Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN,Yesterday
August 1,2017, assured Nigerians
that the All Progressives Congress, APC-led Federal Government will
surely deliver on its promises to Nigerians despite numerous challenges
facing the economy and the country.
Speaking
earlier in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi state, at conclusion of a Federal
Government- Progressives Governors’ Forum parley, Prof. Osinbajo urged
state governors elected on the platform of the APC to make extra efforts
to deliver on the promises made to Nigerians in 2015.
According
to the Acting President, “the ideological difference that we represent
is that we are committed to an economic policy that has at its core the
welfare and happiness of Nigerians’’.
He said, “the people
have not lost faith in us, they understand that the task of clearing
decades of debris will take time but we must also jointly keep faith
with them.
“The people expect us to deliver on all of what
we have promised. They expect a better life, we have assured them of a
better life, and I can say for all of us who are present here, all of us
in the progressive forum, that we will deliver a better life to the
people of Nigeria.’’
He however emphasized the need for a
stronger collaboration between the Federal and States governments noting
that “ultimately, the success of efforts to bring about synergy in
Federal and State Government policies would depend on both sides meeting
their commitments.’’
According to him, “just as the FG is
committed and has taken visible steps in meeting its obligations and
make refunds on debts owed to states, it’s imperative for states to play
its own parts. There are two obvious elements here.’’
Prof.
Osinbajo further explained that “when the Federal Government provides
relief resources, the resources are used for the agreed purposes. The
second is to implement agreements that have been reached in specific
sectoral contexts. For instance, states must continue to work toward
implementing their parts of the fiscal sustainability plan in order to
improve their individual fiscal situations which impacts on the national
fiscal picture.’’
The Acting President then identified key
areas of collaboration between the Federal and State governments as
including “scaling up Internally Generated Revenue and innovative
thinking,’’ emphasizing that “states especially those led by APC
governors must think out of the box in delivering service to the people
including in areas where their efforts can complement the Federal
Government programmes’’.
Prof. Osinbajo thereafter proceeded
to Argungu where he commissioned the multi-billion rice mill stating
that “the way to go is to energize agriculture and lift Nigerians to
new levels of productivity.’’
He said: “the commissioning of
the rice mill in Argungu is proof of growth in agriculture with
thousands of job creation, noting that “the growth and development
witnessed in the agricultural sector differ from the jobless growth of
the past.’’
The Acting President also attended an exhibition of agricultural products and farm inputs in Argungu before returning to Abuja.