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 Commissioning of the Petrolex Mega Oil City in Ibefun, Ogun State.

May I on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, congratulate Mr. Segun Adebutu and his team for bringing to reality this vision for an integrated Petroleum Complex, here in Ogun State.

What he and the Petrolex team have done, what they have accomplished here is an impressive testament to the power of vision and dedication, and it really is a special pleasure to be here today to see for myself and commission this one-of-a-kind facility.

From the point of view of government’s downstream objectives in the petroleum sector, this investment is of special significance.

It ticks the boxes of strengthening our distribution infrastructure for petroleum products and meeting the target for reducing the importation of petroleum products and PMS to less than 20% by the end of 2018 and first quarter of 2019.

We expect that this space will be filled by investments in facilities such as this and this is why we are delighted this facility with a capacity to store 300 million litres of petroleum products – the largest of its kind in the country and am told, the largest in Africa and conveniently holding 4,000 trucks at a time, and a jetty capable of berthing 30million metric tons of cargo. This will substantially improve retail distribution in Nigeria and increase domestic storage capacity for petroleum products and the cargo coming in on barges from larger vessels for now will be stored and loaded from the gantry right here, this will decongest the Apapa and Ibafo tanker traffic and facilitate distribution from here to practically anywhere in the country.

But more cheering is the fact that this facility is still work-in-progress. The Tank Farm that we are commissioning today represents only the first phase of a much grander project: a ‘Mega Oil City’ which will include a 250,000 barrels per day Refinery, and this clearly, to date, will be the largest single line refinery in the country.

But perhaps of greater importance as a feature of our national economic objectives is that this facility again bears out a philosophical plank of our Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, which is that private capital must lead Nigeria’s economic revolution. And this is trite as the private sector is the nation’s major economic force and that the primary business of government is to create the environment that enables commerce to thrive unhindered.

And of importance also is the fact that significant local investments such as this send the strongest possible signal to foreign investors that not only is government saying that Nigeria is the investment destination in Africa, local smart money like Petrolex is also saying the same thing.

And may I also say that there is credible independent third party evidence that we are on the right track. A month and half ago the World Bank adjudged us to be one of the ten most improved economies in the world this year, from the point of view of our business and investment climate.

This facility also represents jobs – 10,000 direct and indirect ones. Each of these jobs will support not just the workers, but also their dependents, aside from the significant impact on the local economy here – by way of increased incomes traders, farmers, artisans, and landowners. There is of course the fact that economic activities moved to a place where no economic activity was hitherto.

The Federal Government is absolutely clear in its belief that industrialization is the key to achieving sustainable economic growth and creating jobs for millions of young people. The petrochemical industry is a logical and crucial component of this plan and we are doing all we can to provide an incentive regime that will drive investments in this sector. And we certainly would like to see credible investors like Petrolex prominently in this crucial space as well. And speaking to Mr Adebutu, already, there is a plan for a fertilizer facility here and also for the production of several other elements of the petrochemical industry.

We have recently published through the NIPC, Nigeria’s full list of business incentives and barely two weeks ago the President asked that I chair a committee to look into how to provide lower interest rates for the manufacturing industry. We understand clearly that without some kind of preferential interest rates for the manufacturing industry in Nigeria, we will not be able to make much progress and for that reason we are now looking very closely into how we can provide cheap credit for the local industries and I hope we will be able to achieve this in a short period of time.

Let me again express the Federal Government’s full support for this project and our pledge is that we will be with you every step of the way, supporting in every way we can.

I must congratulate the patriarch of the Adebutu business dynasty, Sir Kensington Adebutu on this special day, where you have seen the future of your progeny in your lifetime. This is a great blessing indeed for which we join you in giving thanks to the Almighty God.

Segun and the management and staff of Petrolex Oil and Gas deserve our commendation and congratulations on this landmark achievement and we all pray for the speedy and successful completion of the next phases of this project.

Nigeria eagerly awaits the full manifestation of this “Mega Oil City Project” and in a few minutes it will be my pleasure to commission the Petrolex Mega Oil City project.

Thank you all.

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

Press Release: Buhari’s Presidency Begins National Consultation on Farmers-Herders Conflict

Following his visit to Adamawa State on the 5th of December 2017 in the wake of the communal clashes in the area, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has today, Monday, 11th December 2017, commenced a series of national consultations with all relevant groups designed to find a lasting solution to the farmers-herders conflict in parts of the country.

