Your Excellency, because this borders on the economic development of our dear country, I am driven by a sense of patriotism to reach out to you through this medium.

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Right away, Your Excellency, you are certainly not as bad as you are portrayed in certain quarters. Your real challenge concerning image and reputation lies squarely with the way those who “love” you more than the rest of us handle your public affairs.

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Your Excellency, except for other considerations, these people merely love you to the extent of what your influence and position can fetch them, be it politically and economically. They care less about what posterity shall say about you in the final analysis.

Your Excellency, deep down in your heart, you know that your current trouble with Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan escalated to this scandalous magnitude thanks to the insensitivity and parochial interests of those who believe that they own you more than the other Nigerians. They include some of your colleagues, associates and aides whose motivations are political relevance, economic gain and regional sentiments.

Once again, they care less about what the rest of Nigerians feel about you.

Although this concern has been dealt with in a piece titled, NATASHA: HOW NOT TO LOVE AKPABIO, another case that will soon rub off negatively on you is a recent event that was packaged by your office to deepen the overall economic revitalization agenda of the federal government.

The theme was, HARNESSING THE EMERGING OPPORTUNITIES IN THE CREATIVE, DIGITAL, GREEN AND BLUE ECONOMIES FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: QUEST FOR COLLABORATIVE STRATEGIES.

It was held on 6th November 2024 at the National Assembly Library and Resource Centre.

The event was derived from the Legislative Agenda of the 10th Senate, which aims “to address the country’s challenges and harness its opportunities” through interventions on “job and wealth creation opportunities, increased foreign earnings and investments, sustainable rural development and enhanced capacity of the security agencies”.

Your Excellency, recall also that the Senate had covenanted that “we will engage with a wide range of stakeholders…..to gather insights and recommendations on enhancing economic growth and job creation”, stressing further that “this engagement will help in formulating more inclusive and effective laws and policies”.

Hence, Your Excellency, the goal of the symposium, which had your consent, was “to generate ideas for legislative actions and robust policies towards good governance”. As the Chief Host, you were represented by your chief of staff.

Similarly, the secretary to the government of the federation, as the keynote speaker, and the five ministries that were critical to the core objectives of the event were duly represented.

There were four presentations by eminent scholars in this order:

1. The Creative Economy and the Neglected Opportunities: Spotlighting the Cultural Industry by Kizito Alakwe, Ph.D., fnimn, arpa

2. Towards a Prosperous Blue Economy: Leveraging the Fisheries and Aquaculture Sub-sector by Abba Y. Abdullah, Ph.D., FFS, FNAE, CMC

3. Powering Rural Development, Cottage Industries and the Export Processing Zones with the Green Economy: Some of the Options by Halima Ahmed Usman, PhD.

4. The Digital Economy, Citizens’ Safety and Accelerated Development of Indigenous Technology Companies: The Immediate, Functional and Reliable Solutions by Ojo Emmanuel Ademola, PhD, CMgr, FCMI, FBCS, Fiol, FSET, FRSA

Then of course, there were far-reaching recommendations requiring legislative actions towards policy formulation.

But among some of the interim outcomes, the event “added an impetus to the sustained advocacy for a renewed public-private collaboration towards harnessing the emerging opportunities in the creative, digital, green and blue economies as envisioned by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR. For emphasis, Mr President’s first official signature, perhaps after the oaths of office and allegiance, was appended on the Electricity Bill passed but not accented to by the previous administration. Moved by the inherent opportunities, particularly about renewable energy resources, otherwise known as the green economy, he did not wait for the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly before calling for the abandoned legislation and giving it the force of law. As such, the symposium explored some of those opportunities, especially those which can be deployed in driving rural development, cottage industries and free trade zones, in line with President Tinubu’s proven passion for a virile economy defined by varying alternatives for power generation. Again, and keying into the global awareness and consciousness in these sectors, Mr President created full-fledged ministries for the blue economy and the creative economy. Also, he broadened the scopes and capacities of the erstwhile ministries for optimal performances, resulting in a unified ministry of art, culture, tourism and the creative economy as well as one for communications, innovation and the digital economy. In other words, the symposium was a consensus-building attempt at advancing these purposeful interventions.

