₦airaland Forum

HOW BUHARI ADMINISTRATION IS PUSHING THROUGH MAJOR SUPPORTIVE INITIATIVES FOR MSMEs


*VP Osinbajo to FG agencies: we need to do a lot more
*$20M fund for technology & innovation
*N90B single digit loan scheme for small scale agric, 7000 beneficiaries already shared N20B
Bank of Industry has now approved a $20M technology fund for young innovators, Central Bank is offering a N90B soft loan facility for small scale agric enterprises, and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says it is now poised more than ever to register more Nigerians venturing into the food and drug businesses.
These and more form the highlight of a meeting to assess the progress of the MSMEs programmes of the Buhari administration, whose flagship is the MSMEs clinics initiative driven by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN and has now reached 26 States including the FCT.
Recalling at the meeting, the plan of President Muhammadu Buhari to pull out 10 million Nigerians annually out of poverty in the next ten years, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN said “clearly we need to do a lot of things on scale”.
Addressing several heads and representatives of Federal Government agencies interfacing with MSMEs after they had all given reports and made presentations at the meeting held later on Tuesday at the Presidential Villa, Prof. Osinbajo said “we have all the competence we need in this room, we even have the erudition. What we need is to coordinate and the willingness to implement. We need to get things done. We have all it takes.”
According to the Managing Director of the Bank of Industry, Mr. Kayode Pitan, the $20 million technology fund was part of measures of the bank to support the Buhari administration and encourage technology innovators grow the technology sector. He disclosed that the Bank’s board has approved the soft loan fund already.
He explained that technology innovators and startups would be supported through the fund to grow viable businesses in the technology sector, adding that National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), represented also at the meeting would monitor progress made by beneficiaries of the fund.
On his part, the Director General of NITDA, Mr Kashif Inuwa said in line with the Federal Government’s agenda on leveraging technology in diversifying the economy, the agency has so far licensed 27 Data Protection Companies.
In the agricultural sector, the Central Bank through the National Microfinance Bank is offering N90 billion soft loan facility to small scale agricultural enterprises under the Agric-Business/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).
So far, and in just within weeks, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through the 56 branches of the National Microfinance Bank across the country has disbursed N20 billion to 7000 beneficiaries already, with plans to give out N5 billion monthly to more beneficiaries in the country.
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on the other hand, says it is now poised more than ever to register more Nigerians willing to venture into the food and drug businesses by unveiling its e-registration platform for ease of registration and is offering a 75% reduction in the cost of product registration to commence soon.
The NAFDAC DG, Prof. Moji Adeyeye said the move was to address challenges faced by owners of small businesses in the registration of their products. She said the agency believes this will also lead to job creation.
Equally, the Corporate Affairs Commission is reviewing its business name registration processes by removing unnecessary interferences that cost prospective business owners extra money to register with the commission.
Under the new arrangement, prospective business owners can walk into any CAC office nationwide and register a business name by themselves without the assistance of a lawyer, an accountant or any middle-person.
In the same vein, the Director General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda, disclosed plans to commence the registration of MSMEs in the country as part of measures to build a comprehensive database of MSMEs for the purposes of planning, coordination and development.
Present at the meeting were the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Amb. Mariam Katagum, CEO of NEPC, Mr Segun Awolowo; MD of BOI, Mr. Kayode Pitan; MD of NEXIM Bank, Mr Abubakar Bello; MD of Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), Aliyu Abdulhameed; MD of Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Kabir Adamu; Directors General: of SMEDAN, Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda; NAFDAC, Prof. Moji Adeyeye; NITDA, Mr Kashif Inuwa; Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Prof. Hussaini Doko Ibrahim; and representatives of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), amongst other stakeholders.

http://news-af.feednews.com/news/detail/b04ba31166e347969532c978ab1c60da?country=tz&language=en&share=1&client=news

ludd2018:
Old photo

can we have the new ones ?

See how the good people of Ondo State welcomed President Muhammadu Buhari earlier today.
The president was in the state on an official visit and commissioned some key projects executed by the state government, including the Ondo-Linyi Industrial Hub, which has Automobile Assembly Plant, Paper Mill Factory, Textile Company, largest Cassava to Ethanol Factory in Nigeria, as well as the country’s first MDF Factory that produces high-density fibre and marine boards. #PMBinOndo

*Flash:* VP Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, just ended a meeting to review progress on Buhari administration's efforts to support MSMEs.

*Some outcomes:* Bank of Industry has now approved a *$20M* technology fund for young innovators, while CBN is offering a *N90B* soft loan facility for small scale agric enterprises, while NAFDAC is now poised more than ever to register more Nigerian firms venturing into the food and drugs sub-sectors.

All federal agencies playing one role or the other in the MSMEs sector attended the meeting.

Also, MSMEs clinics driven by the Vice President have now reached 26 States and the FCT.

*Expect more!*

CONTINUATION

In the world of medicine and healthcare, there is LifeBank, owned by a young Nigerian lady. This is a health tech startup, which also uses drone technology to facilitate blood delivery to various health centres. We could highlight another called 54gene, a firm that is harnessing genomic data from African DNA to revolutionize the drug industry, and change the future of medicine. Even in the usually conservative legal profession, which I am the chairman, entrepreneurs are disrupting old trends. There is a digital legal research company called Law Pavilion, the company’s digital tools help lawyers to do legal research quickly and efficiently and even answer legal questions. Judges and lawyers subscribe to it and the usage is a very lucrative value addition to legal practice. Yet the founder and CEO of the company is not even a lawyer.

So today there are opportunities for entrepreneurs to build their businesses around traditional professions without being professionals themselves. The most widely read online publications are neither owned nor run by trained journalists. Some of us are familiar with the news aggregation platform called Nairaland which was started by two Obafemi Awolowo University students while still in school. Today it is one of the most successful online platforms we have. Even many of the most successful online advertising or PR companies have no formal training in these disciplines, most are self-thought. My nephew, who is a lawyer, is establishing an organic farm and poultry after taking lessons online. His only knowledge is derived from taking a few classes from somebody in Kano State offering online training for people interested in poultry farming.

But let me direct your minds to the new areas for job opportunities being created today. Data Science is one big area. Currently, we leave vast amounts of personal data online and in the near future, companies will need data scientists to go through it all and generate answers to business questions and make recommendations based on their findings. Many businesses already spend time and money going through people’s data so that they can sell their products. This is a new area of opportunities for jobs.

A big area today is Content Production - 3D/2D animation, Virtual Effects and Special Effects, as well as Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. The use of animation in education, entertainment and media is growing in leaps and bounds. Those who can create content with animation are being and will be much sought after in the years to come.

According to a recent survey by the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, multimedia artists and animators are among the highest-paid within the US workforce. This has translated to more jobs for animators in emerging economies such as India, Vietnam and now Nigeria. The average pay of a 3D animator in Nigeria who has just started out after learning his trade could be in the region of N300,000 - N500,000 monthly. In our training of N-Power beneficiaries, we set aside a fair amount of money to train animators. We have carried out two sets of training; one in the North and one in the South of Nigeria. In total, we have trained over 25,000 young men and women in animation.

Also, remember that content is becoming more in demand with the streaming wars that have engulfed Netflix, Apple, Disney Plus, HBO and only recently, Airtel, the telecommunications provider, launched its own streaming service in Nigeria.

Then we have the whole range of Cybersecurity, another big area of opportunity. Today, there are new opportunities for cybersecurity specialists. How is that? With each technological advance comes the implied addition of more security risks just to store and keep the information secure. Therefore, cybersecurity will continue to be a growing sector. In this sense, each country will have its own specific regulations just as we have and many other international regulations, which will ensure that professionals with an advanced technological background capable of nullifying new threats posed to both technology and people, will be in demand all the time.

How about 3D Printing? 3D printing is becoming an area of great need. It will become even more relevant and fundamental in the future when compared with Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Experts in 3D printing must possess creative skills with the ability to improve the profitability and applicability of models. Also, they must have computer skills and knowledge of 3D printing tools. The Federal Government established a humanitarian hub in Adamawa State about two years ago. In that hub, young Nigerians are making artificial limbs with 3D printers for people who lost their limbs in the conflict in the North East. This is a growth area which will continue to grow because 3D printing can be applied in different ways and for many purposes. It doesn’t take a year to learn how to use 3D printers.