Today’s meeting, the first in the series, held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, and had in attendance the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II; the Lamido of Adamawa, Muhammadu Barkindo Aliyu Musdafa; elder statesman, Mallam Ahmed Joda; and other leaders of the Fulani communities. Subsequent meetings would focus on other interest groups.

At the meeting, previous reports on the conflict were presented by the delegation and causes of the conflict were analysed. The meeting unequivocally condemned the acts of violence that has occurred, especially the killing of children and women, and highlighted the need for Law Enforcement and other Government Agencies to dutifully and objectively perform their Constitutional roles.

The Vice President assured the delegation of the Federal Government’s resolve and commitment to the entrenchment of lasting peace in all communities across the country and the resolution of all legitimate grievances.

He said “There is nothing much more important now, in showing our leadership, beyond preventing tragedy and destruction of everything we have built as a nation. The entire Nigeria enterprise is bigger than other interests. The overall objective is ensuring that our nation is not enveloped by another crisis.”

According to the Vice President, “We now have an opportunity to do something. We have the opportunity to resolve the issues and to build a nation where we and our children can live in peace.”

Already, following the Vice President’s visit to Adamawa State last week, several food items and relief materials have been distributed to all the affected communities in the State, including Shafaron, Kodomti, Tullum, Mzoruwe and Mararraban Bare in Numan Local Government Area. Others communities that have received relief materials are Dong, Lawaru and Kukumso in Demsa Local Government Area of the State.

In the next series of meetings, the Vice President will meet with the Batta, Bachama and other groups from Adamawa State; while meetings with stakeholders from other conflict-affected States would follow.

Also at the meeting were Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mohammed Musa Bello.

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

Speech: VP Osinbajo’s Address at Akarigbo’s Coronation

Oba Babatunde Adewale Ajayi, the Torungbuwa II (the Second); your Royal Highness.

Today we are witnesses to a rare historic event of monumental importance for the people of Remo and for the Yoruba race; the installation and coronation of the Akarigbo of Remo, the paramount ruler of Remoland.

Through the ages, this throne has proved to be a bastion of freedom, hope and egalitarianism. From the days of its founding, when men fleeing from the jihad of Uthman Dan Fodio, and the collapse of the Oyo Empire, were offered succour and safety on this very land upon which we stand today.

It is from this throne that some of the most significant ideas on the development of Remo emerged. And it is here that the culture and ethos of the Remo person is defined and propagated. Here is the sum and substance of who we are as a people. The throne of the Akarigbo has long represented the attributes of justice, enterprise and integrity. Very few have the love of the Remo man for fairness and justice.

And so we, the people of Remo, are fortunate. Our Akarigbo combines disciplines of law, accountancy and commerce, being an accomplished accountant and a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. We could not have made a better choice.

Kabiyesi, we are all proud of your unblemished career in both professions and your outstanding successes. We are confident that your sterling attributes will benefit the governance of Remo land and its great people.

On behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the people of Nigeria, I congratulate you on your preferment to this illustrious throne and your coronation as the 19th Akarigbo of Remo land.

This extraordinary honour done to your Royal Majesty by the traditions and acceptance of our people undoubtedly comes with a huge burden of responsibility. This is the task of galvanizing the Remo people, for the great task of developing our towns and villages. This is a land of incredibly gifted men and women, from the professions to the arts and politics. Your reign must mark the coming together of all sons and daughters of Remo to take this historic land to its rightful place in the 21st century.

Your pedigree, commitment to our people and avowed trust in the power and grace of God, gives us great hope and confidence that you will exceed all expectations. Permit me your Royal Majesty, to say a word of prayer for you as you ascend the coveted throne of your fathers.

I pray that Remo and its people will prosper in your reign; I pray that the Almighty God will hear and answer all your prayers for this land; that the hand of God will be upon you to guide and direct you daily. Your days will be longer than anyone who has sat upon this throne, and as your days so shall your strength, your wisdom and your favour be with God; in Jesus name.

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

Speech: VP Osinbajo’s Remarks At The 6th Presidential Quarterly Business Forum For Private Sector Stakeholders

Let me again thank you all for your attendance at this Quarterly Business Forum on agriculture, agribusiness, and the agro allied value chain. I think we are at a special moment in our journey to food security, and to becoming a power of sorts, especially of processed agricultural products in particular.

We are in a special moment because the Federal Government has shown commitment towards agriculture and entire value chain. We have seen enthusiasm of all the players, including the small farmers all across the country.

