Osinbajo finally moves

By Levinus Nwabughiogu
As if he was jolted by the barrage of criticisms that had trailed his docility in the last two weeks, he has started working as the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, in the third week of his presidency in an acting capacity, engaged a different gear.  Sunday Vanguard, which has been following his activities since the departure of President Muhammadu Buhari to London on medical vacation on January 19, 2017, brings you the calculated changes spearheaded by Osinbajo.
Of course, he may not have expected the stretch of his emergency tenure beyond February 6. For him, he was done and, so, was ready to hands off power and recoil to his shell as Vice President.

If there was any other event he was   expecting any sooner after his second and hitherto final week as the Acting President, it was the launch of the Economic Growth and Recovery Plan, EGRP, of the present administration, a function he had since announced in far away Davos, Switzerland, during the World Economic Forum, WEF, on January 17, 2017 meant to harness appropriate measures that would get Nigeria out of the economic woods.

Like always, he had expected his boss, President Buhari, to declare the launch open. But little did he know that his acting career was not over, yet.

Recall that in his press statement on January 19, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, categorically told Nigerians that President Buhari would resume work on February 6. To them, the date was sacrosanct and Osinbajo was also apparently marking time.

But just when it was about time, barely 12 hours to break of the day, the Presidency reneged on its own promise of February 6 and later announced an indefinite date for the return, this time, leaving everyone on tenterhooks; and so further stretched the imagination of Nigerians whose sensibilities had been assaulted by all manner of rumors about Buhari’s wellbeing.

Apparently, the Acting President was equally greeted with the surprise of the indefinite extension of the medical vacation of boss in London, United Kingdom, as he had no choice than to chair the Consultative Forum EGRP, held at the Old Banquet Hall of the State House on Monday – the day his boss had earlier been expected to resume work.

Osinbajo’s new spirit

Obviously, his actions that Monday and subsequent days of the week stamped a strong impression of the arrival of a new spirit within and around the spirit of acting.   At least, for once, he needed to “act” in the true sense of the word.

Monday 6, 2017-A day with Protesters

Osinbajo showed zeal and dexterity. He also displayed a great deal of concern for the plight and predicament of the ordinary Nigerian even though pity, without action, has never solved the problem of hunger or education or anything.

Like a philosopher once noted, hope is better served as breakfast than as dinner.

While he and other top government functionaries, which included, but was not limited to, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, were deliberating at the State House, the heavens were seriously cloudy outside. From Lagos to Ibadan down to other parts of the country, a flurry of protests against him and his principal took over the streets.

Abuja was not an exception.

Nigerians in their numbers protested against the severe economic hardship and hunger across the country. They also protested against epileptic power situation, the depressed economy, the all-time high inflation and more especially, the all talk and no action stance of the federal government.

Interestingly, also,   the protest rally took place on a day the Budget and National Planning Minister told the crowd at the EGRP Forum that they were still consulting to get the inputs of the private sector operatives to solve the economic quagmire.

Udoma’s speech at the event evidently revealed a government that is totally handicapped in finding solutions to the problem when it is considered that since the second quarter of last year when the economy became sick, the Nigerian government is still consulting.


And so, when it was his time to speak, Osinbajo addressed the protesters directly even though they were not in the hall.

He said that their message has been well received by the federal government:

“I am pleased to welcome you, our partners in the private sector to this very important consultations on the ERGP. We are in a serious economic situation and the President was particularly concerned about the lot of the common man. And I quote him, ‘Recession today for many… for some it means not being able to pay school fees, for others not being able to afford high cost of rice and millet and for most of our young people recession means joblessness…’

“I, for one, have been across the states and, even today, some people are out on the street protesting. Many of our people are saying the same thing that things are hard, things are difficult. But what I will like to say to every Nigerian is that   ‘we hear you loud and clear’.

“The government is one that is determined to give the ordinary man a fair deal. We are determined to recover the economy. You have a right to live well and decently, demand for a better economy and we are committed to making that happen.”

But Osinbajo wouldn’t end his speech without pricking the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as he stated that the years of destruction cannot be corrected overnight.

He continued: “Years of deterioration cannot be remedied over night but  again, I must emphasize that it’s our business and duty to ensure that we put the Nigerian economy on the path of sustained growth and that is exactly what we are determined to do”, he said.

He also gave the highlights of the government efforts at restoring the economy on the path of sustainable growth.

He added that the social intervention programme, SIP, which included payment of N5,000 to the poorest citizens on monthly basis was one of the ways to cushion the effects of the harsh realities of the times.

“We have in the past 18 months intervened three times to states to enable them have enough resources to pay salaries and the last intervention was in December when we paid the Paris club refund to the states. This is money that the federal government was owing states since 2005 and even oil was selling at 115 Dollars per barrel, this debt was not paid.

“The president insisted when he was going to pay that money to the states that at least 50 percent of it must be to pay salaries of workers. We intend to ensure, of course, that that is what is done. Many of the states were able to pay salaries and backlog of pensions in December because of that particular fund that was made available to the states.

“Those have been the concerns of the President and the Federal Government, to ensure that as much as possible, the most vulnerable in our society, those who earn salaries, those who have no work, market women, the man on the street take as little of this pain as possible.

“The home grown feeding programme has started in several states; it will provide opportunity for farmers all across the country. We are also providing credit facility to 1.6 million traders and artisans”, he said.

I am not under pressure to resign/Only President can disclose his health status

The Acting President prompted an enigma of himself when later in the day, he yearned for a press interview with State House Correspondents. No one could preempt him. But then, anxiety stood tall.

Leaving off a closed door meeting with the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Oyegun, the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters in Vice President’s Office, Sen. Babafemi Ojudu, and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Matters, Hon. Abike Dabire, Osinbajo said he won’t be cowed to resign his office.

He made it loud and clear that he ran for his office on the same electoral ticket with President Buhari and that Nigerians who voted for him had not asked him to resign.

He also said the President was hale and hearty contrary to speculations that he was critically ill or even dead.

Revealing that he had a long telephone conversation with the President, Osinbajo stated that the President was well and alive.

But the Acting President failed to disclose the nature of the President’s ailment, saying that the information was only at the discretion of the President to make public.

He said: “I am not under no pressure to resign. I was voted for by the people of this nation, myself and Mr President and so the people of this nation have not asked us to resign.   I am absolutely not under any pressure whatsoever. The truth is that there has been no pressure from any source asking me to resign

“The President is hale and hearty. I spoke to the President just this afternoon and we had a long conversation. He was interested in knowing about the budget process and how far we have gone and the meeting today with the private sector and the economic recovery growth plan and I informed him about the protest march and feedback about what people are saying about the economy. He is in good shape.

“Just like he said in his letter to the National Assembly, he needs to go for a cycle of tests and once he sees the test results and gets medical advice, we expect him very soon.