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Tag: Osinbajo

  • Happening Now: Osinbajo, Gowon, Shonekan, Dogara attend Christmas Carol inside Aso Rock

    Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; a former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (retd.); a former Head of Interim National Government, Ernest Shonekan; and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara , are among dignitaries currently attending the 2017 Christmas Praise Concert inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, is also attending the event holding inside the old Banquet Hall.

    Others present are members of the Federal Executive Council as well as the wife of the Vice-President, Dolapo.

     

    Details later…

  • Tinubu denies purported plans to replace Osinbajo as Buhari’s running mate in 2019

    A national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Ahmed Tinubu, has said there is no truth in the speculation that he may emerge as President Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate for the 2019 presidential election.

    Tinubu described as a “classic case of utterly and irredeemably-fake news,” the report in a national daily that he was being mooted as Buhari’s running mate in 2019 to boost the APC’s chances in the South-West.

    According to a statement by his Media Officer, Tunde Rahman, the APC chieftain said it was speculated in the said report that Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, a pastor with the Redeemed Christian Church of God, might withdraw from politics in 2019 and return to full church work.

    Tinubu, however, described the report as false, insisting that he and Nigerians “have absolute confidence and are exceedingly proud of the excellent job that Professor Osinbajo is doing as the Vice-President of Nigeria.”

    He said, “There is no empirical or logical basis for this mischievously speculative story. Is it even conceivable, as the story recklessly insinuates, that Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo would be considering returning to full church work rather than run with his boss, President Buhari, for a second term if the latter so decides without as much as discussing such a sensitive issue with his party and with Asiwaju Tinubu?

    “In any case, is this story not entirely unwarranted and indefensible as the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket has an electoral mandate of four years out of which it has spent only over two and a half years?

    “This is clearly an attempt to distract the APC Federal Government from the yeoman’s job it has been doing in rescuing the country from the deep rooted socio-economic, political, security and moral mess inherited from the PDP’s 16 years misrule of Nigeria, instigate crisis within the party, stoke dangerous embers of religious disaffection within the party and the country generally and stem the remarkable progress being made in the reinvention and revitalisation of Nigeria.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, Asiwaju Tinubu has absolute confidence and faith in both President Buhari and Vice-President Osinbajo, who have been working hard harmoniously in offering inspirational leadership to Nigeria at a most critical period in her history.

    “The haemorrhaging of the national economy through the wanton and unprecedented corruption that obtained before the advent of the APC Federal Government has been staunched.

    “There is greater sanity, accountability and transparency in the management of the country’s finances. The Boko Haram insurgency has been substantially contained. We should not allow ourselves to be derailed from the job we are effectively undertaking in fulfilling our campaign promises anchored on the tripod of containing insecurity, taming the scourge of corruption and resuscitating the economy.”

  • FG, NASS working to eliminate bureaucracy on ease of doing business – Osinbajo

    Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has assured Nigerians that the executive and the legislature were collaborating on efforts that would eliminate bureaucracy on efforts to establish new businesses in Nigeria.

    He spoke at an Impact Award event held at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    The programme was organized by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).

    The event was meant to recognize individuals, ministries, departments and agencies who contributed to Nigeria’s rise in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business ranking.

    He said: “We are working hard on the attitudes of bureaucrats and persons who have been charged with the responsibility of making things easy.

    “Whole business of processing pre-investment approvals and all of that should be with the view to making things easy not with a view to becoming an obstacle of sort.”

    The vice president commended the improved attitude of bureaucrats, adding that government was working to ensure that continuous progress was made in that regard.

  • Osinbajo reveals why FG is yet to prosecute looters

    Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says the federal government has not prosecuted treasury looters due to “strategic advice” from stakeholders.

    He said this on Monday at the 2017 celebration of the International Anti-corruption Day in Abuja. According to Osinbajo, the government has been able to fish out 50,000 ghost workers from the payroll in the past two years.

    He also said that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had charged 17 suspects to court for allegedly being part of the crime.