Getting feedback concerning issues that have been raised, there is cheaper credit, and the President directed that we set up a small committee to look at the issue of intervention funds in agriculture. It is clear, that we are not able to bring down interest rates overnight, the way out is by some kind of intervention agreement.

I chair a committee to look at how to monitor and use intervention funds. We will ensure that the funds go to the right people and also monitor the use of the funds. We are also refining the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, and other intervention schemes that we have.

Listening to questions concerning lower tariffs, we must pay higher tariffs, these sorts of things are inevitable. What we are trying to do is not increase tariffs for now, but how we can ensure we clean up the entire value chain. I’m sure you are aware of the Payment Assurance Guarantee which we put in place for over N700billion to ensure gas is paid for and for liquidity in the whole value chain.

Today, we will be meeting with the World Bank on a scheme they have been working with us on to fund the entire value chain, and ensure we transit smoothly from where we are, to a much more market-determined policy for electricity. This will involve a fair amount of subsidy and help the Federal Government and World Bank are working together on that. There is no way of sustaining the current subsidies long term, but we want to ensure the process is smooth.

Dealing with the gridlock in Apapa port, the first thing to recognize is that the port is meant to be a 34 million metric tonnes capacity port. Now it is doing 80million metric tonnes, so it is obviously a port far too small for the size of business it is doing.

We have met with all of the important stakeholders, asides from those who do their business there like Flourmills, Dangote and BUA. We have also met with the Navy, Police, NPA, Lagos State Government, all federal agencies working in the ports and port concessionaires.

At our last meeting, we worked on a number of initiatives and agreed on a number of things that have to be done. I went personally to see for myself what was going on in the port area. There is a major problem there, but everyone has agreed on what to do and there is a plan which we are executing. Nothing would happen overnight, but we have a good plan that will make it work.

We have taken a number of decisions; empty containers are to be relocated to holding bays, shipping companies would no longer be allowed to operate holding bays within the port, tank farms would not to be permitted within the Apapa area and process licensing access to trailer parks by NPA to commence. A task force has been set up to manage traffic within the Apapa and Tin Can Island environs.

The PEBEC team has been monitoring what’s going on and we are watching closely to solve the problem. As you can imagine, it is a long running problem and the roads in that neighborhood are extremely bad but we are trying to fix them.

We agreed that Dangote Group will carry out palliative works and reconstruction of some major sections of the Apapa road, which is expected to be completed by June 2018. Procurement processes have also been concluded for construction of Liverpool road to Tin Can, to Mile 2, Oworonshoki up to the toll gate. The Honeywell Group has committed to construct a trailer park, they have started and will complete it very shortly. BUA Group agreed to do the works around the Tin Can Island road. We have it in hand, and we are watching and following up on it.

On excise duty, I have read the PWC study, which goes in one particular direction. And being a professor and having read several studies, I know how studies can generally represent the point of view that you prefer. We will consult the study, and make sure that this does not hamper business and raise costs in any way to discourage production.

On poultry, we go back to the problem around smuggling and what to do when supply does not meet demand. There is a huge demand for poultry and despite local production, people are still buying imported poultry. Just as we did, with tomatoe paste industry, we must work something out with poultry. In developing the policy for the tomatoe industry, we were quite sure of what it would take to bring local production to the point where cost don’t go high because we are banning imports. We have got a fair balance and soon all will see the policy as a good one. With poultry, it is a similar situation, it is something we must work on and the Honourable Minister of Agriculture will work on that, so that we can get some sort of balance.

Smuggling is a serious threat to our economy, and Mr. President has asked me to head a team to work out what needs to be done. We are making the point to our neighbors, that smuggling is an existential threat, we can’t permit the level of smuggling going on.

Last year, there was over 500,000 metric tonnes of rice around Christmas, which the Minister of Agriculture told us about and how it came in through one of our neighbours, but we blocked it.

Now, three shiploads of rice have left Thailand, 120,000 metric tonnes, going to this same neighbour of ours who have very large warehouses where they store this rice. It is very clear that this rice is for us because our neighbours don’t consume parboiled rice, they consume the white broken rice. It is clear that our neighbours do excellent business, with allowing rice to come into Nigeria and other products including poultry

I think it is important for us as a country, to make the point clear, that we are not going to accept that. We are all within the same economic zone and work together, so we go in a friendly and polite manner as possible, to ensure that this practice stops.

For those who are familiar with it, the duty in some of these neighboring countries, especially for rice, is deliberately set lower than ours, it is about a fourth of ours. We have increased duty tax so as to discourage importation but they would naturally drop duty to encourage import and then it would come to Nigeria.

