Speech: Prof. Yemi Osinbajo’s Address At The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 24, 2018

I’m extremely pleased that you have the time to come to spend some time with us here.

The truth is that what we are trying to achieve is just exactly what was described by the Honourable Minister who had just spoken; one that addresses specific issues and then we can deal with them with the partners and government through the right people; and that access will be made available. That’s why we have the industrial council. We also have the business forum and would ensure that we are opened at all times.

I think it is important that we emphasise and keep emphasising that the partnership that we are trying to build is a genuine partnership, because we understand that in a big country, especially a federation, many times we have issues, even with the state governments, and we have to be able to resolve them. Some of them are easy to resolve through a phone call, but we insist that those we do business with in Nigeria must find it easy to do business and that really has been the way that we have tried to function, especially in the last two and half years. We intend to maintain that approach and we really would like you to join us in proving that this will work.

Some of the issues that were mentioned (there was a Q & A before the VP spoke) include security, for example. As you can imagine, security is obviously an ongoing issue, but l want to say that, perhaps, for people in the diaspora and if you are following the social media, it might be difficult to appreciate; maybe you have been away too long, maybe you also come back and see for yourselves.

In the country, people are doing business and are doing fine, but that’s not to say there are no herdsmen and farmer clashes and all that, or to say that all is settled down in the North East; but in major places where business is being done, where investments are been done.

But by and large, we should raise (the issue of) adequate security. l think a lot of people are reasonably satisfied with the security, but we are doing all we can to improve on security. A lot of police reforms are going on, we are ramping up even the number of police officers we are recruiting. We are also getting joint task forces, sometimes involving the military in some of these joint task forces, where we think that there might be trouble.

A few months ago, we held a security summit with all of the governors and the service chiefs, where security agencies looked at all of the specific places where there are problems, and tried to identify what the problems could be, especially in areas that people have investments.

In the Niger Delta, I’m sure that you will agree with me that between last year and now, a lot has changed; we still find opportunistic vandalism where people are vandalising properties, but by and large improvements are being made and we are working very hard on ensuring that we sustain that.

It’s possibly more important for us as sole business of government to ensure that people can walk around free and can do their business without looking over their shoulders. Because of our commitment to that, we are reasonably certain that we will achieve maximum security.

I think it was Tony (one of the participants at the Q & A) that said that in many parts of the world there are places that you may not want to go and there are always situations where there are breaches of security. But l think, by and large, we are really focused on ensuring security and most of the country is entirely peaceful and ready for business.

In respect to power, a lot has happened and I just wanted to address that. In power, I’m not going to talk about the issues that have been addressed already, but l think that the critical thing is that we have identified primarily what the issues are and now some of our reforms are going on. We are enabling a situation where industry or private sector and businesses can actually access power on their own without necessarily going through the DISCOs; we have a willing buyer-willing seller arrangement. Recently NERC issued a declaration to that effect.

So we are concentrating also on powering industrial areas, a lot of that is going on and is private sector-driven.

A lot of that has to do with the cost of power etc., and whether or not the cost is adequate, whether the cost is too high or too low and all that.

But what l will want you to do is to take advantage of some of the new regulations, especially in the willing buyer-willing seller that we are putting in place, so that industries can buy their own power and can even develop their own power structure, and even in the states. A lot of the state governments are now investing in power plants. Off-grid power is one of the very critical solutions for us because a lot of the power that is going onto the grid, we are able to take that much. But if that is the solution in Nigeria, we must have plenty of off-grid power opportunities and we are trying to work hard on all of those off-grid power facilities and create an environment where people can invest in power and supply power to those who need it without going through the system that we have at the moment.

So we think that, in the next couple of years, we will have a power situation that will certainly be a lot better than what we are experiencing today.

What we are trying to do is to ensure that we are not constrained by some of the problems that we have been experiencing in the past years, and we let go of the power marketing in such a way that many players can come in to do a lot more from generation to distribution, and especially transmission because we find that that is one of the critical areas for us today.

Transmission and distribution are critical areas for us and we are working very hard to ensure that we are able to do a lot with some of transmission and the distribution assets that we have. l know that a lot of those who are here are converts or at least people who do business and want to continue to do business in Nigeria, l want to thank you for the support you have given us over the years and hope that you will not only maintain that support, but also work with us in being able to create a better business environment and being able to do the kind of businesses that can be done in Nigeria.

There is no question at all as to why our country is a good destination; we know that the critical issue is to ensure that the environment is friendly enough and that we offer the necessary incentives where such incentives are crucial. We are ready to do that and we are ready to work with you to ensure that business is comfortable for you and that you can make profit and create the jobs and opportunities that we are also looking at.

