A Name Written in Gold
Opeyemi Oguntoye pays tribute to the Vice-President,
Osinbajo has also been giving governance human face to earn the commendation of all
The foundation of the new India as a country today was laid by some dedicated patriots who believed passionately in the future of their nation. It took a focused, energetic and passionate young Mahatma Gandhi who read Law at the University College in London and led a nonviolent civil disobedience using the Indian independence movement to move against the British rule and rescue India. The rescue mission got intense in 1893 that Gandhi had to continue his crusade in seeking independence for his country from South Africa where he spent 20 years calling for the freedom of his people and country. He led several protests and was imprisoned for many years in both India and South Africa. For Mahatma, it was India freedom or nothing else from the British. It was reported that he went on a hunger strike when Pakistan and India were fighting due to their differences in religious beliefs and he used his influence to settle the disagreement between the two nations. Sometimes, it takes only one man to make a difference.
In March 2016, a group named Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) started their agitations; they attacked and destroyed many oil facilities in the southern part of the country. It was coincidentally a wrong timing as the country’s president, Muhammadu Buhari was away on medical vacation.
Production of the country’s oil reduced drastically and most of the power plants couldn’t get enough supply of gas. The economy of the country was negatively affected. The country was in a serious dilemma, the kind of trouble that brought unending war to Sudan, the one that turned a once promising nation in Africa to a failed country. Had Libya knew their country will deteriorate like it did, maybe they would have kept Muammar Gaddafi.
The Buhari-led administration was just less than 10 months in government when this group started their agitation. But Buhari had handed over the reins of power to his hardworking vice-president, so there was no vacuum. Osinbajo, a professor of Law and a Pentecostal pastor had to step in to command the storm: “Quiet! Be still!” as recorded in the holy book.
Those who are familiar with the vice-president and his role in Lagos State where he was the state’s commissioner for Justice and attorney general knew his task then wasn’t as demanding as governing over 170 million Nigerians. The dogged acting president went round all the troubled southsouth states, met with all the leaders and stakeholders and few months after, the Niger Delta Avengers became history. Enough credit was never accorded the man.
In October, 2015, the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) slammed MTN, a leading communication company in the country, with a whopping sum of $5.2Billion as fine for violating “sim card registration regulations”. For months, the case dragged on and was even threatening the stability the industry has enjoyed. MTN refused to pay. The Minister of Communication and the agency were having troubles managing the situation. To find a lasting solution to the lingering issue, the vice-president again stepped in and behold, it was settled and MTN started paying the fine imposed on them.
It is hard to talk about our economy and the recovery from recession without mentioning the input of the vicepresident. Apart from his statutory role as the chair of the country’s economic council, he mostly leads the economic team of the country to strategic and negotiation meetings. He has been very active in the ICT development of the country, assisting in the formulation of most of the policies in the ICT ministry. He plays active role in this industry and this has positively influenced the image of our country. He was involved in Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg’s visit to the country last year and recently, he visited the United States of America where he met with the Google team, Twitter and host of other leading ICT companies all in a bid to improve the partnership with our country and increase access to ICT.
Osinbajo has also been giving governance human face to earn the commendation of all. Most will remember the December 2017 fuel scarcity and how the vice-president did not stay in Aso Rock but took to the streets of Abuja and Lagos to monitor the situation and explain the efforts of the government to the citizens. During the day, he was negotiating with the oil marketers and at night, he visited the filling stations that were dispensing.
We have had a sizeable number of vice presidents since independence but there is something unique about Osinbajo. He has not allowed himself to be carried away irrespective of his present political position. A popular prayer in 2017 was, “may God give you a deputy like Osinbajo”, a dependable man who could be trusted with power. President Buhari has always happily handed over to Osinbajo anytime he is travelling and in return, has been diligently discharging his duty excellently.
Immediately this government came to power, the first programme they embarked on is the N-power scheme in order to create employment opportunities for the millions of unemployed. This has reduced the number of graduates seeking for job opportunities. Previous governments had the chance to fix this nation but corruption and lack of foresight failed them.
Buhari-Osinbajo came with a lot of hope and today we have hundreds of thousands of N-Power employees across the country enjoying the dividends of democracy. The manner the conditional cash transfer which is for the elderly and operated from the VP’s office is being managed shows the enviable organisational skills the VP possessed.
The vice-president has set a standard that the whole nation wonders if anyone can fit in. He has combined efficiency with poise and loyalty to diligently serve our nation.