₦airaland Forum

I would not bother to do a profile check on you, "Eze in/of Canada" speaks volumes by itself.
I am happy for you that you are blessed in all spheres as you claim but I find it hard that you seem spooked just for being called out to look at issues with an open mind. I have not in any way needed to go looking past what you wrote and your comments are all the material I need to respond.
As for who Professor Osinbajo is in spirit, why not leave that to his maker, it has nothing to do with you nor the Nigerian entity he swore to serve.
Do have a beautiful Sunday.

EzeCanada:
Sir, I just did profile of you and can confirm that you are either the individual in question or doing a paid job for him. He is such a gentleman in the open ( I can't say who he is in spirit) and can fathom this was not what he had bargained for from the beginning. I also know that if he had his ways he would not have had himself entangled with his current political associates - or associates from before - thereby avoiding this embarrassment of a government that is has been the mock of the whole world. As for you ( if you are not the person in question) I leave you to your conscience otherwise the only genuine advice you could offer him is to resign and damn the consequence for God has power over every other powers both revealed or unrevealed.

And FYI, I don't need Osinbajo's name for fame. It is such a childish thing to say for I am already blessed in all ramifications

The coincidence of having the one year anniversary of the Vice President’s helicopter crash fall on a Sunday lends no extra thought to the idea of the family holding a thanksgiving service for the life of their patriarch that was spared by God.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was involved in a helicopter crash in Kogi State while on his way to a rally ahead of the presidential elections, last year. Luckily none of the 10 occupants of the aircraft was hurt in any way. If it was me, I would have probably retired into my shell but not Prof Osinbajo. Shortly after the crash, he went ahead to attend the event. This act left many people perplexed and in awe of his work attitude. He is often described as being eloquent, unassuming and hardworking – constantly praised for the way he has deputized for President Buhari.

In the aftermath of the incident, one of the first acts of the Vice President was to thank the flight crew whom he praised for acting professionally throughout the brief but near-fatal incident. He also revealed that the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor E. A. Adeboye had foreseen the incident during a prayer session held sometime before the accident as prayers were actually made to ward off such an occurrence.

This actually led to the VP’s aide, Mr. Laolu Akande tweeting that the survival of everyone on board was the manifestation of God’s word. There was an outpouring of love from and thanksgiving from all quarters as even the Peoples Democratic Party the main opposition, and even its presidential candidate, tweeted appreciation for the safety of everyone on board.

In the post events and after investigations, Caverton Helicopters, the company that owned the aircraft that crashed, blamed the incidence on "unusual weather conditions". Eyewitnesses say dust, thrown up as the helicopter approached to land by the Kabba Township Stadium might have impaired the pilot's visibility. One of the main rotor blades was said to have detached from the mast as it descended.

For me, it's just another act of God that is beyond human comprehension.

Verily verily I say unto ye, your response was not revealed to ye by mortal men. Allow me to pray for you as well. May your use of the name Osinbajo accord you the 15 minutes of fame you seek.

FYI, whats obvious to you might be but opaque to others and vice versa

EzeCanada:
I won't be surprised if this is not Osinbajo himself or one of his aid. Please do not beg the questions posted. Kindly answer them if you have any conscience left because as someone pointed out earlier there seems to be none left.

And FYI, I couldn't have judged them rather I plead for God's mercy on them. Judgement belongs to God. I only stated the obvious.

“Improving human capital development especially education, and providing more opportunities for earning a living, will reduce the numbers of young persons available for recruitment into the ranks of the Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists in the North East, and the bandits and other criminals around the country.”


“The poor are especially vulnerable to jeopardizing national security and that is why it is important for government to make adequate provision for that class of people”.


“Man is central to the economy, if anything makes it difficult or impossible for him to function, the economy is weak and the whole progress of the community is stalled.”

The reason government revenues are important is first of all because of infrastructural investment, but also in other to satisfy the secondary premise of our economy which is the provision of a social investment programme. So, government revenues are crucial for two of those reasons. It is a well-known fact that Nigeria’s debt to GDP ratio has also been very low, indeed one of the lowest in the world. This has by itself seriously hampered economic growth and limited the delivery of public amenities and these are essential preconditions for attracting investment.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s revenue statistics in their recent 2019 report puts Nigeria’s tax to GDP somewhere in the other of about 6%, which, considering the level of economic activities in Nigeria, is so low as to constitute a negative factor and serious drawback for the entire system. This is more so, considering that the average Tax to GDP ratio across 26 other African countries is still 17.2%, which is 11.5% basis points higher than Nigeria’s. So, Nigeria has very poor tax to GDP ratio.