Thank you very much.

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media & Publicity)
Office of the Vice President
January 25, 2018

Press Release: Working Together Will Boost Economic, Technological Growth, VP Osinbajo Tells Young Innovators

Nigeria’s youths will achieve more if they collaborate more on projects that will benefit them and also boost the nation’s capacity in innovation and technology, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

Prof. Osinbajo said this when he received a delegation of young Nigerian innovators and beneficiaries of grants from the Growth and Employment (GEM) Project, an initiative of the Federal Government under the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, which is supported by the World Bank and the DFID.

In furtherance of the Buhari administration’s economic empowerment initiatives, the project empowers young Nigerian innovators and entrepreneurs with sustainable and innovative business models that will create more jobs for Nigerians and contribute to the nation’s economic growth.

“I am happy that everyone is a co-founder; it speaks to what we say about collaboration and working together, and also with international players,” the Vice President said.

At the meeting, the young entrepreneurs showcased their business models during short presentations to Vice President, who commended them for their efforts and engaged them with questions on the sustainability of their laudable projects.

It will be recalled that the innovators were selected following the Aso Villa Demo Day (AVDD), a technological innovation competition organised by the Presidency earlier in the year.

Also, at the meeting was the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole.

In his remarks, the Project Coordinator of the GEM Project, Mr. Ugo Ikemba, thanked the Vice President for all the support the Buhari administration has given to the project since its inception. He said the project will continue to find platforms to support Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) by enabling them get more access to funding.

In the same vein, the Director-General of Nigerian Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Mr. Jelani Aliyu, thanked the Presidency for providing leadership that supports and empowers young Nigerians to dream and innovate.

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
18 December, 2017

Speech: VP Osinbajo’s Remarks at the PEBEC Impact Award Ceremony in Abuja

I want to thank you very much for attending, and also to congratulate all of our awardees who have clearly distinguished themselves and have helped so much in getting to where we are.

I want to say in particular that what this demonstrates very clearly, is that there is absolutely nothing that we cannot achieve as a people if we set our minds to it.

Just listening to what Titi Shonuga had to say a few minutes ago, tells us very clearly that we are a unique people, and we demonstrated that by this extremely rapid movement 24 spaces up and qualifying as one of the 10 most improved economies in the world, within really a space of about a year or so of active work.

What happened with this group of people working together was that first; we had the Executive and Legislative coming together to make this happen. We had the very great leadership of the Senate President and the Right Honourable Speaker, and of course several of the distinguished Members of the House of Representatives who have already been given awards today.

We decided that it was time that we sorted out the business environment and we did something about that. I think the fact that we were able to meet all deadlines, and the Legislature was able to meet all the deadlines that we set, was really incredible.

Working with the States; Lagos, Kano, and seeing that even at the sub-national level, there is so much that could be done even with collaboration with the Federal Government and they can do it so effectively. I think this whole group of people deserve commendation and would like you to give them another round of applause for the excellent things that they did.

We were greatly assisted by the cooperation of all of the MDAs; Immigration, Customs, Airport authority, NAFDAC, CAC, practically every one of the MDAs worked very closely with us and very hard to make this happen. Of course, the PEBEC secretariat led by our own Doctor J as we call her, Doctor Jumoke Oduwole and the great team she has.

I want to say the next plan of action, and I think Dr. Oduwole has already pointed that out, is bound to be a lot harder and we are already beginning to see that unless we put our minds to it again, and work hard and consistently, we might not be able to achieve the objectives we set for ourselves.

I want to say to everyone, that it is so important that we move up as quickly as possible on the Ease of Doing Business scale, but more importantly, that we make a real impact on our business environment because this is not just about moving up or some World Bank rating, for us it is more important that we create an environment where small and big businesses, are able to do business effectively in this environment and do so with ease.

That is the target we have set for ourselves, that the day must come, when anyone who comes to this country can say I was able to do my business easily and effectively, and local business people can confirm that it is just a breeze to do business in Nigeria.

For us, it is more important that we are able to create an environment where small businesses and bid businesses and everyone is able to do business effectively in this environment and to do so with ease. And I think that that is the target we have set for ourselves; that the time must come, a day must come that anyone who comes into this country will say I was able to do business easily and effectively and local businesses can confirm that it’s just a breeze to do business in Nigeria and I think that we can really achieve that. A lot of it has to do with our bureaucracy and the way that the bureaucracy works. We are working very hard on that on the attitude of bureaucrats and persons who have been charged with responsibilities of making things easy. Sometimes, such people mat really not understand their roles as well as they ought because the whole business of processing or giving investment approvals and all of that should be able to make things easy and not be able to become an obstacle of sorts.

