The official campaigning for the
2015 general and presidential elections in Nigeria starts soon. Already,
Nigerians have started discussing prospective candidates, Nigeria’s
unity, and performance of the current President Goodluck Jonathan
administration.
The Goodluck Jonathan administration
has been charged with the leadership of a large and diverse entity that
is Nigeria, Mr. Nnawetanma starts. In the four years that the Goodluck Jonathan
administration has been in power, there have been flaws, successes and giant
leaps.
Sadly, Mr. Nnawetanma notes, the Nigerian media tends to focus more on
the setbacks. That is why getting a comprehensive list of achievements is
a “rather daunting task,” according to Mr. Nnawetanma.
The Goodluck Jonathan administration
has been “silently transforming Nigeria from its dark ages of
underdevelopment to a 21st century economic and political force,” Mr.
Nnawetanma writes.
Mr. Nnawetanma has completed a list
of implementations of the Goodluck Jonathan administration he considers to
be a progress.
1. Promotion and practice of true
democracy by creating an enabling environment where people from
diverse backgrounds and with divergent views and opinions can be accommodated.
Under the watch of Goodluck Jonathan administration, the APC was registered by INEC as a mega opposition party
big enough to challenge the PDP at both state and national levels. This would
have been unthinkable some years back.
2. Conduct of free and fair
elections in the country, including the 2011 poll which was adjudged to be
the most credible election of its magnitude that has ever been conducted in the
country, though it was not without its flaws. Unlike in other administrations,
the Goodluck Jonathan administration has given a free hand to the
country’s electoral umpire, INEC, to perform its statutory duties.
3. Relative
non-interference with electoral and judicial matters.
This is evident in the number of governorship elections that have been won both
at the polls and in the court by opposition parties in Anambra, Imo,
Osun
states, among others.
4.
Liberalization of the press and
guaranteeing the
freedom of speech in a country where the stifling of the press
and suppression of the citizens’ right to freedom of speech used to be the
norm, a legacy of over 30 years of military rule. The existence of vocal
anti-government media houses and critics would have culminated in some
high-profile assassinations some years back, but today citizens are free to air
their views whenever and wherever they like just like any other sane country.
5. Opening up of Nigeria to the
global business community and
becoming
Africa’s number one destination of foreign investors.
In the first six months of 2014, a total of US$9.70 billion or N1.51 trillion
flowed into the national economy as foreign direct investments (FDI).
6. Under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Nigeria
rebased it’s
GDP for the first time in over a decade to become the largest
economy in Africa, overtaking South Africa and Egypt in the process.
7. Proceeds from Nigeria’s
non-oil exports rose to 2.97
billion by the end of 2013, up from 2.3 billion in 2010.
8. Initiation of the
YOUWIN program in 2011. The Youth
Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YOUWIN) program aims to generate over
100,000 jobs for innovative unemployed youths across the country in the course
of three years. It is currently in its third year.
9. Nigerians are now a step closer to being fully integrated into the
international
e-commerce community with the approval and reinclusion of Nigeria
as one of the Paypal-compliant countries after being banned from using the
service at the peak of the advanced fee fraud (419 scams). With Paypal,
Nigerians can now pay for goods and services online from anywhere in the world.
10. Goodluck Jonathan administration is the one behind the
revival
of the dead automotive industry in Nigeria. Global auto giants like
Peugeot, Nissan and Hyundai now either assemble or wholly manufacture small
cars, Sport Utility Vehicles, trucks and buses at various locations in
Nigeria. In addition to that, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company (IVM),
Nigeria’s flagship indigenous automaker, has begun the sale of their first
made-in-Nigeria cars and SUVs in August 2014.
11. Under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Nigeria became the
first
country in West Africa to host the World Economic Forum (WEF) in
2014. It was also the most successful World Economic Forum for Africa
(WEFA) in history, boasting of a global reach of 2.1 billion people according
to estimates.
12. Africa’s richest man
Aliko Dangote’s net worth increased
from US$2.1 billion at the start of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s administration to
US$23 billion in 2014, making him Forbes’ richest black person in the world and
the overall 26th richest in the world. He attributed this mammoth increase
in his monetary worth to Goodluck Jonathan administration favourable
economic policies.
13. Construction and beautification of many
federal roads
in the country, including the Lagos-Benin expressway, Abuja-Lokoja expressway,
Enugu-Abakiliki expressway, Onitsha-Owerri highway and most parts of the
Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway. Also, construction of the
second Niger
Bridge between Onitsha and Asaba to relieve the pressure on the
old Niger Bridge which was completed in December 1965.
14. Revival of the comatose
railway system of transportation
in the country is happening under the current Goodluck Jonathan administration.
15. Remodelling, beautification and standardization of
airports
across the country. In addition to that, aircraft from Nigeria
are now allowed to fly directly to the United States of America instead of
going through many stopovers in Amsterdam and some other European cities
along/in the route. The Akanu Ibiam Airport in Enugu was upgradede into an
international
airport, directly connecting the South-East region of the country
to the outside world for the first time since independence.
16. Establishment of
nine federal universities across the
country in states which previously had no federal degree awarding
institution.
17.
Computerizing education in the country with the introduction
of the computer-based test (CBT) which will be mandatory for all UTME
candidates from 2015.
18. Introduction of the
Almajiri system of education in the
academically disadvantaged Northern parts of the country.
19.
Arresting the outbreak of the deadly and highly
contagious
Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in record time, though it
unfortunately claimed some lives at the onset.
20.
Transformation of the agricultural sector, so that, in
the words of Agriculture minister Akinwumi Adesina,
“Nigerians will stop
thinking of agriculture just as a means of livelihood, but more as a business.”
21. Nigeria has
reduced its food imports by over 40% as of
2013, moving the country closer to self sufficiency in agriculture.
22. Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of
cassava with
an output of over 45 million metric tonnes in 2014 according to the Food and
Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
23. Due to favourable economic policies,
Internet penetration
in Nigeria has now increased from about 45 million in 2011 to 63 million in
2014, overtaking countries such as the United Kingdom and France in the
process. What this means is that more people now use the internet in Nigeria
than in the UK and France.
24. As of the second quarter of 2014, the number of registered
active
telephone lines in Nigeria stood at 130 million out of a total of
over 170 million telephone lines.
25. Introduction of the
Nigerian electronic identity card
(e-ID card), one of the most secure in the world d the largest in Africa. The
e-ID card serves as both an international identification module and an
electronic payment solution.
26. Introduction of the
cashless system which aims to
encourage the use of e-payment systems in the country and reduce the volume of
physical cash in circulation.
27.
Unbundling of the dysfunctional Power Holding Company
of Nigeria (PHCN) into about 18 profit-driven successor companies.
28. Under the watch of President Goodluck Jonathan administration, Nigeria
won
the African Cup of Nations for the first time in 19 years in South
Africa in February, 2013.
29. Nigeria ended up with 11 gold , 11 silver and 14 bronze medals at the
recently concluded 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow,
finishing 8th
in the overall ranking.
30.
Women in politics have been given
more
prominent roles in the current President Goodluck Jonathan
administration. A large number of the federal appointees of the Goodluck
Jonathan administration are women. They include, but are not limited to, Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala; Miriam Aloma Mukhtar, Nigeria’s first female Chief Justice;
Diezani Alison-Madueke; ex-aviation minister Stella Oduah, Joy Ogwu,
Nigeria’s representatives at the United Nations; Sarah Jibril; and Viola
Onwuliri.
