₦airaland Forum

STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE


WITH INNOVATION & CREATIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY, FOUNDING FATHERS’ DREAM OF PROSPEROUS AFRICA IS NOW ACHIEVABLE, SAYS OSINBAJO

*VP references continent’s young, energetic & digitally inclined population

With the advance in digital technology and the progress attained by innovators in the continent, the dream of Africa’s founding fathers of building a continental economic powerhouse and prosperous continent is now attainable, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

Prof. Osinbajo stated this Wednesday evening in Abuja at the 10th-anniversary dinner of AfriLabs - a network organisation supporting Innovation Centers across African countries since 2011.

Speaking about how technology and innovation hubs are now able to bring the vision to fruition, the VP said “our advantages are obvious, we are the youngest continent on the planet, the vast majority of our population are digital natives, born in the digital revolution.”

His words: “barely 60 years ago, the first leaders of independent African states dreamt of a united and prosperous Africa. They spoke of one continent, one people, a people capable of becoming a political and economic powerhouse. As it turned out, that objective is yet to be attained.

“But today that dream of Africans working in collaboration to create an economic powerhouse is achievable and at hand. The key lies in a planned digital future, innovation, and the creative use of technology for enterprise and development.”

Continuing, Prof. Osinbajo explained that “despite developmental constraints, Africa is still on course to disrupt the fourth industrial revolution itself with the sheer numbers of youthful talent and energy available. This has been proven with the disruption we continue to see across various sectors.”

On the progress made in the technology and innovation space, the VP noted that “in 2015, African start-ups struggled to raise about $200million, but in 2021 we have more than 6 Unicorns. In FinTech alone, we have Flutterwave, Paystack, Opay, and Interswitch, all valued at more than $1billion each.

“In e-commerce, we have Jumia, Ashraf Sabry’s Fawbry, an Egyptian e-payment company that allows customers to settle bills online and digitally, and is now on the Egyptian stock exchange with about 30 million customers.

“MNT-Halan, Egypt’s largest lender to the unbanked has about 1 million monthly active users and has disbursed $1.7billon in loans to date. Tala, a start-up in Kenya that helps the traditionally underbanked borrow, save, and grow their money has expanded to India, the Philippines, and Mexico and has disbursed close to $3billion of credit, and has more than 6million customers.

“And here in Nigeria, we have Piggyvest, a wealth management platform that at the end of 2019, had helped about one million users save about $80million. And in Senegal, Wave, a mobile money provider that became Francophone Africa’s first unicorn when it received a $200million injection of funds,” he added.

Prof Osinbajo then noted that “while Africa’s FinTech unicorns are payments-focused today, in the future we can expect more variety; digital lenders and insurers. Invest-tech and blockchain are also likely to feature.

“Of course, we should also expect unicorns to emerge in other sectors—companies that will help to address the continent’s key challenges in relation to healthcare, schooling, trade, and so on.”

The VP however called on stakeholders, especially governments across the continent to support the revolution taking place in the sector, noting that ‘‘much of the growth of African startups has been organic. Mostly operating as individual enterprises or at best as city initiatives. National effort is still usually missing.”

Said the VP: “there is now a need for positive action, proactive and intentional policies by governments to create the environment for startups and technology-based enterprises to thrive.”

Highlighting some efforts of the Buhari administration to support the technology startups, he disclosed that “one of the first actions that we took in 2015 as an administration was to work with development partners to conduct an innovation mapping exercise across Nigeria.

“We did this by engaging the ecosystem across the country, including AfriLabs at the time, and this process led to the report titled “Catalyzing Growth in Nigeria through Innovation”.”

“Armed with the results of this exercise, we supported more than 12 private sector-led innovation hubs across the country through our social investments programme.

“Working with the World Bank and the Lagos Business School, we supported the establishment of the Nigeria Climate Innovation Center in Lagos, and in partnership with the American University of Nigeria and the International Committee of the Red Cross, we supported the establishment of Africa’s first Humanitarian Innovation Hub in Adamawa State.”

In the area of policy, the VP explained that “we also established the Technology and Creativity Advisory Group as part of our Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council.

“Some of the policy initiatives developed from the advisory group include the wide range of licenses issued by the CBN for FinTechs, the collaboration with the African Development Bank to raise $500million to support technology and creative start-ups, venture capital and investments.”

Prof. Osinbajo also cited the hosting of the Aso Villa Demo Day in 2016 with Mark Zuckerberg in attendance, as a major activity in the sector that set the pace for subsequent engagements in the tech ecosystem.

In addition, the VP observed that “we have also made considerable progress in the enactment of the Nigerian Start-Up Act, an effort of stakeholders in the private sector, Federal Government agencies, state governments, and the National Assembly to institute legislative protection for founders and investors in start-ups.”

According to Prof. Osinbajo, he shared those policy actions "not because it is a perfect story, but more to show what is possible and what can be improved on.”

While calling on governments and the private sector across the continent to work together in addressing some of the challenges, Prof. Osinbajo stressed the need to train more, and develop more useful digital skills on scale.

The highpoint of the event was the presentation of awards to startups across Africa, comprising winners from Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, and Cameroon. Other countries on the continent including Kenya and Senegal were also represented at the event.


Those in attendance at the dinner were the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Amb. Mariam Katagum; Mr. Tomi Davis, an Angel Investor; Board Chair of AfriLabs, Rebecca Enonchong, Board Director of AfriLabs, Moetaz Helmy, including female comedian, Chigurl who was the Mistress of Ceremonies.


Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
28th of October, 2021

STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE


WITH INNOVATION & CREATIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY, FOUNDING FATHERS’ DREAM OF PROSPEROUS AFRICA IS NOW ACHIEVABLE, SAYS OSINBAJO

*VP references continent’s young, energetic & digitally inclined population

With the advance in digital technology and the progress attained by innovators in the continent, the dream of Africa’s founding fathers of building a continental economic powerhouse and prosperous continent is now attainable, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

Prof. Osinbajo stated this Wednesday evening in Abuja at the 10th-anniversary dinner of AfriLabs - a network organisation supporting Innovation Centers across African countries since 2011.

Speaking about how technology and innovation hubs are now able to bring the vision to fruition, the VP said “our advantages are obvious, we are the youngest continent on the planet, the vast majority of our population are digital natives, born in the digital revolution.”

His words: “barely 60 years ago, the first leaders of independent African states dreamt of a united and prosperous Africa. They spoke of one continent, one people, a people capable of becoming a political and economic powerhouse. As it turned out, that objective is yet to be attained.

“But today that dream of Africans working in collaboration to create an economic powerhouse is achievable and at hand. The key lies in a planned digital future, innovation, and the creative use of technology for enterprise and development.”

Continuing, Prof. Osinbajo explained that “despite developmental constraints, Africa is still on course to disrupt the fourth industrial revolution itself with the sheer numbers of youthful talent and energy available. This has been proven with the disruption we continue to see across various sectors.”

On the progress made in the technology and innovation space, the VP noted that “in 2015, African start-ups struggled to raise about $200million, but in 2021 we have more than 6 Unicorns. In FinTech alone, we have Flutterwave, Paystack, Opay, and Interswitch, all valued at more than $1billion each.

“In e-commerce, we have Jumia, Ashraf Sabry’s Fawbry, an Egyptian e-payment company that allows customers to settle bills online and digitally, and is now on the Egyptian stock exchange with about 30 million customers.

“MNT-Halan, Egypt’s largest lender to the unbanked has about 1 million monthly active users and has disbursed $1.7billon in loans to date. Tala, a start-up in Kenya that helps the traditionally underbanked borrow, save, and grow their money has expanded to India, the Philippines, and Mexico and has disbursed close to $3billion of credit, and has more than 6million customers.

“And here in Nigeria, we have Piggyvest, a wealth management platform that at the end of 2019, had helped about one million users save about $80million. And in Senegal, Wave, a mobile money provider that became Francophone Africa’s first unicorn when it received a $200million injection of funds,” he added.

Prof Osinbajo then noted that “while Africa’s FinTech unicorns are payments-focused today, in the future we can expect more variety; digital lenders and insurers. Invest-tech and blockchain are also likely to feature.

“Of course, we should also expect unicorns to emerge in other sectors—companies that will help to address the continent’s key challenges in relation to healthcare, schooling, trade, and so on.”

The VP however called on stakeholders, especially governments across the continent to support the revolution taking place in the sector, noting that ‘‘much of the growth of African startups has been organic. Mostly operating as individual enterprises or at best as city initiatives. National effort is still usually missing.”

Said the VP: “there is now a need for positive action, proactive and intentional policies by governments to create the environment for startups and technology-based enterprises to thrive.”

Highlighting some efforts of the Buhari administration to support the technology startups, he disclosed that “one of the first actions that we took in 2015 as an administration was to work with development partners to conduct an innovation mapping exercise across Nigeria.

“We did this by engaging the ecosystem across the country, including AfriLabs at the time, and this process led to the report titled “Catalyzing Growth in Nigeria through Innovation”.”

“Armed with the results of this exercise, we supported more than 12 private sector-led innovation hubs across the country through our social investments programme.

“Working with the World Bank and the Lagos Business School, we supported the establishment of the Nigeria Climate Innovation Center in Lagos, and in partnership with the American University of Nigeria and the International Committee of the Red Cross, we supported the establishment of Africa’s first Humanitarian Innovation Hub in Adamawa State.”

In the area of policy, the VP explained that “we also established the Technology and Creativity Advisory Group as part of our Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council.

“Some of the policy initiatives developed from the advisory group include the wide range of licenses issued by the CBN for FinTechs, the collaboration with the African Development Bank to raise $500million to support technology and creative start-ups, venture capital and investments.”

Prof. Osinbajo also cited the hosting of the Aso Villa Demo Day in 2016 with Mark Zuckerberg in attendance, as a major activity in the sector that set the pace for subsequent engagements in the tech ecosystem.

In addition, the VP observed that “we have also made considerable progress in the enactment of the Nigerian Start-Up Act, an effort of stakeholders in the private sector, Federal Government agencies, state governments, and the National Assembly to institute legislative protection for founders and investors in start-ups.”

According to Prof. Osinbajo, he shared those policy actions "not because it is a perfect story, but more to show what is possible and what can be improved on.”

While calling on governments and the private sector across the continent to work together in addressing some of the challenges, Prof. Osinbajo stressed the need to train more, and develop more useful digital skills on scale.

The highpoint of the event was the presentation of awards to startups across Africa, comprising winners from Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, and Cameroon. Other countries on the continent including Kenya and Senegal were also represented at the event.


