‘You Remain An Asset’ — Governors Hail Osinbajo At Farewell Meeting 

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo presided over his final meeting of the National Economic Council with governors and other NEC members on Thursday, marking the last of such meetings under his tenure as the second-in-command. 

At the meeting, Osinbajo thanked the Nigerian Governors Forum for their partnership and collaboration in advancing economic growth and welfare of citizens across the country. 

He emphasised the importance of working together to address the economic challenges facing the nation and ensuring that all Nigerians have access to the opportunities they need to succeed.

“I must thank the Governors and other members of the National Economic Council for your commitment and patriotism. With your dedication, the Council has been a stabilizing voice and has had to advise the Federal Government on many matters concerning the economy of the country.

“I must commend everyone for ensuring that in all our decisions, the unity of the country has played the most important role. Thank you for working with us in the past 8 years & I pray that all of you will be rewarded by God Almighty for your contributions to your states and nation.

“I pray for those continuing; the Governors continuing and those coming in, that you will experience the best years yet of our nation and that our nation under you, and your states under you, will prosper and the decisions you make will be celebrated for years to come,” the VP said in his Valedictory speech. 

Osinbajo also used the opportunity to present a ‘Legacy Document of NEC’ containing activities and contributions of the Council under his chairmanship in the last eight years. 

Speaking on behalf of the NEC members, the Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal, whose tenure as chairman of the NGF also comes to an end, thanked Osinbajo for “raising the bar” and making the nation proud through diligent service to the country. 

“We thank you for your leadership, you provided a level playing field for every one of us to make his contributions irrespective of our various & varying backgrounds devoid of partisanship but maintaining focus & fairly managed a platform of NEC. 

“Thank you very much and we pray that God Almighty shall continue to guide you and members of your family as you continue with the journey,  stepping aside. You remain indeed an asset, a reference, a rallying point for our country, as you continue to improve on issues of good governance and entrenchment of democratic action. 

“On behalf of all of us, we thank you for your interventions, we thank Mr. President through you for his interventions especially at those very difficult times when states were battling a lot of challenges especially during the 2016 period when a number of states could not even pay salaries, bail outs and such other interventions really helped all of us, various states to really discharge our constitutional roles per state.”