I think we are at a point where we are making a fair amount of progress with the land issues also with the State Governors. It is not a problem we can solve overnight. For titling of land, banks find it difficult to accept lands just as it is, banks won’t accept the lands without titles, one of the issues we are working with State Governments is to ensure titles are done effectively and effectively as quickly as possible. Lagos, Kano and Rivers are working very well with us.

We have an Ease of Doing Business initiative for the sub-nationals, and at the moment, a road show is going on, trying to encourage State Governments to work with us. There is no national policy on land titling.

With respect to land clearing, we have heard from BOI and Minister of Agriculture on how we need to assist States, particularly the Southwest, to ensure that we support land clearing.

I have noted the suggestions that have been on a standing -consultative forum on agriculture and agri-business. This will be extremely useful and we should do. How we should go about it will be left with the Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment to work those out.

So let me again express my gratitude to your all for you time and for all of what you have done to make the Nigerian economy work well. All of us know how difficult it has been, but I am encouraged by the efforts which individuals, associations and groups are making to improve things, our circumstances and our situation as an economy.

We are all firmly of the view that this country can do a lot more than what it is doing if we get the infrastructure and incentives right. This country can be one of the major agriculture and agric-business centres in the world. I am sure if we work together we can achieve all of that.

Fundamental to our economic policy is private sector leadership, and we have emphasized that time and time again. We have tried to establish several public – private sector platforms including this one, the quarterly business forum. The constant engagement in my view is the way to go. If we continuously engage and interact this way, we will resolve most of the problems that stand in the way of our becoming the great economy that our country surely has the potential to be.

Thank you once again, and I hope that you will be able to spend a few minutes at lunch.

Thank you.

Released by
Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity
Office of the Vice President
November 27, 2017

Press Release: World Bank Praises FG For Ease of Doing Business Ranking Feat

The Buhari administration has now devised a clear pathway to achieving its power sector reform objectives, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

The Vice President stated this today at the State House in Abuja when he met with a delegation of officials from the World Bank (WB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) led by Mr. Riccardo Puliti, Senior Director of the Bank’s Global Energy Practice.

Speaking to the delegation at the meeting which had in attendance the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola and the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, the Vice President assured “we are completely committed to ensuring that we play our part in the arrangement and we think that this possibly one of the clearest pathways in a long time”

He lauded the partnership between the Federal Government and the World Bank team for the commitment and support shown to the implementation of the Power sector recovery programme.

Prof. Osinbajo noted that the partnership with the World Bank has “helped us a great deal with the timelines and milestones that have to be achieved and also a great deal in refining our own approach to the entire reform process”.

During his remarks, the leader of the delegation and a Senior Director on Global Energy Practice at the World Bank, Mr Riccardo Puliti expressed satisfaction with Federal Government’s cooperation and commitment to the reform of the power sector. He noted that the partnership between the World Bank and the Federal Government is a model which would add great value to the power sector in Nigeria.

Mr Puliti equally praised the Buhari Presidency for the remarkable feat achieved in the ease of business ranking released recently by the World Bank, noting that it is a major milestone for the country’s economic reform programme.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Fashola told journalists after the meeting, that the delegation was in the State House to brief the Vice President on the progress made by the Federal Government working with the World Bank on the Power Sector Recovery Programme. He assured that the reform programme is intended to solve various problems confronting the sector and would make the sector effective, as well as make it responsive to consumers and customers who will be ultimate beneficiaries of the on-going reform programme.

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
November 27, 2017

Speech: VP Osinbajo’s Remarks at the 4th Session of The Gulf of Guinea Commission Summit

Let me begin, by bringing you the warm felicitations of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari and to say on his behalf that the government of Nigeria consider it an honour to have been accorded to host this 4th Assembly of Heads of State and Government of Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC).

Our sincere gratitude also goes to all of the member States of the Commission for the trust and confidence in Nigeria by our preferment to the privilege of the Chair of the Commission.

Our objectives as a group, have never been as crucial as they are today. Security in the Gulf of Guinea is both a challenge to maritime safety and a significant threat to the economic prosperity of our States.

It is therefore in our national and regional interests to collaborate in this and other regional initiatives, to tackle the problems that we confront in the maritime domain of the Gulf of Guinea.