Those in attendance at the dinner were the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Amb. Mariam Katagum; Mr. Tomi Davis, an Angel Investor; Board Chair of AfriLabs, Rebecca Enonchong, Board Director of AfriLabs, Moetaz Helmy, including female comedian, Chigurl who was the Mistress of Ceremonies.


Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
28th of October, 2021

*STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE*

*OPTIMISTIC ABOUT COUNTRY’S FUTURE, OSINBAJO SAYS YOUNG NIGERIANS WILL UNLEASH THEIR RESOURCEFULNESS ON THE WORLD*

**VP adds: We only need to move few things around, invest more in the technology, creative industries & human capital development*

**Cites resilience of private sector*


With the energy of the youth, the resilience of the private sector combined with governments implementing the right policies, Nigeria will make the desired progress despite the challenges in the economy, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

Prof. Osinbajo stated this Tuesday while rounding up his thoughts during an interaction at the closing of the 27th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja (NES #27) themed: Securing Our Future, the Fierce Urgency of Now.

According to the Vice President who also praised the strong will of the average Nigerian, “we can see that there is a will to do things, there is energy, resilience, resourcefulness. My take is that this country is one that is waiting to happen and it will happen. It will take all of our resources, and all of our effort to make it happen, and it will happen.”

He noted that “we must focus on what this country offers in terms of all the resources that we have, human, natural and everything that we have - the will, the energy, the innovativeness of the Nigerian.

“This sort of country, a country with all that we have, can simply not fail, and it is only a matter of getting things right and moving a few things around, and we will be well on the way to the kind of progress that we ought to experience as a country.”

Prof. Osinbajo explained that despite the limitations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic among other challenges, government was working hard to address defects in the system, and noted that recent results were indicative of recovery across different sectors of the economy.

His words: “I believe very strongly that all of the great ideas that we have, the young people waiting to unleash their energy and resourcefulness on the world, all of those are just waiting to happen.

“I believe very strongly that this country affords us the opportunity and the space to be able to achieve great things. We should keep our focus.”

He further noted that the Buhari administration was ramping up efforts in different sectors to improve development and the economy.

While urging state governments to do more, especially in the area of education, the VP stated that “we must emphasize Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM). This is an area where a curriculum is being redeveloped to accommodate that.

“It is important to note that basic education – primary and secondary education are under the control of the states. Federal Government does not handle primary or secondary education. Yes, we do have some unity schools, but these things are really the business of the states.”

Citing the work being done by the National Economic Council in developing the country’s human capital, the VP said, “at the level of the NEC, which I have the privilege of chairing, one of the things that we have tried to do with the whole human capital development space, we have a whole dashboard where we are looking at performances in the states.

“What the Federal Government tries to do is set the standards and then support in whatever way possible. But it is a huge enterprise and we are also finding a lot of entrepreneurial activities around it. We must just keep our focus on what we need to do namely, the curricular and teacher training.”

Prof. Osinbajo restated the commitment of the Buhari administration in ensuring inclusive growth through education leveraging technology, noting that the overriding theme for government was value addition.

He said, “I am a firm believer in the fact that government’s business must be to just take care of the macro issues – access to capital and good training. And we tried that with our N-Power programme where we gave tablets to beneficiaries and those tablets were loaded with material for entrepreneurial training etc. Many of them were able to benefit from this initiative. The opportunities are huge for training and getting a lot of the young people into that space.”

Prof. Osinbajo noted that the Buhari administration has prioritized investment in social amenities, social welfare, and development of the health sector.

He said that “social amenities are crucial, not just for attracting investment, but even for the standard of living of people who live there.”

The VP stated the importance of the national health insurance scheme, noting that “without compulsory health insurance, we simply cannot bring together the resources that are required to provide decent healthcare for 200 million people, growing by 5 million every year… I think the game-changer is health insurance.”

On developing the health sector and government’s ongoing reforms, the VP said, “We are at a point now with the healthcare reform committee, which I have the privilege of chairing, where we are looking at all these options. We are trying to see in what ways can we ensure that this will work.

“So, there are huge revolutionary changes that need to be made and I believe that they are entirely possible. And we are at a point where these things are accessible to us, with time we can do these things, I am certainly looking forward to some of the reforms that is possible.

Prof. Osinbajo however commended the successes so far recorded in public health in the country.

According to him “we have been able to set a standard for public health and that was seen in our COVID-19 response. Our response to the pandemic, a major public health challenge was probably one of the best anywhere in the world. Just in terms of response.”

Continuing, the VP explained that “we have had years of developing a public health system. We are familiar with how to deal with Lassa Fever, Malaria, Polio, we have done immunization on scale, so we have a lot of experienced hands in doing so. But clinical health is an area where we have deficiency.”

His words: “just a few days ago, we were opening a hospital in Lagos. What this hospital was able to show us is first of all the sheer number of doctors in the diaspora who are experts in their own fields and are coming home to work. The doctor who comes home to work is still available for work elsewhere.

“Even the way medical services are delivered today is so radically different from the way it used to be. It is possible now to get the best of help and while we were there in one theater, we were able to communicate with some other expert who was in the US and was able to talk to us. So, even telemedicine is possible, it is available, and there is a lot that we can do.”

In addition, the Vice President highlighted government’s efforts in creating the environment for the growth of technology and creative industry, noting the need for more investment in these areas.

“I spoke earlier about the Technology and Creativity Advisory Group and the creativity aspect of it is the Nollywood and entertainment and that whole industry, and there is support in terms of funding. But what I have found is (about) the infrastructure that is required.

“There is a major project that is going on at the National Theatre in Lagos, which is funded by the CBN and the banks and this is devoted entirely to creativity. This is a massive area where we certainly need a lot more investment.

The Vice President added that with regards to the 4th Industrial revolution, Nigeria “is in a good place leveraging technology and the creativity of the youth”, but noted that a lot could be done to achieve more results.

“We have the best advantage which is that we have young people, the majority of our population over 60 percent are under 25, they are energetic, creative and are ready to go. What we need to do is to see how we can support them, access to capital, training, and all of that,” he said.

Commending the contributions of the private sector, the VP noted that “the private sector in Nigeria (in terms of resilience and coping with challenges), has done very well, with what we have learned, even coping with the post-pandemic issues (business after the pandemic), the private sector has done well.”

“For example, transport went down 49%, and now they are back with 77%. The construction sector went down by almost 40%, and has returned to a much more modest positive,” Prof. Osinbajo explained.

On Climate Change, the VP said Nigeria’s position must be re-echoed at all forums of negotiations, and that the emphasis should be on fairness, justice in the transition from gas.

At the closing event of the 27th Nigerian Economic Summit, the Vice President engaged in a “Conversation” with Mr Kyari Bukar, a Director of the NESG, and Mrs Chichi Aniagolu-Okoye, the Country Director of the Ford Foundation in Nigeria.



*Laolu Akande*
*Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity*
*Office of the Vice President*
*27th October 2021*

ENaira's main purpose is to deepen the cashless policy (reduces the costs associated with printing paper currency), it will make transactions more seamless and most importantly bring the millions of unbanked nigerians into the system. It will enable govt to easily disburse it's social welfare funds such as conditional cash transfers etc, currently CCT is paid to unbanked beneficiaries in cash via 3rd party merchants who are paid commissions on transactions. It will also enable some cross border payments and remittances within Africa in the first instance and the rest of the world eventually. A lot of people are making the mistake of comparing eNaira transactions with regular online or digital banking transactions done by commercial banks. Let me explain what a digital currency is... The money in circulation and ALL bank accounts in Nigeria is equivalent is equal to the amount of cash money minted and issued by CBN. eNaira has nothing to with that cash money. The eNaira will be MINTED and issued by CBN using blockchain technology and each bank will operate a treasury wallet with CBN the same way they operate treasury cash accounts with CBN. So when you transact using eNaira app your bank will take naira from your account and fund you eNaira from their treasury wallet. So eNaira is an actual currency, it's not an app. A benefit of eNaira is that a lot of bank charges will not apply when using eNaira, for example, there will be no charges for withdrawals and deposits and maintenance fees etc. Any questions??

People get problem sha, what's bad in what he's doing in the video?

2018 video oh, you people should ger work to do mbok

We are getting there � God bless Nigeria

STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE

HOW WE FOCUS ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, WOMEN EMPOWERMENT & YOUTH INTERVENTIONS – OSINBAJO

**Nigeria’s future worth fighting for, VP says at Sen. Nnamani's book launch

The various intervention programmes of the Buhari administration since 2015 to date are designed and implemented in order to improve the health, education and socio-economic conditions of the Nigerian people, especially women, children and youths, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.


Prof. Osinbajo stated this Thursday in Abuja at an event to mark six years of the Future Assured programme, an initiative of the Aisha Buhari Foundation. Later same day, the Vice President also spoke at the public presentation of Senator Ken Nnamani's book, Standing Strong.


According to the Vice President at the Future Assured event, “the very future of Nigeria and our communities depend on how well we address the many concerns of women and children in our communities, especially the focal areas of health, education and economic empowerment.


“We agree with Future Assured’s belief that all social indices can be influenced if the health, education and economic status of the population are improved upon. And that is the case, clearly, women constitute half our population and the youth are at least 60% of that population. Women especially, young girls, continue to face problems of every kind and this problem mutate as the social pressures increase every passing day.”


Continuing, he said, “since the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdowns, it has been shown by empirical studies that the rates of dropouts, especially of girls, have increased, child marriages also increased, adolescent childbearing, and gender-based violence, all these indices increased.


“The sharp drop in income for most families here in Nigeria and in most economies of the world would mean that families will have to make choices that almost always will disfavour the girl-child and of course, female children have suffered disproportionate displacement and deprivation caused by the insurgency and conflict in the Northeast and Northwest.”


He then explained that “for the Federal Government, the President has prioritized the solutions to these issues. Since 2015, we have ensured that government's social and entrepreneurial programmes have an affirmative component for women.”


"So, of the 2.4 million beneficiaries of the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, 1.2 million were women - that is 56.4% of beneficiaries. A total of N38billion in loans has been disbursed over the last 4 years. Of the 1.1 million beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfers, over 98% of beneficiaries are women," the VP disclosed.


Continuing, he noted that “for our youth employment programme N-Power, of the 526,000 employed, 40.4% are female. And of the 106,074 cooks in our Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, 97% are females.