Another area of revenue improvement is the Value Added Tax (VAT) rate, this has been notoriously low. Our VAT rates is one of the lowest, in fact it is the lowest in Africa until this recent change. Ghana for example, has a VAT rate currently of 12.5%. They recently reduced their VAT from 15% to 12.5%. Cameroon has a VAT rate of 19.25%, Egypt has a VAT rate of 14%, South Africa about 15% and Mexico somewhere in the order of about 16%.

Our VAT rate stood at 5% despite increased activities in our midst. That has been moved up to 7.5%, we expect to see an up take in revenues. But the Finance Act has also ensured that the increase in VAT rate does not impact the poor or so become a disincentive for small businesses in particular. So, there is a whole exempted class of basic food items and that is very comprehensively defined in the Act. All food necessities are not taxable and the new Act also has 16 very clearly articulated classes of food, all are exempted from tax.

Similarly, exempted services like; drugs, locally manufactured sanitary towels, pads, and tuition fees in all tiers of the educational system from nursery to primary. So, there is no VAT on fees, no VAT on drugs and a wide range of medical products.

Also, as a palliative measure for micro and small enterprises, the VAT compliance threshold is now set at a turnover of N25million. So, if your company is recording a lower turnover than N25million, you are not expected to register for VAT. So, for small companies, they are not obliged to register for VAT or render monthly returns for VAT. Also, services rendered by microfinance banks are exempted from VAT. And the reason why that is so is because the microfinance banks were trying to push between the BOI and Micro-finance banks for greater lending to the trading sectors and also to small businesses and so we need to remove VAT to enable that to happen.

An upside of the VAT rate increase, which we must not fail to note is that it will give additional much needed revenue to State Governments as well. And this is a very important point because of course, we have raised the minimum wage to N30,000. Many States complained that they cannot pay that easily, so with the increase in VAT rate, we expect that the States capacity to pay will be enhanced.

And just to explain how the VAT tax is shared; 50% of tax goes to State Governments, 35% goes to Local Governments, and 15% comes to the Federal Government. So, States obviously have the lion share of that proceeds. The rate will increase when you look at their own IGR as well.

Now, government needs to keep their focus on Internally Generated Revenue and there is absolutely no excuse. Sometimes, you hear people talk about non-viable States. The reason why States are not generating as much as they should, is because there is something coming from the Federal Government every month. If there is nothing coming from the Federal government, States will pull their weights. If the Federal Government itself did not have oil revenue, we will pull our weight.

If you look at what happened with the old regions; the Northern region, the Eastern region, the Western region, all of these regions in that period, paid all of their bills from internally generated revenues, tax and agriculture mostly.

In Western region for example, they had free education with over a million people at one point in time, they built roads all over the place and they were spending only 50% of what they generated and paying 50% to the Federal Government and all they were relying on was essentially just income tax from individuals and agriculture.

Today, that is no longer the case; very few States, including the Federal Government are not as aggressive in revenue generation. We are not as aggressive because whether we work or not, something will come from federal allocation and that is why there is need to ensure that we hold ourselves to account for revenue generation. A country of this size certainly can do far more than we are generating at the moment.

Let me also briefly mention the new provisions on Taxation of Digital Economy and Non-Resident Companies. This is a very important aspect of our taxation policy. Before the Finance Act, only companies that had a physical presence or a fixed base in Nigeria could be taxed. So, most digital companies, I mean any of the big technology companies, or multi-national digital companies, that did not have physical offices in Nigeria, made significant income from Nigeria from online activities, such as advertising, movie streaming, online gaming and e-commerce from subscribers in Nigeria, but paid no taxes whatsoever because they did not have a physical base in Nigeria. So now we are no longer relying on the fixed base or physical address criterion.

Under the Finance Act, once you have a Significant Economic Presence (SEP) in Nigeria, you are liable to tax. Whether you are a resident here or you are not resident as a company, as long as your economic presence is significant, you are liable to tax. If you are streaming online, advertising using Google adverts, whether you are resident here or not, you are now subject to tax.