    “The administration has relied a lot on strategic advice, looking at the fight against corruption from a broad perspective, and basically relying on independent advice in order to move forward in fighting corruption,”

    Osinbajo, who was represented by his Special Adviser on Rule of Law, Akingbolahan Adeniran, said. “It is focused a lot on prevention, and this is one aspect that a lot of people do not talk about so much. Then enforcement, this is the key aspect of the fight against corruption, there has to be accountability for those who basically violate the law.

    “Then asset recovery, which is a key element of the fight against corruption. As regards assets recovery, where there has been no conviction, it is because of the strategic advice that we were given.”

  • Osinbajo, Sanusi, other northern leaders meet inside Aso Rock

    Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo is currently meeting the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and some other northern leaders behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Aside from the Emir, others in attendance include; the Lamido of Adamawa, Muhammadu Mustapha; and Alhaji Ahmed Joda among others.

    Details of the meeting is however sketchy as at the time of filing this report.

     

    Details later…

  • [PHOTOS] Osinbajo presides over FEC meeting as Buhari commissions projects in Kano

    Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday presided over the weekly Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting in the absence of President Muhammadu Buhari who is presently in Kano to commission some projects.

    See pictures from the meeting below:

  • Nigeria has enough resources to go round its people – Osinbajo

    Nigeria’s future economic growth will be driven by small and medium-sized businesses, saya to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.

    Osinbajo said this during the launch of the nationwide MSME clinic in Osogbo, Osun State on Thursday. He added that the Buhari administration will continue to support small businesses nationwide through its economic initiatives.

    The Vice President further said that there are enough resources to go round if the country and its people use its resources well, while urging Nigerians to tap into the potential in their communities to create wealth through entrepreneurship and MSMEs.

    “It is pleasing to know that over 4,250 participants registered to take part in this MSME clinic and that there are nearly 206 exhibitors across the ago-allied, manufacturing and retail sectors,” Prof. Osinbajo said.

    According to the Vice President “The small business is the engine of growth of the nation. We are here today, and I have seen for myself all the progress that small and medium businesses are making.

    “I am confident that if we work together on this initiative, the business environment for MSMEs in our country will certainly improve significantly and by extension grow the economy.”

    Also present at the event was Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola; the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole; Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Babatunde Fowler; among other government officials.

  • Osinbajo, Kachikwu, Enelamah, others for OPTS business event

    Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS), the oldest and foremost sectorial group for operators in the Upstream Oil and Gas industry in Nigeria, will hold a business event to mark its 55th anniversary as an organization on Thursday, November 2, 2017.

    The event, which will have the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as the Keynote Speaker, will hold at Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    With the theme: Nigeria- An Investor Friendly Destination, the event is meant to discuss strategies required to attract investments in the upstream Oil & Gas Industry as well as showcase the OPTS and its achievements since inception in 1962.

    The Chairman of the OPTS and Managing Director and Chief Executive of Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), Mr. Osagie Okunbor, says the event, apart from commemorating OPTS’s 55th anniversary, is meant to help attract more investment to the country’s Upstream Oil & Gas industry.

    “The Upstream Oil & Gas industry is very important to our country as it generates up to 90 per cent of our foreign exchange earnings,” he said “so it is one of the most important sectors of our economy and we want to build an OPTS group that is well-placed to contribute to policies and laws that ensures that this sector of our economy works very well”.

    He added that OPTS member-firms are proud of their achievements and contributions to the Nigerian economy over the years and are ready to contribute to the continued growth of the industry and Nigeria despite the current challenges in the global markets.

    Aside from the Vice President, Prof. Osinbajo, a number of other notable speakers from Nigeria and the global energy sector are also billed to attend the event. They include the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, the Minister of Trade & Investment, Dr. Okey Enelamah, the Chairman of Dubri Oil and first indigenous Chairman of OPTS, Dr. Uduimo Itsueli, Dr Tim Okon, Special Adviser, Fiscal to the Hon. Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, Managing Director and Chief Executive, Financial Derivatives Company Limited and the Leader, McKinsey Oil & Gas Practice, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Mr. Occo Roelofsen.

