Visit To Palace Of The Emir Of Gombe, Alhaji Abubakar Shehu Abubakar III, Gombe State On 30/03/2021

  • Share:

Video Transcript

REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE PALACE OF THE EMIR OF GOMBE, ALHAJI ABUBAKAR SHEHU ABUBAKAR III, GOMBE STATE, ON THE 30TH OF MARCH 2021

 

 

PROTOCOLS

 

It is really a special pleasure, your royal highness to be here; first to pay tribute to you and to bring the very warm greetings of His Excellency Mr. President, President Muhammadu Buhari, who as you know, holds this state very dear to his heart and to thank you all for a very warm reception.

 

We are here at the invitation of my brother, the Governor of this State, Mr. Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, to hold what we call the MSME Clinic. This is a Federal Government project and what we have tried to do is to bring in the regulatory authorities, such as NAFDAC, Standard Organisation of Nigeria, Corporate Affairs Commission, and other regulatory bodies.

 

We bring them to a State such as this, so that small businessmen and women can meet with them and tell them what their problems are and they hopefully are able to resolve these problems.

 

Of course, it is very difficult for a small businessman and woman to travel all the way to Abuja or Lagos to register a company or in some cases, to get approval for products. What we have tried to do is to bring the regulatory authorities to the State, so that the small businesses can benefit from that interaction.

 

We’ve done so in several States already and I think that this will be the 27th State we are visiting with this programme.

 

Sometimes what happens is that we are able to get the State themselves to work with us to set up what we called Shared Facilities, where small business can come together to take advantage of the facilities which are provided by the Federal Government.

 

For example, we can have a Shared Facility for farmers – we have a storage center in Benue which is a Shared Facility for the farmers there, so they can sell their yams.

 

Here in Gombe state, there is a lot going on in agriculture as well, cotton and others and there are possibilities of being able to do something for the farmers and the agri-processors that are here.

 

We are here to do a lot and also, we have heard a lot about what is going on here in Gombe, your royal highness, I do not want to play politics but you can see the difference in an APC governor.

 

There is so much that is going on – roads, hospitals, in agriculture, in small business, so much that is going on here. We would not have the opportunity go around to see everything this time, but that will be my excuse for coming back to Gombe, to come and see all of this development.

 

Your royal highness, I would like to thank you again for your warm hospitality and also members of the Emirate Council who are here, I would like to thank you all for a very warm welcome and to say that our country deserves all of our attention at this time.

 

Those who are preaching division, those who are preaching separation, we must continue to persuade them that is country of ours is great because of our diversity.

 

We passed by the governor’s family home as we were coming here and he was showing me that between his home, are homes belonging to Yoruba people who have always lived there for generations.

 

This is the way our country has always been, our country has been tolerant of people of other tribes, we are one country, this country called Nigeria and we are great because we are together.  The moment we separate, that greatness disappears.

 

Our greatness is on our togetherness, it is in our unity and I think that this is something that we must continue to preach and propagate so that those who are preaching division will not succeed and they will not succeed by the grace of God.

 

I want to thank you again your royal highness and to thank you very much for all the work you have done, especially in this kingdom, ensuring that there is peace amongst all that live here.

 

I pray that the Almighty God will help you in this kingdom, you will live long, you will enjoy peace and security, and all of your dreams for this kingdom, for this State, and for this country, will come to pass.

 

Thank you very much.