My achievements in South-West —Jonathan IBADAN, the Oyo State capital, on Monday, stood still as thousands converged on the historical Mapo Hall, when President Goodluck Jonathan took his re-election campaign to the state. The occasion, which reflected the cultural diversity, peaked at about 12.50 p.m, when the president arrived at the venue amidst ovation from the residents and politicians that soared in all the major streets and market places in the vicinity. Obviously overwhelmed by the turnout, Jonathan thanked the people for their patience since 7.00 a.m when they began to arrive at the venue, promising not to renege on his promises if they vote for him on February Recalling that he kept faith with the people of the state for fulfilling their promise at the same venue when he sought their votes in 2011, he gave a rundown of what his administration had done so far in appreciation. “I was here in 2011 to campaign in this great Mapo Hall. Because I was here, you worked with us, you voted for me and I’m the president of this country. Today, I’m here again, asking you for your support and I’m sure that talking to you in this great Mapo Hall, you will also support us and we will be victorious. “What you gave to us, we have not disappointed you. We have done a number of projects in Oyo State…The Federal Government projects are so many. Under the Millennium Development Goals alone, we have done so many projects that I cannot enumerate. Under the Tertiary Education Fund (TETFUND), we have spent over N10 billion in intervention in tertiary institutions – federal and state – in Oyo State alone. “We have done a number of projects under the Universal Basic Education in this state. SURE-P has trained so many people – some young ladies as pilots and in other technical areas. People do not know how much we are doing in this area. One of the first female helicopter pilots is from one of the South-West states. “We have a number of power projects, but it is good to mention one or two of the major projects. The narrow gauge of the rail line from Ibadan-Lagos to Kano has been completed and people are travelling through Lagos to Kano by train. We know the Ibadan-Lagos route is critical, so we are working very hard to complete the other rail line. “Of course, the minister mentioned the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway that is ongoing; Ibadan-Oyo Road is ongoing on; we are upgrading facilities at the University College Hospital (UCH), and so on. “Of course, you know that the Cocoa House was built because of what the South-West benefitted from cocoa as cash crop. After sometime, government was no longer encouraging the plantation of cocoa and cassava and our farmers from the South-West, who trained their children in Oxford University from cocoa plantation and so on, could not afford to send their children to secondary school again and we said no, this must change. Cocoa must come back. “We have now tripled the volume of cocoa production we are producing in this country because of our agricultural transformation. We have tripled the production of cassava and we are now the biggest producer of cassava and, of course, this is the only area where we would put money so that our farmers will go back to the status of the great farmers from the South-West in those days. Cocoa farming is now going on; cassava farming is now ongoing and we will use the agricultural revolution to make sure that we transform other areas. Not only in the rural areas, but even in the cities, we are encouraging young graduates to go into commercial farming, so that they become the future millionaires and billionaires. “At present, we have over one million people from the South-West that have benefitted from areas of interventions in the agricultural programme. You can interview them yourself and they will tell you that this is the only government since the (Obafemi) Awolowo days that has shown the greatest commitment to transforming agriculture and I stand to be challenged on that assertion that after the Awolowo days, this is the first government that has really committed a lot of efforts, not just playing games, not just talking, but total commitment in terms of transformation in agriculture. If there are others, they should tell us what they have done. “Just today, I was reminded about the renovation of Ibadan Airport, which is ongoing. There is a request from the Olubadan that we should make it an international airport. Let us first complete the renovation, then we will take the adequate decisions because the population in Ibadan is great. It is a city that can rightly get an international airport. “I have also promised that the Ibadan dry port will be built, because we really want to establish quite a number of that across the country to decongest Lagos port. We want to make sure most of the cargoes when they land in Lagos would be moved to dry port areas. So the Ibadan dry port will be looked into,” he said. The president poured encomiums on past leaders of the South-West, just as he acknowledged the prime position of Ibadan and, indeed, Oyo as the political backbone of the South-West. “Oyo is a great state. It is one of the states that can