So, non-residents who previously had no fixed base and no Nigerian tax liability will now be liable to tax based on the SEP criterion. The Minister of Finance is empowered to issue a regulation defining what Significant Economic Presence means. So, she just defines the scope of what we will be looking out for in terms of Significant Economic Presence.

I think it is also important to note what CBN is doing to improve credit flow to the private sector. Now, it is very important to understand also the monetary policy issues. The monetary policy issues determine what credit goes to the private sector, and as I mentioned earlier, the private sector is the focus of the economy. They are the job creators. So, how do they get credit? A major complaint of the private sector is that inability to access credit, cheap credit in particular.

The only way business can grow is as I pointed out, is loans to the real sector. But now, on account of the reform of the OMO operations, that is the Open Market Operations of the Central Bank, we now have a situation where interest rates have become much lower and also Loan-to-Deposit Rate is now at 65%, but interest rates have become lower and the interest rates especially for fixed bills, treasury bills, are now lower. So, you are looking at something in the order of between 3% and 6% for treasury bills while it used to be 14%.

Now, because of the lowering of interest rates and the ban on Nigerian companies, banks and individuals investing in treasury bills, it is now apparent that they must now lend to the real sector.

In the past, banks and individuals simply invested in treasury bills because treasury bills you could get 14%, 15% even higher just by investing in treasury bills. So, banks had no motivation whatsoever to lend to the private sector, because without any risk at all, they could earn anywhere from 14% upwards. But today, because they can no longer do so, they have the deposits, Cash Reserve Requirement, CRR, is now at about 27.5 and because of that, they have enough resources to lend to the private sector.

They have cheaper funds with them, and it is very obvious from what we are seeing today, that interest rates have dropped very sharply and we are not going to have the rather excessive rates we used to have. But the target of course, is to be able to bring interest rates to single digit. At the moment, only our development finance institutions such as the BOI are able to offer such types of loans.

So, net domestic credit has increased by a little over 30% and a further attempt to reduce the cost of doing business is as I have said before, reduction in fixed income yields, treasury bill rate.

Government itself has an advantage, if you look at our debt burden today, most of our debt burden comes from servicing our debt, most of that debt is domestic debts. That means most of it is on paying back treasury bills. But when treasury bills were reduced to 5% - 6% from about 14%, it means that the government pays far less to service its debt. So, we are paying considerably less.

The upshot is that government will no longer be paying double digits interest on treasury bills, thus reducing the debt service burden while at the same time it means that the rates payable on commercial paper will also not be so high as to discourage investment. But I want to point out also the downside.

The downside is that at the moment current account balance is negative and there is a need to improve Foreign Portfolio Investment Flows. But with low exchange rates, there is a low FPI flow. One of the things we want to achieve is to get FPI especially foreign investments in other to be able to boost our reserves, but if the interest rates are low, it of course means that we are less attractive as a destination for portfolio investment. That has its good and bad sides, but I choose to describe it as a downside because it means we are going to see some reduction in FPI at least in a short time.

With the signing also of the Deep Offshore Bill into law, we also expect enhanced revenues from the oil sector. This is another way of generating income.

the same rhetorics that have been used to hoodwink the masses from the time of the missionaries are what you are spewing now. A lil brush up of your history books would have you aware that the Church and the State used to be in tandem for in reality one does not function well without the other.
Sides Christ never came to upturn the government, he came to inform you that the Kingdom of God was more important than that of men but seeing as you are fixated on the later I understand why you speak as those who taunted him saying if He was truly the Son of God he should save himself.
Finally if as you claim you are entitled to your opinion, be aware that the bible did warn against what you are currently doing in judging both Osinbajo and Adeboye.

EzeCanada:
Answer the questions below if you are a Christian:

In as much as you are entitled to your own opinion just like I am. I am sure you are familiar with the assertion " look before you leap".. So I would recommend you put on your thinking hat, and drop sentiments.

If both men ( Osinbajo and Baba Adeboye) in questions are genuine Christians, then they should have the same mind frame as Christ that they profess. Meaning they should have the demeanor of Christ.

So questions are:

1. On what basis would a Christian agree to form a Govt with an Unbeliever...a chronic unrepentant unbeliever for that matter. Show me the doctrinal backup.

