Comprehensive 2015 pre inauguration retreat

REPORT OF 2015 PRE-INAUGURATION
GOVERNANCE RETREAT
Theme: “Implementing Change: From Vision to
Reality”

FOREWORD
As a response to the huge demand for a more responsive and responsible leadership
by the Nigerian people from the newly elected government of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), a Pre–Inauguration Governance Agenda Setting Retreat was
organized and held on Wednesday, May 20, 2015 by the Progressive Governors
Forum; this was by a valedictory dinner on Tuesday, May 19, 2015 in honour of the
four outgoing Governors of the APC who have successfully served their tenures in
office – HE Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, HE Engr. (Dr) Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Mr.
Babatunde Raji Fashola and Alhaji Magatakarda Wamakko.
The core objective of the Governance Retreat was to promote the deepening of
Nigeria’s democratic development and best practices by the incoming APC
Government through a commonly shared governance agenda for an APC controlled
government. The Retreat was also to serve as a capacity building avenue for APC
State Governors and key party leaders.
In order to ensure that the key highlights of the Retreat are implemented, one of its
conclusions recommended the constitution of a State Technical Team to be headed
by a cabinet or sub cabinet level official, who will represent and spearhead the
discussions/actions and plans for the state in the team. This was to ensure that every
state makes concerted effort to implement the party manifesto and other campaign
promises based on local peculiarities and circumstances; and ensure that the position
of each state is synergized into state policy initiatives for implementation.
The policy initiatives are expected to further refine the conclusions drawn from the
Retreat, while considering;

 The provisions of the APC Manifesto/Covenant &
 Existing PGF Policy Briefs
The objectives outlined for the team are;
 To properly synchronize the recommendations and promises in the
documents stated above;
 To harmonise strategies with the covenant of individual states and;
 To determine a definite implementation plan best suited to each state
Salihu Moh. Lukman
Director General

BACKGROUND
Following the conclusion of the General Elections (National and State) on March
28th and April 11th, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is set to become the
governing party at the Federal level and in twenty-two (22) States. The APC also
managed to secure majority seats in the two chambers of the National Assembly and
in most of the States’ Assembly. Effectively, the result of the 2015 general elections
puts the APC in a pole position as the government at the centre and as the political
party with the most spread of elected governors in all the states of the federation.
This significant political shift since the turn to democratic governance in 1999
underscores the exceedingly huge expectations of millions of Nigerians on the
incoming governments. Besides, many of the party’s representatives made several
electoral promises often premised on the exigencies of the political context in which
they found themselves. Yet, the candidates have flown the flag of the party and must
locate their electoral promises within the development agenda of the party’s
manifesto. Considering past experiences under a ruling party, forming government at
the centre and in majority of the States, it is imperative for the new governing party
and its elected representatives to ensure that its manifesto is translated into
meaningful development programmes for the immediate and long-term benefits of
majority of Nigerians.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Despite the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) forming the central government and
government in majority of the States in the last 16 years, the character of governance
has been either incoherent or inconsistent or discordant. At other times, there have
been disagreements between the Federal government and State governments on one
hand, and between PDP State governments on another hand. In other instances,
there were clear but unresolved indications of low capacity for delivery on the part
of some of the elected or appointed standard-bearers. The potency of the party was

also gradually undermined in the period and this reduced the party’s power to call
elected representatives to order where/when required. Unarguably, the opportunity
costs of the experiences or trends of the last 16 years being repeated, now that the
amalgamated former opposition parties will form the new central and majority State
governments are better imagined.
OBJECTIVE
In proactive response to the foregoing, a Pre–Inauguration Agenda-Setting
Governance Retreat is being organized to fine-tune the individual development
strategies and programmes of the APC Governors in line with the party manifesto in
the hope that a broad team, comprising of highly talented and knowledgeable
individuals with considerable wealth of experience and broad national and
international expertise will bring depth and breadth to the thinking of the incoming
administrations.
Mainly, the Governance Retreat will engender the deepening of Nigeria’s democratic
development by the incoming APC Governments through a commonly shared
governance agenda.
Specific Objectives:
1. To strengthen the capacity of APC Governors and key party leaders towards
effective contribution to a successful delivery of programmes enumerated in
the APC manifesto.
2. To facilitate a developmental synergy between APC party officials and
standard-bearers elected into public offices.

3. To collectively identify and own a set of core governance values upon which
the developmental objectives of APC-led Government would be built at State
and Federal levels.
4. To foster collective ownership of APC Policy documents especially the
Manifesto, Campaign Commitments (Covenants with Nigerians) and PGF
Policy Briefs by all elected APC standard-bearers in order to translate them to
tangible developmental projects.
5. To design and agree on key performance benchmarks that create the basis for
an early warning–early response (EWER) feedback mechanism and ultimately
guide the process of project implementation, monitoring, evaluation and
timely interventions.

Part 2
2015 Pre-Inauguration Retreat

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Having highlighted the problem of un-inclusive democratic governance in the
previous administration, the Progressive Governors Forum held a Pre-Inauguration
Retreat intended to engender the deepening of Nigeria’s democratic development
and also to serve as an agenda setting session. The retreat followed the format of an
opening and closing plenary sessions interspersed with series of plenary discussions,
where the opening session had an opening statement, keynote address and an
agenda-setting lead presentation; the closing plenary validated all recommendations,
featured closing remarks and a vote of thanks. These plenary discussions were
organized around themes in key sectors, guiding the discourse with each thematic
area focusing on a key development field and each plenary panel comprising a
moderator, and at least three panellists.
The following themes were decided for the plenary discourse:
Panel 1: Economy State Governance & APC Manifesto
Panel 2: Infrastructure, Human Capital & Natural Resources Management
Panel 3: Governance and Politics
Since each speaker was expected to either approach the issues from his/her own
perspective or speak to an aspect of the theme, the presentations produced a
platform for general discussion provoking comments and contributions from other
participants guided by the moderators.
In order not to spend too much time on any panel; which could lead to abandoning
other panels, Panels 1 and 2 were merged into one session, while panels 3 and 4
were merged to become a single session, leaving panel 5 as a session on its own.
Discussions in all the sessions suggested that;

 There is the need to introduce new ways in terms of policy development,
implementation and monitoring to change the inadequacies in Infrastructural
and Human Capital Development, especially in education, health, power and
roads; effective financing of these key areas, tackle indiscriminate
importation/exportation of food as well as set the pace for the development
of non-oil sectors to diversify the dwindling economic fortunes of the nation.
 There is a need for APC to take governance seriously by integrating culture
into the system for governing the citizenry.
 There is a need for the state governments to have a uniform performance
index and ensure good governance and transparency and be accountable to
the people; ensuring harmonious interface between the state governments
and the federal government; initiating meaningful reforms in economy to
create wealth, employment, growth and development; instill discipline,
promote patriotism and ensure the rule of law.

VALEDICTORY DINNER/ RETREAT OPENING SESSION
The Pre-Inauguration Governance Retreat of the Progressive Governors Forum was
preceded by a valedictory dinner in honour of Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Mr.
Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi and Alhaji Aliyu
Magatarkarda Wamakko, the outgoing governors of Kano, Lagos, Rivers and Sokoto
States respectively.
The dinner took place on Tuesday, May 19, 2015 at the Ladi Kwali Hall, Sheraton
Hotel Abuja. This dinner also served as the opening ceremony for the Pre-
inauguration Governance Retreat scheduled for the following day, Wednesday, May
20, 2015.The dinner was honoured by most party leaders as well as most Governors
and Governors-Elect of the party.
The summary of remarks and goodwill messages at the event were given as:
1. HE Owelle Rochas Okorocha, Chairman, Progressive Governors Forum,
who after recognizing the presence of most invited guests, gave the
background to the session stating that the retreat will be an agenda setting
session; because it is necessary that all governors of the All Progressives
Congress come together to map out ways to fully support the government at
the centre, while also improving the face of governance in their respective
states. He also used the moment to forward a pledge on behalf of the APC
governors to support the party in order to improve it;
2. Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, APC National Chairman stated his immense
joy regarding the party’s victory. He also stated that the change promise made
to the Nigerian public during the time of electioneering campaigns must be
championed by the governors; especially in the light that the outgoing
governors have put a standard below which the present APC governors
cannot go. He mentioned that while the agenda setting retreat is to set the
governance agenda for the governors, this must be done with the reality of
the state of the nation, in line with the manifesto of the party;

3. HE Alhaji Atiku Abubakar commended the outgoing governors who he
said are not being celebrated for the mere completion of their tenure in
office, but for serving the people of their states and fulfilling their promises;
and he enjoined the incoming governors to follow the examples laid by the
outgoing governors in order to truly propagate the promise of change, so that
the mandate of the party will be renewed and not a repetition in 2019;
4. Chief Ogbonnaya Onu commended the efforts of the Progressive
Governors Forum in promoting the party; he also commended the resilience
of the Progressive Governors during the merger stages and the registration of
the party, he said that it is this resilience that has produced the victory that is
being celebrated, so much so that the party will be a vehicle to attain
greatness for Nigeria as well as being poised to meeting and exceeding the
expectations of Nigerians. Chief Onu enjoined all participants at the retreat to
look inward and make sure to decide against repeating the same mistake of
the previous administration, while working to ensuring that the true meaning
of democratic governance is brought to the people.
Details of remarks are available in appendix A

