Hunger Will Soon Vanish – Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday assured Nigerians that the present administration is addressing the nation’s challenges to return the country on the right track, saying hunger and poverty caused by the current economic recession would soon be over. He spoke yesterday at a national colloquium organized by the Coalition of Nigerian Apostolic Leaders (CNAL) in Lagos.

According to Osinbajo, “We are facing one of the most challenging times in the history of our country, especially in the area of the economy. The times are so challenging that sometimes you ask yourself what is really going on, like Pastor Wale Adefarasin asked ‘Is this the change we voted for?’.

Osinbajo said the country had over the years, ran a single economic structure driven by crude oil, and 80 percent of the nation’s earnings came from the sale of crude oil. He lamented that huge resources were being expended on importation of food, saying to reverse the trend, about eleven states of the country currently embarked on mass production of rice to ensure that the country achieves self-sufficiency.

The Vice President also said he was nominated as vice president by a national leader of APC and a former governor. Though he did not name anyone, political pundits assume that he referred to Bola Tinubu, the national leader of APC and former governor of Lagos State. “The party’s national leader, a former governor under whom I served as a commissioner, nominated me,” Osinbajo said.

Osinbajo said initially, the church did not support his going into politics.
Earlier the presiding apostle of CNAL, Adefarasin, said the church had a great role to play in transforming the country which was why the vice president was invited to speak at the colloquium. He said the church believed in the project called Nigeria and was ready to partner with the federal government to salvage the country.