Though it is not known to many Nigerians, the Office of he Vice President is actually saddled with the task of providing the economic roadmaps in conjunction with relevant bodies for the president’s approval. And so, the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo wouldn’t stop at nothing to help his principal, President Muhammadu Buhari succeed in putting the country on a sound pedestal. For one year now, both men have come to appreciate their passion for the country and Osinbajo’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande who follows and greatly understands the passion of these two leaders shares with select few Newspapers a vivid insider’s account of what the Economic Team located in the Vice President’s office has been doing, the gains of the Social Welfare Scheme of the government amongst other things. Vanguard was there.

To begin with, I never lost the election. Everyone who followed the 2015 Delta Central Senatorial District election in Delta State expected me to win in a landslide, which I did. But the electoral thieves, who believe they can rig their way into office every four years brazenly invaded polling units and ward collation centres to change the results. Like every criminal, they left credible evidence at the crime scene. At the senatorial collation centre, we found out that parties that did not participate in the election were awarded votes. On this criteria alone, we annulled so many unlawful votes and I was ahead by over 16,000 votes. Ordinarily, I should have been declared winner that day but when you have the entire machinery of the state government deployed against you, things don’t come easy. As a consequence, we had to go for a supplementary election which they rigged again. That was how Chief Ighoyota Amori was unlawfully declared winner.

When the British people voted to leave the European Union, it was in fulfilment of their age long desire not to surrender their sovereignty to a supra-national authority and bureaucracy in Brussels. But the outcome of the victory of the Leave campaigners has come with unanticipated consequences for the British and the world. In this interview with Vanguard newspaper, Ambassador Joe Keshi explains some lessons that our leaders must learn from the BREXIT referendum.

Mrs Angela Emuwa is the President of Autism Parents Association International, APAI, formerly known as Parents Against Autism Initiative, PAAI. She is a passionate mother who believes that every child must be treated equally because he or she has a right whether or not he has physical or intellectual disability.

Dr Akinwumi Adesina, Nigeria’s immediate past Minister of Agriculture, is the President of African Development Bank (AfDB). In this interview, Adesina speaks on the AfDB’s moves to help the continent eradicate poverty and position Africa as an industrial and economic giant.

Following a recent publication that proliferation of borehole drilling would attract earthquake in the country, President Borehole Drillers Association of Nigeria, BODAN, Mr. Francis Uzoma, who is also a geologist, in this interview refutes the claim made by some persons in that publication, and the necessity of borehole in the country.

NIGER-DELTA activist and security expert, Comrade Omolubi Newuwumi, aka ‘Gentle General,’ is to the Itsekiri ethnic nationality in Delta State what former militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, is to the Ijaw nation.

Recently, I was in Osogbo at an education roundtable summit and there Osun, Ogun and Oyo states presented what they were doing in education and I must say that a lot of good work is going on. I would be the first to encourage government. The state of Osun has beautiful schools, and feeding programmes for elementary school students. So, there is a lot of good work. In terms of that, I will say I am proud of what I saw in the state of Osun.

Ten years ago the outsourcing industry was essentially unstructured. It wasn’t professionalised in terms of the service offering and the way that the services were offered. It was a developing industry at that time. So we thought that there was a huge opportunity in that space given the unstructured nature of the business and the opportunity that we saw in bringing the requisite level of professionalism and structure into that business.

Some people may have lost their sense of responsibility and compassion towards the elderly, but the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, certainly has his intact. This, he demonstrated when a team of professionals under the aegis of Care Companion & Quality Medicare visited his Ake palace in Abeokuta last week. Sunday Vanguard was with the visitors. Later in an interview with Sunday Vanguard explained that besides efforts by extended family members, successive governments have failed Nigeria’s old citizens.

As Eze sat in the pew at a church where he goes most mornings to pray, his phone buzzed with a new message. His Icelandic teacher was checking in on him, giving him support.

“If you’ve worked in a particular position for a year and half or two years, you should be thinking of a higher role because the business is growing. We have a group of people we call iSON Young Leaders who were identified to be very good at what they do so they are put on the fast track. Every person that goes to the Apex award naturally goes into this category because they have done exceptionally well and we need to harness their potentials. From one year, we start preparing them and they start taking positions because they have worked in different projects before then. They have mentors who are in management who will teach them one or two things within that time frame.

If we say that what we are doing is about 25 to 30 per cent of the e-payment industry. That gives you an understanding that we are doing over $100 billion in terms of transaction value in the market. But you know, all of us put together have not even scratched the surface, because there is still a lot of potential, there are still a lot of people that are not even in the system and this is what the CBN is trying to do, to see how we can get as many people as possible.

We were sworn in on August 28, 2015. Because of the paucity of funds, we have not been authorized to carry out any new project. What we are doing now is completing ongoing projects and staff management. We have already completed and commissioned some inherited projects. We have commissioned a concrete jetty at Salvation City, we commissioned a palace at Otu Jeremi and an area office of the Commission at Orerokpe, and there are other projects lining up for commissioning.

The programme is progressing and we believe we have gone far and all things being equal we will get to a successful conclusion. Already, Boroh has said in an interview with the Vanguard newspaper that 5,000 beneficiaries will be exited from the programme at the end of this month followed by another batch in December next year. Does this indicate that the government is actually committed to the execution of the programme?