Permit me for emphasis, to reiterate the objectives of the Commission GGC as contained in its Treaty signed in Libreville, Gabon on the 3rd of July 2001, these include:

1. Strengthening ties of cooperation and solidarity existing among Member States;
2. Promoting close consultation in the exploitation of the natural resources of the gulf, with a view to ensuring the economic development of Member States and the well-being of our peoples;
3. Protecting, preserving and improving the natural environment of the Gulf of Guinea and cooperating in the event of natural disaster and;
4. Strengthening cooperation in the area of communications, especially maritime communications, with a view to facilitating ties and trade among Member States and their peoples.

But since Libreville, we have seen an escalation in the threats to security in the Gulf of Guinea, especially the wave of sea piracy, armed banditry, and the trafficking of arms, drugs and persons. Some of the economic consequences of the security challenges that we face include, a rise in maritime insurance premiums for vessels coming to the Gulf of Guinea, increased freight and reduced commercial traffic to the region.

These challenges are grave indeed, they compromise our economies and the smooth prosecution of international trade. We must also, vigorously challenge the unregulated and unreported fishing and ensure that this violation of domestic and international treaties, is reduced in the Gulf of Guinea. We should be able to collectively take measures to reduce pollution and environmental degradation in our maritime environment.

Meanwhile, I must say that the situation has evolved positively in some areas, due in large part, to our Member States’ individual efforts to improve the capacity and capability of their Navies, and other relevant Agencies to enable them perform their duties more effectively.

In this regard, I commend efforts by each Regional Economic Communities such as ECOWAS and ECCAS in establishing their Maritime Regional Centres for maritime security. This effort is capped by the establishment of the Inter-regional Coordination Centre based in Yaounde, as the collaboration link between the two Maritime Regional Centres led by ECOWAS and ECCAS.

Your Excellencies, in conformity with the theme of the 4th Ordinary Session: “A vibrant Gulf of Guinea Region for Sustainable Development”, let us renew our commitment to making the Gulf of Guinea Commission more effective, and a truly vibrant partner in all our efforts, be they national, regional or international, to ensure a zone of peace, security and sustainable development for our countries, our peoples and other stakeholders in the region.

The issue of payment of our financial dues and obligations is crucial to the effective operation and performance of the GCC. We must commend all of those who have worked so hard, especially the staff of the secretariat of the Gulf of Guinea Commission, despite the difficulties they have experienced in funding. We urge all member States to work hard to fulfil their obligations promptly.

Once again, I thank you all for your active and very useful participation at this very important meeting, as we wish the Gulf of Guinea Commission many more fruitful years ahead. And again we welcome the new member of the Gulf of Guinea Commission, Ghana, and congratulate them on their ascension to membership.

I wish you all safe journeys back home.

Thank you very much.

Released by:
Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to the President
Office of the Vice President
November 23, 2017

Speech: VP Osinbajo’s Address at UCH’s 60th Anniversary in Ibadan

It is a special pleasure to be here to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the leading tertiary health facility in Nigeria. The management and workers at University College Hospital, Ibadan, have every cause to celebrate this milestone.

“Oritamefa”, as UCH is fondly called, has attained the status of legend, pioneering complex health procedures in Nigeria, and spearheading landmark medical research of global relevance.

From the beginning, the vision, according to the 1952 broadcast of Sir Sydney Phillipson, CMG, was to build a “consultant medical centre for the whole country”, from which “will go out highly qualified doctors for service throughout Nigeria.”

In August 1952, the Federal House of Representatives sitting in Lagos passed ‘the UCH Ordinance’ which established a University College Hospital for the University College, Ibadan (now University of Ibadan). Construction started in 1954, and, on this day 60 years ago, the University College Hospital, Ibadan, was commissioned for use.

In the last 60 years, UCH has also produced some of the most accomplished and most distinguished medical personnel the world has seen.

Let me specially recognize the first Nigerian medical doctor to be employed in the University College Hospital, and who went on to become the first Emeritus Professor of Medicine of the University of Ibadan, and the first Nigerian in history to obtain the Membership of the Royal College of Physicians of England, our own Emeritus Prof. Theophilus Ogunlesi, the UCH 60th anniversary lecturer. In the early 1960s, Emeritus Professor Ogunlesi founded the world-renowned Ibarapa Community Health Project, to incorporate local content into the London-oriented curriculum of the University of Ibadan.

