REASON NORTH HATE JONATHAN.... London (NDR) - For whatever reason, the North practices a deliberate culture of poverty and illiteracy on their people. This is the reason why poverty was noted as one of the causes of Boko Haram in the north according to the United States Counterterrorism report for 2013. Ironically, the same north gets more federal allocations than most states in the south, yet the poverty rate is incomparable. For instance, Borno State is in top 10 of States that receive high federal allocation. The Governor, Kashim Shettima received about N90 Billion from federal government alone in 2013 according to a report from the Federal Ministry of Finance. This amount is bigger than the annual budget of Liberia for the same 2013 which was N70 billion and also that of Gambia - N35 billion. Ebonyi State is at the bottom of federal allocation, yet the poverty rate is considerably low compared to what is obtainable in the north and there is no youth restiveness in the State. The north with over 40 years of Quota system education still has high illiteracy rate. Sokoto – a State that is older than Nigeria – kids from there need to score only 9 in common entrance exam while new States in the South like Ebonyi, Ekiti, and Bayelsa need to score 112, 119 and 72 respectively. New States in the north like Zamfara and Yobe need 4 and 2 respectively. This is a deliberate harm the north is doing to her people. That established, lets proceed on why the North hate President Goodluck Jonathan. Heraclitus – a Greek Philosopher once said that: “change is the only constant thing in life.” And I can also add thatchange is what people yearn for, yet change is what people are scared to see actualized. Goodluck Jonathan government has taken it upon itself to transform the north and eradicate the culture of poverty and illiteracy through various policies implemented and projects executed. This sudden change is being resisted by the north through malicious propaganda, destructive criticism and hatred. I can equally add that he has done more to north than his own region as outlined below: A. Education President Goodluck Jonathan has established a total of 12 new universities in the country with 9 established in the North and 3 in the South with billions of naira as take off fund. These were aimed to combat the illiteracy rate in the northern region. He has also established many almajiri schools to take the kids begging for alms off the streets. 1. Federal University Lokoja Kogi State 2. Federal University Lafia Nasarawa State 3. Federal University, Kashere, Gombe State. 4. Federal University, Wukari, Taraba State. 5. Federal University, Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State. 6. Federal University , Dutse, Jigawa State. 7. Federal University Gashua, Yobe State. 8. Federal University Birnin Kebbi Kebbi State 9. Federal University Gusau, Zamfara State. 10. Construction of Almajiri model schools, with about 120 of these schools completed. B. Road Construction and Rehabilitation: The government of Goodluck Jonathan has done well on the issue of road construction in the North to reduce the suffering of travellers, travel time, cost and accident. Many roads and bridge projects have been executed even when 2 Niger Bridge is being used for politics despite being executed under Private-Public Partnership (PPP) but 2 Benue Bridge is near completion without much fuss. East- West road in the Niger Delta has been moving at a snail rate. 11. Completion of Vom-Manchok road in Plateau State. 12. Completion of Yola-Numan road in Adamawa State. 13. Completion of Gombe Bye-pass road in Gombe State. 14. Completion of Kaduna Refinery road in Kaduna State. 15. Completion of Kano-Daura- MaiAdua road in Katsina State 16. Completion of Uba-Mbalala road in Borno State. 17. Completion of Funtua-Gusau- Sokoto road (from Gusau to Talata Mafara) 18. The ongoing dualisation of Abuja–Abaji–Lokoja Road. 19. The ongoing construction of Kano–Potiskum–Maiduguri Road 20. The ongoing construction of the Loko–Oweto bridge (across River Benue) 21. The ongoing dualisation of Benin-Lokoja road. This project was started under this President. 22. The ongoing reconstruction of Makurdi-Gboko road Phase 1 Wannune-Yandev section, in Benue. 23. The ongoing construction of Sections 1A and 1B of Sokoto- Tambuwal-Jega-Kontagora Roads, respectively in Sokoto State, Kebbi and Niger 24. The ongoing reconstruction of Kunya-Kanya-Babura-Babban Mutum Road in Jigawa 25. The ongoing reconstruction of Zing-Yakoko-Monkin Road in Taraba. 26. The ongoing reconstruction of Alkeleri-Bauchi Road in Bauchi. 27. The ongoing reconstruction of the Oturkpo-Otukpa-Obollo Afor Road in Benue State. 