Osinbajo: Ethnicity and religion must not play a role in critical national-building decisions

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has urged Nigerian professionals to disregard ethnicity and religion when making critical decisions for the country’s growth.
Osinbajo spoke at the inaugural All Progressives Congress (APC) professional forum conference on Monday in Abuja.

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According to the vice president, Nigerian professionals should embrace meritocracy over “baseless considerations.”

“So, one of the major advantages to our communities of having professionals in politics is lost if we do not recognise that our role as merit-driven persons must be to fight the temptation of ethnic, religious and other parochial considerations in making crucial decisions for the development of our nation,” he said.

“There is no point having professionals in politics if these professionals are driven by ethnic, religious and other parochial considerations because the whole point of professionalism is that you are defined by merit, you are defined by your professional acumen.

“Nobody would place their lives in the hands of an incompetent doctor because they share the same faith or continue to patronise a dangerously inept mechanic because they belong to the same tribe.

“If someone told me, for example, that the pilot who is to fly the plane that I’m to go in is not a very good pilot, but he’s from Ikenne, my hometown, I certainly won’t go in that plane.”