OPENING DECLARATION
HE Owelle Rochas Okorocha set the tone for the day’s business as simply; to
determine ways to deliver on the vision and shared values of the All Progressives
Congress (APC); thenthe APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun
resounded the high expectations of the citizenry which is enough reason for the
participants to take the retreat seriously as well as abide by the resolutions of the
retreat.
The President-Elect, General Muhammadu Buhari represented by the Vice-President-
Elect, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, formally declared the retreat plenary open at about 10:
15am
Complete speeches are available in Appendix B
SUMMARY OF PRESENTATIONS
To effectively take all the issues of the five panels, some sessions were merged and
executed as follows;
A. First Panel: Economy, State Governance & APC Manifesto
These panels tackled issues on “State Governance & APC Manifesto” and “Economy
& Good Governance” respectively. The scopes of these panels were to:

 Create an understanding for uniform policy initiatives in all APC States
towards implementing APC Manifesto
 Identify key issues and Strategies for economic revival with particular focus on
Economic Planning, Industrial Development, Economic and Social
Development.
 Give an Overview of the principles of democratic governance at National and
State levels with a focus on Transparency, Accountability, Governance, Budget
Planning & Implementation, Public Sector Administration, Justice, Human
Rights and Service Delivery
Lead Presenter: Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi
Moderator: Chief Ogbonnaya Onu
Panellists:
 HE Senator Ibikunle Amosun – Governor, Ogun State
 HE Comrade Adams Oshiomhole – Governor, Edo State
 HE Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal – Governor – Elect, Sokoto State
 HE Chief (Dr) Samuel Ortom – Governor – Elect, Benue State
 HE Dr. Umar Abdullahi Ganduje – Governor – Elect, Kano State
 Ms. Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly – World Bank Country Director
Highlights of Panel Presentations:
The submission by the lead presenter, the charge by the moderator and the
contributions of the panelists were that;
 The APC manifesto is a key tool in ensuring the uniformity of governance in
APC States.
 The APC Manifesto defines the character of the Party, which is Progressivism
anchored on equity and the welfare of the people that can be used to build a
21st
century economy that will give all Nigerians an opportunity to decent
lives.

 The real challenge to delivering on the dictates of good governance is
determining the- ‘how?’
 There is a need to amend the constitution and ensure that states have the
right to generate power, which would ensure economic turnaroundthat can
reduce the cost of local production so that Nigerian goods and services can
compete favourably with goods produced in other countries.
 The rail sector needs to be revised and reviewed as alternative to road
transportation.
 APC Government has to create an enabling environment for economic
development by starting with dealing with the culture of waste – waste of
public time, private time, financial and material resources
 There is need to have some coherence between the monetary policy and
economic activities. As well as ensure a balance in the states’ economy,
especially since the performance of the economy in the states determine the
health of the national economy.
 There is need to balance the gap between the lack of infrastructure and the
need to meet social needs and social security cum protection
 Maternal mortality rate is high in Nigeria. There is need to train and retrain
midwifes so that women can deliver at homes.
 The solution to the monolithic nature of the nation’s economy is to diversify
the economy especially by embracing value adding agriculture when
Agriculture leads to industrialization for creating wealth and generating
employment.
 In diversifying the economy to Agriculture, we must de-emphasize export of
raw materials which translates into job export; and emphasize the importance
of infrastructure to reviving the agricultural and industrial sectors
 The APC Government should prohibit importation of food items into the
country. To enforce an effective ban on prohibited goods, we must reform the
Nigeria Customs Service.

 Security is paramount to sustainable development at all levels of governance.
However, the country does need proliferation of security agencies; for
example; the Nigeria Police has a Traffic Department, and an Intelligence Unit
which makes the presence of a special road Marshall irrelevant
 There is a need for the reduction in the cost of governance, attitudinal change,
focus on reforms, goal oriented investment in agriculture, resuscitation of
commodity boards, need to formulate a comprehensive package to guarantee
production and value for the produce of the farmers
 Leaders must find the right way on how to manage the expectations of the
people by giving the people a new orientation about governance so that they
too can understand their role in governance
 APC Government must find ways to stop impunity in governance. We must
punish those who offend our laws
 There is need for Peer review the performance of state governors to ensure
capacity building and experience sharing
 Total dependence by state governments on federal allocation is not good
enough. The APC should ensure effective interface between State
Governments and Federal Government to maximize opportunities for
investments. There is also need to work more with the state governments in
identifiable areas and issues.
 Nigeria is placed at an opportune time and there are many opportunities, as
development partners are willing to support government to succeed
Detailed contributions from panel discussions are available in appendix C

B. Second Panel: Infrastructure, Human Capital & Natural Resource
Development
These panels tackled issues on “Infrastructure & Human Capital Development” and
“Land Reform & Natural Resources Management” respectively. The scopes of these
panels were to:
 Identify the challenges and develop a basic framework for Infrastructural
Development with focus on Transport Infrastructure, Energy Infrastructure,
Critical Infrastructure, Public Capital &Public Works, Sustainable Urban
Infrastructure, Power and ICT.
 Also identify the key issues affecting human capital development and specify
actionable steps that must be taken to address the Challenges with particular
emphasis on Education, Health, Poverty Reduction & Livelihood, Social
Welfare, Culture, Sports, Women, Youth and other vulnerable persons.
 Review the current situation in Nigeria; indicating the appropriate reforms and
strategies for addressing the gaps with focus on Agriculture, Environment,
Land Reforms, Water, Hygiene and Sanitation.
Lead Presenters:
 Chief Audu Ogbeh
 Dr. Hussaini Abdu
Panelists:
 HE Professor Yemi Osinbajo – Vice President-Elect
 HE Alhaji Abdulfattah Ahmed – Governor, Kwara State
 HE Abdul-aziz Yari – Governor, Zamfara State
 HE Alhaji Badaru Abubakar – Governor, Jigawa State
 Dr. Mounir Gwarzo – DG, SEC

Moderator: Mr. Bolaji Ahmed
Highlights of Panel Presentations:
The following narrative summarises the discussions of panels 3 and 4, being to;
 Domesticate and evolve policies and systems that are suitable to our conditions
so as to Revive key industries to propagate employment and economic growth
 Encourage small-holder farms because they are more effective in tackling
unemployment as well as create commodities’ exchanges and securities in order
to protect the farmers
 Recognize means of driving development through public-private partnerships in
key sectors as well as by producing competitive products to those being imported
and smuggled into the country
 APC should really be sure to take into cognizance the need for inclusiveness,
especially in communities to achieve results
 We need to consider the use of coal as an alternative to gas in power generation
and adopt concrete roads which is a cheaper and more durable alternative to
bitumen
 Tax the luxury lifestyles of the rich
 Engender at different levels, the political will and power to;
i. Recognize means of driving development through public-private partnerships
in key sectors.

ii. Minimize the exportation of raw agricultural produce as well as stop
importation of food.
iii. Revive key industries to propagate employment and economic growth.
iv. More sources of financing capital projects by states should be explored and to
avoid misapplication of these funds, bonds issued should be tied to
particular projects.
v. The theory and practice of social protection should be reassessed with a view
to expanding it and making it effective to reduce preventable deaths and
curtail the rising rate of poverty.
INTERVENTIONS
Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Governor-Elect, Kano State, made a presentation
onManaging the Relationship between State Governors and their Deputies, highlights
of this presentation are given as follows;
 Office of the Deputy Governor was created in 1979, on the philosophy that
two heads are better than one and to decentralize power and ensure
inclusivity.
 From 1999 many Deputy Governors were denied succession, caused mainly
by the over ambition of the Deputy to take over from his principal
 He opined that the ambition of the deputy Governor should not collide with
the ambition of the principal who is the state Governor. The deputy
Governor should fine tune his ambition within the developmental objectives of
his principal

 Total loyalty and commitment to the principal is non-negotiable and the
governor should see the Deputy as a partner in progress
 Capacity of the Deputy to deliver on the goals and objectives of the
government is very important for consideration for higher responsibilities
 The issue of the Deputy Governor overshadowing his Principal or the Deputy
Governor advertising himself should be avoided
 Too much suspicion on the part of the principal - the Governor, which usually
leads to impeachment, should be avoided
 Marginalization, some principals marginalize and makes the Deputy redundant
and frustrated
 Way forward should be dictated by the circumstances a Deputy Governor
finds himself or herself
 Stakeholders must play its role, the judiciary, legislature and the press must
play their roles when it comes to impeachment. Let the constitutional order
and due process must be followed and observed.
 The relationship between state governors and their deputies, as well as the
President and Vice President and other executives and their deputies at
various levels in Nigeria should be improved upon.
Prof. Okey Onyejekwe presented highlight of issues from the retreat and
proposed recommendations for consideration of state governors. He pointed that
the core objective of this retreat which is to determine ways to deliver on the vision
and the shared values of the APC should be approached with the mindset that; while
growth is desirable, the efforts should be centered on the outcome of growth;
hence, there is a need to think beyond resources and make distinctions between
tactical and strategic objectives for the country.