2 Would Christ accept the role of a VP to a personality like Buhari whose track record is there for all to see.

3 Hypothetical question. Would Christ see evil manifestations in high level such as maiming, ethnic cleansing, pogrom, kidnapping, distruction of lives and properties, nepotism, corruption ( in some cases involving high level Redeemed Pastors) and still remain part of the Government or in the case of Baba Adeboye, keep mute?

4. Do you realise Baba Adaboye is a stakeholder in the Nigerian entity by his position as one of the highest profile religious leader. Same reason why high level politicians seek his blessings when seeking for votes. If he considers himself worthy to openly pray, support or endorse them in open as we've all seen he has done in the past, can you in all honesty tell me that by the same mandate he is not under any obligation to call them to order when things get out of hand in the open?

Feels awkward to be caught out right? I and as usual the next step is to misconstrue the discussion. Truth is you actually can't run away from the seeds you plant. And while I do admire the person of Professor Osinbajo (I dare you to bring up your master with a better performance than his two stints as acting President), my true master is logical reasoning aka common sense. If you start a bush fire in the hamattan, chances are it would go outta hand.

GidiWoodsMan:
stop threatening people with war, because you must justify oppression by hypocritical leaders who hide behind religious platitudes.

just stop. it's nobody's fault that you lot have been brainwashed by your churches and mosques which are mostly just business centres by the way

you can stay gullible and bequeath a hellish society on the future generations, or you can awaken to your conscience and call out so-called 'progressives' like your master osinbajo, who are actually thieves with religious habits and pronouncements, and are busy stealing nigeria's future today.

A call to prayer for God to help the government record greater success against the brigands get turned into a protest by unscrupulous and divisive elements and in your fledging mind, you think that your comments about VP Osinbajo hold any water. When he was talking about the pain of the Biafra war and how we should prevent it's occurrence again where were you? probably thinking of your next incitive comments. It is so easy to identify those who glorify these extreme incidents just to be seen to make a contribution.

GidiWoodsMan:
This is hypocrisy.

By month end Osinbajo will waltz into the same church and sit with the VIPs, as a top member. Maybe he would even mount the altar to preach. Bunch of money- and power-hungry hypocrites

Did you switch to Yoruba intentionally to slide beneath the radar? the fact that you are a member of the band, Bob Marley and the WAILERS still does not warrant you flouting house rules and hurling curses at Tinubu or Osinbajo

crownwealth:
Gbogbo yin patapata ti etitori atenuje ati ojukokoro gbe odaran darandaran Buhari de ori apere, eni lo lai jiya!

Gbogbo eje ti awon Fulani adaranje ati Boko Haram ti ta sile yio ke lori gbogbo yin fun Esan; bere lati ori Tinibu, Osinbajo ati eyin Zone-B won.

99% of the negative comments will come from people who as VP Osinbajo has said, have no personal experience of the war and have no qualms inciting others with little thought as to where the giant tree will fall now that it's being hacked indiscriminately

We need to stop being sentimental about most issues. I would not try to condone brigandry or terrorism, but the need to resort to nepotism on issues just does not cut it for me. there was a time when the relative of the president was attacked, that in any way did not mean the security forces escalated their preventive measures. So there is no need to request ill on the daughter of VP Osinbajo just to validate a point. completely unnecessary.

FrLukas:
Oyedepo's name was not on the ballot sheet during the elections.

Evil thrives when good people keep quiet in the face of tyranny.

All they are concerned with is how to milk their sheep. Finish.

People like Oyedepo, Adeboye, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria CBN, and these other influential pastors can pressure the government to do the right think irrespective of political leanings.

Nigerians are fond of defending their leaders even when they do wrong.

Nigerians are timid in the presence of their political and religious leaders, the same people responsible for your welfare.

What good is the church if it can't speak the truth to power on behalf of the people.

What good is the church that only collects Sunday offerings and tithes and seed offerings from members but doesn't concern itself with how the members are surviving the economic crunch.

If Osinbajo's daughter had been kidnapped by Boko Haram, do you think these Church leaders won't speak up?

Is that what the church has become?

Leah Sharibu refused to convert to Islam by force. Who should be the ones championing her release?

Shame on them religious leaders. Shame on their gullible and useless followers who can't demand accountability from them.

Shame on all of us.

Could it be that your inability to stay on the topic at hand is why whatever is befalling you, actually is? create your own post if you have to but stop always trying to derail the conversation.

MelesZenawi:
He should resign alongside Osinbajo.