Since those early days, UCH has gone on to open new frontiers in health care service delivery. It was the first medical institution in Nigeria to launch Nuclear Medicine services, the first to introduce Palliative and Hospice Care services for end-of-life and chronic debilitating diseases, and the first to open a Geriatric Centre in Africa – the Chief Tony Anenih Geriatric Centre, which began operations in 2012, and today, we’ve just commissioned the Adebutu Geriatric Rehabilitation Centre.

UCH is also responsible for pioneering interventions in heart and brain surgery in Nigeria, as well as the development of the award-winning Bladder Manikin, which has been patented for use as a medical teaching-aid in low-income countries.

However we must acknowledge that the last few decades have not exactly been a stellar period for healthcare in Nigeria; marked by the same tragic malaise of underfunding, neglect and corruption that have left no aspect of our national life untouched. Medical workers know more than the rest of us that, without acknowledging and diagnosing a condition, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to prescribe and implement the appropriate solutions.

The sad state of affairs in our healthcare system has led to dismal levels of professional satisfaction amongst our medical personnel, and is at the root of the alarming brain drain that has depopulated institutions like this. While this should never have happened in the first place, we now have an incredible opportunity to fight hard to win back our best brains, and to give emerging generations of our medical personnel a new reason to believe in their country and its possibilities.

But first we must create the right conditions at home, by investing in infrastructure, and vigorously fighting the corruption that underlies much of the decline and rot. We must also as a matter of urgency redefine our approach to healthcare delivery, management of healthcare institutions and enabling the private sector a prominent place in our healthcare delivery.

As for the Federal Government, we made our health policy clear: we want to offer affordable, accessible and qualitative healthcare to all Nigerians and others irrespective of social status and location. At the heart of this vision is our goal of providing basic healthcare to all Nigerians, as this will cater to over 70 percent of healthcare needs. Our Primary Healthcare Revitalization Programme was personally flagged off by Mr. President at Kuchigoro, a suburb of Abuja, last year.

UCH is an important part of the narrative; complementing this initiative through its Rural Comprehensive Health Centres located at Sepeteri in Oyo State and Okuku in Osun state.

In addition, UCH’s four federally-funded Schools – responsible for training Primary Health Care Tutors, Community Health Officers Tutors, Nurse/Midwifery Tutors and Environmental Health Officers Tutors have been meeting Nigeria’s manpower training needs for decades now; and graduates from these institutions constitute the backbone of Primary Health Care and Comprehensive Health Care delivery in Nigeria.

I am also pleased to note that UCH is one of the initial eight tertiary health facilities that the Buhari administration will be upgrading, through the investment of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).

Your Excellencies, Faculty and Staff of the UCH, it is on the present leadership of this great institution that the burden of attaining the vision so inspiringly set six decades ago now lies.

But that task will require a paradigm shift in our thinking about funding and management. It is clearer by the day that Government alone cannot adequately fund most of its infrastructure commitments.

For the first time in almost two decades we are spending as much as 30% of our budget on infrastructure. Our 2016 capital spend of about N1.3 trillion is the highest in the nation’s history. Yet we are still a long way from adequately dealing with the massive infrastructure deficit. We have to seek greater private sector funding.

A well-resourced endowment programme is one. It is gratifying to see that as part of these 60th anniversary celebrations, UCH is also launching an endowment fund. The challenge is in ensuring that management and administration of the fund is resourced with the capacity to aggressively and creatively grow the endowment. Aside from philanthropy, there are important linkages that must be established with commerce and industry that may encourage the private sector to actively support the clinical, research and teaching functions of the Hospital.

Collaboration is the tested strategy for the future. Fortunately UCH itself has a long history of being involved in game-changing collaborations; more than 50 years ago, the Ibarapa Community Programme was the joint effort of the University of Ibadan, the Government of the Western Region, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and the Ibarapa community. We must now create similar partnerships, locally and internationally.

It is now clearer than ever before that the private sector is the key to settling the institution’s funding needs. The discipline of justifying funds given by the private sector will be important in the prudent and effective use of funds. I commend the management of the hospital for adopting Public Private Partnership initiatives in many areas of service delivery. Our ultimate funding plan is the comprehensive retooling of the NHIS. We fully appreciate that there is no way of effectively funding healthcare for a nation that will have the fourth largest population in the world by 2050 without a fully operational National Health Insurance Scheme.

As we commemorate the 60th anniversary of this distinguished institution, I would like us to take a moment to look into the future, to create in our minds a picture of what we would like the next 60 years of UCH to look like. I was excited to hear Prof. Emeritus Ogunlesi project to a UCH 40 years hence. But let us, today, begin with what the next decade must look like. UCH will undoubtedly be a global centre of excellence, staffed by highly motivated personnel, producing cutting-edge and commercially viable research that helps to underwrite a large chunk of its funding needs.

