Nigeria’s vice president, Porfessor Yemi Osinbajo has explained how the APC chieftain, Bola Tinubu, deviated from the usual practice of ethnocentrism in Nigerian politics when he was a governor of Lagos State.
He further revealed that with the unusual decision of appointing individuals from different regions of the country as ministers, he was able to create a solid foundation for politics in the state.
The vice made the complementary remarks while delivering a lecture titled, “Promoting national cohesion as a means of promoting progress and prosperity” at Lagos Country Club in Ikeja, and dwelled on the fact that Nigeria’s multi-ethnicity should be seen as a blessing and not anything contrary.
He stated, “It is clear that when we create spaces for migratory talents to flourish without discrimination, there is an economic multiplier that results in an ever-increasing radius of growth.
“Perhaps there is a little more to the prosperity of Lagos. If you look for example, even in contemporary times, the conscious decision of Bola Tinubu, then governor of Lagos State, to appoint commissioners from everywhere in Nigeria, in my view, is partly responsible for the peerless progress that Lagos State has made over the years from 1999.
“In 1999, he appointed Mr Wale Edun from Ogun State as Commissioner for Finance; Rauf Aregbesola from Osun State as Commissioner for Works; Fola Arthur- Worrey from Delta State as Commissioner for Lands; Ben Akhabueze from Anambra State as Commissioner for Budget and Planning; Lai Mohammed, who was then Chief of Staff, from Kwara State; and I, from Ogun State, as Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice.
“Of course, he was opposed by Lagos indigenes, who felt that by virtue of indigeneship, they were qualified to be commissioners and should be appointed and the argument is always valid that ‘why should anybody come from their own state and be commissioner in our own state?’
“But during that period because the then governor sought for the best talents that he could find, he didn’t restrict the search to the indigenes of Lagos State, Lagos undertook fiscal, judicial and environmental reforms that have made the state a model for the rest of the country.
“If you look at what has happened, even just looking at fiscal reform alone, today, Lagos State’s IGR is greater than the combined total of 31 states of Nigeria.
“How did that happen? A fiscal reform took place because Tinubu took the best minds that he could find. If that best mind was in Anambra State, Tinubu took it.”
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