Integrity, transparency, social justice, my virtues in government ― Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that what propelled him into government are his virtues of integrity, transparency, and social justice.

Speaking in an interactive session with a group of Harvard Business School students who visited him at the Presidential Villa, he observed that in a situation where societal or governmental institutions are not strong enough to compel individual behaviour in a way that advances the common good, spirituality and commitment to such values as social justice and transparency are important.

According to him, “just looking at these values, there is a great deal of unanimity about what is the right thing to do. The question is whether or not you will do those things, or whether you are motivated enough to do them, or whether you are compelled to do them.

“Spirituality helps in that sense to help you to decide what to do and what not to do. Especially where institutions are not strong enough to restrain people from behaving in a particular way or not.”

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A statement issued by the Vice President’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, on Sunday, informed that numbering about a dozen, the students who are currently on an African excursion, asked questions about leadership, faith, spirituality, government policies in education, health, economy, and national image, among others.

According to the statement, in his responses, the vice president articulated his personal commitment to the virtues of integrity, transparency and social justice which, it noted, are also virtues exhorted in the different faiths and religions in the country.

The statement further quoted Osinbajo as saying: “For me, spirituality connotes values. I came into government with values about what I think is important, especially around transparency, social justice and justice, among others. You are almost always a product of the values you believe in. Fortunately, a lot of these values cut across different faiths, they are not necessarily restricted to religion or one faith.

“In societies that are more developed institutionally, you don’t need to be told that you shouldn’t do certain things because you could end up in jail if you do and there is a good likelihood that you could be detected and the process will go through and you will be punished.

“I speak about corruption and all that. But where the institutions are weak, some people have reasons for not doing the right thing.”

Talking about Nigeria and its perception in the international community, the vice president explained to the postgraduate students some of whom are Nigerians, that it is in understanding the size of Nigeria that the international community can better appreciate the enormity and complexity of some of the country’s challenges.

According to him, “first, there is a need to appreciate the size of the country, which is crucial to understanding what the issues are.

“For instance, Borno State is about the size of the whole of the United Kingdom plus Sweden or Denmark. So, when it is reported that there is violence in Nigeria, it is probably an incident in one remote area of the country, and many people in Abuja and Lagos may hear about it on social media, such is the size of this country.

“When they talk about the economy, we are often compared with smaller African countries, but there are 10 states in Nigeria that have bigger GDPs than those countries, it is a huge target market.”

Responding to the question about some inaccurate characterisation of Nigeria in sections of the international community, Vice President Osinbajo said: “It is important to constantly engage the international community to show them how we feel about the stereotypes. It comes down to the work we do as government and people about the characterisation.

“This is why some of the work around the Ease of Doing Business etc. are all initiatives that have behind them, the whole idea that this environment is one that is welcoming to business and people can come and do business.”

Talking about creativity in governance, Osinbajo said that “my view is that there needs to be more innovation in governance and policy. You get that kind of innovation in business. People are disrupting in business every day but there is very little disruption going on in government. I think there is a need for much more thinking in government.”

He also spoke about education, educating people and wealth creation, providing resources so that more people can move up, adding: “A lot of that is tied to education, that is really something that interests me the most. Just using an example of something we did in the Northeast.”

On the economy, Osinbajo spoke about the Federal Government’s Social Investment Programme, politics, leadership, education, and energy transition, among others.

The leader of the students’ group, Daniel Jaiyeoba, said that they wanted to hear from the vice president, noting: “We understand your private sector experience and now you are in the public sector. That is why we put this visit together.”

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Integrity, transparency, social justice, my virtues in government ― Osinbajo