By Stanley Adewole

There have been insinuations in some quarters that the position of the Vice-President of Nigeria, as occupied by Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has been rendered redundant. Some even made snide remarks that he is now in the office these days drinking tea and reading newspapers without any role or duty assigned to his office! This has even made some people to advocate the scrapping of the Vice-President position. The pertinent question is, do these assertions reflect the reality of the whole issue in Nigeria? Before the question is answered in the affirmative, we have to critically examine the functions of the Vice-President in the light of the presidential system, as practised by the United States of America, from which Nigeria copies its own model. The U.S. may be authoritatively said to be the originator and primary example of the presidential system, a model that is followed by many democracies, such as Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines and Nigeria, which is our focus here.

In the Nigerian presidential system, though the Vice-President is jointly elected along with the President, the President is both the chief executive of the government and the head of state. The President oversees the executive branch of government, which includes the cabinet, or heads of various executive departments, and various administrative bureaus and agencies. The chief executive and the subordinate executive officers have the power and duty to carry out and enforce laws and to administer the day-to-day business of the government. In particular, the President commands the armed forces and is responsible for the defense of the country against internal disorder and foreign aggression.

On August 4, Osinbajo chaired an All Progressives Congress (APC) meeting with Gov. Mai Mala Buni, the caretaker chairman of the ruling party, with other APC governors. The meeting was held to resolve the crisis within and, by extension, to benefit from the legal warning of the Supreme Court that ruled in a 4-3 verdict with the justices questioning the constitutional validity of a sitting governor holding such an executive post as national party caretaker chairman. It will also be recalled that on August 5, 2021, Vice-President Osinbajo presided over a virtual meeting of the Federal Executive Council at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, during the period that President Muhammadu Buhari was still in London for a medical check-up. In the same vein, the Vice-President declared open the 20th meeting of Joint Planning Board and the National Council on Development in faraway Maiduguri, Borno State.

On August 9, the Vice-President met with the Vietnamese ambassador to Nigeria, H.E. Mr. Luong Quoe, at the State House, Abuja. Professor Osinbajo also met with a delegation from the Arewa Concerned People for National Unity and Religious Tolerance from Kano, led by Alhaji Auwwal Maidabino and Prince Usman Ado-Bayero.

On August 12, the Vice-President received a brief on the Federal Civil Service Strategy Plan 2017-2025. Also, on August 16, the Vice-President met with the youth members of the ruling party, APC, where the communiqué of their just concluded youth conference was presented. The following day, August 17, the Vice-President received a delegation of the African Export-Import Bank, led by its president, Prof. Benedict Oramah. It was on the occasion that the Vice-President commended the efforts of the bank in stimulating and developing African trade, including its many engagements in Nigeria.

On August 19, Osinbajo also chaired the National Steering Committee of the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy (NPRGS). The committee had been earlier inaugurated by President Buhari, who tasked it with driving the target of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years. On August 23, the Vice-President delivered a key remark at Sahara Energy Group’s 25th conference. It was an occasion to mark the groups’ 25th anniversary. Another activity lined up for the Vice-President was the inauguration of shared facility for MSMEs, new power station in Anambra. It was at the occasion that the Vice-President affirmed that the President Buhari-led administration considered the South-East zone a strategic industrial trade hub and a major player in Nigeria’s economic growth.

On August 26, the Vice-President delivered a keynote address at the Nigerian Social Cohesion Dialogue and the Release of the 2021 Social Cohesion Survey Report #NSCS21 by African Polling Institutes, in Abuja. The Vice-President said on the occasion that, despite the activities of those with divisive agenda, Nigeria would prevail over tribulations due to the resilience, faith, hope and strength of its people.

All 28 states that established judicial panels following the #EndSARS protests last year, who had completed the assignment, submitted the reports to the Vice-President on August 26 at the meeting of the National Economic Council. Only Lagos State’s panel was expected to conclude later this year in October.