The technical revolution from the last few decades have considerably changed the business and cultural world. Currently, we live in an “application economy” as a result of the amount of technology and mobility that surrounds us with our smartphone applications that we depend on for everything, from mobile banking to even health monitoring. As such, it is difficult to find a reason why one shouldn’t try to find a career related to technology, especially when we consider that it is already present in everything we do; from our professions in our companies to our personal lives as consumers. This means computer programming in one shape or form of the other, will continue to be an important skill for those seeking viable employment and a decent pay.

So today, the most successful businesses are those able to add value, even our culture can become a great wealth creator, but only if we add value. So just doing traditional dances is not enough, to put together 8 or 16 barefooted young men and women dancing when foreign guests are visiting cannot make enough money. Organizing dance dramas, on the other hand, can make money. When a whole drama outfit is created with our culture and our songs, where we are able to employ a director, scriptwriter, a composer and an arranger, then it is possible to make money from our cultural dances.

In our future, there is truly something for everyone. We should all take advantage of digital technology, especially social media and the various platforms on offer, to grow a customer base, gain traction and advance businesses. You can write a blog, develop a website to sell your products or even your ideas – whatever it is you know how to do best. People are running fully-fledged commercial businesses on Instagram without a single physical shop, an opportunity only made possible by the internet. We are an entrepreneurial people, a society of multitaskers who, thanks to the virtual economy, can make a real opportunity out of anything we are passionate about.

The question for many of our young people today is: what is your passion? How can you take the skills that you have, and add value to the world around you? The future is going to depend a great deal on what we do with our passions and how we can sell what we are passionate about to millions of people around the world.

I have seen videos tutorials on how to make the best soups or bake the best cakes, getting hundreds of thousands of views on Instagram and YouTube, and people advertising on them. YouTubers like Dimma Umeh are showing us how to do makeup, how to master that highlight and contour, and she told us in one video that she made her first million from YouTube! I have also seen videos of people teaching young women how to keep their husbands, very interesting videos!

Thanks to the social media age, whatever ideas and skills that you have can be leveraged for benefit. Your knowledge is of immense importance and you have to find creative ways to take advantage of it.

While it is easier than ever to sell your knowledge and skills, it has also become easier and cheaper for you to acquire them. “The Mobile Prof” in Lagos, for example, is teaching people how to code from their mobile phones, you don’t even need a laptop anymore!

The future is about self-education, self-development. It is important for us to invest a little in the incredible opportunities for online education. Years ago, it was impossible to do a specialized course in a leading international university without getting an admission, paying a lot of money and then travelling abroad. Today, you can sit in the comfort of your home and get an Ivy League education. Universities such as Harvard University and Dartmouth College, for example, offer full-time online courses on Data Science and Linux Programming through an online learning platform called EdX.

This means you can learn a whole new programming language in a year, for less than it would cost you to even get to America! There are new means of self-education and they are more accessible than you might have thought.

There is no question that an exciting future lies ahead. There are breakthroughs in radical technologies, capable of disrupting whole industries, and perhaps even our very conception of work itself. For higher institutions who are getting graduates ready for the world of work, for the graduates, and new and near graduates who are here today, what does the disruption of the workforce by emerging technologies signify for both livelihoods and employment?

Today, there are several important implications related to the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies that will change the way we work and our economies. So, we have seen for example that much of what is considered analytical work by lawyers, investment bankers, accountants, and other age-old professions will be performed better by machines in a fraction of the time that humans can. There is a need to train these professionals differently, and with these new opportunities and challenges in mind.


With the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the Internet of Things, the world of work is in a state of flux, changing as never before, driven by inexorable forces that have an impact, not only on professional services but on manufacturing and trade, global supply chains and the digitalization of the global economy to name just a few. So, for example, the supervision work that managers do is changing rapidly and there may be no more need for it. A young lady who owns a clothing store in Abuja and Lagos, who lives in Abuja was showing me how she can remotely see all that is going on in her shop in Lagos on her laptop in real-time. And she can speak to all her employees from her laptop in real-time. In other words, she can supervise her store herself from anywhere in the world. So, the type of manager you will need going forward will be a different type.

Education today must be education for employability, the sort of education that makes us employable and relevant in the technologies and opportunities that present themselves today.

So, our university curricula must be versatile and dynamic. The focus must be on innovation, critical thinking, interdisciplinary thinking, design thinking, synergizing and collaboration with others across the world to solve problems.

The era of cramming the teacher’s notes and regurgitating for high grades is over. The graduate of the future is a problem solver, a thinker, an entrepreneur. Our educators, policymakers, schools, universities must now adapt their curricula, policies and projects to improve the skills that enable the graduate to nimbly and constantly respond to the ever-changing face of the economy and the workplace.

A student of humanities today equipped with the right skills and mindset will be a crucial part of the collaboration required to build an application that will redefine an aspect of business. In other words, a student of History, English, Languages, without any previous scientific training or knowledge, can with the right skills being taught today, with self-teaching, develop applications that will change business and industries, earn a lot of money. Applications are developed through collaborations; there are those that are scientists, there are those who come from the point of view of imagination and others from the point of view of design; all of them collaborating together.


Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, was more of an artist than a computer scientist. Yet he developed some of the most incredible applications that we have ever seen and made the kind of profit that makes people wonder whether they are not in the wrong profession.

A man or woman of ideas, no matter your degree, can become, in collaboration with others, the designers or owners of the next application that will make billions and create jobs for millions. This is the exciting future ahead of us, the opportunities are limitless.

I want to urge all of us, especially the young people who are here, to note that we are in the best times in the history of mankind. Let nobody tell you about the good old days. I said before, and I am quoting someone, I'm not so sure who he is, he said that "those who remind us of the good old days are probably suffering from memory loss." We must not allow them to keep talking about the good old days. We are in the best times possible today. And the reason why these are the best times is that we are in the most technologically advanced human history.

This is the most technologically advanced moment. This is the most advanced moment in the history of mankind, we have never been advanced as we are today. It was Fareed Zakaria, the CNN journalist, who said and I'm quoting him that, "the smartphones that we have today, have more computing powers than all of the computing power that took men to the moon on the spacecraft, all of the computing powers that were in that spacecraft, we now have a hundred times of that computing power in the smartphone that we carry about today."

So, we are living in a time of sheer magic! We must take every advantage of it and I know the young people today, especially those in this Federal University Dutse, are rearing to go. The future is certainly bright!

Every citadel of learning derives its claim to greatness from the reputation and accomplishments of its students and staff: the great academics and scholars to whom has been given the enormous task of instructing, guiding and inspiring the minds and talents that are destined to define the future. Your task is possibly the noblest anyone could ask for, yet often without great reward or even gratitude. But we thank you today for your great and priceless service to this and coming generations.

It is most pleasing to learn that the proverbial seed planted less than a decade ago, the Federal University, Dutse, has not only produced four sets of graduates already and tomorrow by the grace of God, a fifth set, but has also grown so bounteously to now have over 7,000 students spread across 6 faculties, including a College of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Yours is the first among the set of Universities set up by the Federal Government in 2011 to establish a College of Medicine and Health Sciences. Congratulations! Equally remarkable are reports of the great exploits being recorded by the University in many fields that amply validate the promise of the fruitful synergy between town and gown.

Let me cite just two such examples, in recognition of your relevant and innovative research efforts. First is the Federal Ministry of Agriculture selected your University to host the Agribusiness Incubation Centres.

The second has been your response to the security challenges besetting our nation today, you elected to express a shared commitment to the national search for solution by being the first among your peers to mount a programme on Criminology and Security Studies, thereby demonstrating your relevance and proving that the university should not just be an incubator of ideas, but also a solution provider.

Congratulations on these sterling achievements. And to the students of this university, and especially the graduating class of 2019, let me just say congratulations and well done! The future is certainly very bright indeed.

Madam Vice Chancellor, my lecture titled “Facing the New Decade”, a topic you graciously allowed me to choose, is really directed at the young men and women here in this arena today. I count myself among those young men and women and I hope that those of us who are here also see ourselves as young men and women.

The reason why this is addressed to the young people here is first, the young men and women, students of this University, are the future of our country. Secondly, that future has already arrived at our doorsteps, perhaps much faster than we expected. For the next few minutes permit me to take you on a brief journey into this imminent future, how it will affect us all and my humble suggestions about what you may need to do to make the best of it.

