DR. GOODLUCK JONATHAN COULD HAVE BEEN A GOOD LECTURER, A LOYAL DEPUTY GOVERNOR, A SUCCESSFUL GOVERNOR AND A LOYAL VICE PRESIDENT BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH AS PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA! I have got no personal issues with Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as an individual. His supporters want Nigerians to reelect him because according to them: he is humble, meek and a man of peace who cannot hurt a fly he is the most abused President in the world, yet he has not gagged anyone or sent anyone on exile. he is a minority from the oil producing region. He deserves to serve his mandatory two terms like Obasanjo. he should be allowed to continue in order to complete his transformation agenda. I have never met Dr. Jonathan one on one, therefore I cannot fault whatever they claim he is. However, I have been privileged to listen to him on television answering questions put across to him by foreign and local journalists. I have also shown a keen interest in the affairs of my country, and especially his style of administration. I have on a number of occasions put on spotlight some of his policies in the last 6 years. My verdict on the overall performance of Jonathan administration is BELOW AVERAGE! I couldnt see him taking bold steps in tackling insurgency and the following major challenges confronting Nigeria as a nation:- Insecurity: The primary and core responsibility of a nation is to guarantee security of lives and property. If the Nigeria Police collate and keep statistics of crime rate in the country, it would have been very easy to know that the crime rate has risen during Jonathan administration when compared with those of his predecessors in office; Corruption: Corrupt public officials are being celebrated and even given open protection by the Jonathan administration. The two anti-corruption agencies have been turned into dogs which can only bark but no longer able to bite. Proven cases of corruption and thefts are confined into the cooler as long as the indicted officials could stay loyal to the ruling political party; Economy: As the fastest growing economy in Africa, all Nigeria has to show is the number of private jets owned by a few hundreds (less than 1% of the population) whose sources of wealth are an access to government patronages and allocation of oil blocks which rightly belong to all Nigerians; the remaining 99% of the population dont feel the impact of the supposed growth in the economy; most of the infrastructures are in weak for any meaningful development, and the quality of life of an average Nigerian is very low; - the foreign reserves are depleted and the credit rating of the country must have gone so low which probably explains why the federal government was recently involved in ammunition purchase on cash and carry basis; the exchange rate of the Naira has been falling even before the oil price crashed; - the Naira has been devalued without carrying the Minister of Finance/Coordinating Minister of the Economy along; inflation has not been under strict control because the federal government has not been prudent in its spending; the recurrent expenditure has been three times higher than what is being allocated to capital development in the annual budget. Can you imagine what that means to a country in a hurry for development! For about sixteen years, it has been the same old story for our country under the ruling party - the PDP. In 2011, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was voted into power by the majority of Nigerians thinking that he would make a big difference. Unfortunately, he has not, and I dont think he will even if given another six years to govern. Good a thing that there are currently two formidable political parties to choose from. My appeal to Nigerians is to vote in APC and General Muhammad Buhari who for the first time since the independence of our country, is not a reluctant candidate. He has expressed his willingness to serve, and one hopes that he should be able to make a difference in the life of an average Nigerian in his first 4 years. Otherwise voters will be able to exercise their power by voting him and his party out. That is the practice in advanced democratic countries!
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 05:30:12 +0000