VP’s Speech At APC National Progressives Youth Conference

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REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE APC NATIONAL PROGRESSIVES YOUTH CONFERENCE AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTRE ON THE 21^ST OF JUNE, 2021

PROTOCOLS

I am especially pleased to have been invited to make a few remarks at this very important conference. And this conference is important indeed because it is a gathering of the demographic majority of our party-the youth. So this is a conference of those who by the natural order of things will be in this party long after folks like me and many of my colleagues are long gone.  So we have the present and the future of our party rolled in one here today, rather modestly described as the Progressives Youth.

Permit me, therefore, to take advantage of the strategic importance of this gathering to share a few thoughts with you. Most of the issues I will raise cannot be resolved in these few remarks, and I do not intend to. All I hope I can achieve is to agitate and encourage further reflection on some of the issues.

Let me begin with the issue of political participation or political citizenship. It is evident just from voter turnout alone that the vast majority of young people either do not register to vote or do not vote. Those who even participate at all would rather engage within the very constrained space of social media platforms or join pressure groups. Neither of these is necessarily bad, but while media engagements and pressure groups may draw attention to the issues, they cannot transform the lives of millions for good or ill. But  Political parties can, it is political parties and actors that can transform the lives of people. No amount of social media engagement, no amount of pressure group activities, and no number of NGOs can do what political parties in office can do.

Because they come to power and it is the government that can most profoundly affect the lives and fortunes of people. So if you are keen on how the future will turn out, you must be involved in politics.

Growing up, I was also in a number of pressure groups, concerned with corruption, human rights and democracy.  As a young lecturer, I wrote papers and argued at conferences, but it was only in 1999 when the AD won elections in Lagos that I was able to serve as Attorney General and working with several colleagues, we carried out a major reform of the justice sector in Lagos State. We had to participate politically, otherwise, all our great ideas would have ended nowhere. With all the best ideas, if you don’t participate politically, very little can be achieved.

Seating here today, we have Senate President Ahmed Lawan, former governors  Tunde Fashola and Rauf Aregbesola and Boss Mustapha,  the SGF, started their political journeys when they were under 40. Boss Mustapha even started before he was 30, they all had to function within political parties. And you may say that it took them a while to get here.

So while you all must be commended for joining and remaining a part of this great political party, the major numerical force in our society and which you represent is not engaged as yet. In order words, the vast majority of young people who you represent here are not engaged.  You have a duty to persuade, evangelize and recruit them. No matter how bright your ideas, they can only be implemented by politicians in public office.  But also you must also note that being involved cannot mean public office immediately, it could take a while.  There are young people who you may have to speak to who say that politics and politicians are so dirty and that one is best as far away from them as possible. Well, I agree that the political party really does have all sorts of characters, from priests, outlaws, scientists, idealists and demagogues, good and bad people, and every shade in between. But that is the reality of our world. A political party is only a microcosm of society, with all its features- good and flawed.  Just as you cannot reasonably opt-out of society because of some of your flawed neighbours, so you should not abandon the business of shaping your present and indeed your future because you don’t like the profiles of some of the characters you have to deal with.  So being involved and getting others involved is crucial.

The task then is to aggregate the majority of the party around your preferred point of view. That has to be done by standing firm on sound principles, but being ready to give and take on methodology for achieving shared objectives and common causes. Being ready to listen carefully to the views of others and accommodate dissension even unreasonable dissension.

Now, a closely related issue is that of your representation within the party. While I agree with Akin Oyebode that some affirmative action for young people and women may be necessary, but I think  our  youth can do better than affirmative action or saying please give us a place at the table by quota. The only reason why the majority will plead for a place at the table is because the majority has not found the capacity to organize itself so as to benefit from its numbers and/or has failed to take its place by seizing the intellectual or ideation high ground of the party.

Let me clarify, you are in your prime, at your most creative and most prolific stage. You also have the largest numbers. Clearly, you underestimate your role and abilities if you do not see your role as taking over the ideological and intellectual direction of the party.

The big ideas, the great solutions, the creative plans must come from you. And this is your moment. Human beings are led by ideas, good or bad. In a democracy, we present our ideas even if all you present is a bad idea, it is an idea. Better ideas must then be presented and communicated as alternatives. Frequently I hear people saying politics in Nigeria is not about issues, but it is about issues, just maybe not the right ones or those issues that will advance the lot of majority. But it is people not spirits who present the issues and steer the conversations in a direction that will lead to socially beneficial conclusions.

We (Progressives Youth) have a duty to raise the bar of political discourse and focus the minds of the public on the issues that matter most to the majority. And please don’t just say it is time for the youth and older people must give way. It is unlikely that will happen. It is the strength of your ideas and the depth of organization that will retire those ahead of you, not your age.

I am also frankly not very impressed with the notion that the role and power of young people is somehow postponed until the elders have gone or that there is some kind of generational queue to which we all must subscribe. Even if that was true at some point, it stands on very weak legs today. In the era of disruption, and disruptive innovation, we have seen disruption in business, commerce, and entertainment, why not in politics? Politics is about service to the people, but at the heart of that, is that it is about ideas, and of course numbers. Movements of every kind are activated around ideas and numbers. The larger the number of those persuaded by an idea, the stronger the movement.

The fifth issue is what are the issues that should engage our minds today? What are the big issues today and what are the big ideas to resolve them?

