“We will establish a technology economy that will leverage our broadband connectivity for all, encourage tech companies to train more tech engineers and we will surpass every nation, God helping us, in terms of the quantum and quality of tech talent.”
This was the dream of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo when he addressed Workers, who turned out today, May 1, in Abuja, the nation’s capital to celebrate Workers Day.
“We will achieve effective broadband connectivity for all by 2025, we will remove the yokes of over-regulation, multiple taxations and poor infrastructure from the necks of our private sector so as to unleash their productivity.
“We will crack the power conundrum, (the “up NEPA” thing will stop) by decentralizing the national grid system, and by providing alternative grids with private sector investments. We will reengineer our educational curriculum to provide relevant education for the new jobs and opportunities of the 21st century.
“Working with the States, we will ensure compulsory free basic education for all children male and female.
“We will build on the Social Investment Programmes into a full-scale social welfare programme. We have the talent, the resources, the resourcefulness, the resilience and the faith to do all these and more in a few short years. But we must decisively defeat the anarchists and terrorists, we must unite and heal our people and let a united and powerful country attain its manifest destiny.
“God Almighty has heard Nigeria’s prayers these many years that we have prayed and it is time to go forward and achieve.
“I ask that all working men and women, pensioners and veterans of the labour movement rise up to the occasion with our administration.”
Vice President Osinbajo said that the federal government is not unmindful of the anxieties of the children and their parents who are plagued by thoughts of an uncertain future as they stay home because their universities have been shut down by industrial action.
“I want to appeal to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the broader labour community to seek the path of dialogue. Disagreement and debate have always been part of the relationship between labour and the government. Even as we disagree today, we must not do so as mortal adversaries, but as members of the same progressive family.
“We both want the same thing – a country that works for all, a tertiary education system that works for all. A country that offers each citizen a fair deal – even if occasionally we differ on how to achieve this goal, but at all times, we have through dialogue found a path forward.
“It is in this spirit that I call on ASUU to embrace dialogue with the Government and I call also on the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress to help facilitate a resolution of this dispute through dialogue. I believe that we can find a path forward in good faith. And this is what we must do.”
The Vice President said that the progressive vision of inclusive growth and shared prosperity requires a revolution in the national productivity and our work ethic.
He said that the government would ensure that every citizen has the opportunity to work, achieve productive personhood and participate in the development of their communities.
He added that the government would also be committed to an ethos of high productivity and innovation, and of using technology to transform the way we work and do business.
“We cannot achieve this without a workforce that is attuned to optimizing our possibilities.”
