Vice president Yemi Osinbajo assured his compatriots during a town-hall event organized in Lagos on Saturday, that help is on the way.
Fielding questions from attendees, Osinbajo said he is working hard alongside the president and the entire federal government apparatchik to bring the change the APC promised during the campaigns.
“The change we are undergoing as a nation is irreversible. It was never just a slogan. We are determined and committed to that change”, said the law professor.
He added that “the President and I are completely committed. We have no other agenda. There are problems but these are birth pains”.
Osinbajo also assured that once the budget is passed into law, all of the APC’s social security programmes will begin to unfold.
“We shall begin to pay N5,000 to the poor as soon as the budget is passed. It was never meant for unemployed graduates, we have a plan for them. We’ll be training a minimum of 100,000 young Nigerians in technology. We believe we can compete with India and others in the area of technology. Our Homegrown School Feeding will help pupils’ nutrition and also help local farming and create jobs- the food will have to be produced locally”, he said.
On the fight against corruption, the Vice President said: “Whenever you read in the papers that people defraud, all groups are involved. What we need is a New Tribe. We must disallow divisions. We must disallow use of religion or ethnicity to divide us. We want a country where anybody who serves in public must be able to explain their wealth”.
On the lingering scarcity of petrol, he said a permanent solution is in the offing. “Part of the causes of the current fuel scarcity is that only NNPC is importing refined fuel. And there are also diversions responsible. How to deal finally with fuel scarcity is now what we are dealing with, to make the scarcity a thing of the past. It shall be done. Having only public refineries is also a problem. Private refineries run better. We’re asking for private investment in co-located refineries. Already we have some interested parties in private refineries including some oil majors”.
Osinbajo assured that the Buhari administration is serious about putting in place critical infrastructure in order to revive an economy hit hard by the plummeting price of crude.
“The most effective way of moving goods is by rail and that is why we have the Lagos-Calabar coastal route and Lagos-Kano in the budget. We recorded a peak of 5,000MW in February-we paid outstanding debts and curtailed vandalism. But Forcados pipeline blow-up by vandals caused drop of about 500MW. We are working on improving the supply of gas to power plants and fixing transmission line problems. That way we will improve power supply. We have removed fixed tariff charges already. You only pay for what you use. We are engaged with labor unions on cost reflective tariffs”, he said.
Osinbajo also dwelt on the economy and the informal sector. “We must be able to bring loans to SMEs at single digit rates, that is what we are planning. What the Yuan deal we just entered into with China means is that we have some credit with the Chinese. So doing business with the Chinese can be done without the dollar. The Yuan deal will help facilitate trade with China and also help ease of doing business”.
He also said the Buhari administration is open to ideas, going forward. “The President is open to ideas and we’re doing more to engage. It’s one of the reasons why I’m here”, he said at the packed full town-hall.
The town-hall interaction will continue across Nigeria in the days and weeks ahead.
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