We’ll change Nigeria for the better, VP Osinbajo assures Nigerians

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Saturday reassured Nigerians that the question of change in the country was irrevocable and the present administration was completely committed to it.

He spoke at a town hall meeting organised in Lagos by a group, United Action for Change, urging Nigerians never to lose hope.

The VP re-emphasised that the Buhari-led administration was committed to changing the nation for the better.

Mr. Osinbajo said that change was not a mere slogan as the country could not survive going the way it had always gone.

“The question of Change is irrevocable,’’ he said, assuring Nigerians that things, though difficult, would be better.

“I know that Nigerians are going through a very difficult time, so does the President. There is the power problem, there is fuel scarcity, even inflation, oh yes, but these are birth pains.

“You can be sure this is not going to be the end of the story; as a matter of fact, the end of the story is going to be a story of prosperity and abundance for the nation,’’ he said.

Vice President Osinbajo said there was a determination by the government to ensure that the country changes its direction and the best chance to do so successfully was with a honest and straightforward leader like President Buhari.

He said that the present leadership of the country had no other agenda than to change the country for the better.

“We have no other agenda. You can look at our balance sheets after our tenure and you will find that we have not enriched ourselves,’’ he said.

The Vice President, who answered 20 questions put to him by the audience, said that the government was working to end the problem of recurrent fuel scarcity in the country.

He said that the government was among other things, asking or co-location of refineries by the private sector and some investors were already showing interest.

Mr. Osinbajo also said the government was also committed to the health insurance scheme the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaigned about during its electioneering.

“We intend, by the end of our administration, to have a complete coverage,’’ he said,

Mr. Osinbajo said the N500bn social protection fund would revolutionalise the nation’s social security scheme.
He said that Nigeria’s economy was already diversified and the government only needed to encourage each of the sectors to stimulate growth and make them bring in more revenue.

The VP also told the gathering that the government believed that the most effective way to move goods and people from one point to another was through rail and one of its biggest projects was in the area of railways.

He blamed the present power problems in the country on vandalism among other problems and promised that the government was addressing the problems to make things better.

Earlier, Muiz Banire, (SAN) and the APC National Legal Adviser as well as the convener of the meeting, said it was a feedback forum to enable the government to know where the shoes were pinching the people.

“We engage in mass education of the public and the essence of this maiden town-hall meeting is to establish contact between the government and the people,’’ he said.

Mr. Banire, also a former Commissioner in Lagos State under former Governors Bola Tinubu and Babatunde Fashola, said the group comprised people from all walks of life. (NAN)