks and that the
federal government will sway its financial muscle to
guarantee the elongation of the loans for the
benefit of the states.

In all of these, the country’s debt profile will not be
increased, the VP explained.

Asked if the states would not end up in the future
in a similar crisis situation, the Vice President
outlined a number of ideas.

First, he said states must do more to increase
Internally Generated Revenue, while also urging
them to put workers salaries as a first line charge
in their expenditure.

Besides, he stressed the need for states to clean
up their payrolls to ensure that ghost workers are
eliminated.

Another plan he disclosed was to ensure that all
state governments have vibrant Debt Management
Office, DMO, while ensuring a general atmosphere
of transparency and accountability in their public
expenditures.

During the interaction, many Nigerians in
attendance expressed confidence in the Buhari
presidency, noting that the new government have
re-energized and motivated Nigerians to support
the President in taking Nigeria to where it belongs.

Dignitaries at the interaction included the
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance,
Mrs. Anastasia Mabi Daniel-Nwaobi, Nigeria’s Envoy
to Ethiopia, Ambassador Usman Baraya, Professor
Babatunde Osotimehim, the Executive Director of
the United Nations Fund for Population Activities,
UNFPA, Nigeria’s Deputy Permanent Representative
at the United Nations, Ambassador Usman Sarki
and Dr. Mansur Muhtar, former Finance Minister
among others.


http://dailypost.ng/2015/07/16/there-is-hope-for-a-new-nigeria-osinbajo-tells-nigerians-in-addis-ababa/

i pray so.

Our commissioner VP

sure

Too long