Let me begin by making a few general statements and perhaps some predictions. First is that the next few decades will present tremendous opportunities for getting well-paying jobs and lucrative entrepreneurship opportunities all over the world. Anyone will be able to access many of those jobs without even having to move from your own country, in some cases even without leaving your home.

There will be a truly international market place of ideas, talents and opportunities, but to access that market place, you need to become, in many senses, a global citizen by your own effort. Self-education and self-development will be important.

Second, technology in its various iterations and applications will be crucial in all and every aspect of human existence. The greater our access to technology, our adaptation and application of the ideas we have, the more successful we are likely to be.

The third is that we are today in the most advanced moment in human history, and on a daily basis, knowledge and its applications grow in leaps and bounds. For the first time in human history, anyone of us can be heard or seen all over the world by live-streaming without owning our own satellite TV station. We can share ideas with millions of people in seconds on Facebook or Instagram.

It was Arthur Clarke, the British Science Fiction writer, who said that “any sufficiently advanced technology is not different anymore from magic.” If you follow some of the trends in technology over the past years in particular, much of his statement appears true, as the coming years look set to be one of the most spectacular magic shows ever.


Last year, DeepMind, which is a learning outfit, announced that one of its healthcare algorithms could detect over 50 eye diseases as accurately as a trained doctor. Only recently, we witnessed the trial run of an Artificial Intelligence, AI, a newsreader on the Chinese Xinhua News station, and the unveiling of a digital assistant that can mimic the voice of humans with uncanny likeness. It is called 'Google Duplex’. There are provinces in China that are now trying out AI teachers in remote villages where graduates and young people are not likely to stay. In 2018, there was a world-first recording of an Artificial Intelligence system engaged in a two-way debate with a human opponent!


The fourth and perhaps the most important point I wish to make today is that the abundance of natural resources such as we have in Nigeria, oil and several minerals, even talents, mean little or nothing unless we are able to creatively and by using innovation and adding value, add to whatever it is that we have in terms of talent or resources.

Let me put it differently, the difference between poverty and wealth or mediocrity and high achievement is creativity, or the capacity and willingness to add value. This is the reason why Apple, manufacturers of the iPhone and iPad, make more money in four months than Nigeria earns from oil in one year.

Apple sells the product of the ingenuity of the human mind, ideas translated to products, services and solutions that millions are prepared to pay for. And because the capacity of the human mind for creativity, generation of ideas and for innovation and invention is limitless, the source of wealth of innovative companies and individuals is literally limitless. On the other hand, oil drilling and selling, and other extractive activities without adding value by refining and developing a whole petrochemical ecosystem cannot yield optimal profit or create the jobs and wealth.

Similarly, the mere fact that you have large tracts of arable land for agriculture does not mean you will succeed in agriculture or become wealthy, or even as a nation, feed yourself. Anybody can plant a seed and expect a harvest, but the reason why most farmers, our subsistent farmers, remain relatively poor is that they add no value to what they produce by processing, packaging or making other products out of the raw harvest.

And also, because many times they do not have access to cutting-edge innovations and inventions in farm inputs and farming techniques. Those who can add value to the farmers’ harvest become wealthier than the farmer. So the growers of the raw materials are the weakest in the value chain and the poorest.

For example, the man who makes chocolates from cocoa is bound to be richer than the cocoa farmer. He has added value to the raw cocoa by processing and designing and packing the chocolates in appealing wrappers. By adding value, he will create more jobs and more wealth. So, while we will always need the traditional professionals, doctors, lawyers, accountants and bankers, those adding value to their services will make more money than they can. So those developing Artificial Intelligence for giving legal advice or medical diagnoses, or accounting or banking will be more successful than the professionals themselves.

So, the future of banking and financial services doesn’t belong to banks or bankers as we know them today, it may well belong to the FinTechs and other technology-enabled solutions. For example, today we have KiaKia, which uses Artificial Intelligence and algorithms, to process loan requests in minutes and grant credit without the hassles of regular banks. Besides, there is Kuda Bank, for example, a bank without a single physical branch with all its features built into a mobile application. There is also Eyowo, another example of a payment services company which is designed for identifying, enumerating and paying to and collecting repayments from 2.2 million TraderMoni and MarketMoni beneficiaries.

They have revolutionized financial inclusion, making and receiving payments from the farthest parts of Nigeria. There is also another company called Paystack, whose founders are just over (the age of) 30. They have developed applications that make it easier to make payments across the world. There is also InvestBamboo, for example, which was started by two 26-year-olds, and offers new ways for you to save money and invest in stocks, all from a single application.

Others have developed technologies that make it possible for you to invest in a farm without ever seeing the farm. Two Nigerian companies again, ThriveAgric and Farmcrowdy, set up by young Nigerians under the age of 35, are great examples of the service providers that help small-scale farmers scale-up, and access valuable training; and all of these done through crowdfunding.

Davash222:
Take your frustration to President Kyari.

You have been reasonable if you have read the content.

Davash222:
President Abba Kyari don relegate our Star boy to Minister of Technology.
Inside life.

Don’t be unfortunate Mr man

As innovation in technology continues to reshape opportunities and challenges across different fields of human endeavour, the need to review Nigeria’s curriculum of higher education to focus more on technology and creativity has become a necessity rather than an option, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.
Prof. Osinbajo stated this on Friday at the Fifth Convocation Lecture of the Federal University, Duste, Jigawa State attended by a cross-section of Nigerian academics, public intellectuals, and traditional leaders including the Sultan of Sokoto, the Emir of Kano and the Emir of Dutse among others.
In a lecture titled “Facing the New Decade,” the Vice President said “Education today must be education for employability, not just for its own sake. So, our curricula must be versatile and dynamic.”
According to him, “the focus must be on innovation, critical thinking, interdisciplinary thinking, design thinking, synergizing and collaboration with others across the world to solve problems.
“The era of cramming teacher’s notes and regurgitating for high grades is over. The graduate of the future is a problem solver, a thinker, an entrepreneur.
“Our educators, policymakers, schools, universities must now adapt their curricula, policies and projects to improve the skills that enable the graduate to nimbly and constantly respond to the ever-changing face of the economy and the workplace.”
And speaking directly to the students the VP said “the exciting future ahead of us, the opportunities are limitless. Go for it!”
He further noted that the need to prepare school graduates adequately for the challenges of the future, the Vice President said “there will be a truly international market place of ideas, talents and opportunities, but to access that market place you need to become a global citizen by your own effort. Self-education will be important. Second, technology in its various iterations and applications will be crucial in all and every aspect of human existence.”
He said Nigerian graduates of higher institutions of learning would only fit into the future driven by technological advancement if the management and teachers in the institutions review the entire system in order to adapt to realities in their environment.
According to Prof. Osinbajo, “there is no question that an exciting future lies ahead, there are breakthroughs in radical technologies, capable of disrupting whole industries, and perhaps even our very conception of work itself.
“For higher institutions who are getting graduates ready for the world of work, for the graduates and near graduates who are here today, what does the disruption of the workforce by emerging technologies signify for both livelihoods and employment?”
Speaking specifically about areas that require improved skills training to increase access to opportunities, the Vice President said that adding value to what already exists is what can create more wealth in societies hitherto fixed on old methods and ways of doing things.
He said: “So today the most successful businesses are those adding value, even our culture can become a great wealth creator but only if we add value.”
“In our future, there is truly something for everyone. We should all take advantage of digital technology, especially social media and the various platforms on offer, to grow a customer base, gain traction and advance businesses.
“You can write a blog, develop a website to sell your products or even your ideas – whatever it is you know how to do best. People are running fully-fledged commercial businesses on Instagram without a single physical shop, an opportunity only made possible by the internet.”
Continuing on the need for graduates and young Nigerians to leverage innovation in technology to rewrite the history of their communities, Prof. Osinbajo said: “We are an entrepreneurial people, a society of multitaskers who thanks to the virtual economy, can make real opportunity out of anything we are passionate about.”
Citing examples of some Nigerians who have dared to tap from limitless opportunities in creative collaborations in hitherto unknown ventures, the Vice President challenged young Nigerians to be creative and courageous enough to break new grounds.
“ What is your passion? How can you take the skills that you have, and add value to the world around you?
“I have seen videos tutorials on how to make the best soups, or bake the best cakes, getting hundreds of thousands of views on Instagram and YouTube.
“YouTubers like Dimma Umeh are showing us how to do makeup, how to master that highlight and contour, and she told us in one video that she made her first million from YouTube!”
“Thanks to the social media age, whatever ideas and skills that you have can be leveraged for benefit. Your knowledge is of immense importance and you have to find creative ways to take advantage of that. While it is easier than ever to sell your knowledge and skills, it has also become easier and cheaper for you to acquire them.
“The Mobile Prof” in Lagos, for example, is teaching people how to code from their mobile phones, you don’t even need a laptop anymore! The future is about self-education and self-development.”
He urged Nigerian Universities and other higher institutions of learning to support and nurture students that would face the emerging future starting with this new decade, driven by the limitless opportunities in creativity and technology.
https://www.yemiosinbajo.ng/how-innovation-technology-will-drive-progress-in-the-new-decade/

STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE
 
BEWARE, MERCHANTS OF FAKE NEWS ON THE PROWL – PRESIDENCY 
Purveyors of fake and concocted Information are currently on overdrive, and Nigerians are urged to be careful what they consume as news, and also share with others, particularly from the social media.
An unfounded information has been making the rounds that President Muhammadu Buhari is billed to travel to the United Kingdom for 20 days, and from there proceed to Saudi Arabia, and then Austria. Fake. It is nothing but falsehood from mischievous minds.
Members of the First Family, Ministers, top government officials, the military, and other key institutions, are equally objects of this orchestrated falsehood, coming from enemies of national cohesion.
We urge Nigerians to be discriminatory about what they accept as credible information, and restrain themselves from sharing what they have not authenticated as genuine. That is how we can all collectively beat the malevolent minds at their pernicious games.

Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President
(Media and Publicity)
February 17, 2020

Osinbajo lauds West African surgeons for thousands of free surgeries_

Given the impressive performance and achievements recorded by Nigerians across diverse fields, at home and abroad, it is evident that many of the country’s problems can be solved by Nigerians themselves without recourse to foreign aid, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

Prof. Osinbajo said this on Friday when he preceived a delegation from the West African College of Surgeons (WACS), in his office. (The College formed by a group of young Nigerian surgeons 60 years ago predated the Economic Community of West African States)

The delegation led by Prof. Ibrahim Yakasai, mni, was at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa to brief the Vice President about the activities of the College including its planned 60th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference scheduled for Abuja. Yakasai is the Local Organising Committee chairman.

Speaking after listening to a brief on the achievements of the WACS, the VP said “I am glad to hear the good things that have been done by the college through the years.

“I believe that a lot of our problems, some of the aids that we need, can be provided by ourselves. We have the resources including human capacity to do it.” He thanked the delegation for the visit, assuring the College of the Federal Government’s continued support.

Earlier in his remarks, the immediate past President of the College, Prof. King-David Yawe highlighted some of the achievements of WACS especially with regards to free medical outreaches to several Nigerian communities.

He said while working with the Presidential Committee on North East (PCNE), the College has conducted 9, 000 surgeries on 49,000 patients in the Northeast with the insurgency in the region, adding that the body was currently conducting free medical outreaches in 14 hospitals across the FCT, some North Central States and Maiduguri.

Prof. Yawe added that as part of the 2020 pre-conference events, the College is currently conducting free surgeries in the FCT, Borno and other States, noting that 700 such surgical operations have so far been conducted in the past one week with a target of reaching 1000 before the commencement of conference.

He also said that the outreaches which started 14 years ago include eye surgeries, orthopedic, paediatric & plastic surgeries, brain tumor amongst many others complicated health challenges that otherwise cost patients several millions of Naira, and for which many travel out of the country to treat.

Continuing on the activities of the surgeons, Prof. Yawe said the College has accredited training centres in Gombe, Borno and Yobe States.

He commended the Buhari administration’s support to the association in partly funding some of its activities and meeting its responsibilities especially in solving its 20-year-old problem regarding a request for land in the FCT.

Prof. Yawe informed the VP that the land has been allocated to the College for the establishment of a Skills and Simulation Centre to train surgeons in West Africa in hi-tech surgeries.

The leader of the delegation, Prof. Yakasai also informed the VP that the College works in partnership with the ECOWAS and has surgeons from 18 countries with over 7000 fellows across West Africa. The College conducts training, postgraduate education and research activities

While Yawe is the immediate past President of the College, Yakasai told the VP the current President is from Senegal. (Prof Serigne Magueye Gueye.)

Laolu Akande,
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity,
Office of the Vice President.
15th February 2020

*Prelate Uche: “We are proud of the Vice President”
The responsibility to ensure harmony amongst people of different religious and ethnic backgrounds in Nigeria and elsewhere depends largely on the contributions and sacrifices of faith leaders, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.
Prof. Osinbajo stated this on Friday when he received on a courtesy visit to the Presidential Villa, a delegation from the World Methodist Council led by its President, Rev. Dr. Jong Chun Park, and the Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, His Eminence, Most Rev. Samuel Uche.
While noting that the Methodist Church in Nigeria had played an important role in maintaining harmony in the country, the Vice President said “in most societies that have been seamless, you will realize that a lot of it has had to do with what men and women of God did.
“I think that the role of the church in bringing that harmony is crucial. The political leadership is one, but the solutions to the world’s deepest problem lies in Gospel and I believe that we as the body of Christ hold the key to several of the problems.
“So, the question is how we deploy the resources that God gave to us to unite people. Obviously, it requires tremendous sacrifice and it is really about the sacrifices that we are prepared to make.”
Speaking further about the need for collaboration between government and other stakeholders in promoting harmonious coexistence in Nigeria, the Vice President said “I believe that religious harmony is possible and it is our duty to promote same”, the VP emphasized, while thanking the visiting global religious leader for underscoring the important point.
According to Prof. Osinbajo, “we should try and bring our communities together. We have a large Muslim and large Christian populations, and we can’t do anything without collaboration. Religious leaders can’t wish that away.
“Our Constitution guarantees religious freedom not just in words but in practice in Nigeria, again it is a duty that we accept this reality.
“Despite all the various challenges that we face as a country, we are all resolved that this country is one that is fair for all, that there is justice, equity and that we give everyone a chance to realize the objectives that they set for themselves,” the Vice President added.
He then commended the contributions of the Methodist Church in the development of society noting that “the Church has not just contributed to the salvation of souls, but also to human capacity development, education, and health care.
Earlier in his remark, Rev. Dr. Park commended the role played by the Vice President in promoting religious harmony through his numerous engagements and activities across the country.
He also prayed for the country and its leadership, expressing optimism that the leadership and wisdom exhibited by the Vice President would enable Nigeria achieve its objectives.
The World Methodist Council leader added that by working together both President Muhammadu Buhari and the Vice President are demonstrating a commendable and harmonious governance.
Said he:” I feel touched by your harmonized way of governance. May God bless President Buhari and you, the Vice President.”
Dr. Park further prayed that God will bless Nigeria, “and all Christians and our Islamic brothers and sisters to live together in harmony, peace and love.”
In his own remarks, the Methodist Prelate who introduced Rev Park both as a priest and University Professor expressed satisfaction with the work of the Vice President saying “we are proud of you” adding that this is also “because you attended our school”. He was referring to Igbobi College which was founded by both the Methodist and Anglican Churches.
Also at the meeting were Archbishops, Bishops and priests of the church in Nigeria.


https://www.yemiosinbajo.ng/how-to-attain-religious-harmony-in-nigeria-by-osinbajo-world-methodist-leader/

kerry57:
Google dey craze? Condem him in security. Security is the most important thing. How do u do biz in an insecure environment? Yeye google.

Get well soon o

Doron Avni, Google’s Government Affairs and Public Policy Director has recounted how Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo helped the organization achieve remarkable success in Nigeria.

Leading a delegation from Google Global Services in the United States, UN, on a courtesy visit to the Vice President, Avni described Osinbajo as an excellent partner of his organisation.

Avni also disclosed that the firm has trained three million Nigerians since its pledge to train 10 million people in Africa.

He stated that Google has been able to train three million Nigerians through the assistance of Osinbajo.

