Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has said some of the past policies and budget did not reflect the needs and the conditions of the majority of Nigerians.

Speaking on Wednesday at a courtesy visit by members of the Alumni Association of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS), at the State House, Abuja, the Vice President said the important thing now was how policies could address the need of the people. “This is the main challenge”, he noted.

According to him, “governments have not been accountable to the people, otherwise policies should have roots in the real conditions of the people.”

He observed that some past planning, policy formulation and budgets were not accountable to the people, stressing that in the past there have been “policies that don’t seem to have solutions that truly reflect the understanding of the question of poverty in Nigeria.”

He challenged the notion of describing a country as rich even when about two-thirds of its people were extremely poor.

While expressing concern about extreme poverty in the country, Osinbajo restated that records had shown that about 110 million were poor, representing two third of the Nigerian population, who he said had become disempowered based on the kind of policy formulation that had been going on in the past.

He regretted that “when you look at the economic and social policies, and you look at the level of illiteracy in parts of the country, some are extremely bad and some with cases of about 80% or 90% of children out of school, and other cases of unimaginable decayed infrastructure.”

Prof. Osinbajo further stated that one of the challenges of policy formulation was how to speak to the people and how to address their plight, adding that the people were concerned about “how do I get a meal, how do I get healthcare and how to send children to school.”

However, he said when you look at the budgets it did not often address the needs of the people.

The Vice President then challenged members of the Alumni Association to discuss how policy formulation ought to have root in the conditions of the people. “I want the Institute to think about this”, the VP said.

Vice President Osinbajo welcomed the idea of a Policy Rountable proposed to him by members of the Alumni Association, noting that what had been lacking in government was a time to think, reflect and consider policy, while still working at a fast pace day by day.

The policy roundtable was intended to provide an interface between policy experts and makers on a governmental platform on how to address the needs and improve the living conditions of the citizens.

Earlier, the President of the Alumni Association, Major-General Lawrence Onoja, Rtd, expressed appreciation for President Muhammadu Buhari’s determination to fight corruption and reposition the economy.

He pledged the support of the Association for the actualization of what he called the Three-Point Agenda – Security, Corruption and Economy of the Buhari Administration.

Onoja urged the Administration not to only conduct a forensic audit of the government agencies but to jail all those found guilty of looting the country and seize the looted assets as well.