We’ll kill corruption, solve power problem, Osinbajo insists

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is determined to stamp out corruption and solve the power problem in Nigeria.

Osinbajo said this in his address on Tuesday at the seventh convocation of the Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun State.

The vice-president said the members of the administration who were daily being confronted with the negative effect of years of massive theft of the nation’s resources were convinced that Nigeria needed to stop corruption for her to survive.

He said, “Most importantly, we must defeat the scourge that has brought us to our kneels as a nation – corruption.

 “For those of us who daily see the damage that theft and wastage of public resources have done to us as a nation, we agree with President Muhammadu Buhari that if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill us.

“We are determined to solve the problem of power in Nigeria . Regular power supply will open up industries, will help small and media scale enterprises to do their business without cost of petrol and diesel and their generators.

“We are determined to establish technology parks- these are specially designed places provided with power and Internet to young people interested in technology as business to have a platform to operate from.”

He stated that the administration would also invest in agriculture to boost food production and to create jobs for millions of Nigerians.

To achieve this, the VP disclosed that the Federal Government was cooperating with seven states in the production or rice, cassava, cashew nuts and other crops.

All these, he said, were efforts of the administration to bring Nigeria to the level of self-sufficiency in food production.

Osinbajo advised graduates of RUN to continue to develop themselves after their first degrees and to ensure that they have integrity, without which he said they could not go far in life.

Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, lauded Pastor Enoch Adeboye, who he said invited him to the commencement of construction at the permanent site when it was a thick bush.

He acknowledged that the school had grown from the bush to a sprawling community.

The governor said he ran to Adeboye for prayer before the August 9, 2014 governorship election where he defeated the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore.

Aregbesola said the general overseer told him that it was the wish of everybody for him to win the second term election.

He said, “ I ran to Baba (Adeboye) one early morning and I said I was here for breakfast. After the breakfast, he said it was the wish of all for that you have a second term.

“He prayed for me and that prayer frustrated those who were bent on forcing me out of the state. That prayer, I believe frustrated the 73,000 strange looking security agents who wanted to bundle me out of the state.”

Aregbesola said RUN graduates had been equipped with knowleged needed to make them succeed in life but he advised them to imbibe hard work, perseverance and compassion.

According to him, the acronym of the university – RUN – was apt in describing the situation in Africa and Nigeria in particular where he said people run every day.

He said, “African runs. Gazelle runs because it knows that it must run to escape from the lion which is after it. Also in Africa, the lion runs because it knows that it must run faster the the fastest gazelle in order not to die of hunger.

“So, everybody runs in Africa. We run in Africa either as a predator or as a prey.”

Wife of the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Folu Adeboye, and Prof. Fola Aboaba, were earlier awarded honorary doctorates in management and science respectively.

The awardees were recognised, according to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Debo Adeyewa, based on their immeasurable contributions towards establishment and growth of the university in the past 10 years.