On August 30, the Vice-President received a Muslim group, Muslim Public Affairs Centre, and called for more inclusive interfaith dialogue. During the courtesy visit at the Presidential Villa, the Vice-President told the the Muslim delegation, led by its executive chairman, Mr. Disu Kamor, that leaders must be willing to make sacrifices, even at the risk of their popularity, in order to attain long-lasting resolutions, peace and progress in situations of conflict, including ethnic and religious tensions. To wrap up the the activities of the month of August, the Vice-President, on the 31st, delivered a keynote address at the National Dialogue Forum on the Girl Child, at Sheraton Hotel, Abuja. It was at the forum that Prof. Osinbajo emphasized that it was the plan and purpose of the Federal Government that no Nigerian child was denied access to basic education.

The Vice-President has started the month of September with a beehive of activities. On the 2nd, he attended a Roundtable on Industrialisation in Africa, where he called on authorities across the continent to take the right policy actions to actualise the limitless opportunities for the industrialisation of Africa offered by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). The Vice-President used the occasion to list such actions as the protection of local industries and improvement of value chains. On the same day, Osinbajo departed Abuja for Arusha, Tanzania, where he was billed to visit the African Court of Justice and Human Rights, an African Union agency in Arusha, among other engagements.

One of the main reasons for reeling off some many engagements of the Vice-President above is to refute the erroneous claims gaining ground that he has been rendered redundant and a lame duck without any role assigned to him, which is actually far from the truth. In fact, in the history of the Nigerian presidency, the cordial relationship that exists between this Vice-President and his principal is unprecedented. This is a sharp contrast to the rancorous presidency that was witnessed in the past (especially the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency), where the President unilaterally removed his deputy. It took the efforts of the Supreme Court before the anomaly could be corrected. Prof. Osinbajo has been a stabilizing factor in the Buhari government, to the extent that, when the President was on the hospital bed in faraway London about four years ago, it was the Vice-President that stabilized the government before the return of the President to the country. The Vice-President dialogued with the Niger Delta militants/agitators and reached a compromise with them, which was considered a great diplomatic feat. He stabilized the economy and even made some changes in government appointments.

•Adewole wrote from Lagos

https://www.sunnewsonline.com/osinbajo-lame-duck-vice-president/

It's only a dump and dump and a demential person will continue saying Osinbajo has been rendered redundant and a lame duck without any role assigned to him, which is actually far from the truth. In fact, in the history of the Nigerian presidency, the cordial relationship that exists between this Vice-President and his principal is unprecedented. Check this and see how active and hardworking he is

A priceless leader, leading figure, Africa and global standard among others.
https://www.nairaland.com/6745488/how-vice-president-osinbajo-stood

Vice president Osinbajo has raised the bar high. He ramain the most engaged Vice president ever in the history of Nigeria . For me,he is doing well.

If you don't know the meaning of Lame duck in politics just ask Abeg ...A Lame duck executive is one whose party is not in control of both houses

He's the best we've ever had and will have, his powers are limited so he can't do much ... for the growth of this Nation they Better hand over to him, cus he has the knowledge and capacity to rule this Nation back to its Greatness ...

I personally think he has done well. He has even stretched beyond his role as vice President.

If we can have more people like the VP in government in higher positions, Nigeria would be better.

He's nothing more than a spare tyre ... Pure and simple

No Vice President will ever be as powerful as Atiku Abubakar again.

...except the Constitution is tampered with.

To me Osinbajo has done far better than any VP in the history of Nigeria. Is it from chairing committies that have done wonderfully well like bringing Nigeria out of recession twice, to initiating various social investments programs that has helped lots of citizens. This man has really done well

Only fools and ones with ulterior motives will condemn the VP. What we have in VP Yemi Osinbajo is a rear Leader of an excelling value. It will only amount to the height of idiocy and evil to blatantly condemn a luminary like him.

.