Buhari hails ex-Iyalode Egba, Tejuoso, at memorial service in Abeokuta

President Muhammadu  Buhari on Monday took a swipe at the country’s past leaders for refusing to diversify the economy or save for the rainy day.

He said this in Abeokuta during  the 20th memorial service of the first female industrialist in Nigeria and the third Iyalode of Egbaland, the late Mrs. Esther Bisoye Tejuoso.

Buhari, who hailed Bisoye as a “mentor and a shinning light” to many, said if the nation’s past leaders had had the kind of foresight, uprightness and managerial skills the late female industrialist had, Nigeria probably would not be having the current economic recession.

He said the legacies of the late Iyalode of Egbaland “is a reference point for Nigeria.”

The President, who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, noted that her “Midas touch was needed today to also get the country’s economy back on the right track.”

Buhari said, “If our leaders had demonstrated the foresight, uprightness and managerial skills of the late Chief Bisoye Tejuoso, our economy would have been better.

“Our past leaders refused to save and diversify the economy. Chief Bisoye Tejuoso’s success story in business can serve as a roadmap on how we can come out of recession.

“She rewarded excellence and merit. She was a true heroine and a woman of courage. Her life should propel us to dedicate our lives more to the unity, progress and security of our country,” the President said.

Also, the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who also graced the event, made case for state or community police to tackle the internal security challenges facing the country.

He said, “State police or something like community policing is the way to go to tackle the nation’s security challenges.”

Osibanjo flayed the Nigeria Police Force for not being able to “resolve” the puzzle behind the murder of the matriarch of Tejuoso dynasty 20 years after her killing.

Osinbanjo revealed that while there were less than 15,000 cases of conviction in Nigeria regarding criminal offences, over  2.2 million convicted criminals were in prison in the United States of America.

He said by that data on convicted criminals, “it is either Nigeria has more well-behaved citizens or there is something wrong with the criminal justice system in the country.”

Osinbajo, however, said the administration of justice in Nigeria must be properly looked into while the police should deploy technology in the investigation of  crimes and arrest of their perpetrators.

The Vice-President, who recalled how the late industrialist gave him N12,000 in 1984 when his rented apartment in Lagos was gutted by fire, said Nigeria with a population of about 170 million people could not be adequately policed from the Abuja central command of the police.

The Memorial Service and Symposium at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, was organised by the Tejuoso Royal Family in conjunction with the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria Commission with Osinbajo’s mother,  Governor Ibikunle Amosun, Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi among other dignitaries in attendance.

Mrs. Bisoye Tejuoso, mother of a prominent Egba traditional ruler, Oba Adedapo Tejuoso, was assassinated by 10 gunmen  in her Lagos home on September 19, 1996.

Meanwhile, President Buhari on Monday declared that his administration would continue to fight corruption and associated social vices at all levels across the country “until they are  exterminated from our body polity.”

The President also lashed out at critics of his administration, who, according to him, were found of “sitting by to criticise every attempt at governance.”

Buhari’s position was contained in a speech delivered on his behalf by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita, during the 2016 Annual National Management Conference of the Nigerian Institute of Management in Abuja.