Furthermore, Your Excellency, the symposium reviewed the three bills standing in your name “which have the capacity to reposition the creative and blue economies towards fast-tracked economic revitalization and regional development”.

In no particular order, they are:

(1) A Bill For An Act To Establish The Cultural Industries Development Agency For Mass Production And Commercialization Of Cultural Commodities Made From Local Raw Materials That Are Peculiar To The Geo-Political Zones For Integrated Regional And National Economic Development which seeks to boost regional economic development of the country towards accelerated GDP growth. Also primarily, it provides the performance framework for the now-modified Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy.

(2) A Bill For An Act To Establish The Cultural And Creative Industries Development Trust Fund To Provide A Sustainable Source Of Funds For Skills Development, Infrastructure And Research Towards A Cohesive And Structured Industry which “also derives its relevance from the second and third items on the Legislative Agenda of the Senate”. Broadly, it “seeks the creation of a dedicated Fund for the provision of industrial clusters in each of the geo-political zones for talent and skills development, staff training, libraries and resource centres for research, internship and mentorship as well as pavilions for promotion and exhibition of cultural and creative products, skills and opportunities”. It is note-worthy that some of the provisions of this bill are already being implemented by the executive as there is now approval for the establishment of the Creative Industries Development Fund.

(3) A Bill To Repeal The Sea Fisheries Act (No. 78 Of 1992) And The Inland Fisheries Act (No. 108 Of 1992) And To Provide For The Conservation, Management And Development Of Sea Fisheries, Inland Fisheries And Aquaculture And Related Matters which simply “argues that Nigeria cannot maximally benefit from the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy as presently configured unless the grossly overlooked Fisheries and Aquaculture segment is revived”. Put differently, “it seeks to facilitate the evolution of the National Policy on Marine and Blue Economy and energize the sub-sector towards revolutionizing the Ministry, which is the ultimate vision of Mr President”.

Equally, “the symposium directed attention to the provisions of the National Digital Economy and the National Telecommunications frameworks about poverty and crime reduction and also, sustainable development of local content in information and communications technology. It specifically reviewed the Chapter 13 of the National Telecommunications Policy which is about Domestic Hardware/Software Development”.

Meanwhile, the event featured an unveiling of a publication titled PERSPECTIVES ON SENATOR GODSWILL AKPABIO AND THE 10TH SENATE: ONE YEAR AFTER, which “is a foundation for the broader projects aimed at documenting the achievements of the 10th Senate and publishing books on Godswill Akpabio’s leadership, for future reference”.

Yet, sadly, Your Excellency, more than six months after, an ego crisis orchestrated by those who “love” you more than the rest of us, in your kitchen cabinet, has prevented the Interim Report of this event from getting your attention for the ultimate legislative actions. There are proofs!

Worse still, Your Excellency, there are outstanding debts that are already generating grave damaging impacts on your overall perception index. Sir, these ‘enemies within’ know about this but choose to ‘harm’ your reputation.

For instance, Your Excellency, the resource persons, understandably inspired by your name and office, catered for their transportation, accommodation and feeding, including the production of their lecture materials with the hope of being refunded in due course.

Then, to further illustrate the level of patriotism and interest that the symposium generated, one of the speakers flew in from New York four days before the event, while the other one, who could not make it physically, made personal provisions for a virtual presentation from London. Again, a media organization owned by a Nigerian that is based in Australia covered the event. The Association of Professional Chefs in Nigeria supported the event with refreshment packages in addition to the others who provided sundry services and materials which cumulatively led to the eventual success of the programme.

Hence, Your Excellency, Nigerians and posterity will celebrate you if you could urgently call for the Report of this patriotic intervention that can advance the overall economic development of the country in addition to sustainably deepening the public enlightenment and reputation management campaigns for the 10th Senate.

Then importantly, Your Excellency, these patriotic Nigerians who deployed their intellectual and material resources to support this national cause deserve a special commendation from you for enhanced public perception.

Therefore, Your Excellency, please see what you can do, for in the end, the ego of “those who ‘love’ you more than the rest of us” will not count. It is your name that will be remembered.

Please sir, this is a passionate appeal borne out of patriotism.

I am Mon-Charles Egbo, a parliamentary affairs analyst.

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