“We implemented a payroll support programme which was designed to mitigate income losses in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and of the 307,173 employees that have benefited, 130,880 or 43% of beneficiaries are female-owned businesses.


“Of 94,318 artisan beneficiaries of the programme, 40,386 are female artisans, i.e., over 41% of beneficiaries. And so far, 35% of all MSMEs grants are female. And all of these are deliberate affirmative action to ensure that women benefit proportionately.”


The Vice President further stated that “in 2020, the Federal Executive Council approved a World Bank credit facility in the sum of $500million to finance the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment Project, to improve secondary education opportunities among girls in targeted areas of participating States which are Borno, Ekiti, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi and Plateau.”

In addressing violence and other abuses against women, the VP said “in November 2019, in an effort to enhance access to justice, we secured a toll-free emergency number and shortcode for the FCT- SGBV Response Team, with the generous support of Airtel.

“We also developed Referral Guidelines for Gender-Based Violence Response in Nigeria and a National Guide for the Establishment of Sexual Assault Referral Centres in Nigeria, to further enhance coordination.”


“Also in 2019, the President directed the National Human Rights Commission to set up a special panel to investigate cases of unlawful arrests, assault and Sexual & Gender-Based Violence in the Federal Capital Territory following complaints of raids of night clubs and arrests of women by the Police,” the Vice President added.


Commending the Future Assured programme for the impact of its interventions across health, education and social welfare, Prof. Osinbajo said “it certainly has been an exciting 6 years”.


He listed some of the impactful projects executed by the initiative as “the educational initiatives, especially the Youth Education Empowerment Programme (YEEP) where large numbers of youths are given tutorial classes, in preparation for WAEC, NECO, NABTEB and JAMB; support to IDPs that return to their communities with relief materials including foodstuff, clothing, beddings, and building materials.


Other projects listed by the VP include “Building of Schools and Orphanages in Maiduguri; Distribution of Future Assured Packs to Patients in Abuja Hospitals, Free Health Screening Services in Kogi State in conjunction with Kogi Women and Youth Advancement Foundation; Women Empowerment and Training in Lagos State alongside Distribution of Maternity Kits also in Lagos, among others.”


Aside from the First Lady, Hajiya Aisha Buhari, other dignitaries present at the event include the wife of the Vice President, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo; Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State; Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire; his counterpart in the Niger Delta Affairs Ministry, Sen. Godswill Akpabio, and top United Nations officials, among others.


In another development, Prof. Osinbajo spoke at the public presentation of the book titled “Standing Strong: Legislative Reforms, Third Term and Other Issues of the 5th Senate,” a biography of Sen Ken Nnamani.


Extolling the leadership qualities of Sen Nnamani, Prof. Osinbajo said “the first thing you notice about Ken Nnamani, especially as you observe the characteristics of politics and politicians, is an act of lack of desperation to occupy political office.”

Directing his comments to the former President of the Senate, the VP said “it is clear that you want to serve, but not at all cost."

Continuing, he observed that the "lack of desperation has greatly helped him in having the courage of his convictions. This is why even at the risk of losing his senate presidency at the time, he stood against the notorious third term agenda and he stood very strong.

According to the VP, "a nation such as ours must have men and women who are capable of standing strong.

"Sen. Nnamani, we are today faced with challenges that call for the same type of strong leadership that you showed many years ago as President of the Senate, especially on the question of national unity and the building of a just fair and equitable society.

“We know that we as a nation are better together than apart, and our collective future is worth fighting for. Therefore, this generation of leaders has a historic responsibility to handover an economically and socially strong, and united nation to the coming generation.”

Dignitaries present at the book event were Gen. T.Y. Danjuma (rtd); Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha; Ministers of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonaya Onu; Niger Delta Affairs, Sen. Godswill Akpabio; Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema, and Royal Fathers among others.

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
21st October 2021

*STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE*

OSINBAJO WOOS YOUNG NIGERIANS, “OUR BEST MINDS”: JOIN POLITICS TO MAKE THE DIFFERENCE

*VP recalls time as Lagos Attorney-General, says, “without public office, I wouldn’t have been able to make the changes required”


The way to transform society is largely dependent on the actions and decisions of those who occupy public offices. This is why young people in Nigeria must get involved in politics, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

Prof. Osinbajo said this Wednesday at a virtual forum where he interacted with Nigerian Fellows of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. The interaction included a Q & A session where questions were posed to the Vice President ranging from education, health, and youth engagement issues.

According to the VP, “you need to go the extra length if you are not already involved, get involved in politics—while a lot can be achieved in civil society, government still holds the ace in terms of capacity and resources to bring social goods to the largest numbers.

“Besides, being deciders instead of pressure group at the table in policy formulation are hugely different positions. The consummation of our great ideas to transform our societies ultimately will depend on “those politicians” as we sometimes derisively describe them.”

Continuing, the VP noted that “African nations and especially our country, cannot afford to have its best minds and most committed social activists remain only in the civil space. No, we simply can’t afford it, you have to get involved in politics. You have to be in the position to make the difference on the scale that is required.”

“Of course, there are many who will not be involved in politics but those that are inclined should, and there will be many challenges even in the winning or getting heard in politics. But I want to say to you that it should be an objective that you should set for yourselves, to get involved at whatever level of politics so that you can make the difference on the scale that is required,” Prof. Osinbajo added.

Speaking further about the potentials of young Nigerians to effect the desired change in their communities, the Vice President described the efforts of young African innovators as “Africa’s most exciting story - the story of a present and future that could be steered by our continent’s incredibly talented and optimistic young men and women.”

Commending the innovation and creativity of the fellows, Prof. Osinbajo said “within any generation, only a few wholeheartedly take on that challenge – the challenge of building a society. Most believe that the task is for someone else and that such endeavors cannot pay the bills.”

Recalling his days in civil society engagements and later in politics as Lagos State Attorney-General, the Vice President noted that “it took public office for me to be able to get the scale of change that is required to make a difference.”

His words, “without public office I would have remained a pressure group activist, I would have done some nice things, but I wouldn’t have been able to make the changes that my country required.

“I was once where you were. I was part of several civil society groups at the time. I joined the first civil society group when I was 24, I was teaching at the time. I also co-founded the anti-corruption group, Integrity, and then Convention on Business Integrity (which is still existing today and they function out of Abuja and Lagos).

“I was chair of the Legal Research and Development Centre, where we worked on civil rights issues and legal defense for the poor. We did a couple of legal defence initiatives, we got funding from donors and tried to do the best we could.”

He added: “If I count the numbers that we did all the years it will be around maybe a hundred or so. We achieved some good, but compared to the scale of the problem, it was really a little.

“But in 1999 came politics, and I was appointed Attorney General of Lagos. With that platform, we took on corruption in the Lagos judiciary and set a model. We reviewed the issues of corruption in the Lagos Judiciary and how to address it. From remuneration to discipline and we were able to put in place an anti-corruption framework that has lasted several years.

“The reason why I make this point is that other States after what we did in Lagos copied that very example. So, many States improved remuneration and a wide variety of things.”

Prof. Osinbajo stated further that “the second thing we did in Lagos at the time is that we established the Citizens Rights Department. For the first time in the history of our country, a department was established in the Ministry of Justice for the rights of citizens.

“That was important because the Ministry of Justice is not just a ministry of law and order, it is a Ministry of Justice for the people. And that department had what was called the Office of the Public Defender, and that was a concept we borrowed from some US States and we were able to do legal defence, government provided the funding, for thousands of Lagosians.

“But the more interesting part of that story is that almost every state in Nigeria adopted the Citizens’ Rights Department, adopted the Office of the Public Defender. Now, go back to when I was an activist working in the Legal Research and Development Centre, where we tried to do some work on legal defence. We did a few but certainly couldn’t achieve the scale that we achieved when we were in public service.”

Responding to concerns about the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test, the VP said relevant government ministries and agencies would work on making things easier for Nigerians.

He said, “as an English-speaking country, we should be beneficiaries of some concession as opposed to being forced every two years to take the same test especially if you have passed it once before.”

The Fellowship is the flagship program of the U.S. Government’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). Since 2014, nearly 5,100 young leaders from every country in Sub-Saharan Africa have participated in the Fellowship.

Besides the Fellows of the Mandela Washington Fellowship, other participants at the meeting were the United States of America’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Amb. Mary Beth Leonard and the Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments, Mrs Maryam Uwais, among others.




*Laolu Akande*
*Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity*
*Office of the Vice President*
*20th October 2021*

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, interacts virtually with Mandela Washington Fellows from Nigeria. They discussed varying issues of concern to young Nigerians. 20th Oct, 2021. Photos; Tolani Alli

STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE

WE ARE HAPPY U.S IS BACK ON TRACK WITH CLIMATE CHANGE, SAYS OSINBAJO

*A just energy transition towards global Net-zero emissions target is Nigeria's focus at forthcoming COP26 summit--VP


Nigeria is glad that the Biden administration is fully back on board the Climate Change global agenda, in a commendable restoration of the US government’s support for the Paris Agreement, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

Prof. Osinbajo stated this yesterday when he received at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, a US government delegation led by the White House Deputy National Security Advisor, Mr. Jonathan Finer, who is currently visiting Nigeria.

According to Prof. Osinbajo, “we are happy that the US is fully on board with climate change and back to the table on this issue. I think one has to commend the drive that this US administration has put behind climate change.”

Four years ago, the Trump administration had announced the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation issues. But on assumption to power earlier this year, the Biden administration announced the restoration of America’s commitment to the Paris Agreement.

Reiterating Nigeria’s position regarding a just transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, ahead of the Net-zero Emissions 2050 target, the VP made the point that “we are concerned, amongst other things, first about some of what has been going on, especially around gas as an effective transition fuel, and how many of the Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and some countries are insisting that gas projects should be defunded.

“This is a principal concern to us; it is one that we have made central to our advocacy and it is one of the issues that we intend to promote at the COP26.”

He then informed the US delegation of Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan, which is the first in Africa.

"We have done the costing for it and all of what is required to be able to hit net-zero by 2050. Also, what the implications would be, given the constraints there, and how realistic it would be to get to net-zero by 2050 or not," the VP added.

Regarding the Democracy Summit President Joe Biden would be hosting later in the year, the VP stated that Nigeria looked forward to participating at the summit.

The Vice President also noted that “one of the things we have always spoken about is how to ensure that illicit financial flows are discouraged,” while adding that the international monetary and financial systems have a role in stopping it.

“Looking at what happened in the last few years, we have received quite a bit of support from the US government, especially in terms of the repatriation of several of the looted funds, and we hope to continue to get the cooperation of the US.”

