Nigerians impatience with change agenda unnecessary, says Osinbajo

 

VICE President Yemi Osinbajo has said that Nigerians impatience with the ‘Change’ agenda of the federal govern­ment is unnecessary as the administration was working behind the scene to correct the ills inflicted on them over the years.

This is even as he assured that baring any unforeseen circumstances, the 2016 Ap­propriation Bill would be signed into law next week.

The Vice President who spoke at the ‘Platform’, a non-denominational confer­ence, organised by the Covenant Christian Centre in Abuja, yesterday said: “People now wonder where is the ‘Change’ that formed the crux of our electioneering cam­paigns, but they fail to understand that pa­tience is also a virtue that they must have as a people.”

Osinbajo further assured that once the budget is assented to by President Mu­hammadu Buhari, government would im­mediately go to work, completing power projects that were left uncompleted by the immediate past administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

“The budget will become operational in the next few days,” he said, adding that it has now dawned on everyone that oil can no longer guarantee the sustenance of the economy, following the fall in its price at the international market.

He said the federal government would spearhead the diversification process where most states are found wanting.

According to the Vice President, such diversification would begin from the three key sectors of agriculture, technology and innovation as well as entertainment.

Osinbajo explained the benefits inherent in the agricultural sector, noting that Nige­ria requires an average of 7 million metric tonnes of rice to feed its population annu­ally but that foreign exchange that goes into rice importation was between N4 to N5 billion each year.

Osinbajo said such statistics spurred government to invest about N7 billion in Kebbi State rice plantations, which cur­rently produces one million metric tonnes of rice at an estimated value of N63 billion.

On power infrastructure, Osinbajo while admitting that it was somehow inconsistent for power tariff to increase when power services were poor, advised consumers to imbibe the attitude of regular payment of bills in order for the system not to totally collapse.