We Must Unite To Tackle Nigeria’s Problems – Yemi Osinbajo

Nigeria’s Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo has come out to say that everyone in Nigeria must come together to make the country great again.

He revealed this after various sessions at the two-day retreat which tackled the problems of the relationship and interdependence between our arms of government.

According to him, it will be callous and irresponsible of everyone if we do not unite to fix the life-threatening problems Nigerians face on a daily basis.

He added that the people just need meals on their table, good homes, good clothes, decent healthcare, and education for their children & themselves, and unity alone will make it possible to provide it.

His words, “Every generation of leadership must understand the context. Law itself must be interpreted and implemented in context. What is the reality of the context that we operate in today? We all know, our nation has millions of extremely poor people, the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened unemployment and poverty.

“We have huge deficits in infrastructure, many children are out of school. If that is our context, we will be callous and irresponsible if we don’t come together, work together to sort out these grave life-threatening problems our people have to confront every day. The dogmatic emphasis on procedural niceties is a luxury we cannot afford.”

“The law and practice as between parliament and executive is a means to an end not an end to itself. The means must not jeopardize the end. Our people just want food on their table, shelter over their heads, clothing on their bodies, healthcare, and education for their children & themselves.”

“The Anglo American traditions that we hold on to in support of the separation of powers are not pure. For example, the US Vice President serves as the president of the Senate and presides over the Senate’s daily proceedings. In the absence of the Vice President, the Senate’s president pro tempore (and others designated by him) presides. As one of the Senate’s constitutional officers, only the Vice President has the authority to cast a tie-breaking vote.

“So, even in the country that has the most advanced jurisprudence on the separation of powers, they are wise enough to provide for a concrete bridge between the executive and the legislature.

“In the UK, the convention is that every Minister must be a member of the House of Commons or the House of Lords and every Minister must be a Legislator. So, if that were in Nigeria, all the Ministers would be either Senators or members of the House of Representatives. So, these countries we look up to, recognize that any strict separation of powers will impede development, impede governance, and shortchange the people.”