We choose to succeed - Acting President tells ministers

The Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on Thursday asked Federal Executive Council (FEC) members to brace up for challenges of economic recovery as the country had chosen to succeed.

He gave the advice at the opening of a Cabinet Retreat on the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) and the 2018 Budget preparation at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Osinbajo told them that the real work on Nigeria’s economic recovery had just begun.

“We simply have to accept that there is nothing Nigerian about failure, because as we know in our personal lives, failure and success are commodities on offer to everyone all over the world.

“And, every individual and every country makes a choice of which to buy and I will say on our behalf that we will choose success,’’ he said.

The retreat featured guest speakers, including Dr Idris Jala, a former top official of the Malaysian Government, whose lecture Osinbajo described as “more than motivational”, which took the participants through the Malaysian experience to economic growth.

According to him, Jala’s speech is one I think that challenges our whole legitimacy as persons entrusted with leadership.

“I think it goes beyond motivational speech; I think it really challenges the core of our relevance as leaders.

“I am challenged and I know that many of us here are, and I think that

we will do what we need to do to make sure that we see through the labs, that we have to identify specific areas where we will do these labs.

“We must see to it that this works,’’ Osinbajo affirmed.

The acting president said that the guest lecturer’s assertions were “so right in every way”, adding that the challenge was to imbibe the discipline to be reasonable in our targets and objectives.

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“The discipline of attending the labs diligently and accepting to be locked in a room for as long as it takes to iron out what it is that needs to be done.

“I like the point also that Dr Jala made that the excuse that it won’t work here, the Nigerian factor, or some say exceptionalism, or the acceptance of failure before you even start is certainly not tenable anymore,’’ he said.

He commended Jala for “this exceptional moment you have taken us through”.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the retreat was in pursuance of the realisation of the letters of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Fiscal Strategy Paper approved by FEC on Wednesday.