The government of President Muhammadu Buhari is “completely and irrevocably committed to change”, Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, declared on Saturday, calling on Nigerians to remain patient but hopeful that “the time is now”.
“it’s a new day in Aso Rock,” the Vice President, a pastor, declared in a speech at The Platform, a public engagement forum organised by the Covenant Church led by Pastor Poju Oyemade.
“Nearly a year on- there are many problems and many have asked where is the change? Is this the change we voted for? Even some fifth columnists in our midst have suggested bring back corruption,” he added at the event in Abuja.
He said the Buhari administration is instituting a new culture of probity and accountability in governance and even “though it may not be easy, though the early signs may be confusing and sometimes discouraging, there has never been a better opportunity than now to turn the country in the direction of success”.
“Today we have the best opportunity in decades for profound change. It is an opportunity in a generation. A revolution whose time has come,” Mr. Osinbajo said.
According to him, “everything around us tells us that the moment is now! Can this change happen? Yes it can! Yes it must! What do you have in your hands to make it happen? We have a country that is tired of corruption, tired of leadership without values, tired of an economy that is neither designed to accommodate enterprise, nor to create opportunity and wealth for the majority”.
The “new day in Aso Rock”, he said, “s that of a Presidency that is committed to ensuring a departure from the past culture of corruption and profligacy in government, even as he averred that “the government of President Muhammadu Buhari is completely and irrevocably committed to the Change promised Nigerians”.
Speaking on the theme ‘What do we have in our hands, tapping into dead capital” Professor Osinbajo argued that “We have a leadership, a leader that is ready to challenge the rotten system, one that has said he is ready to kill corruption rather let corruption kill us.”
“We believe that though it may not be easy, though the early signs may be confusing and sometimes discouraging, there has never been a better opportunity than now to turn the country in the direction of success”.
Mr. Osinbajo told the youths who gathered for the occasion that the Federal Government is not unaware of the nation’s challenges, but they must believe the problems facing the nation in the area of power, availability of petroleum products, infrastructure and agriculture are surmountable and resolvable.
He spoke about the determination of the Federal Government to leverage technology under a number of initiatives he unveiled intended to create the enabling environment that would stimulate youth entrepreneurship and innovation.
“The key to change and our future prosperity lies in innovation and is critical to our development”.