How can a country of 200million people growing at 3.6% a year or 25,685 children born daily, provide enough jobs and opportunities for decent livelihoods for its people? How can we bring millions out of poverty? The President has promised that in 10 years, we will bring 100 million people out of poverty, a perfectly achievable target, but how are we going to go about it? What are the great ideas we need? How about human capital development? Importantly also, how do you unite diverse tribes and faiths to build a great and indivisible nation?  How about security, law enforcement, and the rule of law? What are the best models? How about ideology? Where do we stand as a party and what does our orientation imply? Can we widen our ideological scope? These are the big questions today and the ideas that will rule our world in the next few decades must be capable of answering these questions.

These are the issues that should engage your thoughts and deliberations regularly.

On the last issue, the question of party ideology. Although It is true that our party’s dominant tendency appears to be left of centre, this is sometimes described as the “progressive”. Just as the Minister of Works and Housing Mr. Tunde Fashola said, the people and their welfare are the centre of progressive persuasion. I agree with Mohammed that pragmatism, rather than left or right is the way to go.

This means a rejection of  a  purely laissez-faire  economic model. Yes the  market and the private sector are critical,  but  also an active state capable of  intervening robustly to reverse poverty and its implications. This is why the huge Social Investment Programme was written into our manifesto and has been in every budget since our party came into office in 2015.

So going forward, how do we fund and sustain a much larger social investment programme? These are the questions we must answer. Still, on the implications of poverty, look at the huge challenges with human capital development. States have the primary responsibility for education and healthcare, so the conversations we must promote in our State EXCOs and  Legislatures today, is funding education and developing curricula that will prepare our young people for 21st-century jobs.

These are questions that must be answered especially at the State level. It is very easy to assume that these are Federal questions, but every one of us who knows how our Federation is structured must know that the States have primary responsibility for education and healthcare. These questions have to agitate in these spaces.

How do we deploy technology to educate millions of out-of-school kids? STEM, now STEAM  education is clearly the way to go, and there are many tech-driven initiatives that will improve the quality of education of children coming out of our schools. How do we take this forward?

How do we provide healthcare and nutrition for our people? What is the best approach from here on for Universal Health Care  Coverage? What is the best way for raising money for healthcare?

Our current security challenges have created a perfect storm, but these challenges are not insurmountable.  That is why we have men and women of ideas. In any event, they create the opportunity for the intervention of ideas.

Many countries of the world have had to deal with these issues in varying degrees at various times, that is what governments are for. America, possibly the worlds most technologically advanced nation,  has since January recorded 248 mass shootings. Yet no one has said, they should just pack up and go.

President Biden has described mass shootings as an epidemic. These problems are the business of governments and the security and welfare of the people inparticular are its primary responsibility.  And as Mr. President has said we have the capacity to resolve them and we will.

In resolving these issues the party and its think tanks have huge roles to play.  We must contribute to the pool of ideas for resolving some of these issues and problems. We must continue to push these ideas and opportunities that we have including think tanks that will come out of here, are the opportunities to resolve some of these many issues.  We don’t throw up our arms in the air, we don’t sound as if we are the only ones who have problems, all over the world, governments and countries have issues.

An issue of existential importance to our nation is how to deal with the parochial tensions and divisive tendencies arising daily. You may, rightly or wrongly  blame generations before you for creating or deepening  the notion that we should identify ourselves first as tribal or religious entities before our national identity and how this has  incrementally deprived us of the great benefits of the sum total of our diversity.

Whatever your view,  It has   become the responsibility of your generation to fully advance the truth that we  are created equal, that our  aspirations as people whether Muslim or Christian, whether Igbo, Hausa, Ijaw, or Yoruba, are broadly the same and that we are all entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and we all have a stake in this business called Nigeria.

It is the duty of the State to ensure that we are all treated fairly, justly, and inclusively. How must the State carry out this task? The Federal character and non-discrimination provisions in our constitution are important in ensuring fairness and it is possible to implement them and still prioritize merit. More rigorous enforcement of these provisions and insistence on accountability by the Federal Character Commission will be helpful. We must hold our agencies and government units more accountable for inclusion and fair representation.

This leads us to the agitations for constitutional reform and structural reform and restructuring that have been frequently made especially in the past few months?  In sum, the agitations generally seem to seek stronger States or deeper fiscal federalism. Yes, we have the El Rufai Committee report and at least that should form the basis for further debate.

As Mr. President has said, we must also take advantage of the ongoing Constitutional reform process to get our position across. He also said in his June 12th speech that Government is willing to play a critical role in the constitutional amendment process without usurping the powers of the National Assembly.”

This opens the opportunity for more further engagement on these issues. Again I think that these are issues that must engage the youth in our party.

The principle that we are stronger together than in little parts is a sound one. And it is my respectful view that those who advocate the breaking up of the country are terribly wrong. Our size is crucial for geopolitical and economic relevance. Our people will be better served by a large, populous and diverse country.

As with all big and diverse countries, our business is to make the union work. It is to give everyone a sense of belonging. It is to continue to balance the inequities and provide a socio-economic framework that guarantees everyone a fair chance.

This country can take all of us regardless of tribe, religion, gender or age, and I want to urge you to continually seek ways of making this union fairer and more just for the benefit of all. It is the very pertinent responsibility of those of you who are here today to ensure that we frame the debate in a way that we divert our energies to ways of making this nation stronger. Those are the arguments you should be having today.

All those waiting on the sidelines hoping that this big country called Nigeria will break up into bits so that they can pick up the pieces, will be very sorely disappointed and I’m very sure those of you seated here today will prevent that from happening.

Thank you very much.