The Vice President further spoke on the security concerns in relation to the activities of ISWAP and ISIS. He recognized the role of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS (D-ISIS) as a “very important initiative” sending the "right signals, especially in Iraq and Syria.”

According to him, “if you look at what is going on today in certain regions like the Lake Chad and the Sahel, it is very apparent that we need that kind of resolve in order to be able to deal with ISWAP and Boko Haram in Nigeria."

Prof. Osinbajo took the opportunity to express the gratitude of the Federal Government to the US government for donating over 3.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Nigeria.

Earlier, Finer informed the VP of a potential partnership with Nigeria on a G-7 Infrastructure Programme – Build Back Better World, which the US President has made a priority.

“It involves bringing together a range of funding sources, development finance and private sector to work with key partner-countries to develop their infrastructure and fill the gap between infrastructure needs and the current state of infrastructure," he said.

Also in attendance at the meeting were the American Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard; the Nigerian National Security Advisor, Major General Babagana Monguno (Rtd); and other US and Nigerian senior government officials.


Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
19th of October 2021

STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE

*NIGERIA HAS WHAT IT TAKES TO BECOME A LEADER IN HEALTHCARE, SAYS OSINBAJO*

*VP adds: There are world class experts here, we must build local capacity

*Health sector reforms committee an important vehicle of transformation

Nigeria must take its own destiny in its hands, build local capacities that will ensure health access to the people, and take advantage of the opportunity to become a leading nation in healthcare.

This is the submission of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, who is of the firm belief that there are already clear indications that "we are well on the way," to getting the job done.

Speaking today in Abuja at the International Conference on Health Access beyond COVID-19, Prof. Osinbajo highlighted the country’s strengths in the areas of healthcare while emphasising major steps the country needs to take in order to improve its heath system.

According to him, one of the eye openers from the COVID-19 pandemic "is that despite infrastructural weaknesses we have an experienced and robust public health system, peopled by some of the best personnel in the world, but more importantly (is) the huge opportunities for becoming a leading nation in healthcare.”

Buttressing his point on building local capacity, the VP noted that the pandemic revealed further that *“every nation is on her own in a global pandemic, and how vaccine-rich nations at some point even banned exports in order to meet local needs, it is clear that we must take our destiny in our own hands. And there is great potential.


“Last December, the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) launched a new set of COVID-19 test kits that can produce results in 57 minutes. The new kit was designed by Joseph Shaibu, a molecular virologist at NIMR.”


The VP declared that “the healthcare system of our dreams is ahead of us, we know what we want and what is possible. We have the men and women with the required expertise; what we need is more diligent and focused management.

“Only recently the President established the Healthcare Reform committee which I have the privilege of chairing. That may well be at least one of the vehicles for ensuring that we are able to get some of our dreams comes true."

Establishing the health sector reform committee is one of the ways the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration is making concerted efforts towards transforming the country’s health sector.

According to the VP, other ongoing measures include funding for healthcare research and developing solutions in pharmaceuticals and medical consumables; and the health sector component of the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP).

“It is evident that the way forward is more funding for health care research and for innovators to develop solutions in pharmaceuticals and medical consumables, the VP disclosed.

He continued: "Our administration established the Healthcare Sector Intervention Fund Facility which has disbursed N76.98 billion to finance the acquisition and installation of critical medical equipment as well as the expansion of production lines in various pharmaceutical companies across the country.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria is also supporting a number of research and development initiatives in the health sector. In all, a total of N233 billion in grants has been disbursed.”

“In our Economic Sustainability Plan, designed to mitigate and take advantage of the consequences of the pandemic. One of the cross-cutting issues identified for action was the development of Nigeria’s capacity to become Africa’s hub for the manufacture of generic drugs.”

Prof. Osinbajo further emphasized government’s commitment in supporting pharmaceutical and research agencies to develop and manufacture vaccines locally, and so enhance Nigeria’s domestic pharmaceutical capacity.


“In his Independence Day speech, the President also noted that the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority is raising a $200 million fund for this initiative that will complement the Central Bank of Nigeria’s ongoing N85 billion Healthcare Sector Research and Development Intervention Scheme to support local researchers in the development of vaccines and drugs to combat communicable and non-communicable diseases, including COVID-19," the Vice President restated.

He further explained that Nigeria‘s existing public health infrastructure was crucial in helping the country respond effectively to the global pandemic.

“The Ebola outbreak of 2014 and our ongoing battle with Lassa fever and our successes with polio eradication helped us to tighten our epidemic contingency plans, strengthen our emergency coordination and surveillance capacities, and also to invest in public health laboratories," he asserted.

Also, he recalled that during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, between 2014 to 2016, "the first case in Nigeria was confirmed and sequenced at the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID), The Center was also instrumental to containing the epidemic in the sub-region by the development of a 15-minute Rapid Diagnostics. This method was approved by the World Health Organization and the Food and Drug Administration, FDA of the US government.


“One of the key lessons we learned from our response to the Ebola outbreak was the need to build systems in ‘peace time’ that can be used during outbreaks. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) which was founded in 2011 was made an independent government agency in 2018 as we prioritised the strengthening of our public health infrastructure… it is evident that the NCDC is one of the best prepared and resourced, at least in Africa.”

He also acknowledged the impressive work of the ACEGID, at Redeemers University in Ede, Osun State Nigeria. The ACEGID team led by Prof. Christian Happi analysed the sample of the first COVID-19 case in Nigeria, and sub-Saharan Africa.

In recognition of the work of Nigerian scientists by international bodies, Prof. Osinbajo added that, “Professor Happi and his team have also produced a ground breaking rapid test, certified by the Food and Drug Administration, FDA of the US government. It costs around $3, much less than Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests. In addition, the test does not require highly equipped laboratories that tend to be too expensive. But more remarkably they are developing a Nigerian anti-Covid vaccine.

The VP also noted the work of the Africa Centre of Excellence for Neglected Tropical Diseases and Forensic Biotechnology (ACENTDFB) led by Professor Y.K Ibrahim, which he said has been performing mass testing.
“In collaboration with the Kaduna State Government and its University Teaching Hospital, they established a facility where COVID-19 samples are analysed. The facility is part of the Nigeria CDC national testing centers,” he added.

According to the Vice President, “we were able to scale up on testing and case management capacity, quickly activating 120 laboratories nationwide - from 5 just before the pandemic – most of them public laboratories.

"Also, we expanded the footprint of our sovereign public health response capabilities especially at the subnational levels and in areas where previously such capabilities did not exist.”

Prof. Osinbajo also noted the widely acclaimed work of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, in coordinating the national response, commending the effort led by Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha.

“The task force swiftly issued and enforced COVID-19 protocols for travel and general movement. When the first doses of vaccines came, the task force developed the protocols and the public health system already used to mass vaccination campaigns, deployed across the country in every nook and cranny of Nigeria so that the first eligible vaccine candidates received their vaccinations seamlessly,” he said.

Furthermore, Prof. Osinbajo commended the work of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), which hosted the conference for developing a standardized hand-sanitizer and made the formula publicly accessible for mass production.

Going forward, the VP stated that African countries must take proactive approach in responding to the slow pace of getting access to COVID-19 vaccines.

“Although we have received some help from friendly nations and the COVAX alliance, less than 4% of our eligible population will have been vaccinated by the end of the year. There is no question that we cannot afford not to have our own vaccine production facilities,” he stated.

The VP also called for a private sector-led initiative to make the country self-sufficient in basic drugs and in being a net exporter to Africa, noting, again, that Nigeria has the human capital to build a more efficient health care system.

For instance, he disclosed that "Nigeria is in talks with the World Bank’s private lending arm and other lenders to raise about $30 million to help finance a vaccine plant, Biovaccines Nigeria Ltd. Chaired by Prof. Oyewale Tomori; 49% of the company owned by the Nigerian government, with the balance held by May & Baker Nigeria Plc. There are plans to begin construction of the plant in the first quarter of next year."

Earlier in his speech, the VP listed other lessons learnt from the global pandemic such as the unpreparedness of more developed countries to the pandemic and the public health crises that followed; the need to persuade both the educated and non-educated citizen on taking precautions to prevent infection; false information and the danger of conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccine; and the reason why individual countries need to take responsibility in locally tackling a global health crisis.

As the VP noted, “these eye-openers should be a guide as to navigating the pathway to assuring health access and socio-economic development beyond Covid 19.”

The conference themed “Health Access and Social-Economic Development Beyond COVID-19: The First Multisectoral Approach to Solution Finding” is a two-day event that has several Nigerian scientists and Vice Chancellors in attendance. Emeritus Professor of Virology, Prof. Oyewale Tomori was also present.

Other speakers at the ceremony where the VP declared the conference opened included the Director-General of the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, NIPRD, Dr. Obi Adigwe; NAFDAC Director- General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye and the keynote speaker, Prof. Joseph Fortunak of the Howard University, who titled his lecture: Assuring Health Access and Socio-economic Development Beyond COVID-19.

*'Laolu Akande*
*Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity*
*Office of the Vice President*
*18th October, 2021*

Osinbajo been giving me goosebumps

The VP is very fit

STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE

QUEEN’S BATON RELAY REMINDS US OF BROTHERHOOD, FRIENDSHIP AMONG COMMOWEALTH MEMBERS, SAYS OSINBAJO AS NIGERIA RECEIVES THE BATON


Nigeria took its turn in the Queen’s Baton Relay ahead of the Commonwealth Games coming up next year in Birmingham as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN who received the Baton on behalf of the President reminds member-nations of the strong bonds uniting the 72 countries that are members of the international body.

The Queen’s Baton for the 2022 Commonwealth Games is  moving across the 72-member countries of the Commonwealth. Nigeria is its third stop, and first in Africa. From here the Baton goes to Gambia and ends up in Birmingham at the opening ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games


The Vice President represented President Muhammadu Buhari at the event held at Presidential Villa, where the Queen’s Baton, the equivalent of the Olympic Torch was passed on.


According to Prof. Osinbajo “as the relay goes from one commonwealth member-country to another in its journey across several continents, the two billion strong population of the commonwealth are reminded of the strong bonds of brotherhood and friendship that bind us across these continents, nations, races, tongues and faiths.”

The Vice President noted that the Queen's Baton Relay “is a much loved tradition which precedes every commonwealth games. A Baton carrying Her Majesty's message of goodwill to the Commonwealth goes on a 90,000-mile, 72-country journey to end at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.”