Avni said: “Obviously, we have an excellent partner here (Prof. Osinbajo) who has been doing God’s work, it is thanks to leading partners like him that we are able to be helpful in communities in which we operate.

“We had made a pledge to train 10 million people in Africa by 2022, I am happy to report to you that so far we have trained more than 5 million people. Most important is the fact that out of those 5 million, 3 million are Nigerians.

With the collaboration that we have with the Ministry of Education, we have now integrated some of Google’s curriculum on online safety into the school’s curriculum. So, we will be reaching 56 million students in Nigeria this year.”

Avni stated that the company’s target of training up to 10 million people in Africa by 2022 was realizable.

Earlier, Osinbajo said the Federal Government will support any partnership that addresses literacy and educational challenges including the problem of out of school children and girl child education in Nigeria.

According to the Vice President: “It might help if we begin to look at something more in the area of literacy type skills because really, we are looking at how to expand the whole scope of education especially education for girls.

“So, the question really is how we can use technology to make it easier for girls, in particular, to go to school, because if we somehow bring education to their doorsteps, it might take care of some of the problems around taking them out of their home environment.

“For us, our education mandate is so crucial.”

https://dailypost.ng/2020/02/14/google-commends-osinbajos-role-on-ease-of-doing-business/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Osinbajo is full of energy!
He flew from Abuja to Nasarawa, then back to Abuja and moved to Kenya and now he is in Abuja.
leaders like him are rare

Cosmatikka:
Minister for Condolence and trade money, abeg I need 100k to add to my biz. Wen re u coming to Abia to share money?

You have sold your destiny for Kerosene

Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo's pays tribute to Former President Moi


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_pQgUmF-Ww

Nigeria Vice President Yemi Osinbajo's tribute to Kenya 2nd President Moi


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCrKpnsapMw

Photos: VP Osinbajo Arrives Kenya For Funeral Of Former President, Daniel Arap Moi

Tonight some contacts on WhatsApp have forwarded to me a video of a Channels news broadcast of some 400 Boko Haram members arrested in Abia State by the army.

More than 20 folks have forwarded this to me under two hours. This clip was grim and it is capable of driving fear into anyone. From the clip one could wrongly conclude terrorists are about overrunning the country. Snippets of accompanying pieces, mostly fake, are circulating as well.

One even claimed Nuhu Ribadu accused President Buhari of creating banditry and terrorism. I remember Nuhu came out two years ago in a press statement to deny this.

A professor in a WhatsApp group I belonged even pushed the narrative . Academics are supposed to reference whatever they publish but this professor will not even adhere to this simple rule guiding his calling- no reference, just emoting!

Today, people are making the Channels news piece look like it happened yesterday or even at noon today. Many have been scared beyond reason.

One cannot but ask if some people somewhere want to set fire on Nigeria, cause disharmony and ultimately war. They want to set us on the path of Rwanda, Sudan, Somali and Syria. I hope they know the consequences of their action.

Yes there are securities challenges in our country just as there are in other places ( see Thailand today where an individual slaughtered 26 people in a mall ) but the way we exaggerate ours and broadcast falsehood is alarming.

Lagos and Abuja based on 2019 statistics on violent deaths are far safer than New York and Houston according to UNODC and the NBS. Yet no American is maligning America for insecurity.

I have done a check and also did content analysis and found that that Channels broadcast was made in 2013.

Even at that it looks unprofessional to me. It was an era of hysteria. It was a period when bombings were common in Kano, Kaduna, Abuja and even Nasarawa and Kogi. The military was under funded and small capital meant for arms were looted by Dasuki and shared with CAN. Even media houses got their share and they whipped up divisive hysteria to engineer election wins that never came. Thank God.

Let us assume 400 persons were intercepted by the army, how did those who apprehended them come to the conclusion they were members of Boko Haram ? Did they wear a lapel button indicating that? Did they wear uniform or carry identity cards, or had an inscription on them showing they were members of this terrorist group? Even the man parading them illegally on TV was not identified as a personnel of the Army. He was not in uniform nor was his name, rank or title mentioned. He was barely intelligible.

When I was an editor these and more are the questions I would have asked my reporter before broadcasting such news. It was irresponsible journalism at its best. And somehow those who sought to use it for divisive purpose filed it away for seven years like an ammunition to be weaponized when they needed it.

But then, why is our instincts always go bad mouth our country? Why is our thumb fast to spread bad news even when fake about our country? Where is our patriotism to question unwholesome news about Nigeria? Why is our thumb so itchy to destroy our unity rather than to build it?

Now when foreign countries seize on this fake reports and pronounce ban on Nigerians from visiting their countries we will rage at everyone but ourselves. We are seriously demarketing our country and we shall be the one to pay the price for doing so.

We are the biggest and largest economy in Africa. Our citizens are the best educated in the United States among immigrants. Lets promote that instead of fake news that destroy the fundamentals of our beautiful country. Change starts with you, stop forwarding before you verify. Ask yourself, does this build or destroy Nigeria? If it doesn’t, then quit!

Senator Ojudu is Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters

Prof. Sagay, PACAC commend Buhari administration, calls VP 'sterling' deputy*

To underscore its commitment to the fight against corruption, the Buhari administration will continue to ramp up efforts in this area and engage more with anti-corruption agencies to highlight the progress recorded by the administration, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

Prof. Osinbajo stated this on Friday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, when he received a delegation from the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), led by its Chairman, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN).

The Vice President noted that Government will ramp up efforts to ensure that there is better synergy among anti-corruption agencies and other government agencies so as to push out the correct narratives on the fight against corruption.

"Nigerians are definitely familiar with the anti-corruption drive of this administration," the VP noted while stating that efforts to enlighten the public within Nigeria and beyond would be ramped up significantly.

In his remarks, the Chairman of PACAC, Prof. Sagay, noted that the administration has recorded significant achievements in its fight against corruption.

Prof. Sagay, renowned for his uncompromising stand in the fight against corruption by the Buhari administration, also expressed confidence in the sterling leadership role played by the Vice President in the achievements recorded so far by the committee.

He said, “We want to assure you of our confidence in your leadership, not only in the supervision of PACAC, but as a leader in this country. We also want to assure you that we have noted with pleasure your sterling performance as Vice President, and we regard you as a very successful co-pilot with President Muhammadu Buhari in steering the ship of this nation.

“We have absolute confidence in your leadership and will continue to associate with you and will look for your supervision and leadership role in what we are doing.”

The PACAC Chairman noted that a data and information synergy with the anti-corruption agencies would help to further highlight the efforts of this administration in its anti-corruption drive.

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
7th February, 2020

When an article is erected on a foundation of falsehood, then the rest of the piece would read as one from an uninformed writer desperate to cry wolf with no just cause. That is the only conclusion one could make after reading Banji Ojewale’s piece entitled, “Osinbajo and the Lamentation of the Ancient Mariner”.
At a time when there is a universal admission – even in enlightened western circles – that globalisation is breeding more inequality in wealth distribution in most countries, hence the urgency of the need to create social safety nets for the most vulnerable in the society, how pathetic that neo-Marxist Ojewale chooses to make a fetish of the obvious. Only an arm-chair critic expects to be lauded for misinterpreting a simple sentence or merely restating the obvious without providing new workable solutions.
It, therefore, beats one why Ojewale chooses to begrudge the Buhari-Osinbajo administration over its modest effort to bring succor to the most vulnerable in our society.
It is amusing reading Ojewale pontificating with magisterial finality on the “abundance” of resources in the fashion of those weaned on the old theory of Karl Marx, which time has since proved to be inadequate.
Indeed, at the fifth anniversary of the Airtel Touching Lives project held in Lagos on January 25, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) did talk about the impact of the Buhari administration’s Social Investment Programmes (N-SIP), which is made up of different components, such as the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, the Conditional Cash Transfer Scheme, the GEEP, and the N-Power job scheme.


As massive as the intervention has been within three years, the vice president stated that government could have done more but for the paucity of resources. He expressed the hope that if sustained, the initiative would surely help to mitigate extreme poverty in the land with time.
Apparently, Ojewale missed the wider import of the VP’s remarks, thus ignoring entirely or missing the wider picture of these remarks.
After noting that more needs to be done to touch the majority (200 million Nigerians), the VP did explain his point further that: “It is clear that to do so, we need far more resources behind that programme. This is why the work of socially conscious companies like Airtel is so vital, bridging the huge gap between what the government can do and what is left to be done.”
In a nutshell, the vice president’s statement was also a clarion call to other organisations like Airtel to support government’s efforts, so that such huge social welfare schemes like the SIPs could be replicated for more millions of Nigerians.


