Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that poor governance and lack of institutional capacity create a weak economy, private sector performs sub-optimally because the business environment is hostile.
He said that such poor governance results in creation of fewer jobs even as housing stocks fall, adding that where private people do not build houses for rent as tenants fail to pay rent they can remain in the accommodation for years without paying rent because the court system is too slow and they cannot be legally evicted while the court process subsists.
Speaking at the opening of the 21st meeting of the National Council on Development Planning (NCDP) in Abakaliki, Professor Osinbajo said that governance and institutional capacity account for the difference between performing and poorly performing economies.
According to the Vice President: “it is the lack of good governance and weak institutional capacity in the poorer and less performing economies that largely account for the difference between the poor and rich countries.”
“The way that public institutions and agencies perform public affairs and manage public resources, and also how they manage the participation of citizens, and ensure equity and the rule of law, are what makes the difference between the poor and rich, performing and non performing countries.”
The Vice President said that where accountability is weak or non-existent and poor performance or misconduct have no real consequences; poor performance then becomes systemic, the result is that delivery of public goods is ineffective.
He said: “every public service is affected, whether it is collection of taxes, or delivery of social investment programmes, public education, health services, obtaining trade facilitation approvals or just passports or drivers’ licence, public running of power services or delivery of petroleum products.”
He advised the meeting to come up with solutions to the country’s development challenges, saying: “every one of these problems is human. They can be solved by human beings. Every country that chooses to solve its governance and institutional problems has, in effect, chosen to develop and prosper.”
He cautioned against acts of dishonesty, saying that lack of transparency and making bureaucratic corruption the norm will lead to “backwardness and poverty of the majority.”
The Vice President also recommended that synergy amongst all tiers of government “remains of paramount importance at this critical time when we continue to face the challenges of recovery from the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, now compounded by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.”
This was even as Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State thanked the Vice President for his commitment and loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari, as well as his love for the State.
“There is a certain ecstasy that follows you whenever you are in Ebonyi State.”