The VP commended the relay team for their cheerfulness and dedication to the tour covering thousands of miles, and the organizing committees for the hard work in seamlessly delivering this relay event.

While also commending "the athletes who will bring excitement and thrill to millions at this festival of sport and culture, Prof. Osinbajo acknowledged the achievements of Nigerian athletes at the Games since inception.

"Nigerian athletes will join their brothers and sisters at the Games, as we have done at several of the Games since we first attended in 1950, when Joshua Majekodunmi won our first medal in the high jump event. 

“Since then, our athletes have won no less than 236 medals at the games! We are set to do much better in Birmingham.”

Dignitaries at the event included the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare; the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ambassador Catriona Laing; and President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), Engr. Habu Gumel among other top officials.

From Nigeria, the Queen’s Baton will be going to Gambia on the 20th of October. Previously the Baton had been to Cyprus and Malta before coming to Nigeria.

'Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
16th October, 2021

THE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL HAS ISSUED AN ADVISORY ON PUBLIC PROTESTS AT THIS TIME AS FOLLOWS:

While appreciating the role of lawful peaceful protests in the advancement of public discourse under democratic governance, the National Economic Council (NEC) strongly advise those planning public protests across the country to mark the anniversary of the #EndSARS,  to consider other lawful alternative means of engagement.

This is because of the current security situation across the country and the possibility of such protests being hijacked by armed hoodlums and other opportunistic criminals to cause mayhem at such protest events and venues. Council therefore urges the organisers to reconsider their plan.

NEC would also like to point out the various actions already taken by Federal and State Governments to address the grievances that led to the 2020 protests, including

* the disbandment of SARS;
*broad police reforms;
*establishment of judicial panels of inquiries to investigate allegations of human rights violations by members of the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies;
* recommendations of panels which are already at various stages of implementation, including the setup of Victims Compensation Funds from which several victims have received payments of sums awarded to them by the panels;
*and prosecution of police personnel indicted by the panels.

These are commendable actions that ought to be taken to a logical conclusion in a peaceful atmosphere.

Organisers of the planned protests should explore the various channels of communication with governments at various levels to advance their positions and avert the breakdown of law and order that may result from such public protests.

STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE

CHANGE FOCUS, KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY IS NOW THE IN-THING, OSINBAJO TELLS STATES AT EKITI INVESTMENT SUMMIT

*It is the future of fast-growing economies, VP adds

*Unveils Dorian Homes for orphaned, vulnerable children in Akure


Calling for a new mindset in the way the affairs of State Governments in the Federation are managed, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has suggested increased investments in local talents, more focus on the knowledge economy, and greater attention to niche areas of comparative advantage.

This way, States can attract investors and boost their economic development.

Speaking on the theme of the Summit: “Investment Attractiveness and Economic Development: Lessons for Sub-nationals”, the Vice President noted that “the future of fast-growing economies is in the knowledge economy,” while also referencing Ekiti State’s potential in agriculture and dairy production, and technology.

Commending the farsightedness of the Ekiti State Governor with the planned establishment of the Technology Special Economic Zones, the VP advised that “for a digital SEZ to be successful, it must be attractive to digital companies; that means there must be high-quality, well-trained local talent.”

“I’m glad to hear already that on account of the reduction in charges for laying of cables for broadband connectivity, the State is already attracting investments in the laying of cables,” he said.

The Vice President then added that despite Ekiti State being small in terms of population and federal allocation, the State has a bigger economy and GDP than countries like São Tomé, Gambia, Cape Verde, and Seychelles.

In this regard, the VP noted that a collective change of mindset for States is vital towards leveraging comparative advantages and achieving more economic growth.

“Thinking differently, there is a need for a sub-national to think like a sovereign State. You have a bigger GDP and even more revenues than many nations. There is a different mindset when you are sure of a monthly allocation of cash at least enough to pay salaries, whether you generate income or not. This is the challenge. The so-called Dutch disease, one becomes complacent.

"But what if you had to take responsibility for all those who reside within your borders, pay all salaries, from internally generated revenue?”

The VP recalled how Lagos State improved its IGR from N600million monthly in 1999/2000 to about N45billion today. He said the illegal seizure of the allocations to the State by the then Federal Government was the shock that forced the State to rethink.

Speaking further, Prof. Osinbajo noted that although a State within a Federation is not a nation, it must behave like one, to further boost its economic development.

“The economy of the sub-national is a peculiar animal. The State within the Federation is not a nation, but it must behave like one, it derives some resources from the Federal pool, and generates some income, the overall sum will provide infrastructure and services to the community. The size of the sum and the quantum of opportunity available to provide livelihoods for the populace will depend on how the State enables local and external investors, small and large to put their resources into business and commercial activity business in the State, the VP observed.

He continued: “the funded portion of the State’s budget is after all a mere fraction of the sum total of economic activity or income-generating activity, formal or informal within the State. So, the attractiveness of a State to commerce is a radical issue.”

He asserted that "the very lives and livelihoods of the people within the borders of the State, whether the people will live prosperous and happy lives, be educated, have access to affordable medical care, depends on it.”


Similarly, Prof. Osinbajo highlighted how Federal and State governments can benefit from a private-sector led economy, noting that the private sector-led model is the right way to go, as “business is the business of the private sector, while governments should as much as possible facilitate, or at best, collaborate.

“An excellent example is the formerly State-Owned, Ikun Dairy Farms at Ikun Ekiti. After 40 years of inactivity, the State Government divested 76% of its shareholding to a private dairy company, Promasidor, resulting in a company that is now producing over 80,000 liters of milk per month from a herd of about 500 cows.

“There is also the recent concessioning of hospitality facilities such as the iconic Ikogosi Warm Springs, affirming the same principle (of collaboration). This is a very important principle, the idea that it is the private sector that really should lead the economy,” he said.


States must find ways to harness the potential of their people through STEM education in order to become a more attractive destination for investors, noting that the key to the knowledge economy is education, he declared.

“Gone are the days when you could argue that you should be an attractive destination for investment because you have cheap labour. Today, well-trained technology and innovation talent is the game-changer.

“It would therefore be very important for Ekiti State to leverage its famed love and passion for education by focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

“STEM education is vital for being able to participate in the 4th Industrial Revolution which is at once a digital age and a knowledge age. This must be the Fountain of the Knowledge Economy,” referencing the State’s alias.

He went on: “the importance of having a pool of healthy, well-trained workers such as electricians, fitters, mechanics, laboratory technicians, welders, machine toolists, and even web designers, is vital for an ecosystem that will be attractive for technology and innovation investments

In the same vein, the Vice President commended the State Government for establishing the foundations for a modern and thriving economy.

Prof. Osinbajo also pointed out the State’s business-friendly environment, having ranked 18th overall out of the 36 States and the FCT in the inaugural edition of Nigeria’s “Subnational Ease of Doing Business Baseline Survey.”

Ekiti State also had the highest score amongst all the States in the Technical and Professional Skills category of the Ease of Doing Business Rankings, he noted.

According to the VP, “the fundamentals are there; a modern, strong, consistently improving legal and Justice sector. Ekiti State was strongest in the Skills and Labour and Infrastructure and Security indicators where it had an average score of 5.35 and 5.05, respectively.


“This is a State that has vast arable land for agriculture and its value chains, a modern, strong, and effective media and public communications system, an experienced CEO of the State, Governor Fayemi, whose academic, civil society background, excellent relationships with international donors and DFIs, his experience as second term Governor, one-time Minister of Mines and Steel, and as Chair of Governors’ Forum whose important experience in extracting benefits for the States from the Federal Government, all put the State at a distinct advantage.”

Pointing to yet another area of strength, Prof. Osinbajo said “for example, there is tremendous potential for the development of a whole medical education and healthcare industry around the huge private investment in the iconic Afe Babalola University and the ABUAD multi-system Teaching Hospital. I know that the State was helpful in providing access roads and some other facilities to the campus.

“Many countries of the world do not have the number of medical talents assembled in that hospital alone. There are huge opportunities here and I believe that we must tap into those opportunities also.”

Aside from the host Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State; also at the event were the governors of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Edo State, Godwin Obaseki; Kaduna State Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and the Deputy Governor of Ondo State Lucky Aiyedatiwa.


Also present were the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo; Special Advisers to the President: Economic Matters, Dr Adeyemi Dipeolu; Political Affairs, Sen. Babafemi Ojudu; and Social Investment Programmes, Maryam Uwais.

Ahead of the summit, the Vice President had commissioned the State's Civic Centre, which hosted the meeting.

Afterward, the VP moved later in the afternoon to the neighbouring Ondo State, where he was the special guest of honour at the formal unveiling and official dedication of the Dorian Home, Akure, built to cater for orphaned and vulnerable children.

Commending the visioner and founder of the Home, Dr. Tolulola Bayode, for her compassion and philanthropy, VP Osinbajo pointed out that “the Dorian Home for Charity and Social Development has been rendering humanitarian services for almost a decade.”

“Millions of orphaned and vulnerable children need safe spaces to grow and thrive in addition to having their physiological needs met. A place where they are cared for and trained. Women who need succor, or to rebuild their lives after suffering loss or harrowing experiences also need a safe space where they can begin to rebuild their lives,” he added.

At the event, the VP was again accompanied by the Ondo State Deputy Governor, the Industry, Trade and Investment Minister, and also the Women Affairs Minister, Dame Pauline Tallen, and the Niger Delta Affairs Minister of State, Senator Tayo Alasoadura.

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
14th October, 2021

STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE

OSINBAJO CALLS FOR A COLLECTIVE CHANGE OF MINDSET IN MANAGING STATES' AFFAIRS IN NIGERIA

*Add: Most States in Nigeria have bigger GDPs than many other African Nations


KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE EKITI INVESTMENT AND ECONOMIC SUMMIT (FOUNTAIN SUMMIT 2021) THEMED “INVESTMENT ATTRACTIVENESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: LESSONS FOR SUB-NATIONALS” ON THE 14TH OF OCTOBER, 2021


PROTOCOLS


Governor Kayode Fayemi, thank you very much for the kind invitation to join you at this 3rd Investment and Economic Development Summit and the third-anniversary celebration of the government of Ekiti State. Congratulations! Accept my gratitude for the warm and generous hospitality of Her Excellency, Erelu Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, and yourself to me and my team today as always.


I bring you and the great people of this State - the Fountain of Knowledge - the very warm felicitations of President Muhammadu Buhari, on this auspicious occasion of the third-year anniversary of your government. As you know, President Buhari has a special interest in this State being that your dynamic Governor is actually on loan in the second coming from the Federal Executive Council chaired by Mr. President.


