Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that Nigeria has the resources and wherewithal to provide for all Nigerians, pledging that the Buhari administration would ensure that it delivers on all its promises.
Osinbajo added that the country deserves the best from all Nigerians, stating that if all hands are on deck, Nigeria would be a much better place.
The Vice President stated this at the weekend while being honoured with an award by the Imo State Government as the Grand Chancellor of the State of Imo at the popular Heroes Square, Owerri, where other prominent personalities are honoured with a statue.
The Vice President was in Imo to commission some of the landmark achievements of Governor Rochas Okorocha.
“Let me say that our nation, this nation that we all call ours deserves the very best that each and every one of us can give,” Osinbajo said.
“Some of us have the privillege to have been elected among millions of our people into positions of leadership and many may not have that opportunity. But however the cap fits, we should remember that true greatness, true contributions to our country does not require us to be Governors, Presidents or Vice Presidents. It only requires us to be concerned about the other person”.
The VP further stated, “I must confess that I’m most pleasantly surprised by this award, and I must say that if I had known that this conferment of title will take place, I would have been much better dressed. I would have won my best Agbada or Babariga. And I want to thank the Governor for this honour and, of course, the government and people of Imo State. This place, Heroes Square, is a place of immense importance, and a place which I’m certain is going to become even a place of greater historic importance.”
According to him “The decision of the governor of this State is an attempt to ensure that the words of our National Anthem, the labours of our Heroes past shall never be in vain. I think that it is for the benefit of the future, for the benefit of generations yet unborn. But we know there must be men and women of great achievements, trustworthy, integrity, and of conscience, who through their lives have touched or demonstrated that the human kind is capable of kindness, and capable of service to others, especially, service of the type to which one does not expect any kind of recompense.”
He added “And I hope that what we are seeing here may be repeated or replicated across the country. This recognition appeals everywhere. When you look at all of those whose statues are here, at this Heroes Square, there’s no question at all that they were men and women of great distinction. They were not perfect and no one says that they were perfect. But they were men and women who in their times, though some of them are still alive, who demonstrated such a high level of public service, in the public arena.”
He continued: “This honour is, therefore, dedicated to all of our people especially those who today are still looking out for employment and looking out for help in various ways, because this country is capable of providing for all of us. And so I accept this honour with deep gratitude in my heart to the government and people of Imo State and in particular, my brother Rochas Okorocha and also with deep gratitude to God Almighty, who made it possible,”
In his speech, Governor Rochas Okorocha commended the kind of working relationship between President Muhammadu Buhari and the Vice President Osinbajo, describing it as exemplary.
The governor said that unlike what had obtained in the past in the country between Presidents and Vice Presidents, and what also obtains in other countries, the relationship between Buhari and Osinbajo is enviable, adding that the country is blessed to have the duo.
Okorocha said he has opened the doors of Imo State for the rest of the world for development through some of his landmark policies and projects including the Imo Merit Awards, The Heroes Square, where the statues of great Nigerians and Africans whose achievements serve to inspire the younger generation and generations yet unborn, have been erected.