And I think that that attitude is changing and we are going to ensure that it continues to make progress as we go along. So just to say, again I thank very much for all of the efforts that have gone into this and to say that the next few weeks and few months will involve a lot of doing and all of us we are going to write into this. And I already have the assurances of our friends and colleagues in the legislature and at the states as well. We are bringing more sub-nationals at this point, may be more states and I’m sure we’re going to be even more successful than we were in the first action plan.

Thank you very much

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
December 12, 2017

Speech: VP Osinbajo’s Address at the Inauguration of The National Council on Nutrition in Abuja

This was established by the Federal Executive Council in May 2007, following the convening of the first Presidential Stakeholders’ Forum on the Child Nutrition Situation in Nigeria, on 22nd February 2007 – is the highest decision-making body on food and nutrition in Nigeria, and is expected to spearhead and oversee our interventions in addressing Nigeria’s nutritional challenges.

The Council has a robust roadmap to work with – the National Food and Nutrition Policy, adopted in April 2016 by a broad coalition of stakeholders, comprising the Federal and State Governments, civil society and international development partners.

The emergence of that Policy is further demonstration of the seriousness with which the Buhari administration takes the issue of improving the nutritional status of all Nigerians, especially the most vulnerable in our midst: infants and children, pregnant women, the elderly, the poor.

That policy, if fully implemented, will ensure significant improvements in several specific national indices, including the reduction of stunting in under-5 children, reduction of wasting in children, reduction of anaemia in pregnant women, reduction in adult obesity rates, and an increase in the rates of exclusive breastfeeding.

More than any other government in Nigeria’s history, this administration has demonstrated its seriousness about catering to the needs of the most vulnerable of our population.

One of the primary manifestations of this commitment to the vulnerable is our Social Investment Programme, comprising a School Feeding Programme for public primary schools, a Micro-credit scheme for small business people, a Conditional Cash Transfer scheme, and a Jobs programme for unemployed graduates.

The School Feeding Programme, which directly seeks to improve the nutrition of primary school children, is now active in 19 States of the country, providing one meal a day to 5million. Our target is 5.5million children before the end of the year. At the beginning of December, we intend to carry out a mass deworming exercise on the back of the School Feeding Programme.

Our Agriculture reform agenda is focusing on achieving self-sufficiency within the shortest possible time. In the Northeast, where Boko Haram’s violence disrupted the farming cycle for years, we are now seeing a remarkable improvement in security, allowing the people to return to their farms, and grow their food. In our healthcare agenda, we are revitalizing our primary health care system, with nutrition at the very heart of it, and promoting optimum breastfeeding and quality of complementary foods.

We are also collaborating with the private sector to ensure Nigerians have year round access to adequately fortified and nutritious foods, and working with both national and International partners to raise awareness and deepen understanding on this issue.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, it is clear that there is a strong connection between nutrition and economic growth. If we invest in improved nutrition for our people we will see the results not only in improved emotional and psychological satisfaction in our citizens, but also in reduced healthcare costs and increased economic productivity.

We must therefore ensure that we mobilize the resources needed to make these needed investments. The Federal Government has been progressively increasing budgetary allocations to nutrition activities.

But the Government cannot fund this by itself. The private sector, civil society, and international community must all play a key role in helping mobilize financial and logistical resources, and in helping ensure transparency and accountability in the deployment of these resources. Indeed, every resource must be made to count towards the attainment of our goals and ambitions. There is no room for waste.

The National Council on Nutrition has its work cut out, in implementation, collaboration, and communication. We bear the burden of very high expectations – Nigeria must make speedy and visible progress in its fight against hunger, malnutrition and other nutritional challenges. As part of this we must ensure that the new National Food and Nutrition Policy is quickly domesticated at State level in every State of the Federation and the FCT.

Let me reiterate that the work of this Council is an important one. Our success or failure will make a huge difference in how quickly Nigeria is able to achieve not only the Sustainable Development Goals, but also our Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.

I would also like to express our gratitude to all our partners and stakeholders, local and international, who have demonstrated again and again that they are fully with us on this journey.

In closing, let me express my congratulations to all Council members. This is a great opportunity to serve our nation and its people.

It is now my honour and privilege to formally inaugurate the National Council on Nutrition today. I wish you a successful tenure.

Thank you and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Laolu Akande
SSA, Media and Publicity
Office of the Vice President
November 22, 2017