The theme of the summit is an important one “Investment Attractiveness and Economic Development: Lessons for Sub-nationals.”


The economy of the sub-national is a peculiar animal. The State within the Federation is not a nation, but it must behave like one, it derives some resources from the federal pool, and generates some income; the sum will provide infrastructure and services to the community. The size of the sum and the quantum of opportunity available to provide livelihoods for the populace will depend on how the State enables local and external investors, small and large to put their resources into business and commercial activity business in the State.


The funded portion of the State’s budget is after all a mere fraction of the sum total of economic activity or income-generating activity, formal or informal, within the State. So, the attractiveness of a State to commerce is a radical issue. The very lives and livelihoods of the people within the borders of the State, whether the people will live prosperous and happy lives, be educated, have access to affordable medical care, depends on it.


There is no question at all that Ekiti has established the foundations for a modern and thriving economy. The fundamentals are there; a modern, strong, consistently improving legal and Justice sector, with forward-looking laws, which include a contemporary administration of Civil Justice Law, a first-of-its-kind Sustainable Development Goals law, a Tourism and Hospitality law, Property Protection law, a 2020 amendment to the Ekiti State Board of Internal Revenue Law, which amongst other provisions, enables the service to collect all taxes due to the State Government and all the Local Government Councils in the State under any law through a centralized electronic payment platform. This is important for two reasons; the first is that it decentralizes payment and does so electronically, but also, it takes directly to the question of the bane of multiple revenue collectors and multiple taxations.


Also, a business-friendly environment with Ekiti ranking 18th overall out of the 36 States and the FCT in the inaugural edition of Nigeria’s own homegrown “Subnational Ease of Doing Business Baseline Survey.” The survey was commissioned to serve as a status report on the current attractiveness of business environments of States for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Ekiti State was strongest in the Skills and Labour and Infrastructure & Security indicators where it had an average score of 5.35 and 5.05, respectively. Also, in the last World Bank Doing Business sub-national survey on Nigeria released in 2018, Ekiti excelled in the area of “Dealing with Construction Permit” ranking 4th in the entire nation.


This is a State that has vast arable land for agriculture and its value, chains, a modern strong, and effective media and public communications system, an experienced CEO of the State, Governor Fayemi, whose academic, civil society background, (and we will leave out the outlaw days of NADECO), excellent relationships with international donors and DFIs, his experience as second term Governor, one-time Minister of Mines and Steel, and as Chair of the Governors’ Forum, whose important experience in extracting benefits for the States from the Federal Government; all these put the State at a distinct advantage.


So, the evidence is compelling and significantly, there is a commitment to a private sector-led economy, and this is important. Business is, if you’ll pardon the pun, the business of the private sector, governments should as much as possible facilitate, or at best, collaborate.


An excellent example is the formerly State-Owned, Ikun Dairy Farms at Ikun Ekiti, after 40 years of inactivity, the State Government divested 76% of its shareholding to a private dairy company, Promasidor, resulting in a company that is now producing over 80,000 litres of milk per month from a herd of just under 500 cows.


There is also the recent concessioning of hospitality facilities such as the iconic Ikogosi Warm Springs affirming the same principle. This is a very important principle, the idea that it is the private sector that really should lead the economy.

Some years ago, in 1999, when we assumed office in Lagos State, at the time the previous government had sold majority shares in Eko Hotel and when we got into office, we were very angry. We tried our best to get it back, we went to court. About a year into our court action, the Minister of Finance called me (I served as Attorney-General) and said to me that the new shareholders were prepared to pay some dividends. I said no, we shouldn’t accept anything from them because they might go back to court and say that we had conceded the case. But the finance minister said, ”why don’t you listen to how much they want to pay first?” When I heard how much they wanted to pay, I said he had to take it immediately!

The truth is that after many years of Lagos State owning majority shares in Eko Hotel, we had made no profit and we had spent at the time, millions up on till the time we took office in 1999, just trying to make that hotel work. Today, it is a thriving business and Lagos State is earning significant dividends from it. I’m sure His Excellency, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu can confirm. So, the private sector-led model is the best and I think this is absolutely the right way to go, as the Governor as indicated.

There are several investments in the agro-allied value chain, JMK Foods, an integrated rice mill, FMS Farms, Promise Point, and Arog Limited, all with starch and ethanol production plants using cassava feedstock; and Egbeja farm, an export-focused snail farm.

And there is a growing tech start-up ecosystem with companies like Kinplus Technologies, a software and web development company, building applications and enterprise promotion software, and is also focused on talent development; and JM Tech Centre, a research and technology institute recently launched in Ikun Ekiti. All of these are thriving and modern businesses that are functioning here because the environment has been provided for them to succeed.

Your Excellency, two Saturdays ago I represented Mr. President at the swearing-in of the new President of São Tomé and Principe. As I sat in that well-appointed hall and took in the solemn grandeur of the oath-taking of the new democratically elected President, I reflected. Here was a country whose GDP is $472million, and it is a nation, it has one vote in the United Nations as we have. Ekiti State has a GDP of $2.8billion, 5 times the size of the GDP of the Nation of São Tomé.

But it’s not just São Tomé, Ekiti’s GDP is higher than that of the nation of Gambia. Gambia has a GDP of $1.902billion, and also Cape Verde with a GDP of $1.704billion, or Seychelles, the lovely tourist destination Nation, with a GDP of $1.125billion. Ekiti’s GDP is about the same as the GDP of Liberia which is $2.95billion.


The Nigerian sub-national (and we are talking about Ekiti, not even Lagos) is indeed a peculiar animal, even a relatively small State like Ekiti, small in terms of population in particular and even in allocation from federal revenue, has a bigger economy than many African nations.

So, the hopefully useful point to be made is there has to be a collective change of mindset. Thinking differently, there is a need for a sub-national to think like a sovereign State. You have a bigger GDP and even more revenues than many nations.


I was talking once to a President of a West African country with a total population of 5 million and I told him about our home-grown school feeding programme where we feed 9.6million children every day. He said to me, “bro, come and feed us now, we are only 5 million, you can feed all of us every day if you want.”

So, the question the policymaker should ask is, what if I were a landlocked nation? How will we survive? There is a different mindset when you are sure of a monthly allocation of cash at least enough to pay salaries, whether you generate income or not. This is the challenge. The so-called Dutch disease, one becomes complacent. But what if you had to take responsibility for all those who reside within your borders, pay all salaries, from Internally Generated Revenues (IGR)?

Sometimes a shock is what you need. That’s what happened to us in Lagos. I am sure that we all know the story, Governor Fayemi was very much a part of those who thought through some of the issues then. Lagos was happy with its allocations, we started off with 600 million a month in 1999/2000, until then-President Obasanjo withheld our local government funds, and did so until he left office, even after the Supreme Court ordered the release of the funds. So we were compelled to think like a sovereign State.

We moved to re-engineer our tax office (much like what the State Government is doing here in Ekiti), and our lands registry, our own oil. From an IGR of N600 million in 1999/2000, Lagos does almost N45 billion a month today and targets 60 billion by next year, I’m told.

I think the way surest way forward is to deepen investments in niche areas or the areas of Ekiti’s comparative advantage. We have already noted the tremendous potential in agriculture and dairy, but clearly, the way of the future, especially for the huge population of young men and women seeking good-paying jobs, is technology.

And I think you are in the flow of progress with the planned establishment of the Technology Special Economic Zones. Clearly, the future of fast-growing economies is in the knowledge economy.

Every day we are beginning to see the transition, as Shimon Peres, former Prime Minister of Israel said, “from the age of territory, we are entering the age of science; land size, natural resources are forced to give way to science and the knowledge economy. Science has no borders, land has borders, and visa and other immigration restrictions. Technology has erased borders, even physical offices.”

Young men and women in Ekiti can work from here and earn world-class wages. This is why the planned investment in the Ekiti Knowledge Zone is strategic. And it’s exciting to see that the plan is to use business process outsourcing as an anchor. It is designed to be a service-led SEZ, a digital technology hub, leveraging its proximity to 5 tertiary institutions. This is if one may borrow the term, the future of jobs and we must commend the farsightedness of the State Governor and his team for determining that technology as the knowledge economy is the way to go.

However, for a digital SEZ to be successful, it must be attractive to digital companies; that means there must be high-quality, well-trained local talent. I’m glad to hear already that on account of the reduction in charges for laying of cables for broadband connectivity, the State is already attracting investments in the laying of cables. That I think is fantastic because it is an important component of the knowledge economy in using that for commercial purposes.

The CEO of Apple Inc, Tim Cook was asked why his company was investing in China. He said and I quote: "The number one reason why we like to be in China is the people. China has extraordinary skills. And the part that’s most unknown is there are almost two million application developers in China that write apps for the iOS App Store.”

Gone are the days when you could argue that you should be an attractive destination for investment because you have cheap labour. Today well-trained technology and innovation talent is the game-changer.


So, there are three keys to the knowledge economy which in my opinion is the future. The three keys are education, education, and education. It would, therefore, be very important for Ekiti State to leverage its famed love and passion for education by focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. I think Ekiti has not lost that edge and this is the moment, I believe, to refocus on STEM education.

STEM education is vital for being able to participate in the 4th Industrial Revolution which is at once a digital age and knowledge age. This must be the fountain of the knowledge economy.

Of course, education is not only at the high end but also requires a strategy for imparting of technical and vocational skills to artisans. The importance of having a pool of healthy, well-trained workers such as electricians, fitters, mechanics, laboratory technicians, welders, machine toolists, and even web designers, is vital for an ecosystem that will be attractive for technology and innovation investments.

Happily, Ekiti State has the highest score amongst all the States in the Technical and Professional Skills category of the Ease of Doing Business Rankings, so there is certainly a strong foundation to build upon in this regard.


But I think there is more to leverage, for example, there is tremendous potential for the development of a whole medical education and healthcare industry around the huge private investment in the iconic Afe Babalola University and the ABUAD multi-system Teaching Hospital. I know that the State was helpful in providing access roads and some other facilities to the campus. Today, ABUAD is getting mentioned internationally for the complex surgeries being done there a variety of cardiac surgeries, neurosurgery breakthroughs in skull-based tumors surgeries, spine surgeries, even a special type of neuron surgery called Awake Neurosurgery, where the patient is actually awake while operating on his/her brain.


Many countries of the world do not have the number of medical talents assembled in that hospital alone. There are huge opportunities here and I believe that we must tap into those opportunities also.

