The speculated ambition of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s presidential ambition Sunday received further boost with the unveiling of Osinbajo, If Empowered… by the Identify the Right Leader (ITRL), is to be unveiled Monday.
ITRL National Coordinator Temi Okesanjo announced this in a statement, a copy of which was made available to Blueprint in Abuja.
Osinbajo, If Empowered…, is a chronicle and impact assessment report programmes, policies and initiatives carried out by Professor Osinbajo at different stages of hiss political career.
The statement said: “The Identify the Right Leader (ITRL) Initiative in her contribution to making Nigeria great again opined that leadership is key in solving the Nigerian problem.
“Rather than stay in the trenches and throw blames, the group opted to assist Nigerians in deciding on quality leaders by illuminating their achievements and impact while in public service (if they were). All the names that have been tipped as potential presidential aspirants, Professor Yemi Osinbajo based on the impact of his actions in government have mostly affected the common man positively, hence, the group chose to conduct her first impact report on him.
“The tales of godfatherism, personal ambitions, greed, “who’s turn is next”, and similar vices have been some of the biggest roadblocks to Nigeria’s socio-economic and political development since Independence. Unfortunately, these have always been at the detriment of a nation with a population of over 200 million people – most of whom strive daily to make ends meet. If Nigerians must start to reap the benefit of democracy, they must pay utmost attention to who they select as leaders and why.”
It further said: “The ITRL report is divided into several sections, first, the introductory section. Second, Osinbajo’s impact as Attorney-General, as Vice-President and Acting President, comments about Osinbajo from leaders, opposition leaders, famous quotes from Osinbajo and Osinbajo through the lens of some notable young Nigerians. The next section examines some of Osinbajo’s policies and analyzed the impacts. Finally, the report ends with a conclusion and recommendations.”
Okesanajo recalled that “as Attorney-General of Lagos state (1999 – 2007), Professor Osinbajo is credited with undertaking far-reaching significant judicial reforms in the state covering areas including judges’ recruitment, remuneration, training, and discipline. These reforms have profound impacts which include: reducing man-hours and the average time for the dispensation of justice, improved access to justice for the masses, restoring people’s confidence and belief in the judiciary and more importantly, reducing instances of corruption and inefficiency in the Lagos Judiciary.
“During this time. Osinbajo took the Federal Government to court 12 times, including to the Supreme Court, on matters of States’ rights, federalism, and restructuring. One of such instances was when Osinbajo approached the Supreme Court over the illegal and unconstitutional withholding of funds belonging to the Lagos State Government in 2002.
“As Vice President, Osinbajo’s impacts were felt in the Niger Delta region. Most Nigerians recall that before 2016, insecurity in the oil-rich Niger-Delta region reached unprecedented dimensions leading to a significant reduction of the nation’s oil production in the span of just three months.
“This report also captures how Osinbajo was able to solve seemingly complicated and endless bloodletting in the Niger Delta effortlessly through his ability to communicate clearly and solve problems. Osinbajo, in 2017, designed the Niger-Delta New Vision (NDNV) which brought about productive partnerships between oil-producing communities, the government and oil companies.”
“As Acting President, the report maintains that Osinbajo authorized a comprehensive construction of the insurgency-affected North-East in 2017. By then, policy analysts started calling for changes in the nation’s counter-insurgency measures. Some of the policy recommendations include development programmes. This was after the military option had shown little results. As part of reconstruction efforts in the North East, Osinbajo established the North East Children’s Trust (NECT) to provide educational and extensive-care support to thousands of children orphaned by the Boko Haram insurgency in the region in 2017,” Okesanjo further added.
