Alumni Association of National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS) has thrown its weight behind the determination of President Muhammadu Buhari to retrieve all the monies stole by politicians in the past regimes even as it advised that such public treasury looters should also be jailed.
Leader of the Alumni Association, Major-General Lawrence Onoja, who led the members of the association on a courtesy visit to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja today, expressed satisfaction with steps so far taken by President Buhari to fight corruption and reposition the economy.
He pledged the support of the Association for the actualization of what he called the Three-Point Agenda – Security, Corruption and Economy of the Buhari Administration.
Onoja stressed the need for the government not to only make a forensic audit of the government agencies but should jail all those found guilty of looting the country’s treasury.
This was even as Vice President Osinbajo blamed past governments for forging polices and planning, including budgeting, which did not reflect the needs and the conditions of the majority of the people.
The Vice President made it clear that the important thing in governance is for the policies to address the need of the people, adding: “this is the main challenge.”
According to him: “policies don’t seem to have solutions that truly reflect the understanding of the question of poverty,” expressing concern about extreme poverty in parts of the country.
Osinbajo said that records have shown that there are 110 million poor people, representing two third of the population, and regretted that “when you look at the economic and social policies, and you look at the level of illiteracy in parts of the country, some are extremely bad and some with
cases of about 80 percent or 90 percent of children out of school, and other cases of unimaginable decayed infrastructure.”
Professor Osinbajo said that one of the challenges of policy formulation is how to speak to the people and how to address their plight, adding that the people are concerned about “how do I get a meal, how do I get healthcare and how to send children to school.”
The Vice President challenged members of the Alumni Association to discuss how policy formulation could be rooted in the conditions of the people.
“I want the Institute to think about this” even as he welcomed the idea of the proposed policy round-table by members of the Association.
According to him, what has been lacking in government is a time to think, reflect and consider policy while still working.
The policy round-table is being put together by the association, to provide an interface between policy makers and government on how to address the needs and improve the living conditions of the citizens through policy formulation. [myad]
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