Both are failures.

How is it the Wife of VP Osinbajo that you are monitoring? Are you so insecure in your existence that you policing other people's wives?

Karac:
Osinbajo wife always looking like someone that just finished crying

If you don't have data to view all the images let us know, otherwise don't try to open your yansh unduly in public as VP Osinbajo was live at the meeting to the chagrin of the lot of you

alezzy13:
What of Osinbajo??

A cursory review of the Constitution would detail out the functions of the Vice President. The fact that Prof Osinbajo is a SAN, should not make his case any different.

Well there you have it, where one party wins, they claim INEC and the Courts are the best, where they lose, INEC is a threat to our democracy and the Courts are rubber stamp shops. I don't work for INEC but like you pointed out VP Osinbajo as a person is well loved by the people, for emphasis check out the votes garnered from his home town of Ikene.

Captainrambo2:
for where.? Buhari isnt just popular. The Lagos vote was even inflated for him. Lagosians out of spite for Buhari nit Osinbajo voted Atiku.

I would also like to point out that polls can be rigged. If in doubt pay a little more attention to the impeachment trial going on in the US of A.

Captainrambo2:
It's something they cant rig . Imagine that small boy Gabbage shehu insulting senator abaribe. Only fools from the south will support such rubbish. I watched the session, immediately abaribe rounded up his speech one unknown cow herder chieftain quickly rose up to decry the harshness of Abaribe's speech, he said it was unfair that abaribe should apologise. Abaribe bluntly ignored the cow herder senator. You see ? They from the north re always quick rise up defending buhari.


I dare them to open a poll. To show the true state of things , tho they wont dare because it will reaffirm buhari rigged himself in

I dare point out that the main reason VP Osinbajo lost his polling booth was that the Oligarchs that reside at Ikoyi were feeling the brunt of the whistleblowing syndrome that had washed over most of their illicit properties in the location.

Captainrambo2:
you think so. Just because of buhari osinbajo lost his pooling both.



Those votes from Kano katsina borne re all phantom rubsh. I pray Nigeria gets the electronic bill this time. Those almajiris in the north cant give him presidency without rigging

i do hate getting caught up in all this tribalistic discus but apparently y'all can't seem to help yourselves. The Senator asked the President to resign as regards the security lapses, but maybe y'all and you know yourselves are scared to face the President, all of a sudden the digress is to lie and claim that he said Prof Osinbajo should resign? is the VP the CinC? lets call a spade what it is and refrain from lying, ain't no need for it.

mushystuff:
You can say this but when Abaribe demands his resignation you start foaming at the mouth because he's an Igbo man. I'm sure this your recommendation is solely because it is a yoruba person that is VP. Tribalism is cancerous and it kills.

Often times there is the temptation to turn a blind eye to the gains simply because of one direct or personal hardship but on the overal, feeding 9.8 million kids a day, that is unparalleled in the history of the country
I doff my hat to the Buhari/Osinbajo administration

too much stuff? seems like all the stuff is sawdust but then again most people fail to comprehend an authority that far superior to their realm of understanding. And yes, leave Prof Osinbajo alone and address the planks y'all have in your eyes

TooMuchStuff:
Leave Osinbajo alone.
He's just a mere commissioner of condolences

Focus on the Evil Tyrant in Power

Apparently this process of thought is hereditary. first of all the minority at no point mentioned the Name of the Vice President. Secondly, the offices of b the CJN, the Attorney General of the Federation and that of the INEC chairman all do not report to Prof. Osinbajo and a such all your postulations are not only wide off the mark but flimsy and baseless

MelesZenawi:
Abaribe is right...

Osibanjo really needs to resign. A professor of law that under him law as a profession had lost its value. He presides over various electoral malpractices...

In midst of insecurity the only thing he could say is to pray.

As for Buhari who now presides over a kleptocractic regime and arrogates monopoly of wisdom to himself......and still a failure alongside his vice who is versed in law.

It is seeming more and more that this particular pattern of reasoning is hereditary. Else is wonder how you can take trajectory of a topic so wide of the mark.
If one is paid not to be logical, the onus is on him to refuse it for I'm at a loss as to how you escalated Prof Osinbajo into the matter when it's not as if the Attorney general of the federation or the CJN birth answer to his office.

MelesZenawi:
Abaribe is right...