28. The ongoing reconstruction of the Lau-Kona-Jalingo Road in Taraba State. 29. The construction of Calabar- Ikom-Katsina Ala Road in Benue State C. Rail Transport: During the colonial era some 115 years ago, two railway lines were constructed: Western line – Lagos- Kano and Eastern line – PortHarcourt-Gombe-Maidugari. The British colonialists did this for their own convenience – to make it easier for them to channels through whichever materials they took from Nigeria to the sea for onward dispatch to the United Kingdom. This means that before one could travel from South West to South East or South-South via train, the person had to first travel to Kano on the western line, and then connects the eastern line to Enugu and Port Harcourt. For 15 years, this means of transportation has been dead in the country. The government of Jonathan came and resuscitated it, replaced the old coaches with air- conditioned coaches. He started with the western line instead of linking South West and Southeast/South- south that have no direct rail lines that connected them. He started from the north as shown below: 30. Completion and rehabilitation of Lagos-Kano narrow gauge railway. Movement of passengers and freight has since commenced along thisroute. 31. Ongoing construction of Abuja- Kaduna modern railway. This project is about70% complete 32.The ongoing construction of the Abuja light rail 33. The ongoing construction of Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri modern railway. 34. The ongoing rehabilitation of Port-Harcourt-Enugu-Makurdi- Lafia-Jos-Gombe-Maiduguri narrow gauge railway. D. Airport Construction And Remodelling: 30 years ago was the last time the Nigerias airport infrastructure underwent any major make-over or upgrade. Such is history under this government. The north took the lion’s share in this infrastructural upgrade. 35. Completion of the re-modelling of the Kano Airport. 36. Ongoing remodelling of the Yola and Jos Airport. 37. Ongoing remodelling of Kaduna Airport. 38. Construction of new international terminal in Abuja airport and remodelling of the old one 39. Construction of perishable cargo terminals in Abuja, Ilorin, Jalingo, Jos, Kano, Makurdi and Minna E. Power Infrastructure: 40. Completion of 434 megawatts Geregu II power plant in Kogi and ongoing construction of 700 megawatts Zungeru hydropower plant F. Agriculture President Jonathan recognised that Agriculture is the main stay of every community and with intelligent leadership he provided platform for reforms in this sector. Suddenly, Nigeria has become a force again in agric revolution – ‘the Thailand of Africa’. We produce food not only enough to sustain us but also for export. His reforms implemented and sustained by the Minister of Agriculture - Prof. Adesina eliminated middlemen who before now hoarded fertilizers that boost agriculture. It also sustained us in the face of crippling flood that ought to have brought famine to Nigeria. Rice production (1.76 million metric tonnes) has reached unprecedented high and we now have about 6 million farmers on e-wallet who receive subsidized farm inputs without middlemen, thereby checking decades of corruption in the fertilizer and other farm input system. These have benefitted the North more than other region as the biggest Rice mill in West Africa was sighted in Nasarawa State with no consideration for Abakaliki, Ebonyi State even when Abakaliki rice has made it to European market in 2013 without the help of federal government. In four years, the government of Jonathan has really done well for the North. But the mistake he made was trying to change their lifestyle as I mentioned earlier on. That is why he is hated in the North. The only area I can fault this government in favour of the north is security. But let us not forget that most of the important and sensitive security positions such as Minister of Defence, National Security Adviser, Chief of Defence Staff, Inspector General of Police, Comptroller of Immigration and Custom are being occupied by the northerners. That leaves Ministry of Police Affairs and Chief of Army Staff being occupied by a Yoruba and Ijaw respectively. What have the northerners in these positions done to curb the insecurity? With the numerous developmental projects highlighted above in favour of the North, I think it is necessary for them to vote massively (unlike 2011) for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan if he decides to run in 2015. Remember that one good term deserves another.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 05:39:19 +0000
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