In concluded by saying that the electorates are counting on the new government and
the party to do things differently; because if this administration does not create
wealth, it will be deemed unserious
Third Panel: Governance & Politics
This panel tackled issues on “Governance and Politics”. The scope of this panel was
to focus on balancing Governance and Politics. The discussions here were moderated
by Owelle Rochas Okorocha who submitted that there is a direct relationship
between politics and governance; submitted that politics and politicking by political
parties is the vehicle with which governance is brought to the people.
Panelists:
 Alh. Abdulfattah Ahmed
 Alh. Abdul-Aziz Yari
 Alh. Badaru Abubakar
Highlights of Panellists’ Contributions:
 Ordinarily, one will look at the party on the one hand and governance on another
hand, but they work together
 It is the elitist system that develops the political system that will eventually
become the system of a community, so the community cannot be taken out of
governance

 There will always be a mixture between governance and politics, so it is vital to
stick to the terms of reference when politicking
 APC should really be sure to take into cognizance the need for inclusiveness to
achieve results
 Nigeria can be better if we pay attention to the rule of law and compliance
 We have to calculate the opportunity cost of banning certain importations or
managing our porous borders
 To better governance; we must think of ways to bring our cost of production
down; produce competitively to counter importations because we cannot do
anything as a nation and neither can we ban everything as a nation.
CONCLUSION
Further to deliberations at the retreat, participants, made up of Progressive
Governors, Governors-Elect, members of APC National Working Committee, APC
leaders, Resources Persons and other experts established the following broad
conclusions:
That:
 Progressive Governors adopt and implement the key recommendations of the
Retreat to facilitate the preparation, execution, monitoring and evaluation of
all electoral promises made in line with the APC Manifesto;

 All APC Governors should immediately setup technical committee to develop
state plan of action for the implementation of the APC Manifesto and other
campaign promises;
 The Federal Government and all APC governed states must lead by example
and promote citizen participation and instil discipline, promote patriotism and
ensure the rule of law at all levels;
 All APC Governors to submit to peer review mechanism to facilitate and
replicate positive governance strategies and policies in all progressive states;
 There is need for policy development, implementation and monitoring to
change the inadequacies in Infrastructural and Human Capital Development,
especially education, health, power and roads;
 There should be effective financing of the above key areas, as well as tackle
indiscriminate importation/exportation of food while setting the pace for the
development of non-oil sectors to diversify the dwindling economic fortunes
of the nation;
 In addition to encouraging and supporting the Federal Government to ban
importation of foreign products that can be produced in Nigeria, strive to
promote competitiveness for locally manufactured products for which the
country has comparative advantage;
 APC States should immediately initiate meaningful reforms in the economy to
create wealth, employment, growth and development, all of which must be
backed by strong political will;
 The Progressive Governors Forum should focus on ensuring harmonious
interface between and among the APC state governments on issues of policy
development, resource mobilization, strengthen its engagement with
international donor agencies and development partners to ensure cooperation
in areas of need between and among APC states and such bodies; and
 Secretariat set up expert policy design sessions to develop straightforward
policy briefs to enable APC states make immediate impact from the

discussions and outcome of the Retreat for implementation while taking into
consideration the peculiar circumstances of each state.
VOTE OF THANKS
This was delivered by Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Governor State of Osun and in his
delivery, he opined that the time to act is now since many African nations are looking
unto Nigeria to get it right and many will lose hope on their survival if Nigeria fails.
He then congratulated the party and newly elected, who in his opinion are truly
conquerors having come out victorious in the 2015 elections. He ended by thanking
the organizers of the retreat for the agenda setting initiative.

Appendix A
Speeches at Valedictory Dinner

Welcome Address by PGF Chairman, HE Owelle Rochas Okorocha
Protocols:
This evening is an evening for us to interact and appreciate ourselves and then
prepare ourselves for the tomorrow’s retreat. You may have noticed that we were
supposed to have valedictory session this evening, but there is slight change in our
programme that the valedictory session will take place tomorrow during the retreat.
This is rather a pre retreat dinner to enable us overhaul our party activities and the
journey so far. Only few years ago, two years ago, we came up as a party despite the
fact that many never believed that our merger was going to be possible. But
surprisingly to most people, that dream that looked impossible today is one worthy
of celebration. Therefore we must honour must given to whom honour is due. What
started as an impossible task has become a reality. We must give honour to
whomhonour is due. First to our Nation Chairman the John the Baptist, the Oyegun
who like the biblical john the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness of Nigerian
politics, asking our political opponents to repent for the change is about to come.
Many never believed but today we are practicing. John the Baptist the Oyegun has
made history. Sir, we thank you and God bless.
The history of APC will never be complete without this name properly written and
to u our leader Dr. OgbonnayaOnu, the humbled, soft spoken, focused leader, we
want to appreciate u. Our deputy National Chairman, we salute u, but most
importantly, those that flew our flags in the various states. First, the young man who
is combining two important offices today in Nigeria, one as a Speaker of the Federal
Republic and again as Governor-elect. Another young man blazing the trail in Kwara
State, well fit, a great achiever, a handsome looking young man, Governor and
Governor-elect, a ranking Governor, Abdulfatah, we salute u. I am seeing one young
man again, who shockingly surprised us, all the way from Niger State; he came as a
silent, unnoticeable fellow, but has now mounted the eagle flying all over Niger State.

Your Excellency you are most welcome. Of course the youngest and the newest
Chairman of Nigerian Governors Forum, the Governor-elect and Governor of
Zamfara State. I want to congratulate u specially, because your leadership will put a
lot of issues to rest. I know you will make your mark as Governor-elect of Zamfara
State. The very Deputy, Deputy all the time, now emerging the Governor. His
Excellency, the Governor of Kano State.
Your Excellency, a Senator and a Governor, the Governor of Kebbi State. A humble
gentleman, who is going to blaze the trail for the next 4 years in Kebbi State. Your
Excellency you are most welcome. One of our surprising victory is the one that
came from Benue State, never expected, least expected but it has come to be a
reality, Your Excellency Governor-elect of Benue State. And the very very Deputy
Governor, my Deputy Governor, my political son in whom I am well pleased, the
Deputy Governor of Imo State. I have seen a lot of our National leaders here, our
Senators, Sen. Ngige, the tallest man in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, we are very
proud of u. Our leader is here, who from all indications has remained a very great
mobiliser especially, coming from the South East, his an Engineer per excellence and
the one that manufactured the first automobile in Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr.
Ezekiel Izuogu.
Ours is a new party for a new Nigeria. We are the game changers and not the game
changers of yesterday. We are happy to have a man solid, a man that the whole
world believes in. A man that as President-elect, has received invitation to G8,
making Nigeria a member of the G8 indirectly. A man that has zero tolerance for
corruption. The great President-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari, we want to congratulate him, and our Vice President-elect and
all our leaders without whom, this victory of ours would not have been possible. But
most importantly, we have some of our colleagues who will be leaving us very soon
and who we tend to officially pull out tomorrow; one of them, Governor Fashola
who changed the face of Lagos State. He is out of the country but hopefully he will
be with us tomorrow. The kwankwasiya general of Kano state, the caliphate
Governor of Sokoto State, and the radical Governor of Rivers State; all these people
will be with us tomorrow for a proper valedictory session.

We say to them they have done well, but What is most important to us today,
ladies and gentlemen is that Nigeria is expecting so much of us and we do not blame
them having gone through many years of economic woes. Nigerians now are looking
up to us as a people, and we must never fail and we shall never fail. We also owe
Nigerians a whole great deal to prove to them that the people they have elected are
worthy to be so called Leaders of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Let me assure you
on behalf of the Governors forum of the APC that this government cannot fail. We
are indeed the last hope of democracy in Nigeria and we must never fail.
In law we say res ipsa loquitur, the facts speaks for itself, all Nigerians will bear
witness today that before the end of this outgoing administration, things have gotten
so bad, states can hardly pay salaries, no more enough funds coming from the
Federation account, the dollar is fast rising and the oil price is going down and we
have seen the management of our resources were in total failures for the past years.
All these Nigerians expect us to fix in the couple of weeks to come, or couple of
days to come. Yes, we are not magicians but we must take responsibility as a
government in power; so I want to assure all Nigerians on behalf of my colleagues
that we shall not fail and we will not fail them. Tomorrow we shall be interacting
with each other to look at the critical areas of governance because until you become
a Governor or President, you might not know the pains of governance. Tomorrow
all APC Governors will gather to rub minds on what to do to move our nation
forward. We shall never leave the responsibility to the President alone; we shall
support him from all angles. We shall also make our party stronger than it is before
we came into Government. We shall support the leadership of this party, and
together we shall work to make our government the best that history will talk about.
So, Mr. Chairman be rest assured that you have a good team. These gentlemen that
surround your table this night will not let you down. We shall work with you and the
members of the National Working Committee and the NEC of our party. Even as
we struggle to give the best to Nigerians, we must not forget one fact that the unity
of Nigeria is very, very important. Today elections have come and gone, our party
will differentiate between governance and politics. We have played politics few
months ago, at the end of every political activity begins the time of governance. As
we go into governance by 29th
of May, we must learn to carry every one along.

