Ex British PM to aid Nigerian governors deliver on campaign promises

Former British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, on Wednesday promised to assist states’ governors in Nigeria to deliver change in areas of priority in their states.

Blair made the pledge at a meeting with the governors under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) which ended late Wednesday night at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said that his ‘’Tony Blair Foundation’’ was open to the cry for help from any state in need of assistance to enable it to deliver democratic dividends to its people.

According to him, the foundation’s members of staff are ready to provide necessary assistance to state governments whenever required.

Blair pointed out that the hardest thing about governance was being able to deliver on campaign promises to the people.

"Politics is a real tough business and the toughest challenge is how you get things done and you need great ideas, with great reality. What we do therefore is to work with countries.

The former prime minister said that changes could be in the areas of power generation, investments, basic education, healthcare and agriculture.

"Nonetheless, there is great goodwill and desire for the country to do well and my foundation, as a charity organisation, will be collaborating and working at the state level wherever you’ve got priorities.

"Where you think you need some help, we are there ready to have people come live and work with your people to make that change happen,’’ he said.

He said that whenever there was a challenge, his foundation would bring its experts to help in decision-making.Blair described the meeting as "an exciting opportunity to visit Nigeria and meet with the governors, especially in the face of the current oil price’’.

Speaking to newsmen after the meeting, Gov. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo, said that Blair was at the meeting to share his experience in governance with the governors and not to teach them what to do.

"He has come to introduce his foundation to us and to tell us how it can help us in areas of priority development because like he said, no one can identify our areas of priority better than us,’’ Oshiomhole said.