    The OPTS is a sub-group of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) and is an umbrella association for local and foreign-owned companies registered in Nigeria who hold an Oil Prospecting License or Oil Mining License.

    From an initial 3 member-firms at inception, the OPTS has grown to 27 members, including some of the leading names in the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry and its members account for over 80 per cent of the production volumes in the industry.

  • Nigeria must embrace transparency in extractive industry – Osinbajo

    Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has said Nigeria will continue to embrace transparency in the extractive sector because it is in the country’s overriding national interest to do so.

    Osinbajo stated this during a bilateral meeting with the Chairman of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, EITI, Fredrik Reinfeldt, on the side-lines of the just-concluded EITI Beneficial Ownership Conference, in Jakarta, Malaysia.

    He said, “Transparency in this sector is very important for Nigeria. It is in our enlightened self-interest to do so because of the strategic nature of this sector to our economy. So we are doing this more for ourselves.

    “These are commitments that we made with all sense of seriousness, not because we are looking for applause or commendation, but because we are convinced they are in our best interests.”

    At the bilateral meeting on Monday, the vice president reaffirmed the Buhari administration’s commitment to a sustained EITI implementation in Nigeria and the establishment of a publicly accessible register of the ultimate owners of companies operating in the country.

    Earlier in his keynote address, Mr. Osinbajo had noted that the EITI implementation was in line with President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s anti-corruption drive, and the commitment the president made at the May 2016 London Anti-Corruption Summit.

    The vice president pledged that the administration will continue to support the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) to deliver on its mandates.

    The EITI Chairman, a former Prime Minister of Sweden, commended Mr. Osinbajo for his “outstanding speech” at the opening plenary, and pledged that the EITI board and secretariat will continue to support Nigeria in its initiatives. Reinfeldt also praised Nigeria for attaining “meaningful progress” at the last validation despite the complexity of EITI operation in Nigeria.

    Validation, which provides an independent assessment of EITI implementation, is used to assess whether a country implementing the EITI has met the requirements for compliance with the EITI Standard.

    The EITI, a global standard to promote prudent management of oil, gas and mineral resources, is implemented in 52 countries, including Nigeria, which signed up to the initiative in 2003 and started implementation in 2004. The implementation of EITI in Nigeria is backed by the NEITI Act 2007. Nigeria is regarded as one of the leading EITI-implementing countries as its operations have shaped the evolution of the global body.

    The EITI Beneficial Ownership Conference brought together representatives of governments, companies and civil society groups to exchange ideas and share practices on how to end secret ownership in the extractive sector in all EITI-implementing countries by January 2020.

    Others at the bilateral meeting include the Minister of State for National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, who is also a member of the EITI board; the Nigerian Ambassador to Indonesia, Hakeem Balogun; and the Executive Secretary of NEITI, Waziri Adio. Accompanying the EITI chairman were Eddie Rich and Pablo Valverde, both of the EITI Secretariat in Oslo, Norway.

  • Osinbajo betrayed Church by pairing with Buhari who hates Christians – Fani-Kayode

    Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, on Sunday morning continued with his attack on Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo – this time, he said the VP betrayed Christians and the church in Nigeria.

    Fani-Kayode said betrayed the church by pairing with President Muhammadu Buhari who he declared “hates” Southerners and Christians.

    The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain observed that under Buhari, every military and security agency except one is headed by a northern Muslim.

    In a tweet via his Twitter handle, the former Minister also maintained that every parastatal in the energy sector is headed by a Northerner.

    Fani-Kayode wrote, “Truth is that @ProfOsinbajo betrayed the Church by pairing with a man who HATES southerners and Christians.

    “Under Buhari the head of EVERY military and security agency except one is headed by a northern Muslim and every parastatal in the energy sector is headed by a northerner.”