As the vice president noted during his remarks at the event, the N-Power job scheme has engaged 500,000 young graduates, as well as 200,000 non-graduates in different key sectors, and the School Feeding Programme caters for almost 10 million school children in 34 states.

The VP’s remarks simply provided an insight into the significant impact of the multi-faceted Social Investment Programmes nationwide.
So, in what way could the referenced statement by the vice president be termed an admission of government’s failure, as Ojewale would have us believe? Except the writer operates a different dictionary.
For the avoidance of doubt, the vice president meant that more could be achieved if socially-minded corporate entities joined in the national push against extreme poverty.
They say the largest room in the world is the one for improvement. This unlimited room for improvement is the same reason why humans search for greener pastures, despite having green grass all around them. It is the same reason why multi-billion-dollar corporations keep improving on smartphone apps, products and consumer goods. It is the same reason why nations all around the world are scaling up on their welfare schemes and other social programmes to reach more of their citizens.
It is precisely in that context that the vice president made the clarion call. It was not an admission of failure; it was a call to action, a clarion call borne from the heart of compassion. Let’s not forget that the Buhari administration’s Social Investment Programmes is a N500 billion social welfare scheme that has reached millions of Nigerians. Juxtapose that with the billions of the nation’s resources that had been frittered away in the past in the name of bogus programmes, while the commonwealth was being looted in broad daylight for decades.
However, it seems such distinction is lost on writers like Banji Ojewale who do not seem to see anything good in what the Buhari-Osinbajo government is doing in a country that had been bedeviled by the poor management of resources in the past.
Let the truth be told: An unprecedented social safety net that is currently reaching over 42 million indirect and direct beneficiaries, more especially in country where such scheme was hitherto alien, isn’t a drop of water in an ocean, it is a deluge!


Since the implementation of the SIP in 2016, its programmes have impacted over 12 million direct beneficiaries and over 30 million indirect beneficiaries, comprising family members, employees of beneficiaries, cooks and farmers.

In a country of about 200 million people, that is saying a lot. Also, a scheme that has been running for close to four years isn’t a palliative or skin-level intervention, as the writer would have readers believe, it is a system set in motion and is working and has room for improvement.
To put this in perspective, no government before the Buhari/Osinbajo administration has driven such far-reaching national social safety scheme for ordinary Nigerians such as the SIPs. This is not only unprecedented in Nigeria, for the records, the SIP provides the largest social safety net in sub-Saharan Africa and, as noted, is positively impacting the lives of millions of Nigerians.
The nationwide social impact of the SIPs has garnered both local and global recognition for empowering Nigerians and meeting the urgent needs of Nigerians in different areas, including providing employment, supporting small businesses and poverty alleviation.
The GEEP programme (including TraderMoni and MarketMoni) has provided microcredit to over two million petty traders. Under the Trader Moni micro credit scheme, the federal government (FG), through the Bank of Industry (BOI), provides interest free and collateral free loan to petty traders and artisans. The loan ranges from N10,000 to N100,000 per beneficiary. Last year, the programme won the AfDB prize for financial inclusion because of the work that was done with TraderMoni.
In June 2019, One of the SIP components, GEEP, which is executed through the Bank of Industry, was recognised as the most impactful financial inclusion programme in Africa during the African Bankers’ Awards ceremony, which held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. There are several more awards won by the SIPs for their groundbreaking impacts on the lives of millions in Africa’s most populous country.
The testimonies of beneficiaries are there for all to see: From the young unemployed graduate, to the small business owner, to the farmers and cooks, the ordinary folks on the streets, to the petty trader in a roadside market, to the poor and vulnerable in society – who N5,000 means the world to, to many more Nigerians everywhere you go. It is a story of nationwide impact.
Unlike what Nigerians have witnessed in the past, the Buhari administration’s Social Investment Programmes have shown that government can actually put the welfare of the citizens as a cardinal focus of its policies and long-term vision. Twelve million direct beneficiaries and over 30 million indirect beneficiaries of the SIPs can testify to that. And, despite the myopic view of a few, that is a game changer of epic proportions.

Arukaino Umukoro, an award-winning writer, wrote from Abuja.

https://opinion.premiumtimesng.com/2020/02/05/ojewales-poor-invocation-of-karl-marx-against-osinbajo-by-arukaino-umukoro/

M

More images

Being excepts from an address by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at a townhall meeting held at the National War Museum, Umuahia, Abia State recently to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the civil war.

Apapa Gridlock: Dangote Commends Task Team for Creating Special Window for Importers

The Managing Director of Greenview Development Nigerian Limited (GDNL) owned by Dangote Ports Operations, Mr Akin Omole has commended a special window created by the Presidential Task Team on Restoration of Law in Apapa for creating a special window for manufactures to load their cargoes unhindered.

The GDNL is occupied by Dangote Sugar, Dangote Salt, Gypsum and so on.

Omole while speaking with journalists inside the terminal at the weekend said that a special window between 12am and 3am was created for the manufacturers to bring in their trucks and take delivery of their cargoes.

He noted that before the window, the situation was terrible, but after the window, there were improvement in her operations.

He called for more cohesiveness and synergy among government agencies in order to achieve a significant improvement in access and exit of trucks at the port.

According to him, the primary problems of the terminal is the congestion on the port access roads which affects operations inside the terminal.

“The primary problem of the congestion is that it impacts the entire supply chain and port operations, take for instance, if a vessel is alongside with 40mt of cargo and the trucks that are supposed to come and take the cargo are not able to access the port, the vessel would be there longer than necessary”

“And as you know, the longer the vessel stays in port, the more demurrage it pays, it is not only containers that pay demurrage, vessels also pay demurrage in dollars”

“I believe that with the intervention of the task team that the federal government constituted with the collaboration of the Nigerian Ports Authority NPA and the Shippers Council, I believe that if there could be a lot more cohesiveness and synergy among these agencies, we would achieve a significant improvement in access and exit of trucks at the port”

“The window being referenced is the one given to manufacturers, occupants of GDNL terminal E are mostly manufacturers; Dangote Group”

“We were given a window between 12 and 3am for us to bring in our trucks.
Sometimes, everything goes as planned and we are able to bring in as many trucks as we can muster, some other time, the road gets very chaotic” Omole said

He however lamented insecurity on the waterfronts, saying that sea robbers usually come to the terminal from snake island and ogogoro village to steal parts of trucks, batteries among others.

We stand in the shadow of one of the darkest chapters of our Nation’s history surrounded by the artefacts and monuments to a terrible conflict.

This is neither the time nor the place for rehashing the polemics of justification and recrimination, and claims and counterclaims about the remote and immediate causes of the war. Many scholarly publications, histories, biographies, and brilliant works of fiction have been devoted to these issues and rightly so. Yet, a nation must always examine itself and reflect on its journey.

In a democratic society, this means a robust conversation over vigorously contested aspects of history. Such debate remains necessary if only to enhance our self-knowledge. But perhaps more importantly, to bring closure.

What we all agree on is that the Civil War from 1967-1970 was a defining national tragedy. A catastrophic conflict that scarred us as a people. Its’ cost in lives was massive, so was the cost in lost opportunities for national advancement. The spectacle of promising lives cut short in their prime, families ruptured, communities sacked and the environment poisoned by ordinance is one that redounds to our eternal regret.

Yet, we do not remember this seminal event in our history merely to indulge in the futility of regret, we engage in the discipline of remembrance so that we can learn from history and resolve that such horrors will never repeat themselves again on our watch. And we must do so not just this month, our nation’s month of remembrance of our fallen heroes, but every moment of our lives.

Indeed, the greatest tribute we can pay to the memories of those who made the supreme sacrifice for the survival of this union that we call Nigeria today is to ensure that the circumstances that led to the conflict are never re-enacted.

We cannot change the past, but it is within our power to ensure that history does not repeat itself and that we never again confront the awful consequences of abandoning dialogue and letting our darkest impulses drive us.