Let me close by commending Governor Kayode Fayemi and the excellent team that you lead. Your Attorney-General, my dear friend, was with us leading a team of Southwest Attorneys-General after showing us all he had done in Ekiti State, I had to remind him that he actually comes from Ogun State, but he would argue about that!


Governor Fayemi, I must commend you for leading a focused and value-sensitive, modern and informed approach to governance. So much has been done, but always much remains to be done. On your third anniversary in office, I pray that you will finish well and finish strong and this State and its great people continually enjoy peace, and prosperity.


God bless you all, thank you.

Released by:
Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
14th October 2021

What an intelligent man, he is always on point.

Osinbajo 2023

Osinbjao for 2023

Who again if not NIGERIANS

STATEHOUSE PRESS RELEASE

WHY OSINBAJO ADVOCATES FOREX POLICY THAT CURBS ARBITRAGE & CORRUPTION, OFFERING NIGERIANS CHEAPER DOLLARS

Our attention has been drawn to statements and reports in the media mis-characterising as a call for devaluation, the view of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN that the Naira exchange rate was being kept artificially low.

Prof. Osinbajo is not calling for the devaluation of the Naira. He has at all times argued against a willy-nilly devaluation of the Naira.

For context, the Vice President’s point was that currently the Naira exchange rate benefits only those who are able to obtain the dollar at N410, some of who simply turn round and sell to the parallel market at N570. It is stopping this huge arbitrage of over N160 per dollar that the Vice President was talking about. Such a massive difference discourages doing proper business, when selling the dollar can bring in 40% profit!

This was why the Vice President called for measures that would increase the supply of foreign exchange in the market rather than simply managing demand,  which opens up irresistible opportunities for arbitrage and corruption. 

It is a well known fact that foreign investors and exporters have been complaining that they could not bring foreign exchange in at N410 and then have to purchase foreign exchange in the parallel market at N570 to meet their various needs on account of unavailability of foreign exchange. Only a more market reflective exchange rate would ameliorate this. With an increase in the supply of dollars the rates will drop and the value of the Naira will improve.

The real issue confronting the economy on this matter is how to improve the supply of foreign exchange, but this will not happen if we do not allow mechanisms like the Importers and Exporters window to work.  If we allow this market mechanism to work as intended, we will find that the Naira will appreciate against the dollar as we restore confidence in the system. 

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
11th October, 2021

Osinbajo is always on our sides

STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE

*HOW BUHARI’S ESP POST-COVID-19 STIMULUS RESCUED ECONOMY, SAFEGUARDED JOBS, BY OSINBAJO*

_*VP wants CBN, commercial banks to ensure speedy release of structured lending_

_*Synergy of fiscal, monetary policies absolutely necessary_

Despite the challenges of funding and other issues, the implementation of the N2.3 trillion Economic Sustainability Plan, ESP, has made significant impact across different sectors.

It has helped the country to effectively tackle the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, by creating jobs and safeguarding existing ones, while also putting the economy on the path of sustainable growth.

But Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, is concerned about delays from the structured lending financing source of the ESP, which has suffered significant delays so far.

These were some of the highlights from Day one of the two-day Mid-Term Ministerial Performance Review retreat, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, where the Vice President on Monday afternoon delivered the progress report on the ESP implementation.

At the retreat organised to assess progress made towards the achievement of the nine key priorities of the Buhari administration, Prof. Osinbajo stated that “the ESP tried to mitigate the shock of COVID-19, but also took the opportunity to try to tackle longstanding structural challenges, while repositioning the economy for the future.”

For instance, Prof. Osinbajo explained that following the global pandemic, "there were sharp declines  in some key sectors: Transportation sector declined by 49%, Hospitality sector fell 40%, the Education sector fell 24%, Real Estate declined by 22%, Trade by declined by 17% and Construction declined by 40%.

But since the ESP implementation began, which was credited as a major reason why Nigeria exited recession faster than predicted, data showed that these sectors have rebounded to positive growth:

"Transportation to 77%, Hospitality to 2%, Education to 1%, Real Estate to 4%, Trade to 23%, and Construction to 4%."

Speaking further, the Vice President noted that, “in response (to the pandemic), the President took two actions. The first was to set up a small inter-ministerial Committee headed by the Minister of Finance to quickly examine the implications of and the immediate mitigation steps that would be taken for the economic shocks we were experiencing. The second step which Mr. President took was to ask that we draw up a full Economic Sustainability Plan to provide at least a 12-month response to the fallout of the pandemic. And Mr. President asked me to chair the Committee to draw up the plan and later to implement it.

“We were clear – and this was Mr. President’s position – that the only way of avoiding an economic disaster that could last for years was for government to essentially put forward a major fiscal stimulus plan; with clear objectives of saving jobs, creating new ones, supporting businesses that may close down, and employees that may not be paid during lockdowns, and, of course, healthcare support to reduce the COVID-19 caseload.”

The VP continued, “the first objective of the ESP was Improved Healthcare and lowering the COVID-19 caseload, the second was Restoring Growth; the third - job creation and safeguarding existing jobs; the fourth - Increased Local Production, and part of that was what we called the Guaranteed Offtake Scheme; the fifth was Reducing Social Vulnerabilities; and that essentially was looking at how to improve the quality and effectiveness of the Social Investment Programmes and the scope of the programme.”

Since the implementation of different components of the Plan, including the MSMEs Survival Fund, Social Housing Scheme, and Solar Home System, among others, the ESP has recorded significant progress in achieving its objectives.

For instance, Prof. Osinbajo noted that the ESP MSMEs Survival Fund, which was designed to create jobs and safeguard existing ones, has supported 1.1 million Nigerians and businesses nationwide.

The Survival Fund has different schemes, namely: the Guaranteed off-take Scheme, Payroll Support Scheme, Artisans & Transport Support Scheme, General MSME Grant Scheme and Formalization Support Scheme.

Explaining, the VP noted that under the Payroll support, “direct grants were given for a three-month period to 459,000 beneficiaries across the country, who received a total of N90,000 and N150,000 (N30,000 and N50,000 respectively per month) in salaries for the three-month period.

“Then, 293,000 transport workers and artisans received one-off grants of N30,000 each. While 82,000 businesses also received one-off grants under the MSME General grant scheme; and about 255,000 enterprises benefited from the CAC free registration of companies under the Formalization Support Scheme.”

Similarly, under the ESP Agriculture for Food and Jobs Plan, the Vice President noted that 6.39 million farmers have been enumerated so far and these farmers were geotagged to their land.

He said, “so far, 3.63 million passed the first stage of validation and another 2.47 million passed the second stage of validation. We’re validating them also for BVNs.

“Also, 320 hectares of land has been cleared across 8 states at 40 hectares per state. The States are Kwara, Plateau, Cross River, Edo, Kaduna, Ekiti, Osun, and Ogun. These are States that require land clearing. Of course, many States do not require land clearing, and we simply supported those states directly. ₦ 471bn is allocated as loans to farmers across 14 Crop Value Chains, Beef Production, Aquaculture and Poultry Farming.”

The Vice President further said that “a subsidy of N5.1billion was paid to over one million farmers under the Fertilizer Subsidy Programme, which is a critical part of the Food for Jobs programme.

“Mr. President approved a programme of giving subsidies to farmers for bags of fertilisers to each farmer depending on the size of the farm. But the strategy here was to give the farmer the amount of the subsidy directly in cash paid to their BVN verified account. Mr. President approved the immediate disbursement of the Fertilizer Subsidy Fund to smallholder, vulnerable farmers in the country,” he added.

He also mentioned the ESP Public Works and Aviation component,  saying “construction work is ongoing on 193 road sections totalling 3,707km of roads; with 26,021 Nigerians employed in rehabilitation/construction of these roads so far. The construction of 345km of rural roads, 205 bore holes and 10 treatment plants to create jobs and develop rural areas in 36 States and the FCT has commenced.”

In the same vein, Prof. Osinbajo said the ESP Social Housing Programme has helped to create thousands of  jobs and boost the local building materials industry in the country.

Noting that so far about 1,151.689 hectares of land has been made ready for development, the VP said, “the target is to build 300,000 houses. This has the capacity to accommodate a further 34,550 homes. The Programme is being funded by a mix of resources, including Financing from the Federal Ministry of Finance, and a loan from the Central Bank under the ESP.

"Buyers have a window of at least 15 years to pay for their homes. The design is to build two-bedroom homes costing not more than N2 million - N3.75m for a three-room unit, and N4.25 for a four-room unit.

“At the moment, 4,700 homes  have  been  approved in 7 States for financing for commencement in October. 5,400 are scheduled for  November 2021."

But the VP observed that "progress has been much slower than envisaged. There are continuing delays in the disbursement of funds from the CBN. The Debenture agreement for the sum of N200B with the CBN which represents the bulk of the financing was agreed in April and has been signed by all."

He had the same observations on the delays in the Solar Power Naija, the ESP Solar Electrification Programme, which is also designed to create jobs and develop a local solar industry and provide access to electricity to 5 million households in off-grid, under-served communities through new solar connections. This would bring energy access to 25 million Nigerians.

“It will include the assembly or manufacturing of  components of off-grid solutions to facilitate growth of the local manufacturing industry, while the  use of local content will be encouraged. It will create in all 250,000 new jobs in the energy sector,” the Vice President stated.

But the 5m Solar Connections target is being delayed because while N140B was allocated through the CBN to facilitate it, only N7B of that has been disbursed.

Explaining some key challenges of the implementation of the programme, the VP listed unwillingness of CBN to disburse funds, and the risk aversion of Public and private financial institutions, particularly for Power projects.

Funding delays were also noted on the Agric plan of the ESP.

Prof. Osinbajo disclosed that only N14B of the  N471B as loans to farmers across 14 crop value chains have been disbursed to commercial banks. Even then, that amount is yet to be utilised by farmers due to late release for the 2021 wet farming season.
He also called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to review its strategy on foreign exchange and ensure that the Naira value reflects the market reality, rather than what he described as “artificially low,” deterring investors from bringing foreign exchange into the country.

“As for the exchange rate, I think we need to move our rates to be as reflective of the market as possible. This, in my own respectful view, is the only way to improve supply,” Osinbajo said.

“We can’t get new dollars into the system, where the exchange rate is artificially low. And everyone knows by how much our reserves can grow. I’m convinced that the demand management strategy currently being adopted by the CBN needs a rethink, and that is my view.

