December 19, 2017

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says the collaboration of the Federal and state government is crucial to achieving development plans of the country.

He stated this on Tuesday at the retreat of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation with Secretaries to the State Governments held in Abuja.

He noted that the business of governing needs innovations to tackle complex challenges, adding that the two tiers of government were in a better situation to resolve them through partnership.

“But despite the important initiatives and decisions of NEC, we will achieve little if we do not have relevant state government agencies actively working with the federal government to implement them.

“So, the role of the SGFs is clearly central to cascading the action points and conclusions to the relevant MDAs in their states.

“And this is so, whether we are implementing the federal government’s fertilizer policy or the anchor borrowers scheme in the states.’’

He said that one of the challenges of federalism is that while the federal and state governments enjoy individual autonomy, they must still operate as one government.

He noted that the objective was for the government of the federation to serve the best economic and social interest of the people.

“So when we speak of the Nigerian economy it is the sum of the economies of the federal government and the states.

“Yet each government determines its own priorities, draws its own budget and implements its own programmes and projects.
“So a meeting such as this, where the agenda and modalities for collaboration may be set is in my view an eminently sensible idea and requires the support of all of us if we are to meet the expectations of our people,’’ he said.

The Vice President stated that one of the crucial concerns of the federal government’s economic development agenda was to improve local and foreign investments in the country.

Osinbajo remarked that the SGFs office coordinates the Ecological fund and NEMA that frequently intervened in the states.

He said it was the responsibility of the SGFs office to interface with the states to ensure that such interventions were improved.