Osinbajo Rejects N6b New VP Residence, Says Project A Waste Of Resources

Yemi OsinbajoNigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) yesterday described as a waste of public funds, the construction of a new official residence for the nation’s number 2 man.
The current official residence of the vice president, known as Aguda House, he said, is sufficient and up to taste.
Fielding questions from participants at the Pastors and Leaders Retreat of the Fountain of Life Church, Ilupeju, Lagos on Friday, Mr. Osinbajo said the N6 billion already spent on the project was a misapplication of fund but added that with the level of work on the residence, it would not be abandoned.
“There is no need for a new Vice President’s house; it is a kind of waste; we are now in a situation where we cannot abandon it; it has to be completed and used for a different thing”, he said.
On the controversial State House Medical Centre, the vice president explained that it was a general hospital with a lot of facilities and serving all Nigerians, adding that he would prefer that it be equipped with all the medical facilities available to provide higher medical services to those in need.
He also said the education sector lacked not only standards but adequacy of institutions which led to Nigerians sponsoring their children abroad for tertiary education.
Mr. Osinbajo noted that while 1.8 million Nigerians sit for university entrance examination yearly, only about 300,000 are offered admission due to dearth of universities.
He said the government was planning to convert many of the existing universities into centres of excellence and support the private sector in the running of universities to enable more Nigerians to have access to tertiary education.
He further said infrastructure development was key in the administration which informed the allocation of 30 per cent of the 2016 appropriation to capital projects.
Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, the leader of the Church, asked Christians to continue to pray for the administration as Nigeria had a great future.
He said the present administration would lead the people to a more prosperous and secure nation.
Osinbajo had earlier in the day preached at the burial service for his childhood friend, Bola Omotesho, at the Olive Parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Banana Island, Lagos.
He urged Nigerians to lead good lives to rest in peace as there was actually no peaceful rest for a bad soul in spite of the earthly prayers offered for the soul.