Sixteen years after the end of the war, Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu was asked if he thought the war resolved the issues for which it was fought. His reply is instructive, he said and I quote, “Wars hardly ever resolve issues. Wars are an aberration. Eventually, the issues still have to be dealt with.” In any event, it is evident that the cost of resolving our differences peacefully through dialogue is far less than trying to do so through war.

Chinua Achebe once described Nigeria as, I quote, “a nation favoured by providence.” I certainly see the hand of providence in our nation’s survival of that conflict. Unlike many other African countries which have known protracted multi-generational strife and perpetual division, our conflict ended after three years and we have suffered no relapse into such fratricide since then.

In the fifty years that have followed since the end of the war, we have invested in national integration, peace-building and reconciliation. That has been a less than a perfect task. Our road has not been easy and we have faced many challenges along the way. But these setbacks should not induce hopelessness or despondency but should constantly remind us that the stakes are high because of the incredible dividends of unity for us all.

Again, in the words of Achebe, I quote him again, “there are individuals as well as nations who on account of peculiar gifts and circumstances, are commandeered by history to facilitate mankind’s advancement. Nigeria is such a nation. The vast human and material wealth with which she is endowed bestows on her a role in Africa and the world, which no one else can assume or fulfill.”

Our historic mission therefore, is not just to build a nation that works for all of us, but to create a successful polity, an economic and social powerhouse capable of powering our continent to prosperity and renown. And yet, nation-building is hard work and bringing together the multiplicity of ethnicities, languages and creeds that make up this great land under one banner is an onerous but necessary task.

But the more difficult, but crucial work is that of emphasizing and ensuring, fairness, justice and equity amongst all ethnicities and religions. We must be open to addressing the concerns of all. Within this union, all of us must feel entitled to legitimately aspire to the limits and extents of our dreams and visions in public life and commerce.

For those of us that are old enough to remember the war, we must be mindful of the fact that the majority of Nigerians alive today are too young to have witnessed the Civil War and therefore have no memory of it. The last fifty years belonged to us, but the next fifty years belong to our children and their children and we have a responsibility to unshackle them from the ghosts of ancient grudges and grievances.

As elders, we must ensure that we do not poison the minds of the young with our own prejudices and affect their ability to take advantage of the opportunities available to them in their country. We must also avoid foisting the toga of victimhood and helplessness on the next generation.

The memory of the elders is crucial and supplies us with instructive lessons, but we must enable the vision and the imagination of our youth to flower untainted by the biases of the past.

Moments ago, I toured the War Museum with a group of students from the schools in the State. It was a tremendous learning experience for us. I was struck by how novel the war stories behind the artefacts were not just to me, but to the students. It was a reminder that while we must acquaint the younger generation with our history, we must also realize that this young generation does not see the world through the same lenses as we did in the 1960s.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talks about the dangers of a single story and there is certainly a danger in casting Nigeria solely in terms of the narratives of those of us that witnessed the war. The generations born after the Civil War are navigating the adventure of being Nigerian on different terms from their forebears. Let us give them a chance to do better than ourselves.

Young Nigerians are intermarrying, migrating and co-mingling in the quest for love and livelihood; they are doing business together and forging alliances in civil society and politics across ethnic and religious divides. Social media may be a site of divisive debates, but it is also bringing young Nigerians together in spite of their diversity and helping them to forge a new collective consciousness.

Our children are showing us that it is possible to forge friendships and bonds across ethnic and religious lines that are even stronger than family ties and this in itself evokes the possibilities of unity in diversity.

One of our biggest challenges as a nation is that of providing opportunity and hope for our teeming young population. Our youth are among the most creative, energetic and dynamic on the continent and the Southeast is home to Nigeria’s most entrepreneurial sons and daughters. Young Nigerians all over the country and in the Southeast in particular, require outlets that will enable them to maximize their potential.

We have listened to the voices of some of our young people in the Southeast expressing their discontent, however, we do not hear a battle cry, but rather a cry for help. We are determined to continue providing them with the tools and resources that will enable them to make the most of their lives. This is the reason for our collaboration with the African Development Bank, AfDB to provide a $500million facility for startups and entrepreneurial loans. This is aside from the N10billion fund set aside by the Bank of Industry for the same purpose.

We are also working with the Central Bank of Nigeria towards the creation of the entrepreneur bank, in addition, a Shared Facility for MSMEs which will be launched at Ugbenike in Anambra State by April 2020 for MSMEs in the shoe production cluster.

Our young people are full of zest, ideas and creative energy and sometimes they get understandably frustrated with the inability of our institutions to keep pace with their vision and dynamism. But we must not let agents of discord weaponize this frustration and turn it into a severe rupture within the country. The opportunities that you need for growth and prosperity are all here in Nigeria and we are working every day both at the national and sub-national level and local government level to increase these opportunities.

What our young people need is not self-determination but self-actualization, more opportunities, more support to attain their dreams and visions and we are committed to creating these opportunities.

Within years of the end of the conflict, the Igbos re-established themselves as the foremost entrepreneurs in our country and are now thriving everywhere across the vast expanse of our land.

The Southeast is Nigeria’s natural industrial hub. Slowly and steadily, an industrial revolution is gathering momentum here in Abia and in the Southeast as a whole. From leatherworks and textiles to engineering, the “Made-in-Aba” label is emerging as an international brand. I do not say this lightly and without knowledge, I had the privilege of launching the National MSME Clinic at the Aba Polo Club in Abia on the 25th of January 2017 with over 15,000 participants.

Aside from Imo State, all other Southeastern States have hosted the National MSME Clinic with a large attendance of MSMEs. Abia State government won the inaugural award for MSME State of the year in 2018.
Miss Nora Oransoye from Abia State, won the 2019 Outstanding Female MSME of the Year and received a brand new car and prize money.
This zone is already a regional manufacturing hub servicing West and Central Africa. Goods from here are heading to Cameroon, Ghana, Togo, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic and other African countries.

The Igbo apprenticeship system has been cited as the biggest business incubator in the world and the Southeast is the birthplace of Nollywood; our film industry which has achieved global renown on the strength of the creativity and imagination of young Nigerians.

I have given these examples to demonstrate that nations are not built by politicians or their opinions however opinionated they may be, but by men and women in business; the professions and commerce, large, medium and small, who demonstrate their belief in their country by investing their resources and lives in enterprises here in their own country. The reason I have mentioned all these people is that by investing and working here, they have demonstrated more faith in this nation and this nation’s unity.

The businessmen and women, professionals and traders here in the Southeast and across Nigeria are the true nation-builders.

One of our errors in times past has been our inability to appropriate the positive aspects of the Civil War legacy such as the spirit of innovation and self-reliance that inspired technological feats in extreme circumstances even here in this museum. Within that period, our people manufactured weapons and tools for refining crude.

After the war, the Federal Government sought to leverage the technological genius that had come to the fore during the conflict by establishing the Projects Development Institute (PRODA) in Enugu. Unfortunately, over the years, our commitment to the objectives of PRODA has not been as strong as it should be.

However, we are now making up for lost time. Because of our commitment to reviving local manufacturing, Innoson Motors, a company that epitomizes the Nigerian productive genius, is now partnering with the Army to modify some of its equipment, produce armoured fighting vehicles and other military hardware. Innoson is also in partnership with the Air Force towards the manufacture of aircraft parts. I am especially proud to note that the Aba footwear industry is kitting our troops. Four years ago, the military ordered 60, 000 pairs of boots from Aba.

I think there is no greater evidence of how firmly we have closed ranks as a people than the fact that industrialists of this region are today equipping our nation’s Armed Forces.

Years ago, Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu said and I quote, ‘The war has at least underlined for all of us, the importance of staying together.” Brothers and sisters, no human relationship is perfect and no nation is received or conceived in ideal circumstances. All polities, no matter how good they look today, are imperfect and only through the labours of their members are they perfected. Like families, nations are made up of people who disagree and at times disagree intensely. The ties that bind us have survived the most intense disagreement we have ever known as a people and it resulted in the Civil War.

However, our national anthem enjoins us to “build a nation where peace and justice reign.” Setbacks and adversity are as integral to a nation’s journey as they are to human existence as a whole. But we have also known hope and victory, we should not on account of the disappointments we have suffered, give up on our collective possibilities and on each other.

