Cross Udo, Abuja
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday called on Nigerian professionals to avoid politics of ethnicity, religion, and ‘parochial considerations’, in making crucial decisions for the development of the country.
Osinbajo made the call at the All Progressives Congress (APC) Professional Forum held at the Old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The forum, convened by the former Governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, but hosted by the Vice President, was organized for the APC members to brainstorm on sundry national issues.
He noted that only politics devoid of ethnicity and religious considerations can promote and facilitate development in the country.
The forum with the theme: “The role of professionals in politics and nation-building” was also joined by the former governorship candidate of the APC in the September 19 2020 election in Edo State, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, and presidential hopeful, Chief Moses Ayom, among other stakeholders under the platform of the party for the forthcoming 2023 elections.
Also, present at the Banquet Hall events were immediate past governor of Nasarawa state and current Senator, Tanko Al-Makura, Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Representatives, Nkiruka Onyejeocha.
Osinbajo stressed the need for Nigerian professionals to embrace politics that is driven by merit rather than throw up base considerations especially as the silhouette for the 2023 election draws nearer.
He said, “The usefulness of professionals in politics is that you have people who are used to being assessed based on their achievements, who are unafraid to make competence the first advertorial of their acumen. In other words, professionals emphasize the role of merit in public life.
“So, one of the major advantages to our communities of having professionals in politics is lost if we do not recognize our role as merit driven persons must be to fight the temptation of ethnic, religious and other parochial considerations in making crucial decisions for the development of our nation.
“There is no point having professionals in politics if these professionals are driven by ethnic, religious, and other parochial considerations because the whole point of professionalism is that you are defined by merit, you are defined by your professional acumen.
“Nobody would place their lives in the hands of an incompetent doctor because they share the same faith or continue to patronize a dangerously inept mechanic because they belong to the same tribe. If someone told me, for example, that the pilot who is to fly the plane that I’m to go in is not very good, but he’s from Ikenne, my hometown, I certainly won’t go on that plane.
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“So, in the same way, we must especially refuse to be swayed by those whose sole argument for power is an appeal to sectional sentiments. We must resist it. And we must say no to it because otherwise, we fail in our professional calling.”
Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Okechuku Ogah, iterated the need for the professionals to begin to brainstorm on how to leverage on the solid foundation already laid by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.
Corroborating in his goodwill message, Ayom observed that Nigeria under the APC country was gradually moving from the previous state of professionals scavenging the streets for paid white-collar jobs to a more desirable situation of breeding entrepreneurial professionals who are creating wealth, adding value, and growing the economy.
However, in his goodwill message, Ize-Iyamu said the party should not create a dichotomy between professional and non-professionals, adding that a situation where party loyalty is not rewarded on the basis that one does not have a professional background was unfair.
He said there was a need for all to work together and everybody carried along.
Fielding questions from newsmen, Almakura and Onyejeocha, in their separate contributions, said that hitherto, politics was the pastime of job seekers, office-seekers, and applicants.
However, he noted that the narratives have begun to change, adding “and the focus and the mindset of politicians will be changed once and for all.”
Earlier, convener of the forum, Isa Yuguda noted that the success of any political party in government is majorly dependent on the delivery of democratic dividends and good governance to the people, adding that “if it fails in this it has lost its reason for co-existence.
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The former governor said the delivery of these dividends was largely dependent on the capacity and competence of persons at the strategic, operational, and technical levels of government.
He said the APC professional Forum was a registered support group with the All Progressive Congress and the umbrella body for all professionals, technocrats, intellectuals, and skilled persons who are registered members of the party.
