According to the vanguard Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Saturday
reassured Nigerians that the question of Change in the country was irrevocable
and the present administration was completely committed to it. Osinbajo resumes
in office He spoke at a town hall meeting organised in Lagos by a group, United
Action for Change, urging Nigerians never to lose hope. The VP re-emphasised
that the Buhari-led administration was committed to changing the nation for the
better. Osinbajo said that change was not a mere slogan as the country
could
not survive going the way it had always gone. “The question of Change is
irrevocable,’’ he said, assuring Nigerians that things, though difficult, would
be better. “I know that Nigerians are going through a very difficult time, so
does the President. There is the power problem, there is fuel scarcity, even
inflation, oh yes, but these are birth pains. “You can be sure this is not
going to be the end of the story; as a matter of fact, the end of the story is
going to be a story of prosperity and abundance for the nation,’’ he said. Vice
President Osinbajo said that there was a determination by the government to
ensure that the country changes its direction and the best chance to do so
successfully was with a honest and straightforward leader like President
Buhari. He said that the present leadership of the country had no other agenda
than to change the country for the better. “We have no other agenda .You can
look at our balance sheets after our tenure and you will find that we have not
enriched ourselves,’’ he said. The Vice President, who answered 20 questions
put to him by the audience, said that the government was working to end the
problem of recurrent fuel scarcity in the country. He said that the government
was among other things, asking or co-location of refineries by the private
sector and some investors were already showing interest. Osinbajo also said
that the government was also committed to the health insurance scheme the All
Progressives Congress (APC) campaigned about during its electioneering. “We
intend, by the end of our administration, to have a complete coverage,’’ he
said, Osinbajo said that the N500bn social protection fund would
revolutionalise the nation’s social security scheme. He said that Nigeria’s
economy was already diversified and the government only needed to encourage
each of the sectors to stimulate growth and make them bring in more revenue.
The VP also told the gathering that the government believed that the most
effective way to move goods and people from one point to another was through
rail and one of its biggest projects was in the area of railways. He blamed the
present power problems in the country on vandalism among other problems and promised
that the government was addressing the problems to make things better. Earlier,
Dr Muiz Banire, (SAN) and the APC National Legal Adviser as well as the
convener of the meeting, said it was a feedback forum to enable the government
to know where the shoes were pinching the people. “We engage in mass education
of the public and the essence of this maiden town-hall meeting is to establish
contact between the government and the people,’’ he said. Banire, also a former
Commissioner in Lagos State under former Governors Bola Tinubu and Babatunde
Fashola, said that the group comprised people from all walks of life.
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