parade biggest towns. Ibadan is known as the biggest ancient city in Africa, not just in Nigeria. The city of Oyo, the city of Ogbomoso are all big cities that I don’t we have their rivals in other parts of the country. The South-West is a great zone for politics and for everything and I remember that you have produced key leaders of this country that have shown the light. “We all remember Chief Obafemi Awolowo of blessed memory, a great leader of the South-West. People like SLA Akintola; people like Adegoke (Adelabu); Adisa Akinloye, the Akinjides, the Lamidi Adedibus and the Lam Adesinas – these are great men that have led this country and are still leading it. So, when you are in the South-West, you must respect them and when you are the South-West you must remind the young ones that these are role models. We want to pattern our leadership after them, because they led selflessly and achieved greatness for us. “I also remember that the first university in this country started as a university college in Ibadan; the first television in the African continent was built by the Western Region in Ibadan. The first sky scrapper, Cocoa House was built in Ibadan. So, Ibadan is a leading light to all parts of this country. We respect the great people of the South-West; we respect the great people of Oyo State; we respect the great people of Ibadan,” he added. The president said he was always ready to work with the zone, which he observed had “been first in so many things, especially in academics. “I sincerely thank the people of the South-West and the great people of Oyo State for your belief and what you stand for in terms of human rights, equity and social justice.You encouraged me to start the national dialogue. I have to give that accolade to the South-West and, of course, you donated one of yours, who was the pioneer, to set the agenda and one of you also to function as deputy chairman when the matter was discussed. But that is for another day,” he added. The president criticised those that had vowed to scrap the office of First Lady, saying such policy was not gender-friendly. According to him, women should realise that their votes during the coming election is either for the purpose of liberation or confinement to the kitchen. “One thing that I must say here is that we must encourage women, because I’m in the South-West, a region that has produced so many great women and I’m sure that more than the 50 per cent of the female professors in this country are from the South-West. “Though we know some political parties said they are going to ban the office of the First Lady; that of governor’s wife; local government chairman’s wife; Army Officers Wives Association; Navy Officers’ Wives Association; Air Force Officers’ Wives Associations and police officers’ wives association. “Having served as deputy governor, governor, vice president and now president, I can tell you that these offices are helping to mobilise our women and the money they spend are not coming from government. They run non-governmental organisations. Nigerians have a lot of philanthropists and they have a lot of money. “How can one say he will not empower our women? We know, especially in the South-West, you have sent your daughters to big schools in the world. You cannot train them in Cambridge and sentence them to be peeling yams and preparing yam powder in the kitchen,” Jonathan added. The president was miffed that some individuals that led the struggle against military rule, which culminated in the restoration of civil rule could be part of those championing the crusade against women in the present dispensation. On the recent attack by insurgents in Baga, Borno State, the president said he had instructed the National Security Adviser to brief the nation on the matter. He also restated that his administration was deploying modern technology to fight the war against corruption, promising that “if you vote me in and I serve this country for the next four years, the day I will leave, people will not talk about corruption again. “We are working on the technology and we will use it to block all those areas that people use to enrich themselves.” In his speech on the occasion, the South-West coordiantor for the Presidential Campaign Council (PCO), Governor Segun Mimiko of Ondo State, said Nigeria needed a 21st century-compliant president, whose attributes he said should include good education and vibrancy and not an old man, who should be playing with grandchildren at home. He said those he categorised as militant politicians claiming to be in control of the South-West were being economical with the truth, as Oyo State had proved them wrong through the huge turnout on Monday. In a welcome address, the Oyo State coordinator of the council and Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory, Chief Olajumoke Akinjide, said the state “is dear to the president,” adding that the Federal Government took a loan of $200 million (about N36 billion) to fight flood in the state. tribune.ng/news/top-stories/item/26582-my-achievements-in-south-west-jonathan
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 17:52:11 +0000
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