Because we are no longer going to be governors of APC, we are goings to be
Governors of our various states and General Muhammadu Buhari will not be
president of APC, he will be president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In doing so,
all Nigerians must be made stakeholders in our administration.
There are two people, I erroneously misplaced and how will I have done that. One is
one whose has English and writing at the tips of his fingers, a onetime minister, a
great leader of this party, and a visionary leader for that matter, Prince Tony Momoh
Sir; and another young man that changed the politics of Bauchi State, Barr
Mohammad Abubakar, Governor-elect of Bauchi State. All these my younger
brothers, Support, you should give me because I am a ranking member, Tambuwal
take note. But before we go into this dinner Mr. Chairman, something that has
always touched me, is that, I am worried about the last days when we shall bow
down before the altars of God to give account of our stewardship. And three groups
of people have come to mind that God will judge specially. One are the judges
themselves because in my bible, God said to me and to us that He is the Judge and
for anyone to now say that he is the judge, God will now take out time to judge him
and he might spend two weeks in judging every judge in the world because of that
name judge. Another group of people He will judge are the Bishops, the Pastors and
Imams who have claimed also that they represent God on earth, when God will
Judge them, he will spend one week taking his time to judge them. Another group of
people he will judge are the Governors and the Presidents, God will spend five days
taking his time judging them because they came out and took responsibility to say
that they will lead the people of God. But you see most of us have often made the
mistake to say that God will judge all of us equally, Make no mistake, God will not
judge all of us equally because to whom much is given much is expected; but for the
Senators and the Federal House of Representative Members, God will take three,
three days to judge them but for party Chairman and all the members of National
Working Committee, God will spend one, one day to judge them, but for my people
who are scattered all over, when they come before judgment my God will say forgive
them for they know not what they are doing. My people, my people!

Goodwill Message by Chief John Oyegun, APC National Chairman
Protocols:
It is always a hard task to speak after the Owelle himself has spoken, but let me
congratulate you Owelle for putting this retreat together, and also for making this
dinner the first event of the retreat. It is affording us an opportunity under a very
cool, conducive, social atmosphere to celebrate our great victory and it was indeed a
very great victory. From 14 Governors, we are now 22 and we are still counting. I
want to let u know that, I telephoned the almighty yesterday and he assured me that
we are going to end up with 24 or 25 Governors. So Owelle you are not the only
consultant to the Almighty about judgment day, I did my own consultation. I want to
thank all of you.
The Owelle has said it and I cannot hide the fact that it is something of extreme
pride to me that at this point of our history I have the singular good fortune of
leading the party that has made history. If it was possible to bribe for the position I
would have bribed for it but unfortunately at the time when you were making me
and even today, I am not in a position to say thank you to anybody but I want say
how proud I am, very, very proud of our Governors. I was there when you all went
through your primaries, I was there when you scored your victories, I was there
when you campaigned vigorously, and today I am here celebrating with you this great
historic achievement of the party called the APC; and all 22 of you to that victory.
Like the Owelle said, now the difficult task begins. We made a promise to the people
of this nation that there will be change. You are going to be light houses of this
change. You are going to be the standard bearers of this change. Nigeria obviously
cannot remain the way it was. Fortunately, very fortunately in your midst are some
of best and brightest men that this nation has had the fortune of producing. Some of

them today are outgoing Governors but they have already lit the torch, they have
already raised the standard below which none of our Governors can afford to be,
not below. I want to celebrate with you. We are pulling them out today the
Governor of Kano State, I want to celebrate with you the Governor of Lagos State, I
want to celebrate with you the Governor of Sokoto State and I want to celebrate
with you the indomitable Governor of Rivers State, bold and bright. Each of these
Governors has signaled qualities and has recorded such achievement that they form
the bench mark and that is just the benchmark. We are going to expect that each
and every one of you the twenty two of you to exceed the standard that they have
set. Three of them joined us from PDP, one of them, was of course an original left of
centre politician of ACN and now APC vintage.
These are people that are worth celebrating, and I hope tomorrow at the proper
time tomorrow we will give them the honour that is truly due to them. I want to
appeal to everybody here. I repeat that we have scored a signal victory. The way
business is done from now on must be different in every sense of the word. We are
going to face the challenge of reshaping this nation; we are going to face the challenge
of reshaping the ethics and morality of our nation. The whole world was with us in
the process of our struggle and they will be watching us from the 29th
of May, this
year when the reins of this nation will be handed over to the APC. The whole world
will be watching. So you must sit down when you start tomorrow to fashion out
ways in which the respectability of this nation will be restored to the days when a
Nigerian enters a shop they eventually close down and treat him with such dignity
and not like today when you enter a shop, they start watching to make sure that
everything is in place. We must rebuild our nation; unfortunately, we are taking over
at a period that is full of intense challenges, eventually every facet of our national life.
This nation has been run aground. We have the task of rebuilding, to undertake,
beginning from 29th
of this month. I know each and every one of our 22 Governors,
and I have no doubt in my mind that you are going to acquit yourselves so honorably
that once more Nigeria will be celebrated all over the world. I thank you for the
great victory that you have recorded; I thank you for your resolve buttressed by our
manifesto. We are 170 million strong, a few weeks we were not even sure that we

are going to come out of this election together as one but once more the good Lord
has proved that he has a manifest destiny for this togetherness of 170 million black
people, and he has decided that you as Governors working in cooperation with the
President-elect and his vice for reshaping this nation. And I know looking at you that
it is your resolve that in this mission there will be no looking back, there will be no
shaking. And when we give an account in another four years the people will be glad
to return us with even more resounding victory. I thank you all, I congratulate all of
you and I wish you all the very best of luck.
God Bless You.

Goodwill Message by AtikuAbubakar, GCON, former Vice President,
Federal Republic of Nigeria
Protocol:
I am pleased and excited to personally congratulate my friends, Governors Amaechi,
Fashola, Kwankwaso, and Wammako for successfully completing their respective
tenures as Governors of Rivers, Lagos, Kano and Sokoto States. And I mean
successfully not in the sense of merely finishing their terms, but in the sense of
succeeding in office, in serving the people of their states, fulfilling their promises.
Fashola and before him, Bola Tinubu, helped to legitimate progressive governance in
the South West and by extension, Nigeria in the period since the return to civilian
rule in 1999. Nobody would again wonder what a progressive (or indeed APC)
government could do in office. In the South-South, Governor Amaechi and later
Adams Oshiomhole (whose tenure runs till next year) showed what progressive
governance would look like. Up north Governors Kwankwaso and Wammako have
been shining examples of what progressive governors could do and they (as well as
Amaechi) did theirs largely under the platform of the PDP, before the environment
within the PDP increasingly made it difficult for them to continue to bring positive
change to their people, and to Nigeria.
Their impressive performance in office and their principled progressive stance on
national issues are the things that made them so popular in their states and across
the country. They are the reasons why the people of their states love them and why
Nigerians love them. It is the reasons why the exit of three of these governors,
among others, from the PDP and their joining of the APC family contributed
significantly to our victory in the recent polls and the defeat of the ruling party. They
were with their people and their people were with them. As a result their people

went with them all the way to our historic electoral victory. When the chips were
down, these brave and courageous governors chose the difficult path rather than the
easy way out. That is why we celebrate them today.
A famous Nigerian columnist calls one of these governors the Governor of Example,
and he is right. Let me say that all four are governors of example. I enjoin all our new
governors to become governors of example. If they do, Nigeria will be truly
changed. The change we promised Nigerians will become reality. If that happens,
Nigerians will likely renew our mandate in four years’ time. We must be humble in
all our dealings with Nigerians. We must have candour; we must always tell our
people how it is, lead them by example, and plead for our people’s patience when
necessary. If we are transparent and honest with them, they will give us their
support.
As we ponder what the agenda for the incoming government would be within the
context of our party’s manifesto, we need not go too far in looking for where to
begin. We only need to look at what the governors of example did and seek to
improve on them and find ways to avoid some of the challenges that they faced. We
must avoid becoming the PDP of our recent history. We must avoid the very things
that brought the PDP to its knees: winner takes all, greed, arrogance, impunity,
treachery, and hubris. We must strive to be a better party and better managers of
the affairs of our beloved country, Nigeria.
Once more, I congratulate our governors of example and wish them more success in
the next phase of their lives and hope that they continue to serve our people in
other capacities when, later this month, they cease to be governors of their
respective states.
Thank you and God bless