Osibanjo really needs to resign. A professor of law that under him law as a profession had lost its value. He presides over various electoral malpractices...

In midst of insecurity the only thing he could say is to pray.

As for Buhari who now presides over a kleptocractic regime and arrogates monopoly of wisdom to himself......and still a failure alongside his vice who is versed in law.

Amotekun would go a long way in reducing crime at the communal level so it is a very welcome idea. We now await the legal framework that would be produced by the different AG of the participating states.

Apparently the only one who lacks sense is you. When VP Osinbajo performed exceptionally during the two stints, which of Buhari's kinsmen were killed?

.

Isinweke:
So Buhari should step aside so that Osibanjo can kill his kinsmen?

You lack sense

The notion of alleging that the N power scheme as at when it was being supervised by the office of VP Osinbajo was lopsided is a flagrant attempt at mudslinging. completely false

The Nigerian Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, says the Nigerian civil war was a defining national tragedy that should not be allowed to repeat itself.

Speaking in Umuahia during a special town hall meeting to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the Nigeria civil war, organized by Ken Nnamani Center for Leadership and Development in collaboration with the National War Museum, Osinbajo noted that the cost of the war included “loss of opportunities for national advancement.”

He said, “The way to celebrate national fallen heroes that paid the supreme sacrifice for the union called Nigeria is to ensure that the circumstances that led to the conflict never occur again.

“Unlike many African countries with protracted multi-generational conflicts, our strife lasted only three years, and we have suffered not to relent in ending the issues after 50 years.

“We have invested in national integration, peacebuilding and reconciliation.”

The vice president noted that in the cause of ending the issues the country faced, there were many challenges along the way, adding “but those challenges should not induce hopelessness or desperation,”

Osinbajo commended the social media for bringing Nigeria’s “young ones” together in terms of marriage, migration and otherwise in their course of earning a livelihood.

Earlier, the convener of the meeting and Chairman, Ken Nnamani Center for Leadership and Development, Senator Ken Nnamani, said the 50th anniversary of the end of the civil war was in every respect, a highly significant milestone in the life of Nigeria as a nation.

you talk of another dancing when you simply skittle around on stilts of lies, At what point would you realize the difference Supervising a scheme and Distribution you are claiming? Anyway if you still wanna act like you are not aware, The NSIPs have been transferred to the ministry of disaster and humanitarian affairs.

anonimi:
No need to dance about the question- when was the last time your rogue pastor distributed trader voter money?


www.nairaland.com/attachments/10759522_osinbajoe1545465425740_jpeg345d0359ad43401003faf88ac6ece830

REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, AT THE NATIONAL WAR MUSEUM, UMUAHIA, ABIA STATE ON THE 27TH OF JANUARY, 2020


I need not emphasize how indebted we are to the National War Museum and the Ken Nnamani Centre for Leadership and Development and the governments of the Southeast States for hosting this important gathering of Nigerians to mark 50 years since the Civil War ended.

I bring you all warm felicitations from President Muhammadu Buhari. He asked me to especially commend you Senator Ken Nnamani, he shared with me about your friendship over the years and your hosting him in your home several times.

We stand in the shadow of one of the darkest chapters of our Nation’s history surrounded by the artifacts 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 that 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.

Your Excellencies, 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 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 artifacts 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 opportunities 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 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 the 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.

“We want to build a country devoid of any form of discrimination and marginalization. This is the ideal to which we are striving. However, we cannot prosecute this struggle with weapons of bigotry and hatred.”

“The ties that bind us have survived the most intense disagreement we have ever known as a people.”

Thank you very much


**Speech given at Townhall Meeting commemorating 50 years after the end of the Nigerian Civil War

Politics can't be this hard, VP Osinbajo isn't the VP of some states and not of some others, and if you visited his twitter handle you'd read up on how he talks of working to ebb the pains from the civil war.

Osagyefo98:
This is pretense on osibanjo's part.

Pure hypocrisy


Is he coming to supervise what his people demolished and levelled to the ground?

There is no need for him visiting same destruction his brothers were fully part of.

Eye service and hypocrisy of this man is heavily getting out of hand.

When I inform people that Prof Osinbajo is the most people-centric leader we have had in a long while and maybe not Since Awolowo, some persons doubt my statement. Here now we have proof that the very DNA of the APC was the social welfare of the masses. It is clearer now why the VP was very passionate about the NSIP's.