That picture of UCH 2027 must necessarily incorporate the emerging technologies that are already defining every aspect of human existence: artificial intelligence, robotics, data science, and the Internet of things. There is a strong possibility that the UCH of 2027 will require on its payroll as many software engineers as medical personnel. The sophistication that will be required to run hospitals then will compel us to exit the approach of burdening academics with hospital management which, as we know, is really a distinct professional discipline. In this exciting new future, real time partnerships with centres of excellence around the globe will be crucial, and so investment in broadband infrastructure will be a massive game changer. That future is already here.

Finally, may I once again congratulate the management and staff of University College Hospital on this milestone commemoration, and join you all in looking forward to an even greater sixty years ahead. I thank you for listening.

God bless the University College Hospital, Ibadan, and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
20 November 2017

Press Release: Press Release: The National School Feeding Programme now feeds over 5 Million Pupils Daily; Collaborates with Ministry of Health for De-worming Exercise

In furtherance of its goal to tackle poverty and hunger, and to create jobs for Nigerians in line with its inclusive growth plan, the Buhari administration’s National Home-Grown School Feeding (NHGSF) Programme is now in 19 states across the federation. They include Anambra, Enugu, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Delta, Abia, Benue, Plateau, Bauchi, Taraba, Kaduna, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Imo, Jigawa and Niger states.

So far, over five million pupils (5,226,039) in 28,249 schools in these states are currently been fed under the programme, while Kano and Katsina states are expected to be added to the beneficiaries states in the coming weeks.

Also, over 50,000 cooks are currently engaged under the programme.

The school feeding programme, which is part of President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s N500 billion National Social Investment Programmes, NSIP, has a target to feed 5.5 million schoolchildren by the end of 2017.

Meanwhile, the School Feeding Programme is collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Health to deliver an integrated deworming programme for pupils in all public primary schools classes 1 to 6 across 17 states currently under the NHGSFP in the country.

At least 243 Local Government Areas will benefit from the deworming exercise in the 17 states, including Abia, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Niger, Osun, Bauchi, Jigawa, Katsina, Zamfara, Anambra, Benue, Imo, Kano, Kaduna, Ebonyi, Delta and Plateau states.

The integrated programme, which is scheduled for the first and second week of December in these states, will deliver three different drugs for the treatment of diseases endemic to specific states; particularly schistosomiasis; soil-transmitted helminths and river blindness/onchocerciasis. The drugs to be distributed are Albendazole, Ivermectin and Parazaquintel.

Supported by the Federal Government, three facilitators would be within the states for the period to achieve these objectives and ensure that the pupils in these states are dewormed.

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
20 November 2017

Speech: VP Osinbajo’s Address at the GIABA 18th Ministerial Committee Meeting

It is my privilege and pleasure to welcome you all to Nigeria as you attend the 18th GIABA Ministerial Committee meeting today.

Let me start by commending the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) for the support to member States in implementing robust Anti-Money laundering and terrorist financing measures in line with acceptable international standards, particularly the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations.

GIABA has worked hard in keeping with the ECOWAS mandate to eradicate Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing from our region by regularly assessing and evaluating member states on their implementation of the FATF standard recommendations.

Since the beginning of this week, all member states of the GIABA (the 15 ECOWAS countries, and Sao Tome & Principe) have gathered here in Abuja under the auspices of GIABA to evaluate their respective AML/CFT regimes and share experiences on the way forward in tackling these financial crimes.

Let me also commend the dedication of the GIABA Ministerial Committee, which stands at the helm of GIABA, serving as the conduit of political will and funding from the member-states, as well as providing it with policy directions required to conduct its activities.

Your Excellencies, Honourable Ministers, Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing are crimes that have significant ramifications for the security and wellbeing of our various countries.

In Boko Haram we have seen the devastation that a well-resourced terrorist group can wreak, not just on individual lives and livelihoods, but also on the stability of national and regional political and economic systems.

In the last decade, more than 20,000 lives have been lost to terrorism propagated by Boko Haram, and more than 2 million persons displaced. One important question that arises is this: How did a once-obscure sect, domiciled primarily in a single city in Northern Nigeria, evolve to become, at one point, a menace, not only to the country but to the entire Lake Chad Basin?