Goodwill Message by Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu
Mr. Chairman, the former Vice President, the Chairman of the Progressive
Governors, Forum, and our Governors and Governors-elect, Members of the
National Working Committee and National Executive Committee of our great party,
distinguished ladies and gentlemen.
I feel very happy to come up here to speak to you on this important occasion. Today
is the very first day that there is a public gathering of leaders of the future ruling
party of Nigeria since after the general elections. I am very happy and I salute the
Progressive Governors Forum for organizing such an event, we salute you. The
Progressive Governors Forum has done so much for our party. When this party
nobody gave a chance that it will be registered, it is the Governors who worked with
other leaders to make sure that the party was registered. After registering the party,
our Governors under the aegis of the Progressive Governors Forum worked
tirelessly to ensure that we got the victory that we got on March 28 and April 11. At
times we may not recognize the achievement of the All Progressives Congress. This
is a party that is yet to be two years, yet this is the very first successful merger of
major political parties not only in Nigeria but in Africa. Today the APC has produced
a President-elect who by the Grace of God will be president of Nigeria.
This is the first time in the history of our country that an incumbent president was
defeated by a candidate of the opposition party. APC has made history; APC is the
vehicle that Nigeria will use to attain greatness. Today as a political party, Nigerians
expects a lot from us, but as I look around and see our Governors, our Governors-
elect, our Senators, our Senators-elect, members of the House of Representatives, I
am so confident that APC will exceed the expectations of Nigerians. Looking for
registration of APC, many Nigerians never gave us any chance, but we became
registered and became a political party. When 5 distinguished Nigerians put
themselves up for APC, but the end was not near for APC, we had a successful

presidential primaries and all the aspirants came together to work together for
victory. Many Nigerians did not give us a chance. Those on the other side in
particular never believed that they could lose elections but, by the help of Almighty
God and the work of the leaders who are here, we were able to win elections,
produce a president, we now control 22 states out of 36. We have majority in the
Senate and majority in the House of Representatives. This is not a mean
achievement, we must be very proud of ourselves because we as leaders and
members of APC we have made history. I must commend the PGF for organizing this
retreat. This dinner that will usher in the retreat is very important and gives us an
opportunity to look into the future. By 29th
of this month, barely two weeks or
under two weeks from now, the APC will be transformed from an opposition
political party to a ruling party in Nigeria. We need to retool; we need to make
adequate changes in the way our party is run because the responsibilities of an
opposition political party are different from that of a ruling party. But I am so happy
that the party is in very good hands and I believe that this retreat will help us to
fashion out how to make those changes that will make the transition very smooth for
us. Also we need to recognize that we have to learn from the lessons provided by
the PDP. We have to study the PDP and make sure that the mistakes made by the
PDP will not be repeated by the APC. I believe that this is what this retreat will help
us accomplish. When we do this we will now prepare the APC as a governing party
that people will come from different parts of Africa and different parts of the world
to under study because the achievement we have made have created a very good
environment for our nation.
We remember that before the general elections, there was so much tension in
Nigeria but after the general elections, the tension has gone down and the hopes of
Nigerians have come up. With the announcement of General Buhari as president-
elect, the stock market shot up, the value of the naira went up and so many people
have already started adjusting themselves to behave in a manner to conform to the
discipline that is to come with the new form of government that is to come. Today,
the expectations of Nigerians have never been as high as they are now. Nigerians
expect a lot because they now have hope; they now believe in their government,
they see APC as their own. So what it means for us is that before the elections, the
APC entered that election as a movement but now we have to sit back, reflect and

then build and make APC truly the party that it should be. In the sense, that APC
must be owned by all members of the APC. Every part of this our great country, all
our states and Local Governments must feel that APC is their own. It is when we all
own APC that we will give it all the protection and that we will put in the best that
we can to make sure that truly it is the APC that will take Nigeria to that height
which almighty God designed for us.
I thank you all.

Appendix B
Retreat Opening Speeches

Retreat opening remarks by HE Owelle Rochas Okorocha, Chairman, PGF
Protocols:
The Vice President-Elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is on his way to declare
this retreat open, but because time is not on our side, the moment he arrives, we
shall all rise to receive him and continue with the program as we may deem fit.
This morning we are here gathered for a very serious business to give to our nation
a more purposeful defined leadership; only few months ago, we were in the battle
field making campaign promises and telling the people what we shall do for them
when elected. We made all manner of promises; we made all manner of
commitments-all during the period of politicking. But now, having been elected, the
question is “what next”? How do we meet up with these campaign promises? And
what do we do to give to our people, the dividend of democracy?
Hence, this is the essence of this retreat; to rub minds, compare notes and see how
we can together build a Nigeria of our collective dream and aspiration. One thing is
certain ladies and gentlemen, that once you are elected and declared a winner, you
become a leader and a leader must have certain attributes; a leader must have
certain qualities.
To most people, leadership simply means, ability to control or influence or command
people but there is more to leadership than control, command and influence; a
leader is that man who inspires and motivates people towards achieving a particular
goal without the instrument of manipulation- that is what makes a leader.

Anyone that must be a leader must have vision and must have passion- therefore,
leadership without vision and passion is no leadership and a state is as big as its
leader and a nation is as big as its leader. No nation can grow above their leaders and
no state can grow above its leader. So we the governors as the leaders now,
determine the size and the weight and the image of our states.
Our National Chairman is the leader of the party and this party cannot grow beyond
the National Chairman; so leadership is all important in what you do and so leaders
must learn to understand that in their role as leaders, they must make sacrifices.
Sacrifice is the key in leadership and leaders who cannot make sacrifice cannot make
headway in the course of administration.
Sacrifice means doing those things that are inconveniencing to you, that those that
you govern may benefit- that is all about sacrifice- so leaders who are not willing to
make sacrifices, must offend their leaders. I want to also explain this sacrifice in the
course of governance, certain comfort is eminent and if any leader leads by comfort,
the followers will definitely not be happy- in fact let me say that followers are happy
when they see their leaders in a suffering mode.
We are very happy to hear that, President-Elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (though I
do not subscribe to that), has advised that we should stop at the traffic light; that, as
good as it may, could also be dangerous- but that is the highest form of sacrifice and
when the leadership is right, the followership is right; when leadership is wrong,
followership is wrong.
There is something about the head and I have tried this in my elementary life, to see
that anywhere your head can pass through, the entire body will pass through- so
leadership is very key and sacrifice remains the order of the game. Sacrifice in your
comfort, sacrifice in the way of life; sacrifice in the things you wear and the things
you eat- so every leader must tend to have the quality of sacrifice.

Every leader also, must have a political will; one of the challenges I have had as a
governor is political will- ability to say “NO” when I ought to say “YES” and let me
say to you my colleagues and all of us seated here that one of the challenges you
have is how to settle those who campaigned with you; how to settle the party
leaders, the chairmen of the party at the local government, the ward chairmen, who
number in thousands and how even to settle those who finance your party or finance
your elections and those who were good leaders, so that if you go by the way of
settlements, you are finished before you start.
What then do I mean by political will? Political will is when your brother comes to
you and says, he wants to do a 2KM road construction and you know that your
brother has never ever been in a construction company and neither does he have an
idea but he is coming to you as a brother with tears in his; saying my brother, this is
an opportunity for us to become big as family, having suffered for these years. What
will you do, will you then give him the job? Or will you say no? That is when political
will comes to arch; leaders must possess political will-ability to say “no” when they
ought to say “yes”. In other words, every leader must be issue driven and not
sentiment-driven.
Let me also assure most of us here that in the course of governance, the only person
that matters is yourself and your wife; as a governor, the good, the bad and the ugly
of that administration rest on your shoulders and history will only remember you
whether you have done good or whether you have done bad and by extension, the
role of your wife, during that time of your administration- so leaders must
understand that they have a powerful responsibility as leaders.
The other point is that leaders must learn to decentralise power and authority;
leaders who keep everything to themselves are bound to fail. Even looking at my
bible, I saw that Jesus Christ had to take 12 Disciples. Leaders who do not work
through decentralization, are bound to fail; in other word, letting others to do your
job and you take the credit- good leaders let people do the job and they take the
credit but when you have to accumulate files for instance or sometimes you see

elected people, governors with files like heap of mountain on their face- that is sign
of failure because you alone cannot do everything. So leaders must learn to trust and
decentralize authorities.
Leaders should also learn to work in tandem with the culture of the people. Every
society of mankind, is created by God with their culture and no society can grow
above its culture for that culture has a relationship with God,
(OwelleRochasOkorocha). In other words, what might work for me in Imo State
might not work for you in Edo State and might not work for you in Borno State.
Every state is unique and you must understand the culture of your people.
When you try to govern people outside their culture, you receive resistance, take
the North for instance, for you to do well, you must govern them according to the
culture and you must respect their culture because the Northern culture is in
tandem with their religion; so if you separate the two, you already have problems.
Culture is very important and that is why most of us have had problems as a nation.
In Nigeria today, we do not know what culture to practice, we have mixed culture in
Nigeria. Some us in our dressing here, we look like Indians, some look like Japanese,
some look like Americans. What is our culture? What culture do you tend to
portray?
Thanks to our brothers in the North, they have maintained the culture of dressing-
which is excellent. That also applies to your developmental projects. What do you
do to carry the people along? And sometimes you do not know, if you are governing
the people and the people say they want to eat Tuwo and you continuously give
them rice, they will not be happy- you may think that you have done your best, but
you have not given them what they want.
What I am saying is that as a leader, when public opinion is superior to our own
reasoning, you must subject yourself to it, because that makes up popular

government. Any popular government is that government which considers the views
of the people they govern therefore, culture is very key. Leaders do not quit, in the
course of governance, you come to particular point where there are challenges, you
come up with beautiful ideas (I am sure all of you see this because your greatest
problem to start with will be the civil servants) and when you realize that in Nigeria,
the recurrent far exceeds capital and you spend 95% on current and only 5% on
capital, so how can you do well? This is a problem we have in Nigeria and
unfortunately too.
In Imo State today, the salaries we pay to Civil Servants, Teachers and others far
exceeds what will come from the federation account and yet they want the best
form you and yet they want you to share the money (it is called Operation the
Money). If you wait for Civil Servants and their bureaucratic nature to go into the
administration, you will end up doing nothing, in fact you will be on it till the end of
four years and confusion sets in after every three years.
I see leadership from the point of a lion; for those of us who have come in contact
with a lion; when a lion is leading 10, 000 sheep, the lion being the head, has the
capacity of making this number of sheep to become big lions but when a sheep is
leading lions, the sheep that is the leader in this case can change the lions into
becoming sheep- so leaders determine followership and whenever a team is not
doing well, leadership should be held responsible.
Anybody who is a governor, a leader, who likes to transfer blame on others for his
woes and failure is not a leader, you must take responsibility because when leaders
fail, followership will fail and greedy leaders do not succeed and what God respects a
lot is unity- unity of purpose. The male lions do not go to war and when he asked, he
says I am keeping quiet and staying inside to protect the future generation. And this
reminds me of the story of a political restaurant which says to leaders on a huge
billboard to “eat all they can” since the past generation has paid theirs and of course
they will, but on their way out, there is another big billboard that says “pay for the
future generation”

