“While we describe ourselves as Excellencies, distinguished and honorable, the vast majority of our people would in their most polite moments, say that they see neither excellence nor much honour in our own lives.”
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo made this conclusion today, Tuesday, when he spoke at the opening of the 16th Commonwealth Speakers and Presiding Officers Conference in African Region at the ECOWAS Parliamentary Complex in Abuja, Nigeria.
According to Professor Osinbajo, in Africa and the developing World, the angst and cynicism of the populace is worse, even as he said that conflicts, corruption, weak institutions have ensured that the largest numbers of the poor and deprived come from the African continent.
“And there is unanimity of opinion that it is the failure of leadership. So while we speak of our legislative halls as hallowed chambers, our courts as temples of justice, and the executive villas as corridors of power, all suggestive of grand but isolated institutions. The reality for the majority of our peoples is the misery of the slums and the indignities of powerlessness.
“So, while we describe ourselves as Excellencies, distinguished and honorable the vast majority our people would in their most polite moments say that they see neither excellence nor much honour in their own lives.”
The Nigerian leader reminded the African parliamentarians that the leadership positions they all occupy today, are a short lease that providence and the electorate have given to them to shape the present and determine the future of millions and the generations that will be born to them.
He stressed that it would be foolish for them to think that it is an occasion for self-aggrandizement or the pursuit of selfish interests, adding that the responsibility that privilege and power place upon them is for them to do thier utmost to change the current bleak narratives and projections for their nations and the world.
He made it clear that poverty, hunger and disease can truly become history by the pursuing those legislative and executive options that target education, food security, healthcare for all.
The Acting President acknowledged that the National Assembly and the executive have shown that when they work together, they can make the quantum leaps in bettering the lives and livelihoods of the people.
“In the last two years, Nigeria which is the largest producer of rice in West Africa and the second largest importer of rice in the world has changed that story. Our rice import bill in 2014 was N1biilion a month.
“Today, by a combination of progressive legislative appropriation to agriculture and providing single digit credit under our anchor borrowers programme for the purchase of the right fertilizer quality and other inputs and credit, many rice farmers moved from getting yields of 3.5 metric tons per hectare to 7.5 metric tons per hectare.
“Importation of rice has dropped by over 80 percent and we will be self-sufficient in rice production by the end of 2018. We have empowered the rural farmers, over 1.43 million rice farmers alone.
“Again because we chose to work together the National Assembly at the request of the Executive appropriated N500 billion about $3 billion for the largest social investments programme in sub-Saharan Africa.
“The fund allows us to engage 500,000 young graduates in our N-Power scheme, to give cash transfers to a million of the poorest in our society, to extend microcredit to a Million market women, artisans, and small businesses. It enables us to begin a social housing fund in the sum of N1 trillion with government putting in N100 billion annually. The fund will provide finance on a counterpart basis for developers and create mortgage facilities that will ultimately enable anyone to pay about N30,000 a month to own a home.
“The executive and the legislature in the worst days of the Boko Haram tragedy also worked together to ensure that adequate provision was made for the military including prompt passing of virements when initially budgeted funds ran short. We decimated the Boko Haram as a fighting force, and ensured that they control no part of Nigerian territory.”
Professor Osinbajo had earlier taken a swipe at the Nigerian media, which he said is in the habit of concocting imaginary rift between the executive and the legislature and making breaking news out of it.
“On a lighter note, I don’t know the experience, of presiding officers from other nations present, of the portrayals by the press of the relationship between the executive and the legislature.
“Here in Nigeria, what makes the news is the conflict between the executive and the legislature. The more dramatic the alleged conflict the more newsworthy. There’s something about rumours of us wrangling and quarrelling that always seems to catch and hold the attention of our friends in the traditional and social media.
“If you closely follow the news here for example, you will regularly be confronted – especially in recent weeks – by ‘Exclusive’ and ‘Breaking News’ reporting of several different stories of conflict between the executive and the legislature.
“A particularly intriguing report said “Acting President threatens National Assembly leadership!
“Now anyone who sees the combined size of the distinguished Senate President and the Rt. Hon. Speaker compared to mine must know that it would be a suicide mission to threaten either of these two gentlemen let alone both of them.” [myad]
