Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Monday, said public service in Nigeria is only for those who love the country.
“Public service for all of us who love this nation and its peoples unconditionally only terminates when we die,” Osinbajo said at the virtual launch and unveiling of the book, ‘Osinbajo Strides: Defining Moments of an Innovative Leader.’
The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, disclosed this in a statement he signed on Tuesday titled ‘Public service is a lifelong enterprise, says Osinbajo at the book launch in his honour.’
The 29-chapter book was compiled by 25 journalists and writers known as the “PYO Collective,” and the foreword was written by former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.).
At the launch, Osinbajo thanked the co-authors and guests, saying, “On behalf of Dolly my dear wife, my family, and the OVP team, I thank you all, and I dedicate this book to the people of our country to whom we always owe the duty and responsibility of selfless service.”
According to the Vice President, “Public service, for all of us who love this nation and its peoples unconditionally, only terminates when we die. Our country deserves our commitment and service.
“And I commend you all, compatriots in the public service, especially those who are not public servants, and social activists for your steadfastness through the years.
“As we march on towards a new Nigeria, we must not give up. So, I would want us to leave this event with a paraphrase of what Chimamanda said a few moments ago ‘We who love this country must not give up, because love is persistent.’”
On his part, Former Central Bank Governor and fourteenth Emir of Kano, Mohammad Sanusi II, said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s brief period as acting president revealed how he would have led the country had he emerged as the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate in 2022.
According to him “Osinbajo is an intellectual, he is someone I will sit with you and debate, and as you know, I have been very critical of some of the government’s policies, and he will debate.
“And he had the ability, as we all know, to accept a superior argument.
“Sometimes, he will explain why it cannot be done, sometimes he will explain that it is something he agrees with but he knows would take time to fix, sometimes he would outrightly not accept and would agree to disagree.
“Osinbajo has this picture of a man who has the quality of a leader we need or how a leader should be. As Acting President, he gave us insight into how he would rule this country as President.”
The former Emir, Sanusi, who is also a member of the National Council on Nutrition which the VP Chairs observed that he had seen first-hand Osinbajo’s concern for the poor people of the country, the question of malnutrition and infant mortality, his commitment, year after year, to see improvements in the structure and the funding and the processes of the institution.
“I do hope that the work he has done would begin to see light in the near future,” he added.
In her keynote remarks and book review, renowned author, Chimamanda Adichie, praised the Vice President for being a great person and inspirational leader.
“The essence of this book comes from a diverse range of writers and they are all very different in style. But they all have a kind of organic enthusiasm to them. You read them with a sense of reading pieces written by people who actually wanted to write them.
“And so, it feels to me that this book is a labour of love, and the fact that it is a labour of love says something about the subject, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
“It speaks to the humane and human quality that he has, the ability to bring diverse people together, and it is also evident in the team that has worked with the Vice President and I had the good fortune of meeting some of them,” Adiche said.
Other dignitaries at the event included Governor Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom State; the Deputy Governor of Nasarawa State, Emmanuel Akabe; prominent broadcaster, Kadaria Ahmed, among other officials.