Retreat remarks by Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, APC National Chairman’s
Protocols:
This is the first opportunity of meeting you together after the emphatic and pervasive
victory of the party at the recently concluded general elections. Our party, your
party, in less than two years of its existence and in less than a year (in fact about nine
months) of my chairmanship has transformed from opposition to the one that has
been entrusted with sacred responsibilities to run the federal government, the
National Assembly, majority of the states and state legislatures and in an
unprecedented victory.
Whilst I attribute our success at the poles to the grace of the almighty God and the
dogged resilience of the Nigerian people, yet, I have no iota of doubt that your
effectiveness as field commanders in propagating the message of the party (that
message of change), has made victory so resounding and widespread.
I therefore, congratulate you and pay you tribute for your individual victories and
contribution to the overall success of our party. I also know that our success could
have been even on a grander scale if our colleagues on the other side had played
according to the rules of the electoral process. This articulated to the situation
where some of our candidates had lost the election because of the premeditated and
brazen violation of the electoral process.
The party and our candidates will explore all available channels to ensure justice and
prevent a future repeat of such unwholesome practices for the sake of probity and
the strengthening of our democratic process.

Whilst we celebrate our victory, it is time to remind ourselves that the expectations
of our people are justifiably high; available information suggests that the country is in
serious economic trouble; our ability to execute our campaign promises therefore,
could be in trouble arising from the massive decline in oil revenues due to the fall in
oil revenue prices and the poor choices of that the incumbent government has made
in the management of the economy and the available resources.
This situation calls for a thorough review of the ways we have done things in the past
and the practicalisation in a dramatic fashion of our campaign slogan of change; we
have to change our ways and identify ingenious methods of saving cost, raising
revenues to make it possible for us to fund our programs; it therefore cannot be
business as usual.
You will be called to take tough measures, you have to take tough decisions but
these must be done in a manner that, yes, will involve sacrifice but has the minimal
impact on our long suffering population and that is a difficult thing to achieve but we
must aim at achieving it.
We should show in little thing that we do; such as the size of our convoys, the
excessive use of sirens as well as all forms of ostentatious living- that change has
indeed come. The chairman mentioned in passing, the issue of stopping at the traffic
light; yes I take is point very seriously, it is something that needs to address- I do not
personally think that for our president and giving the state of the nation and for you,
Chief Executives that, that may be a wise thing to do but it is necessary that the
impact of our convoys on the people in terms of the way that those who drive us
operate, has to be drastically reviewed.
And as advised by the President-Elect in an earlier speech, you must start preparing
for the next elections right from the day that you are sworn in. this is the only way

that at the end of the day in four years time, we as apostles of change, will be able to
run on our records. All government of the All Progressives Congress must exhibit
clearly distinguishable and identifiable common characteristics- yes, states differ, but
the core of our manifesto, the core of our programs, the core of change means that
people should be able to tell straightaway that, yes, these are progressive governors
and these are progressive states.
Our government must exhibit fiscal restraints, healthy budget balance between
capital and recurrent expenditure (this was mentioned by the chairman, Progressive
Governors Forum), everybody is now familiar with this most unhealthy balance
between recurrent and capital expenditure; a lot of which comes from overhead
charges, wastages and seepages within the system.
I have no doubt that collectively, as we meet here (I have looked at your program of
events of the next day, beginning from today), there is every opportunity therein for
you to get to grips with the economic realities of our time- which will, I hope, spur
you, to put your heads together, learning also; benefitting also; not just from the
Resource Persons present but from the practical experiences of the governors that
are going to start their second terms.
Excellencies, the road ahead may appear challenging but I have no doubt that there
resides in you, sufficient competence, sufficient willingness, sufficient courage and
sufficient spirit of innovation to do the job to the satisfaction of the people you have
been called upon to lead.
We must work in transparent and a collaborative manner with our people to rebuild
our country and to regain the trust of the people in government in order to create
jobs, secure lives and property and curtail corruption; I believe this is doable and I
trust that you can do it.

As very important stakeholders in the incoming federal administration, I suspect that
you will be interested in the composition of the government in terms of the spread
of offices and other consideration undermining the choice of the personnel of the
new government; let me make clear, the party, working with the President-Elect, will
engage in broad and intense consultations with all of you- as it has already started to
do, before decisions are made.
However, the overriding consideration will be competence, will be merit, will be
integrity, and will be passion for change and of course, we must also run an all
inclusive government-it has appeared in the media that the APC abhors zoning and
yes, that word may be pejorative but it is clear, whatever word you want to call it,
whether it is national spread, whether is federal character or whatever, every part of
this country must be made to have a sense of belonging in the system- this cannot be
compromised and in that respect, I have no inhibition in saying that to the best of its
ability, this party will give guidance; such that in the selection and in the filling of
positions, every part of this country feels a sense of satisfaction.
As we therefore celebrate our victory and look forward to running model
governments for our country, I will like to share a bit of my experience as your
National Chairman. In the past few months, the management of the various
contending forces in the party, arising from the coming together of the 3-4 separate
entities have been quite challenging as I have had to in the process, exercise extreme
restraint, humility and hopefully, good judgment to navigate the potential political
storms that would have created problems for us.
I therefore, find it necessary to appeal to all governors that we cannot be stronger
than the party and I want to plead with you to give the party, your party, all the
support that it needs so that it can, as partially as possible perform its responsibility
to all the stakeholders of our party.

In a few days, your party will transform from opposition at the federal level to the
governing party, there is therefore, urgent and pressing need to build capacity within
the party to enable it perform in its new role and provide supportive atmosphere for
the efficient operation of all our government; at local government Level, at state level
and at federal level.
As governors, you obviously occupy a vantage position to support your party and
facilitate its efficient operation; your continued support and cooperation in addition
to your excellent and exemplary performance in office are of critical importance to
the realization of the change promised by our party during the campaigns and will
also be a bedrock, a foundation for our success in future elections.
It is particularly instructive to counsel at this time that our party must avoid the
mistakes of the outgoing administration; especially with regards to this particular
instance of the role of governors in the decision making processes at national level.
I wish to at this time, specially thank my out-going governors, I do not know how
many of them are here, men who have been exemplary in their performance;
persistent progressives, even with the emergence of some from the PDP, they all
have something in common-passion/drive.
I am surprised, when you look at it in reality, the three were basically progressives
because I know he was one of those I interviewed and cleared for elective office on
the SDP platform; he used to be a student unionist all his life and came from there
into politics and added additional adrenaline that fired the party and made us what
we are today- the greatest political fighting force in the African continent.
All four of them, in terms of performance have been most exemplary; Lagos, taking
over from the Asiwaju himself, who set the pace for the Lagos that we see and enjoy
today; and Governor Fashola who took over and improved on what he inherited set

a pace; and I know a lot of states and a lot of government had this great big beacon
from which they started copying and emulating.
The governors too, that came from the PDP; in fact it is surprising how they stayed
so long in the PDP because their performance was sterling and so different and so
outstanding that I wonder how they manage to stay so long in that party- but I want
to pay tribute to them, I do not know if they are here- that the party owes them a
very deep depth of gratitude for the wonderful example of performance that they
have set and for their contributions to ensuring the victory of the APC in the
elections.
I thank you and congratulate you all for your well deserved victories; but the task
ahead, the challenge really has only just begun. I have no doubt at all, that given the
examples before you, addressing the incoming governors that you will meet up to
the challenges.
May God bless all our governors, may God bless our great party and may God
enable you in cooperation with the Chief Executive of the nation, the President-
Elect, Gen, Buhari lead Nigeria to a destiny of security, integrity and prosperity.
I thank you all and God bless you.

