Prudent management of Nigeria’s better than restructuring ----Osinbajo
*Vice President Yemi Osinbajo
(Nigeria) Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has said that prudent
management of national resources and providing for the people properly, are
better ideas for Nigeria's development challenges, in contrast to simple
geographical restructuring of the country.
Prof. Osinbajo who stated this while fielding questions from
a cross-section of Nigerians at a town hall meeting in Minnesota, the United
States of America on Sunday, spoke on a wide range of issues covering the
economy, anti-corruption, health, agriculture among others.
According to the Vice President, “the problem with our
country is not a matter of restructuring and we must not allow ourselves to be
drawn into the argument that our problems stem from some geographical
restructuring. It is about managing resources properly and providing for the
people properly, that is what it is all about.
“I served for eight years as Attorney General in Lagos State
and one of the chief issues that we fought for in Lagos state was what you call
fiscal federalism. We felt that there was a need for the states to be stronger,
for states to more or less determine their fortunes.
“So, for example, we went to court to contest the idea that
every state should control, to a certain extent, its own resources (the
so-called resource control debate). We were in court at that time up to the
Supreme Court and the court ruled that oil-producing states should continue to
get 13% derivation.
“While we were at the Supreme Court only the oil-producing
states and Lagos were interested in resource control, everybody else was not
interested in resource control for obvious reasons. Now, that is the way the
argument has always gone, those who have the resources want to take all of it,
while those who do not have want to share from others.”
Continuing, Prof. Osinbajo said, “My view is that we must
create the environment that allows for people to realise themselves
economically because that truly is what the challenge is with our country.”
The Vice President added that Buhari-led Federal Government
has put in place an economic structure that is able to function properly
despite previous challenges, particularly corruption that led to a slowdown in
the economy.
On the impact of corruption on the economy and the solution
adopted by the Buhari administration, Prof. Osinbajo noted that “Unless we are
able to deal with the fundamental questions especially around corruption, our
economic circumstance will keep going one step forward, two steps backwards.
“When you talk about corruption in Nigeria, the truth is
stranger than fiction. It is the kind of thing that would cripple an economy
anywhere because you simply don’t have the resources for the graft and the
greed of the numbers of people who want to steal the resources.
“All that we have been able to deal with is grand
corruption. When we started the TSA, the whole point was to aggregate all of
the funds of government that were in private banks. So we put all of the money
in the central bank so that we could at least see the movement of money and by
doing so, we were able to save 50% of the corruption that was going on then.”
He assured Nigerians in the US that the government of
President Muhammadu Buhari could be trusted, noting that “we can say for sure
that the President is not going to sign off money and just bring it out to
share.”
Relying on OPEC statistics on oil revenues accruable to
Nigeria under successive administrations between 1990 and 2014, the Vice
President said not much had been done in terms of infrastructure development
despite the huge oil revenues realized by the country.
According to him, “Under the IBB / Abacha administrations
(1990 - 1998) Nigeria realized $199.8 billion; under the Obasanjo / Yar’Adua
governments (1999 – 2009), the country got $401.1 billion; and during the
Jonathan administration (2010 – 2014), Nigeria got $381.9 billion from oil
revenues.”
“The question that we must all ask is that what exactly
happened to resources? The question that I asked is that where is the
infrastructure.
“One of the critical things that we must bear in mind and
see is that this government despite earning $94 billion, up until 2017, we are
spending more on infrastructure and capital than any previous government, so we
are spending N1.5 trillion on capital, that is the highest we have spent since
1990,” he added.
Responding to concerns on how government is utilizing
recovered funds, the Vice President disclosed that the Buhari administration is
committed to a transparent use of the funds in providing infrastructure.
He said: “What we are doing with the proceeds of corruption
is by making it a line in the budget so that it can be accounted for properly;
it is not a special fund somewhere that is just being used in any way, but as a
single line in the budget for infrastructure which is our major spend.”
In the area of agriculture, Prof. Osinbajo said, the target
was to attain self-sufficiency in the production of rice, tomato etc.
According to him, “We are doing a lot of work in
agriculture. Take rice, for instance, we are doing a lot in rice production and
we have increased local production such that we are no longer spending $5
million daily on rice import.
“Today, we are doing 11 million metric tons of paddy rice
and are now importing only 2 per cent of what we used to import.”
On Nigeria’s rise on the World Bank’s ease of doing business
index, Prof. Osinbajo said though the challenges are daunting, the government
was committed to going beyond the 24 places it moved up to in the last
rankings.
The Vice President added that reforming Nigeria’s port
system was top on the agenda of government as efforts were underway to improve
the turnaround time for cargo clearance at the ports.
According to him, “If you look at the port issue, for
example, we must be able to clear our port system; people must be able to
import and export their goods in hours not weeks and months.
“So, we have to work our port system and one of the things
we have been able to do is what we call the National Trading Platform or the
single window. We are getting to the point where we are going to launch the national
trading platform where the whole port system is integrated into one.”
On improving the health budget at both the state and federal
levels, the Vice President said the focus is on trying to do National Health
Insurance because funding health care through budgeting has proved to be
practically impossible.
According to him, “We simply do not have the resources, the
states and Federal Government cannot do enough. So, the National Health
Insurance is a very basic part of it and we are currently working now with the
World Bank and with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to establish a
proper National Health Insurance Scheme.”
Nigeria’s Ambassador to the U.S., Mr Sylvanus Nsofor led
other Nigerians within and outside the state of Minnesota to the meeting held
in Minneapolis.
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