President Muhammadu Buhari has been treating Acting President Yemi Osinbajo like his son since they started working together two years ago.
Osinbajo let the public into this father-son relationship yesterday at the launch of Katsina State’s MSMES Clinic during his one-day official vist to President Buhari’s home state.
At the ceremony were owners of small scale businesses and stakeholders from the public and private sectors.
Reflecting on the personal and official relationships between him and the President, Osinbajo said: “The President has been treating me as a brother. In fact, the President has taken me as a son in the way he treats me.
“Going by the amount of responsibilities President Buhari has given me; it shows that he seriously believes that we can live as brothers in this country.
“He seriously believes in the unity of Nigeria. I pray the Lord will preserve our President to continue to lead us just as the nation has voted him to do.” he said.
Osinbajo said President Buhari believed that Nigeria’s capacity is limitless in terms of what it can produce.
He said: “When he gave the 2017 budget speech in December 2016, the President said the central vision of our government is to grow everything that we would eat and to make everything we would use.”
Prof. Osinbajo explined that the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery & Growth Plan (EGRP) places high premium on the nation’s capacity to grow its export potentials rather than continue on the unsustainable path of total dependence on import.
He said the focus of the Plan is to develop “the capacity of Nigerians to do everything that we need internally; to become a net exporter of the various things that we are importing today.”
Explaining Federal Government’s reason for the inauguration of the MSMEs Clinics that is now going round major cities of the country, Prof Osinbajo said it was designed to give small businesses the opportunity “to meet with the industry regulators, to talk to them and to hear their problems”
He added that he was so excited to see not only business men but women who are focussed and serious about their businesses.
He explained that the idea of the MSMES clinics which he had personally attended for the fourth time; is the Buhari administration’s effort to close the gap between MSMES and relevant Federal Government’s regulatory agencies like NAFDAC, CAC, SON, BOI, FIRS and others and ensure that those agencies become facilitators of businesses and not obstacles to business development.
During hisvisit to the Emir of Katsina, Dr. Abdulmumini Kabir Usman, Osinbajo expatiated on his close relationship with President Buhari saying: “one of the reasons why I feel very much at home in Katsina State is because this is the state of our President. President Muhammadu Buhari has taken me more like a brother; in fact sometimes more like a son than a Vice President.”
He commended the Government and people of Katsina State for being role models in terms of peaceful co-existence of all ethnic tribes and religions.
Prof Osinbajo who declared the MSMEs Clinic open, was accompanied by the Minister of State for Aviation, Mr. Hadi Sirika, Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajia Aisha Abubakar, Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service, Babatunde Fowler and Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu.
He also spoke about the imperative of one indivisible and united Nigeria, emphasizing that the nation’s diversity is its strength and noted that “Katsina State is the home of a United Nigeria.”
The Emir urged the Federal Government to extend the Kaduna-Kano rail line to Katsina to boost economic and industrial activities in the state.
He told the Acting President: “At present, the railway line terminates in Kano, but I am calling on the Federal Government to extend it to Katsina.
“Extension of the rail line will assist in boosting socio-economic activities in Katsina State.”
The monarch also said Katsina State had always been peaceful and the people were hospitable, stressing that the railway line would be accepted by the entire people of the state.
He stressed the need for peaceful coexistence among people, irrespective of their religious and ethnic affiliations.
The Emir also urged the Federal Government to upgrade the Umaru Musa Yar’adua International Airport in Katsina.
He said an upgrade would also assist in enhancing economic activities in the state.
The Acting President assured the Emir that the Federal Government would look into the requests.
He explained that plans were already on the way to upgrade six airports to international standard.
There was tight security during the acting President’s visit.