HE Senator Abiola Ajimobi, Governor, Oyo State
Distinguished ladies and Gentlemen, let me first and foremost, recognize our
chairman, the chairman that we are all proud of; I think the luckiest chairman of any
political party in Africa. It is the first time we would have a chairman; not only so
endowed with eloquence but also very deep and unassuming and the luck comes
from the fact that for the first time in the history of Nigeria, a party that is referred
to as the opposition party has been able to end the reign of PDP for the first time in
Nigeria at the central or let me say, at the centre.
I have been called unexpectedly to come and share my experience in Oyo State with
you. Oyo state as you are probably aware is unarguably the political capital of the
South West.
It is also unarguably the intellectual capital of Nigeria; having boast of the first
University in Nigeria; in terms of size, it is about 32,640KMsq, more than the size of
many states in Nigeria.
Population; about 10MIllion, agrarian society and it boasts of many first; hence, we
call it a pace setter state. It boasts of the first university like I said; the first tallest
building in Nigeria-cocoa House; the first Television station in Africa-even before
France and the first stadium in Nigeria.
Having said this, some of us came into politics, like we all say, because our people
called us- it is not true, nobody calls anybody; it is you who called yourself to come
and play politics. However, we share one thing in common and that is the willingness
to serve and as you see our party- I refer to our chairman when he was talking
earlier. He said party made up of people of commitment, people who really want to

serve and we are happy that many of us have succeeded in serving; hence, we are all
here.
So I take this opportunity to congratulate all of you and to welcome you here. Now
talking about how we won in Oyo state, it is the same way about how you won in
your own states- basically, we won through performance; we won through service
and we won through commitment.
And believe me, once you have that, you will win anywhere and we have the
fundamental qualities of a successful human being; and what are those qualities? We
have what you call an MAA- Quality. This means that we are very Modular, Adaptive
and Assertive individuals. In other to be this, we are able to identify- anywhere we
are, the critical success factors in any situation.
Once you are able to analyze correctly and identify the critical success factors, you
are bound to succeed. I believe, all of us, have those qualities of success; otherwise,
we will not be here and let me finally say this- that in winning in Oyo State, you know
Oyo State before I came in, was replete with violence, brigandage and of course, this
attitude or culture of impunity- where anything goes.
But since we came in, I was able to demonstrate all those qualities that we all share
and the commitment to succeed was paramount; and like the Chairman of the
progressive Governors Forum spoke earlier, he was talking about many of us
becoming lions.
I believe in the truest sense of the word, a lion for me –when you are younger, you
should be a lion and it reminds me of the quotes from our own revered late
honourable Azikiwe, former President of Nigeria, when he was there- that it will be
unforgiveable of a man, if whilst he was young, he does not have the heart of a lion;

aggressive, attacking and achieving- equally will it be unforgivable of that same man, if
whilst in his old age, he does not have the heart of sheep; meek and gentle.
Finally, I like to take this opportunity to say that all the new governors that are to be
sworn in by the 29th
of this month, Next week Friday, governance demands a lot,
particularly in an environment like ours- as you see me, I hardly sleep for three hours
in a day –believe me if you want to do the job well.
There is never a time that someone does not call you to praise you; as you are
savouring that praise, another person will call, within 5-10minutes of that praise, to
cause you; and you keep wondering, with all that I am doing- can people really
appreciate you for them?
And you know the funniest thing, I told my wife everyday- this job is extremely
demanding as I cannot enjoy the things I thought I would love to enjoying as a
governor and someone who is in one of the most trusted position of the country-
since doctors told me not to do them.
Then my wife finally said- then do not run for second them if you do not want it and
I said as much as I hate that job, I do not want to leave that job.
Thank you very much

Opening Address by Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President-Elect
Protocols;
The retreat discourse today is how to ensure on how we deliver on the change
agenda that we promised the people of Nigeria and I believe that in delivering that
change, everyone of us and especially all of us who hold political offices and serve in
political offices; governors, President-Elect, myself, legislators, have an important duty
to find out and agree and come to some consensus as to what are the key hurdles
that we have to scale in order to fully implement our manifesto.
A lot of promises have been made, against the backdrop of an economy that has
declined precipitously especially in the past couple of years; as we go closer to the
moment when we will take over office, it is becoming even clearer that the economy
is probably in much worse shape than we imagined, and that of course, throws a big
challenge to us and to the governors in particular- those of us are aware of the
situation that many of the states find themselves in- especially with respect to salaries
of workers and all that.
I think that despite all of that, we have the biggest possible opportunity right now to
turn our country around for good and I know that we are all set and prepared to do
so; and we have all the necessary capacity to do so. A lot of sacrifice of course, will
be required but I think that one of the issues that we need to face is the question of
how much our people can take and how much our people will be prepared to take
and how much time we have.
As they say, political capital is one of the most easily expendable items in the world. I
know that we have plenty of political capital going into May 29 and I am sure that
with your support and with the support of all our other legislators, we will all be able
to deliver before our political capital begins to run out.

I pray that God will help us to deliver on everything that we have promised our
people and I am sure that if any team of people can deliver, that team is seated here
in this room; I know that God almighty Himself has planned and purposed that this
time will be a time when our country will witness the real change.
On that note, I formally declare this meeting open.
Thank you very much

PANEL DISCUSSIONS
First Panel: Economy, State Governance & APC Manifesto
Moderator: Chief Ogbonnaya Onu
Protocols:
The two panels are going to discuss very important issues that pertain to the good
health of our party and its future; for too long in our country, Nigerians have always
felt that all parties are the same- they argue that Nigerian parties do not have an
ideology.
The APC is a unique party, because it is a party that was formed by people who felt
that the direction things were going in the country was not acceptable and they also
were convinced that if things went the normal way, the correct way, that Nigeria can
attain greatness.
We are very happy that this retreat is taking place at this time; before the
inauguration. The APC has the manifesto which defines the character of the party
and we have a unique opportunity to show Nigerians that the APC is different and
unique; and again, that the APC has an ideology.
The ideology of APC clearly, is progressivism, which is based on social democracy;
anchored on justice and compassion. I think it is very important that this retreat will
come out to show Nigerians that, really, that the party they have been looking for;
the party that can take Nigeria from the level that she is now to the level that God
designed for our dear nation has come.

It is the intention of the APC to give decent lives to all Nigerians; and the promises
that we made to Nigerians; to secure our country; to ensure that we have zero
tolerance for corruption; to create jobs ( as a matter of fact, we have promised that
we will be able to create three million jobs annually) and we have also promised that
for the first time, a government in Nigeria will be committed to ensuring that every
child in the Primary School will be fed daily; and this has tremendous effect to our
economy- because it is going to help our farmers; it is going to help our children to
be healthier; as well as help our national economy.
We have also promised our nation that ultimately, the aim of the APC is to ensure
that every Nigerian citizen will not go beyond 5km in seeking for help when sick; that
is to say, that, what we have had in the past, even when oil revenue coming into our
country within a period of 10 years, surpassed what we have earned in the previous
40 years, yet, sick Nigerians have to travel to hospitals outside the country.
The APC will gradually ensure that this does not happen, because, even when
Nigerians to other countries, in many cases, the doctors that attend to them are
Nigerians; so if the proper environment is created in Nigeria, those doctors will
come and invest here and ensure that our healthcare delivery system is well
equipped.
Lead Presenter: Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi
Protocols:
This is two sessions merged into one and I am going to start by commenting on the
process that produced the manifesto of our party; because it is important for us to

know that the manifesto did not just drop from heaven. It’s actually a process of a
thorough investigation and research about the needs of Nigerians.
As you all recall, the National Working Committee of the party set-up a Strategy
Committee, which was tasked with the responsibility of producing that manifesto. I
was privileged to serve in that Committee; it was headed by His Excellency the
Governor of Lagos State and after a as series of meetings, a decision was reached on
the need to make the recommendations and manifesto to be evidence-based. In
other words, the manifesto must go beyond a wish-list into what really, Nigerians are
asking for and for this reason, one of the largest surveys in this country was
conducted to find out what will Nigerians be looking for in an alternative party, that
will earn the trust of the public with power at the central, and to run the federal
government.
A survey, sample size of about 22,000 people were interviewed and some of the
highlights of the results that came out of that survey; first, that Nigerians wanted
change and that after the years of the ruling party in office, Nigerians got to a point
where there was an overwhelming demand that Nigeria needed to, take a new
direction, take a turn from where we were headed and that presented I think, the
first political signal of the opportunity for the APC as a political party to explore with
vigour, the opportunity of really gaining power at the federal level.
The result also indicated that the people that wanted this change the most were
young people, specifically within the age bracket of 18 to 35. Based on the result of
this survey, it was apparent that the young people of Nigeria needed a new vision
and they needed a new direction that offers hope and opportunity for their future.
The other part of the results also showed that in terms of preference, of what a
government that will replace the existing one on which change is on demand, such a
new government must be able to provide solution to the problem of unemployment.
So jobs, the provision of jobs came out very, very strongly, overwhelmingly by

majority of respondents across the length and breadth of the country, without the
exclusion of any state or any region; everybody wanted jobs.
The second very important demand from the public for this administration is the
issue of security, because as at that time, the issue of insurgency and kidnapping and
the violence that was taking place all over the country had exasperated everybody
and the demand was “Nigeria needs to stabilize in security”.
The third area was a demand for economic growth and diversification and that of
course had several sectorial details, which has been documented into the manifesto
of the party, which is available even in the folders with us. And if economy and jobs
which are products of economic growth and blooming enterprise is a major demand,
for which livelihoods and personal income will depend on towards improved
livelihoods, then it behoves on us that the management of the national economy is
crucial to the success of this administration, be it at the federal or at the state level.
It is important for us to also recognize that the economy of Nigeria is made up of
the economy of its states and that is why the significance of the Progressive
Governors Forum that accounts for 22 out of 36 states, a clear majority, indicates
that the success of the economies of the 22 states that are in the majority of the 36
will largely account for the collective success or failure of the Nigerian economy, and
that is the significance of this gathering.
And Governors as CEOs of their states hold the major, major significance to the
outcome that we hope to expect in the area that I have prioritized by the research,
which is job, security, economic growth and the rest of it. How do we grow an
economy?
Of course, I believe the starting point is information. A lot is known about the
national economy, GDP, statistical data provided by agencies of the federal