Currently, the naira is changing at N411 to $1 at the official side of the market, while the same goes for about N565 at the parallel market.

“There must be synergy between the fiscal and the monetary authority. We must be able to deal with the synergy, we must handle the synergy between the monetary authority, the CBN, and the fiscal side.

“Sometimes, it appears that there is competition... If you look at some of the interventions, you will find that those interventions are interventions that should be managed by ministries.

“The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment should handle MSMEs interventions, and we should know what the CBN is doing. In other words, if the CBN is intervening in the MSME sector, it should be with the full cooperation and consent of the ministry of industry.

“Sometimes you will get people who are benefiting more than once because we simply have no line of sight on what is going on, on one side.”

He stated that there should be one clear economic plan, not two, saying "we cannot have a CBN led economic plan and a government led plan. We would end up duplicating, and even there may be beneficiaries of grants benefiting multiple times."

On how Nigeria survived the economic challenge of 2020, Prof. Osinbajo praised President Buhari, saying, he deserves the credit for providing steady leadership through the crisis.

“Let me say on the whole, that we have been able to weather the storm of a very serious economic challenge.”

“I think that is largely due to the steady and stable leadership we received from the President. I think if Mr. President had panicked in that period, we would have had a lot of difficulties, perhaps we would be in a much worse situation.

“He deserves the commendation for providing that steady hand when that was required,” Osinbajo said.

In June 2020, in response to the fallout of the pandemic, President Buhari mandated the Vice President as chair of the Economic Sustainability Committee, to coordinate the implementation of the ESP aimed at cushioning the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

*Laolu Akande*
*Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity*
*Office of the Vice President*
*11th October, 2021*

ESP has been saving lives, no doubt.

Jobless bloggers are on it again

And who does not know the price of food have increased globally.

Emefiele destroyed the economy, he shouldn't be on that seat.

STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE

UNITED AS ONE PEOPLE, NIGERIA WILL OVERCOME PRESENT CHALLENGES, SAYS OSINBAJO

*Interacts with staff of Nigeria High Commission in London

*VP adds: FG will strive for fairness & balance


“If you look at all of us sitting here, we represent all the geo-political zones. This is the Nigeria that will succeed, anything else doesn’t make sense,” according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

He said citizens at home and in the diaspora should promote the message of one country, noting that “anybody who looks at how Nigeria operates will recognize that we are better off in this system, and that is the truth.”

The Vice President stated this on Saturday during an interactive session with top officials of Nigeria’s High Commission in the United Kingdom, held at the Abuja House residence of the High Commissioner in London.

According to the VP, “Yorubas are not better off on their own, Igbos are not better off on their own, the North is not better off on its own. We are better off as one nation, that is why we are strong and that is why we can face the world.”

Still emphasizing the point about unity, Prof. Osinbajo noted that “everywhere in the world today, people are coming together to form stronger units, they are not breaking up, this is not the time to break up.

“If you read of the economics of smaller nations, they are looking for ways of how they can become stronger by aligning with other nations. How does a country with all the potentials and everything that we have, think that the best way is to break up?”

Speaking further, the VP explained that “we are at a point in time in our history where we have security challenges, we have economic challenges, and if you talk about security, there are so many dimensions to it.

“If you look carefully, all of these could happen to any government and I think we are in the very best position to solve the problems that face us today.”

“Security challenges that we have didn’t show up in one day but it is the government, the people, the men and women that will handle them.

“We happen to be that government, and I am very convinced that we are entirely capable of handling it. I think we are in the best possible position to solve these problems,” Prof. Osinbajo added.

In addition, the Vice President spoke about the popularity and credibility of President Muhammadu Buhari, identifying it as a crucial factor in galvanizing the entire system in resolving the challenges.

Said Osinbajo: “the President is possibly the most popular Nigerian politician that we ever had in generations. He is possibly the only person who can go into a place or somewhere without bossing people to gather and they will come and listen to him speak.

“We need that level of credibility to be able to solve problems in our country. And I think because of his level of credibility, despite everything, he is still the only one that can call everyone, and even people who do not necessarily agree with him know that he is a man of his words.”

The VP urged staff of the High Commission to remain good ambassadors of the country and endeavor to promote justice and fairness in their activities even as they make more efforts to promote government programmes and policies.

His words: “we must promote one country. But, of course, everybody talks about justice, fairness and balance, and that is what we must try to do on a continuous basis.

“Let us not be discouraged, let us be very confident because our country will come out of all these problems and emerge stronger.

“So, I urge every person who represents our country to ensure that we must represent the country well and be able to speak up at the right forum about the country and what we are doing.”

Commending the High Commissioner and top officials of the mission, the VP said “let me say first, how very pleased I am about the great report of developments here at the High Commission.

“And I agree entirely with the High Commissioner that clearly there is a demonstration here of high professionalism, and a desire to completely correct the image that might have been created about Nigeria. I want to really commend you and to say the news we hear about the High Commission is very commendable.”

Aside from the High Commissioner, Ambassador Sarafa Isola, other staff present at the meeting include the Deputy High Commissioner, Ambassador Sanni Suleiman, and the Defence Adviser, Brigadier-General Buhari Baffa, among others.



Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
10th October 2021

Osinbajo please

STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASE


GLOBAL NET-ZERO EMISSIONS:
GAS PROJECTS SHOULD NOT BE DEFUNDED, SAYS OSINBAJO IN LONDON, AHEAD OF COP26 SUMMIT

*VP headlines UN High-Level event on Energy Transition, meets COP26 President-Designate

*Interacts with academic community at Imperial College, Global Energy Alliance

In its commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Federal Government is already making efforts to use large shares of clean energy sources, but "limiting the development of gas projects, poses dire challenges."

This is why the international community should understand that the plan to defund gas projects in the run up to the global Net-Zero emissions target would be unhelpful to developing countries like Nigeria.

This was the crux of the presentations Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, made on Friday at different meetings in London at the High-Level United Nations event on the Energy Transition plan in Africa with special focus on Nigeria.

The meetings included first, a closed-door session with COP26 President-Designate, Mr Alok Sharma, a cabinet rank British Minister and the Chair of the UK Government’s COP26 Energy Transition Council (ETC) at Whitehall. Then an interaction with the academic community at Imperial College followed by meetings of the Global Energy Alliance and presentations on the Nigeria Energy Transition Plan and Nigeria's Integrated Energy Plan.

Prof. Osinbajo observed at Imperial College that Africa as a continent is home to the world’s youngest fastest growing population and in order to create jobs and enable climate-smart industrialization, "the scale and quality of electricity services must increase significantly."

Continuing, the VP noted that the scaling up in the Nigerian context is based on clean energy, a reflection of the FG’s commitment to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

He said this "means building sustainability into our economic planning, and so our Economic Sustainability Plan, includes a plan to provide 5 million homes with cleaner energy through its decentralized solar power programme. This means an estimated 25 million Nigerians would have access to solar power.

“The first phase of this plan is already underway, and we think that this sort of programme will very quickly ramp up our progress towards net-zero emissions."

But he explained that the moves to defund gas projects wouldn't help the "whole enterprise," which "requires gas, especially if we are putting it on the grid. We want to be able to put renewable energy on the grid, we need power for industry, and of course, we are looking at the significant cost of that.”

According to him, "limiting the development of gas projects, poses dire challenges for African nations, while making an insignificant dent in global emissions. Energy demand in Nigeria and across Africa is set to rise, as indeed it must, to deliver the industrialization, jobs and economy-wide progress people deserve.”

In addition, the VP explained that “the energy access element of the transition must be linked with the emission reduction aspect of the transition. For too long we have considered these to be parallel tracks. However, pathways to reaching net-zero by 2050 have to include first ending energy poverty by 2030.

“If energy access issues are left unaddressed, we will continue to see growing energy demand being addressed with high polluting and deforesting fuels such as diesel, kerosene and firewood.”

On current energy consumption patterns globally, Prof. Osinbajo noted that "energy consumption in developing countries has doubled in the last 15 years, and is expected to grow another 30% in the next fifteen years. So making capital available to fulfil the growing energy demand in these regions of the world is central to reaching the goals of the Paris Agreement.”

He highlighted the disparity in global energy investments, noting that “while representing just 15% of the world’s population, high income countries received 40% of global energy investment in 2018. Conversely, developing countries with 40% of the world’s population received just 15% of global energy investments."

The VicePresident said “Nigeria has already made a commitment to have 30 percent of our electricity supply from renewables by 2030. Also natural gas is currently used for industry, fertilizer manufacturing, and cooking – which are more difficult to transition than power generation."

He affirmed that Nigeria is "resolutely committed to all of our national determined contributions under the Paris Agreement, and we have in fact updated our commitments in our new Energy Transition Plan. So for baseline business as usual (BAU) projections, estimated BAU 2030 emissions are now at 453 MTCO2e (metric tons of Carbon dioxide equivalent), increasing 31 percent from a 2018 baseline of 347 MTCO2e.

“We are committed to the process and strongly believe the process has to be strong, fair, just and supported not just for Nigeria, but for most African countries and for many developing countries who have the same concerns that we have,” Prof. Osinbajo added.

Speaking about the expectations of Nigeria and other developing countries, the VP noted that “the ultimate goal of the global energy transition should be to achieve reliable net-zero-energy systems to power prosperous, inclusive economies.”

His words: “efforts are already underway in my country, and in countries across the continent, to include large shares of clean energy sources to fuel that growth. Renewables are the fastest-growing segment of energy today and will certainly be a key economic driver well into the future.

The VP then disclosed that Nigeria is about the first African country that has developed an energy transition plan that seeks to demonstrate its commitment to the global net -zero emissions.

Such a plan, according to Prof. Osinbajo "must be equitable, inclusive and just with a planet and people approach to the transition. As a practical matter that means transition plans that take into account the different realities of various economies and accommodate various pathways to net-zero by 2050.”

Prior to the engagement with the Imperial College students, the Vice President had met the President-Designate of COP26, Mr. Sharma, who is also the Chair of the UK Government’s COP26 Energy Transition Council (ETC).

The discussions were around issues regarding the 2050 global Net-Zero emissions target and the need for the international community to align on the key elements of a just and equitable transition for all.

Other dignitaries that accompanied the VP to the meetings and engagements were Minister of State for Environment, Mrs Sharon Ikeazor; Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Ambassador Adeyemi Dipeolu; Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Amb. Sarafa Ishola, and the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sustainable Energy for All (SE forAll), Mrs. Damilola Ogunbiyi, among others.

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
9th October 2021