What Goodluck Jonathan Told Me At Our Interactive Session (CKN's Close Encounter With GEJ)

Chris Kehinde Nwandu with ADC to President Jonathan at the occasion

My visit on Sunday was the second in about 6 months to President Goodluck Jonathan. While the first was a courtesy call that of yesterday was interactive.
The President was flanked by Former Governors Peter Obi,Gbenga Daniel, former Minister for Niger Delta Orubebe and his former Special Political Adviser Gulak (who were taking minutes of the proceedings) which took place at State House Marina, Lagos.
The interactive session lasted for about one and half hour.
After the initial introduction, we went into the business of the day.
The President requested we ask questions of our choice. The meeting and questions were not censored.
About six of us out of the 35 participants including myself were mandated to ask questions.
The questions ranged from Employment, Security, Power, Transportation, Tourism, Youth Empowerment, Information Technology, Aviation , Education, Agriculture,Oil and Gas Industry (PIB bill) and Image (PR management of his Administration).

UNEMPLOYMENT
The President said his administration has done a lot in the area of employment..According to him, the high rate in the turnout of unemployed graduates in the country is a big challenge to his administration. He went on to speak about the YOUWIN initiative and other relevant initiative of his administration towards combating unemployment. In his words,the number of people that join the unemployment market in Nigeria averages 1.8m yearly ..To this end his administration is working to seeing that atleast an average of 2,000,000 jobs are created yearly to absorb this influx through the formal and informal sector.

SECURITY:
The President said the initial challenges faced in combating the menace of Boko Haram was due to insufficient and adequate equipment but that the government is overcoming such challenges now with the renewed success being achieved by the military. He gave an assurance that in no distance period (he begged us not to disclose the exact time he gave us) so as not to be misquoted (we assured him that we will keep the information to ourselves).

POWER:
Asked what he is doing about the deplorable state of power supply in the country. The President said more than any other government before him, the government under his watch has pursued the power sector with so much vigour. He told us that the rationale behind the privatization and unbundling of the power is for efficiency and increase capacity. He enumerated the challenges being faced so far which includes the gas pipe vandalization etc. According to him,the issue of power is a long term project but that in few months time,Nigerians will start reaping the full benefits in this sector.He asked for the understanding of Nigerians in this key sector which by his words is the engine room of the economy..He also pointed out the recent commissioning of power plants across the nation by his administration which if fully in operation will bring smiles to all Nigerians.

ROADS

President Goodluck Jonathan said when he came into office ,only about 4,000 kilometers out of 35,000 kilometres of Federal roads were motorable in the country.He gave the instances of Lagos Ore,Benin expressway that was a nightmare to several people. But within four years, his government has been able to rehabilitate or reconstruct a total of over 20,000 kilometers of roads across the country.
The remaining portions will be completed in his second term while emphasis will now shift into maintaining of feeder roads at the States and Local Government levels.

AGRICULTURE

The President was the opinion has done so well in agriculture sector. Nigeria has now become food sufficient..Importation of food items have been reduced to the barest minimum because of the robust agriculture policy of his government. He gave a good example of what happened in 2012 during the massive flood across the country. He was of the opinion that notwithstanding the devastating effect of the flood, Nigeria was able to withstand the shock. According to him,Nigeria now produces most of its consumables and even export.The government have also saved billions of Naira is waivers to importers of food items.

TRANSPORTATION

The key area touched by the President was the railway which according to him has been in comatose for decades. Efforts were made by his government to revitalize the railway system in order to ease the pressure on roads .Severally coaches have been refurbished and new ones purchased. Most of the railway tracks have been reconstructed while other ones are being constructed to link all parts of the country.

EDUCATION:

President Jonathan in answering the question on what he has done and doing in the education sector,said the imbalance in the standard of education between the North and South was of much worry to him.
To try to balance the equation and improve the lots of Northerns,9 of the newly established Federal Universities were cited in the Northern part of the country.The government have also upgraded facilities at the tertiary level while encouraging the states to do same in the primary and secondary level. Teachers’ welfare was taken into consideration while Almajiri schools were established to cater for the most vulnerable youths in the Northern part of the country.

OIL AND GAS SECTOR

When asked why the PIB bill is not yet ready which would have led to the unbundling of NNPC and increase key capacity in the oil and gas sector.
The President said,the PIB has been a headache to me because a lot of politics were being played out by certain individuals who have vested interest in the sector.He pointed accusing finger at the National Assembly which is foot dragging on the issue .According to him,recently he had to personally take on the President of the Senate ,David Mark on the need for an accelerated passage of the bill so that Nigerians could enjoy the benefits of that key sector.

The president also spoke about tourism with the promise that the government in its second term will take appropriate action in raising the standard of facilities at Obudu Cattle ranch to bring it to international standard. He also promised that a rail track will be laid to take people to the base of the hills for easy accessibility. He went on to say that by the time the Centurion village is finished in Abuja it will be one of the most attractive destination point for tourists across the globe,it will be in the same state with Dubai.

PROJECTING GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES IN THE MEDIA

The President agreed with the observation that adequate coverage have not been given most of the activities of his government. He also agreed that there is the need to project for Nigerians to see most of what his administration have done. To this end he promised that his administration will work more with the media across board so that activities of his government could be given more projection.

OTHERS

Due to the tight schedule of the President, we could not talk about the issues of corruption, political bickering, forthcoming election, the rumours on the sack of Attahiru Jega and other issues.

He gave an assurance that the interactive session with us will be regular henceforth.

 

Chris Kehinde Nwandu Is The Publisher/Editor In Chief Of CKN nigeria