government. But frankly speaking, not much is known about the state economies of
this country, in terms of figures of performance, composition of state economies and
how they individually and collectively contribute to the national economy that we are
all hoping will improve within the next four years of the APC administration-which
raises three fundamental issues.
First, currently faced with dwindling revenue from the predictable source, which is
oil, and that is a concern to everybody, and the bulk of the resources, revenue for
the states is coming from this central source, which is currently at risk, and it is quite
volatile and difficult to estimate. At the same time, because the APC has been elected
on the popular demand of majority of Nigerians, particularly youths, there is a huge
expectation for government’s impact to be noticeable and experienced at household
level; has to do with demand for social services and things that seem like fund
transfers to people.
Against this huge expectation, is also a phenomenal gap in our public infrastructure,
which every government will like to fix; so we are caught between balancing
immediate social demands by majority of people who believe that government is
responsible for their livelihoods and for their well-being on a 24/7 basis, such that
they can easily say “I am feeling the impact of this government” and balancing that
against the reality of providing infrastructure that is germane for businesses to be
able to take initiative and invest to create the kind of jobs that majority of our youths
are looking for.
For me, that’s a dilemma, in the face of this revenue and therefore the balancing of
our social and economic policy is going to be a huge demand on our states. How do
you balance? I said you need information. We have information about the national
GDP and it has been part of economic discourse over time. But it will be interesting
to see the disaggregation of the national GDPs to state GDPs so that at least state
governors and managers of state economies can understand what the composition of
their domestic economies is and what are the areas of growth?

We also need to develop the statistical capacity of states to gather information that
is needed for planning, particularly at least as a starting point in the areas of health,
education-which is very crucial to Human Capital Development, because without this
Human Capital Development, the chances of taking opportunities in terms of
entrepreneurship and employment would have been severely hampered and it will
take a combination of sound knowledge of state economies by the managers of those
states and the socio-economic statistics of their states before adequate planning can
take place, upon which your capital budgets will be placed.
In my view, it is the management of these contradictions: demand for expectations
that are not necessarily structural but they are more or less consumption in nature
and one is not surprised, for my state, where the competition between “stomach
infrastructure” and physical infrastructure seems to be producing results that is not
expected in any civilized clime. I think this is the challenge before all of us and I hope
this panel will be able to provide some insights into these questions. Thank you Mr.
Chairman.
Moderator:
Thank you so much distinguished Senator; you have made very good contributions
on how to grow our economy.
We would like to invite Governor IbikunleAmosun to join us; we understand that he
has to make his own contributions
Contributions by HE Senator IbikunleAmosun, Governor, Ogun State
Protocols:

First, we should congratulate ourselves and thank Nigerians for supporting our great
party the APC.
I think we are discussing economy and good governance, married with our manifesto,
the manifesto of our great party APC. For me, yes we are happy that we have won
the elections, but it comes with a huge challenge. Challenge in the sense that the
expectations are so high. Everybody wants us to perform magic, to perform miracle
and nobody is willing to wait.
Things that have been bad for several years; everybody is expecting a quick-fix, and I
know that that will not happen- but the danger is this: when the expectations are
very high, if its not quickly managed, or attended to, it will turn to frustration, and
once the electorates are frustrated; once the people are frustrated, then, -you know
the result, they will turn against the government, and that is why political goodwill,
just like the vice president-elect said, can quickly vanish if it is not well-managed.
So for me, I don’t think we are bereft of ideas when we are called together like this
to come and talk. Nigerians, yes, we sure know how to do that. We will come up
with wonderful templates wonderful programmes, but the problem has always been
the implementation-to have the courage, the determination to follow it through. So I
want to believe that the one that we are doing today will not just be for the talk
show because; we will actually follow it through.
For me, the problems are so clear for everybody to see. This is not the way we are
as a nation. I remember that when we were young, there wasn’t anything like oil. It
was agriculture that our forebears used, and at that time, it made a huge difference-
positive one at that but today, what do we see? Oil has made us so lazy that nobody
is willing to want to wait and follow something through; everybody is waiting for the
quick-fix and like play like play Nigeria is now a monolithic economy, with almost

80%-90% of our earnings are from oil, and that is bad for us. Until when we create
wealth for our people, they will continue to move in this vicious cycle. Until when
we create employment for our people, it will be the same old story.
And I have looked round and seen that the only way to go is to diversify the Nigerian
economy; and the first approach will be to go back to the basics, it will be through
agriculture/agribusiness and take full advantage of the value-chain that agriculture
offers- If we are able to do that;
One, we will feed our people, we will give our people employment, particularly all of
those our youths which are in their large numbers, able-bodied men, very educated,
very energetic, they do not have anything doing. So for me, the only way or the sure
way, of addressing the problem that we have as a nation is to embrace agriculture.
Agriculture will not just be agriculture alone, indeed for me if you talk about growth
and development, they are in phases. If we are talking agriculture, infrastructure is
key as well. Education is key. We have talked about them, but I think they are
interwoven. There is a nexus between even insecurity and economy, because when
people wake up do not have anything doing-your guess is as good as mine, an idle
mind is the devil’s workshop. So you will see them, in their large numbers,
particularly even, in all of our states, you go there, you will see them, everyday
running round, they don’t have anything doing.
So we should make agriculture very attractive, we should insist; just as in Ogun State
we have these five cardinal programmes which is tandem with the manifesto of the
party; and it starts with education to health, to agriculture that will lead us to
industrialization. If agriculture is well managed, well done it will lead us to
industrialization and industrialization will lead us to massive employment, because
wealth will be created.

I remember that in the 60s-70s, it was agriculture that our forebears used to
redefine
the entire landscape of our economy. You remember the cocoa in the Southwest,
the groundnut pyramid, of course in the South-South, South-East and even part of
the South-West oil palm plantation, so they are there. The truth is that, I don’t know
why we dropped the ball.
My brother governor from Oyo State did mention here that the first television in
Africa, yes-true, I think that was 1959 or so. The University of Ife, the Liberty
Stadium, all the infrastructures-the roads, the water, free education, health, it was
the proceeds from agriculture that they used. People were working.
So I think what we need to do, yes they talk about information, yes when we gather
information we gather the necessary data and we will be able to plan. But I think the
way to go is for us to go back to the basics, still for me, it is agriculture that will lead
us to agribusiness; that will lead us to industrialization, that our manufacturing will
roar again.
Even when with the rebasing of our GDP; yes Nigeria is the biggest in Africa now-but
if you look at the make-up of that rebasing, you will discover that manufacturing is
even under 5% or so; even our commerce and everything probably fewer than 10; so
until when the real sector, is tackled, it will be the same.
So for me, it’s a clear one, we need to just employ our people, we need to
encourage our young graduates to farming and we need to let all of these our
industries know, that they should do backward integration, which is happening to us
in Ogun State. And if you talk about all of these things, we need money.

Total dependence on what comes from the federal government is not good for us.
For us in Ogun State, we made 730 monthly, when we came. If not for the decline in
the economy I think we should be knocking 7billion monthly now, we are doing 6
point something billion every month. How do we manage to do it? We created the
enabling environment. Infrastructure must be there, without infrastructure, nothing
can happen really. It has been shown empirically, all researches that for you to grow,
your infrastructure must be in place-your roads must be in place, electricity must be
in place, security must be there, and you will see companies, everybody coming now
to Ogun State.
So I am happy, that every day we are growing our IGR, we are employing our people.
Most of those companies are in Ogun State now, I am happy: Procter & Gamble,
Unilever, the last time I went, they told me that they do three shifts now; a
Thousand, Five Hundred in the morning, same in the afternoon and evening plus all
the supporting staffs-talking about over 5,000 working there daily.
So if you have hundred of these companies, you know the number of people that will
be working, and that is the way to go. So once again, I want to thank all the people
that put this together, but my advice is that we should work our talk and I am happy,
that with the new government that is coming up; we have demonstrated it and I am
sure everybody in Nigeria believes in us and we should not allow that political
goodwill to vanish.
I want to thank you for giving me opportunity to address this gathering,
Thank you.

Contributions by HE Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, Governor, Edo State
Protocols:
I thought I was going to listen to the lead-presenter, according to this programme
and my business is, having listened, to try and show if I understood anything-But
somehow I have not heard from a lead-presenter.
Let me say that, there is hardly anything we can say here, or that we have even said
in our manifesto, that can be said to be original. Everybody understands at the level
of what is desirable, I think the real challenge we should begin to address is just one
word-how?
The Chairman says people shouldn’t travel more than 5km to have access to
healthcare, good! But the real question is how? Health Centre in every 5km, what is
the size of the country-how many health centres does that translate to? If so, how
many nurses do you need? How many medical workers, how many doctors?
What number do we have now? How do we train more doctors, more nurses to
deal with that and to deliver on that? So I think we should focus on the how?
The word that is almost abused everyday for example, is the word ‘Transparency’.
Everybody talks about it, and in those days before digital intervention, we had this
transparency we use at seminars like this, on the board. Such simple word, but very
problematic and I am thinking; in discussing the question ‘how’? We must look at
where we are now, and/or where we are coming from.
There is no government in our recent history that has talked about transparency
much more than the present government. The coordinator of the economy, if you
listen to her, for every one, two sentences, there must be several words of

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