Encomium
Oluyemi Oluleke Osinbajo is a professor of Law and former Attorney General of Lagos state. The presidential running mate to retired General Muhammadu Buhari on the platform of All Progressives Congress, APC, for the February 14, 2015, presidential election graced the Integrity Award at the 11th Chief Gani Fawehinmi Annual Lecture and Symposium held on Friday, January 16, 2015, at Ikeja Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.
In this chat with ENCOMIUM Weekly, Prof. Osinbajo fielded questions on the significance of the award, the forthcoming general elections and more…
How do you feel being awarded at this event?
I feel privileged, excited and humbled by this award, especially when the award comes from a place or a gathering like this one.
What should Nigerians expect from APC as they are planning to vote in few weeks?
It is an election that will determine, to a large extent, the next action the country will take in few years and perhaps in the future. So, it is a very important election and I think Nigerians should be determined to make a change and not to continue with the previous 15 year reign. If a particular set of people have ruled for 15 years and this is where we are, I don’t think anyone needs to be told, “We need a change” and that change is represented by the APC.
Where does APC stand, especially when we look at the spate of violence? What are we expecting from APC?
One of the critical things is that Boko Haram insurgency or terrorism was politicised by this administration. If you have a scale of the Boko Haram, you don’t politicise it. Instead, you get the support of the whole nation behind you and I think that one of the first things the APC government will do to get the entire nation behind it so as to persecute the war against insurgency. Also, you need to have a commander-in-chief who will lead from the front and not from the back. Our own commander-in-chief, has not been in that region at all and it is unheard of. First, the army has to be equipped. At the moment we were told N4 trillion has been spent in the past few years and the main question is, where is the army and the equipment? We have the finest military, especially in Africa and many parts of the world. We are looking at depleting the poll of insurgency from which Boko Haram equips themselves because these are young men who have no stake in the society anymore because they are poor, homeless and this country must provide them hope, opportunity and an alternative so that they wouldn’t go along with Boko Haram.
Why is APC better?
This country has never had a government at the centre that has put together the social programme that the APC has put together. For the first time, we are going to be looking at the elderly, poor and the disabled. Also, graduates who have completed their Youth Service Corps and are still waiting for employment in the second year will be given an opportunity to be trained for personal or entrepreneurial purposes because we are trying to reduce unemployment and we are also proposing that every state should provide 20,000 government provided jobs. As part of our social program, we also have free meals for primary school pupils and we already have this program running in Osun state and we intend that this programme should be taken all over the country. One of the major advantages of this program is that, from all of the findings done all over the world, it helps children learn better and it also improves the social economy. There is the social housing scheme which is the first of its kind because we thought that it would also give jobs. Also, the agriculture policy is noble because it also creates jobs. However, the ideas of the APC are innovative and have never been tried in this part of the region and that is why the APC represents a change to people’s centred government.
-DOLAPO AMODENI
