Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday charged the political elites especially the Governors to avoid actions which can lead to crises and violence.
Osinbajo gave the charge when he presided over the valedictory session of the National Economic Council (NEC) , a body made up of Governors of the 36 states of the federation
Osinbajo in his address noted that while “ordinary Nigerians have no problems with people of different tribes and religions, the political elites sometimes out of advancing political agendas or simply seeking relevance recklessly stoke the fires of ethnicity and religious conflicts.
“We as leaders have a duty to keep the peace and welfare of our states, we must not only rise above the temptation to take advantage of our country’s fault lines, we must definitely condemn and restrain those who do so.
He also tasked the Governors to insist that this country truly belongs to everyone , especially those who cannot defend themselves
“I should advise that you should use your influence and reach to the advantage of Nigerian people.
He noted that the country is faced with enormity of problems, adding that “very few people have the advantage to see closely as we do the issues that concern our country,”
I think it is important for those of us who have had the benefit of all of these experience and leadership not to now settle down to a life of business or perhaps of enjoyment or sleeping for eight hours. I need this time for action.
Earlier NEC secretariat unfolded what it said was the focal objectives which they had set out to achieved, among which were the tackling of insecurity and youth unemployment through the revival of agriculture, solid minerals, mining as well as small and medium sized businesses
The secretariat, while reeling out the achievements, revealed that NEC, in the last four years, held 38 Meetings, 5 of which were Special Meetings
A total of 173 far reaching resolutions were made, categorized under eight (8) thematic areas, while 10 sub-committees were created by NEC to further interrogate issues of keen interest to NEC .
“NEC Sub-committees made sterling recommendations on various topical issues, which were adopted by NEC and are at different stages of implementation; NEC also set up a Resolutions Implementation Monitoring Committee to monitor the implementation of NEC initiatives and evaluate their impact on -the National Polity
“The 2015 2019 Council was unified, despite different party affiliations; NEC deliberations were intensive, contributory and participatory.
“There was total ownership and buy-in of all Governors; Resolutions passed and implemented made significant impact on the Nation in each of the thematic areas; Initiatives spurred by NEC resolutions are at different stages of implementation in States.
“Nigeria’s ranking on several international indexes such as the ease of doing business ranking significantly improved during the period; . Resolutions passed in the 2015 -2019 tenure are relevant in setting the tone for NEC deliberations in the next dispensation”
Despite these achievements however, Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State called on the incoming Governors to work harder if they must deliver the dividends of democracy
“We need to work hard, look inward, and block leakages from any angle. And as we discussed it today in our valedictory session at the Governors’ Forum, we say proactive measures must be taken
“ We need to ensure that certain laws are repealed most especially the ones that have to do with the NNPC, the issue of Offshore, Royalties Payment and other issues.
He also called for more pressure on the revenue generating agencies and give them targets because they are just left opened to just put in the basket whatsoever they desire, most especially the FIRS.
“ We must dictate to them how they are going to do in terms of their performance. But the way things are going Mr Chairman, with my experience from 2011 to date I think we are just giving them free hand.
“We need to give them a kind of target even the NNPC itself. What the NNPC is spending especially when it come to the issue of cash call, it’s in trillions but what comes into the basket for two million people to share is very meager.
“And the size of the economy itself as noted by Mr Aragbesola is very tiny and we need to expand it.
“I will say yes government has done tremendously well in terms of expanding the economy through agriculture by spending over N200 billion through the anchor borrower programme but we need to do more because we all agree that agriculture is the mainstay of this economy. It provides over 80 percent of the employment. So if N2 trillion can be spent yearly oil development we need to increase our spending on agriculture too.
Imo state Governor, Rochas Okorocha also called for stronger commitments to implementation of resolutions reached by NEC
“it looks as if there is more emphasis on paper work than the actual work,I want to appeal that this issue be addressed even for the incoming governors, so governors can govern freely and not be busy putting papers together rather than doing their work. I want to advise this seriously.
He also called for targets to be set for Stare Governors adding that “this would encourage performance among governors,the people without a target often will not perform and there is nothing bad Mr chairman,all fingers cannot never be equal,there must be performing, under performing,low performing and over performing governors but somehow, we tend to treat states as same and equal regardless of where you are coming from or what you are doing and this is what has affected our nation “
“ We must learn to grade states according to performance Mr chairman and this will help those who are not doing well to come up and those who are doing well to speed up or something.
“There is no challenge in the system rather we are taught that in the pursuit of corruption we are taught to become student of paper work than actually doing the job.
“I see great things to come in future,i see our flags flying commanding the hills of other nations in no distant future, thats my prayer for this NEC, coming NEC and the nation”
Tony Ailemen, Abuja