I’m certain that a significant part of the answer to those questions will be found in the complicated multinational networks of financing that sustained the group and nurtured its hateful vision. There is absolutely no way that Boko Haram would have grown as dangerous as it did without access to funding and resources, mobilized from far and wide.

It is clear that without dealing a lethal blow to those powerful criminal networks that funnel money to terrorist groups, we cannot reasonably hope to completely obliterate the threat of terrorism and other organized criminal activity in our sub-region.

Boko Haram is just one example of how much evil can be done by a subversive group that has figured out how to raise money in the shadows. There are many others like it, with similar or different goals, all of them united by the need to raise financing to achieve their aims. We know that the lines between terrorist groups, corrupt politicians, traffickers (whether of drugs, guns or people); fraudsters; smugglers; kidnappers; illegal oil bunkerers, etc, have always been blurry; that these groups have always found complementary need for one another’s tactics and strategies. Indeed, if there’s one thing that the world’s deadliest terrorist groups, from Al Qaeda to ISIS to Al-Shabaab, have in common, it is the ease and expertise with which they diversify their criminal activity while retaining their overarching goal of inflicting maximum devastation.

Today, in the age of the Internet, that blurring has intensified. Cyberspace has made it easier than ever for criminal syndicates to not only draw inspiration and learning from one another, but to also devise increasingly complex means of fundraising and of bypassing conventional financial system checkpoints and safeguards. The advent of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies provides the unprecedented levels of discreetness preferred by criminal networks. The result is that financial crime is able to always stay a few steps ahead of governments and the law.

As for official corruption, all around us we see its devastating effects – in the rundown schools and hospitals; potholed roads; under-equipped armies; subverted financial systems, and fragile democracies. At risk from money laundering especially the laundering of proceeds of corruption, and terrorist financing are the stability of our financial and political systems, and ultimately the development of our countries and the prosperity of our people. What this means is that we are dealing here with an existential threat – it’s either we wipe it out or it wipes us out.

This should spur us to treat money laundering and other financial crimes with zero tolerance. We have for long enough affirmed our commitment as a sub-region to fighting Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. We must now back this intent with forceful action and visible results.

While we acknowledge the steps we have taken, individually and collectively, in recent years – implementing recommendations, strengthening institutions, building partnerships and collaborations – we cannot afford complacency at this time. This is actually the reason why we need to redouble our efforts, to shore up the political will required to apply and implement the laws and frameworks we have worked hard to develop.

Information sharing is very important to the success of our fight. This means that on the one hand we should rise above the temptations of secretiveness and mutual suspicion; and on the other hand we must do everything in our power to sustain trust and confidence by safeguarding every piece of information that is being shared across national databases.

We must also strive to work beyond the barriers imposed by the differences in our various legal systems, bearing in our minds that the criminals we are tackling have never allowed themselves to be held back by these obstacles. I trust that these issues and more will be exhaustively covered in your deliberations at this meeting.

Permit me to raise a matter of considerable importance to many of our nations. It is the difficulty we experience in repatriating proceeds of corruption from financial institutions of the more developed nations. Despite numerous mutual legal assistance treaties and Conventions, it is obvious that we are not making the sort of progress we expect to see. It is unconscionable, in our view, to have stolen funds in a bank within the jurisdiction of an FATF country and to have to go through a rigorous obstacle course to retrieve the funds and even when such funds are to be returned after several years, humiliating conditions are attached.

It is the view of Nigeria that FATF countries must, as a matter of respect for the spirit of our collaboration, and with the same efficiency and zero tolerance for quibbling, ensure the smooth repatriation of proceeds of corruption to the economies from where they were stolen. The other issue is the risk of the dangers posed by anonymous corporate ownership. If nothing else, the Panama Papers and now the Paradise papers clearly illustrate the global scale and spread of this problem. So this is a global challenge and nothing less than a truly global approach will be needed to tackle it.

We must commend the United Kingdom, Norway, Netherlands and Denmark for leading the way in establishing public registers of the real, human owners of companies in their countries. We call on other G8 and G20 countries not only to follow suit but also to initiate actions to end corporate secrecy in some of their dependencies. We cannot have anonymous ownership of companies, trusts and other arrangements designed to cover ownership of assets, and at the same time expect optimal results from anti-money laundering measures.

Once again, I thank GIABA and the GIABA Ministerial Committee for choosing to host this meeting in Abuja, Nigeria. I wish you fruitful deliberations as you go into your closed session.

Thank you.

Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity
Office of the Vice President
18 November, 2017