Nigeria-Canada Chamber of Commerce honour Tinubu
By Idowu Ajanaku
FOR his commitment to infrastructural development, environmental sanitation, healthcare and improved medicare, honour at the weekend went to the Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu as he was presented with an "award of excellence" by the Nigerian-Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
Besides, he was named the second honorary member of the chamber after the late former Justice Minister and Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Bola Ige.
The governor on the occasion canvassed rescheduling, instead of forgiveness of Nigeria's debts.
Giving a 20-point basis for the award, the chamber noted the governor's policies in the area of infrastructural development, environmental sanitation, healthcare and improved medicare for the less privilege, the education sector, especially, deregulation of the sector and the return of mission schools.
Others are his frontline posture towards ensuring the survival of democracy in Nigeria, religious tolerance, massive housing policy, the Independent Power Project, guaranteeing the right of the individual through judicial reforms and his antecedents in the Third Republic and the process that culminated in the removal of the military from governance.
The Chamber's President, Professor Jide Oshuntokun, stated that Tinubu has courageously met with the challenges of being a lone ranger. He said: "It is easy to flow with the majority opinion even when that majority is wrong but it is more difficult to swim against the trend of political order even when it is wrong. No one enjoys confrontation for confrontation sake but the hallmark of political leadership is that one must be prepared to champion even an unpopular cause when it is in the national interest."
Describing Lagos State as a "frontier of opportunity" and a "refuge" for many Nigerians, Osuntokun decried the abysmal attention it gets in terms of the revenue available to prosecute the myraids of problems besetting the state.
According to him: "In normal federations such as that of Canada, the U.S. and Australia, a state like Lagos would keep substantial part of the VAT collected in it. It would have control over the ports and the airports and many of the vehicles plying Lagos State will toll for the maintenance of the roads... Unfortunately this is not the case. We have even have a situation where some federal authorities challenge the right of Lagos State to keep its streets clean on spurious ground that these streets and roads belong to the Federal Governments."
Oshuntokun stressed the need for political debates and conflicts within the political environment to be "conducted without acrimony and with full understanding that constitutional issues are never settled until there is a proper adjudication by the highest court of the land."
Responding, the governor noted that he was in politics with a view to ensuring change takes place within the nation's political climate especially through the enthronement of true federalism and the active participation of accomplished professionals.
The nation is taking advantage of the dynamics of a globlised economy, Asiwaju Tinubu said, explaining that in a depleted economy in which the GNP is on the decline, new ideas and pro-active principles should be adopted.
Apart from incoherent and inconsistent policies being pursued at the micro and macro-economy levels, the Federal Government's policies fail "to speak the language of the international financial transaction. It is absurd to still run a cash and carry economy in the 21st century as indicated by the Letter of Credits involved in the international financial transactions," he said.
Canvassing the issuance of a bond underwritten by the World Bank with Nigeria creating a sinking fund over the next 35 years to cover repayment based on it oil reserves and earnings, the governor noted that the idea is not new and is in fact cheaper for the nation and affords an opportunity to transform the economy practices.
He said rather than to seek debt forgiveness, the rescheduling involving World Bank will offer copious advantage to the nation.
Tinubu also explained that the ideas for which he should have been given national honours, having used his contacts to secure a better and efficient power generation for industries, had been frustrated on the altar of politics and for which Lagos State is charged N225 million monthly.
Although forced to bend, he will not roll over, Tinubu said, adding that despite the withholding of statutory allocations and the reduction, the state continues to function properly without owing staff salary even at the local government levels.
He noted that there was a need for the Federal Government to review its strategy of borrowing at very high interest rates at the market, which tends to kill small businesses as they are forced to borrow at higher rates when banks add their charges.