It is true that we are not where we want to be, but we have not been standing still either, our country is very much, a work in progress. The attainment of peace and justice is not an event, but a process and a journey.

In 2017, this administration paid the accumulated arrears of pensions owed to retired war-affected ex-Biafran Police, who have been pardoned since 2000. This was more than a gesture of good faith, it demonstrates our belief in fairness and justice and our conviction that we can only move forward together.

We must build a country devoid of any form of discrimination and marginalization. This is the ideal to which we must strive. However, we cannot prosecute this struggle with weapons of bigotry and hatred. Our tools for creating the country we want, have to be those of empathy and a willingness to invest effort in understanding each other.

All of us must also be mindful of the sacrifice that unity calls for; it means that those of us in power must understand that the bitterness of the loser when the winner takes it all, will ultimately swallow all including the winner. Three watchwords matter: fairness, equity and justice.

We must also be mindful of the fact that it is far easier to destroy than to build. It is easier to put asunder than to bring together. It is my firm conviction that we are infinitely stronger and better together. This is not a time to put asunder, it is a time to bring together. We cannot change the past, but we can learn from it and build a better future together.

Being excepts from an address by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at a townhall meeting held at the National War Museum, Umuahia, Abia State recently to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the civil war.

crownwealth:
Fraudulent element

I’m certain there are beneficiaries of the Social Investment Programmes in your immediate You family. That’s a testimony

Adds: Social safety nets not acts of sovereign kindness but sovereign obligation
                 
Convinced that government owed a duty to the poor, the weak, the vulnerable and those who cannot work, the APC in 2014 included in its manifesto a social safety initiative to specifically address poverty amongst other things, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.
 
Prof. Osinbajo stated this in his remark at the 5th edition of the Airtel Touching Lives event held in Lagos at the weekend.
 
According to the Vice President, “listening to each story of a life touched this evening must remind us of the many others who need our help, our comfort and our kindness. The poor and vulnerable always need a voice. 
 
“In 2014, Mr Wale Edun, Prof. Pat Utomi and I met at Pat’s home to write portions of the manifesto of the APC. 

“We all agreed that a fundamental pillar of our party’s plans must be to create a social safety net for the people. We were convinced that government owed a duty to the poor, the weak, the vulnerable and those who cannot work. 
 
Continuing Prof. Osinbajo stated that “social safety nets are not merely acts of sovereign kindness; they are a sovereign obligation - a responsibility.” 
 
Making reference to the Social Investment Programmes of the Federal Government, the Vice President said the effort of Airtel was commendable especially in complementing the work already done by government in tackling poverty.
 
He said “today, the social safety net scheme is the fore of our Social Investment Programmes where we are feeding about 9.5 million children in public schools in 34 states across Nigeria; we are giving monthly cash to about nearly a million households as part of our conditional cash transfer scheme; we have given, as at the last count, 2.2 million loans to petty traders whose inventories are no more than N5, 000.
 
“We have also engaged about 500, 000 young men and women, who have been unemployed (over different periods of time) under our N-Power programme. But we are still very far from touching majority of those who need help.
 
“It is clear that to do so, we need far more resources behind that programme. This is why the work of social conscious companies like Airtel is so vital. Bridging the huge gap between what government can do and what is left to be done.”
 
Laolu Akande

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President

27th January, 2020

Acme45:
Big lie, where re the refineries?

There are all verifiable

*Details progress in 21 Ogoni Clean-up sites, drawing international praise
 
WITH the significant progress now recorded in the Ogoni Clean-Up project, attracting local and international commendation, the Buhari administration’s New Vision for the Niger Delta is making good progress.
 
According to Mr. Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, in response to media inquiries over the weekend, noted that the progress report on the Niger Delta New Vision indicate clearly that “since the Ogoni Cleanup commenced in January 2019, with 16 contractors moving to site, a total of 21 sites has so far been handed over to contractors by Hydrocarbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP) under the Federal Ministry of Environment.”
 
This is besides the commencement of the Maritime University in Delta State now on full steam with over 1,000 students spread across 13 undergraduate courses in three faculties; and the progress made in the establishment of modular refineries, including the Niger Delta Resources Refinery, NDPR which has now moved from 1,000 Bpd to 6,000 Bpd a few weeks ago.
 
There are altogether six modular refineries currently at different stages of completion in the 6 Niger Delta states of Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River and Imo States.
 
Giving details on the Ogoni Clean-Up, Akande disclosed that “the 21 sites where remediation works are ongoing are located in four of the Local Government Areas in Ogoniland, namely: Eleme, Tai, Khana and Gokana Local Government areas,” adding that local and international commendation are being received by the Buhari Administration on the progress of the Clean-up.
 
It would be recalled that the 2011 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on Ogoniland devastated by decades of oil spills was not implemented until June 2016, when the Buhari administration kickstarted its implementation. Then, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, flagged off the clean-up exercise in the region.
 
According to Akande, “the commitment of the Buhari administration to the Ogoni cleanup process has received several local and international endorsements, with visits to the sites by the Dutch Ambassador, British Deputy High Commissioner, US Ambassador, German Ambassador, Norwegian Ambassador, UNEP team, among others, all attesting to the progress being recorded in the Clean-up.”
 
Giving an insight to the Progress Report, Akande quotes this:
“I can see that work is ongoing and hopefully it will produce results soon,” the Netherlands Ambassador to Nigeria, Marion Kappeyne Van de Coppello, said in August 2019 when she visited one of the sites in Eleme Local Government Area.
 
“Also, during an inspection visit, the UNEP team leader, Mr. Mike Cowing, said the re-engagement of the UNEP team for the Ogoni clean-up shows the commitment of the Federal Government to effectively implement the UNEP Report. “We see that very sincere plans are being put together. We are part of the planning and we would be part of the implementation,” Cowing said.
 
The report also noted that, “as part of its commitment, HYPREP and UNEP recently trained young Ogoni scientists and other indigenes with relevant professional qualification from Ogoni. Twenty-one of these young Ogoni youths have returned from Geneva and United Kingdom, after an intensive training in Management of Contaminated Site Assessment, Clean-up Assessment, Clean-up of Contaminated Sites and Field Work Techniques.”
 
Below are some of the highlights of the Progress Report and developments in other projects in the Niger Delta.
 
Some of the ongoing development projects under the Buhari administration’s Niger Delta New Vision include the take-off of the Nigeria Maritime University in Okerenkoko, Delta State. The University had commenced full academic activities for the 2017/2018 academic year in April, 2018, with a total of 370 students spread across 13 undergraduate programmes in three Faculties approved by the NUC, namely: Transport, Engineering and Environmental Management.
 
Also, with the establishment of modular refineries in the region, analysts are of the view that these modular refineries will empower people in the region and also improve the local economy in communities where they are located.
 
So far, six modular refineries are currently at different stages of completion in the Niger Delta region. The refineries are located in six states in the Niger Delta: Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Imo, Bayelsa and Cross River. This includes the Niger Delta Petroleum Resources Refinery (NDPR), in Ogbele, Rivers State, which was refining at 1,000 bpd, and was recently upgraded to 6,000 bpd.
 
The Federal Government’s Presidential Amnesty Presidential Amnesty Programme continues to engage ex-militants and youths in the Niger Delta in formal education, vocational skills acquisition and empowerment schemes, while creating jobs for beneficiaries.
 
The Niger Delta region is also benefitting for the Buhari administration’s efforts to improve the country's infrastructure, including the Bonny-Bodo road and bridge project.
 
This is an important road and bridge going across the Opobo channel, being undertaken as a collaboration between NLNG and the Federal Government.
 
When completed, the 34-kilometre Bonny-Bodo road and bridge project, which was flagged off in October 2017, would connect several major communities and boost socioeconomic development in the region.
 
There is also the Itakpe-Warri rail line project which is now complete and ready for commissioning. The rail line would handle passenger, commercial and freight services.
 
The Federal Government is also in the process of developing sea ports in the region, including Warri, Ibaka deep see port, among other development projects like the establishment of Export Processing Zones to boost economic activities.
  
In the same vein, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), is being repositioned for better delivery. It would be recalled that following the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari, the NDDC has since begun the audit and verification of projects and contracts in the nine Niger Delta states to better serve the people of the region in terms of development.

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity
Office of the Vice President
26th January, 2020


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