Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has insisted that President Muhammadu Buhari believed that the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, is the best man to spearhead the anti-corruption fight.
This, he said, was the reason why Buhari represented him for screening the second time after the Senate rejected his nomination.
According to him, the President has given Magu free hand to carry out the assignment.
The Senate has continued to demand Maguโs removal from the EFCC.
Osinbajo, in a media interview granted to reporters in Lagos , spoke on the Department State Services (DSS) disagreement with the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) in the past and Buhariโs recommendation of Magu despite DSSโs opposition.
According to the interview released by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, Osinbajo while reacting to claim that the disagreement was causing discord in the administration, said: โThatโs not true. Let me put it this way; first letโs take the Magu example. One of the things that the President decided to do is to ensure that every agency does its work without direct interference from the President.
โSo, the President does not call the EFCC, and say, โGo and arrest Mr. Ekpeyongโ, no. And thatโs one of the most important things about the style of this government, and we want the agencies to do their work. No one has showed up and called Magu and say, โLook go and arrest.
โWhile you will find, for example, that the Director General, DSS, upon the request by the Senate, wrote a security report and sent it, yet it is up to the President to decide whether heโs going to present this candidate. Interfering with the process of a security report is not leadership; thatโs obstructing.
โHe is not supposed to interfere. If you say, โsend your reportโ, whatever report you want to send, the man defends himself, and we still believe he is the right person for the job. That is the position that we took when he was presented the second time.
โOf course, the Senate has had their own say on that and they are entitled to take some of the positions they are taking. But the President believes that this is the right man for the job, so he presented him the second time.
On the arrest of DG, NIA by the EFCC, he said: โWith respect to the arrest of DG, NIA, and some of what took place, I think the fair thing to say is that the President has said that the EFCC has the absolute right to go ahead and do whatever it needs to do to ensure that anybody who has committed a crime or who is suspected to having committed a crime, is brought to justice; and thatโs the position that the EFCC has taken.
โYou know the EFCC has issued a notice for the DG, NIA, and SGF to attend interview with the EFCC; but we are sure that that process would be followed to a logical conclusion.
โTo ensure that you allow government agency do their business, thatโs very important; thatโs institution building. Look at what is happening in the United States (U.S.) today; the President is sometimes angry with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) because the FBI is doing its independent work, and thatโs what we hope to achieve.โ
On the state of primary healthcare in the country, the vice president said the Federal government was worried because the health system had suffered for long.
He said: โWe have been focusing on getting the diaspora to work with us to improve our health system. We are also looking at how healthcare insurance can improve it. I agree that if all of us put our resources and our time in local medical care, we will improve it.โ
He added that there are constant meetings to ensure the development and continued peaceful atmosphere in the Niger Delta region.
Osinbajo acknowledged that the government has been recording successes in the Ease of Doing Business reform, visa reforms and measures to attract more foreigners to boost the Nigerian economy.
He also explained that the President has always been committed to the South East and has not only made budgetary provisions for the second Niger Bridge but also gave people from the South East good positions in his cabinet.
He maintained that the present administration would have created more jobs if it had access to funds available to immediate past administrations.
On the areas the Federal Government could have done better, Osinbajo said: โLet me say that one of the very important things for me, I think we could have done far more in terms of jobs, direct jobs now, because weโve done enough. We first created jobs in agriculture. Perhaps we are hoping we would be able to provide by now 500,000 of our N-power jobs, but because of the income we are able to provide 200,000. We have another 300,000 waiting to be employed.โ
