Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says without getting involved
in politics, he would not have been able to make changes required to make the
country better.
According to a statement by Laolu Akande, his spokesperson,
Osinbajo spoke on Wednesday at a virtual forum where he interacted with
Nigerian fellows of the Mandela Washington fellowship for ‘Young African
Leaders’.
The vice-president said the way to transform the society is
largely dependent on the actions of those who occupy public offices.
He advised Nigerian youths to get involved in politics in
order to make a significant difference in the development of the country.
“It took public office for me to be able to get the scale of
change that is required to make a difference,” Osinbajo was quoted as saying.
“Without public office, I would have remained a pressure
group activist; I would have done some nice things, but I wouldn’t have been
able to make the changes that my country required.
“I was once where you were. I was part of several civil
society groups at the time. I joined the first civil society group when I was
24, I was teaching at the time. I also co-founded the anti-corruption group,
Integrity, and then Convention on Business Integrity.
“I was chair of the Legal Research and Development Centre,
where we worked on civil rights issues and legal defence for the poor. We did a
couple of legal defence initiatives; we got funding from donors and tried to do
the best we could.
“If I count the number that we did all the years, it will be
around maybe a hundred or so. We achieved some good, but compared to the scale
of the problem, it was really a little.
“But in 1999 came politics, and I was appointed
attorney-general of Lagos. With that platform, we took on corruption in the
Lagos judiciary and set a model. We reviewed the issues of corruption in the
Lagos judiciary and how to address it from remuneration to discipline, and we
were able to put in place an anti-corruption framework that has lasted several
years.
“The reason why I make this point is that other states,
after what we did in Lagos, copied that very example. So many states improved
remuneration and a wide variety of things.”
Osinbajo also commended the innovation and creativity of the
fellows, saying youths need to show “wholehearted” interest to take on the
challenge of building societies.
“You need to go the extra length if you are not already
involved. Get involved in politics. While a lot can be achieved in civil society,
the government still holds the ace in terms of capacity and resources to bring
social goods to the largest numbers,” he said.
“Besides, being deciders instead of pressure group at the
table in policy formulation are hugely different positions. The consummation of
our great ideas to transform our societies ultimately will depend on ‘those
politicians’ as we sometimes derisively describe them.
“African nations and especially our country cannot afford to
have its best minds and most committed social activists remain only in the
civil space. No, we simply can’t afford it; you have to get involved in
politics. You have to be in the position to make the difference on the scale
that is required.”
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