Goodluck Jonathan: Hero or not? by Yemi Olakitan

Goodluck Jonathan: Hero or not?

While President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s meteoric rise to power still confounds many, his failure to get re-elected in the March 28 poll was not that surprising. Widely criticised for corruption, weak governance, failure to end epileptic power supply, dwindling currency, insecurity among others, Jonathan crumbled in the face of a strong opposition led by Gen Muhammadu Buhari. However, since he conceded defeat to the President-elect, accolades have poured in from different quarters both local and international including members of the opposition party who joined the bandwagon of praise singers. YEMI OLAKITAN takes a look at Jonathan’s administration from both sides of the divide.

Until November 2009, Goodluck Jonathan was just vice president to the late former president, Umar Musa Yar’dua. He however overcame political wrangling and was accepted as Acting President in February 2010 when the ailing president was too ill to rule. When President Yar’Adua died in office, Mr. Jonathan was sworn in as the new president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

President Jonathan defied the governing People’s Democratic Party’s, PDP, tradition of alternating presidential power between North and South after two terms of office by winning the party’s primaries. In 2011, claiming he wore no shoes while growing up, he won his first election for the presidency while opposition claims fraud. His election to the seat of power was symbolic, representing a major shift from the norm as he was the first president from the Niger Delta or the south-south.

Many of the critics have said President Jonathan achieved little or nothing during his administration and cannot be described as a hero.

A classic example is Chief Kola Ogunmola, APC chieftain based in Lekki, Lagos, who spoke withSunday Mirror. “The president may have done some things but he did not do the ones that are most dear to Nigerians, chief of which is electricity. Despite the huge investments in the sector, Nigerians still rely on their generators for power supply. In the area of insecurity, the Chibok girls are still missing till today. This is one of the major reasons why President Jonathan lost the election. His failure to bring back our girls. Nigerian mothers cannot vote for such a president a second time. You can be sure of that, no matter who he is. Look at all the wailings and the international outcry and yet the girls were not found. No one who has children will want Jonathan as the next president. This is a major setback for the president even if he had achieved in other areas”, he said.

Similarly, Babatunde Adisa, CEO of Bamanja Entertainment, Lagos, believes the president failed in the area of employment generation. “There is high level unemployment in this country. He may have achieved in other areas but the level of unemployment in this country is alarming and he did not even scratch the surface with all the programmes established under his administration.”

He however said the president is hero and his name will shine in the history of Nigeria because of the fact he did what Ibrahim Babangida could not do for M.K.O. Abiola in June 12, (1993). “He prevented violence and bloodshed for that he may go down in history as hero but I don’t think that Nigerians are satisfied with his achievements”.

President Goodluck Jonathan’s achievements

According to reports, one of the president’s major achievements was in agriculture, with the intervention in rice production, which resulted in the creation of more than two million new jobs among rural dwellers.  Cocoa exports reached the highest level thereby creating a new set of millionaires during his administration. At least, $900m worth of cocoa was reportedly exported for the first time in decades. He put an end to the fertiliser and tractor scam used to be the order of the day. The president also undertook massive rehabilitation of roads throughout the country via Subsidy Reinvestment Programme SURE-P.  Roads such as the Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja road, Benin-Ore-Sagamu dual carriageway, Onitsha-Enugu-Port Harcourt dual carriageway, Kaduna-Maiduguri dual carriageway, East-West Road.  500 Primary Health Centers were reportedly built across the 36 states and FCT of the Federation, in the health sector.

Before the elections, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati had said, “One can never have an objective comment from the opposition parties because of their political interests. When President Jonathan took over, the electricity supply situation in the country was in a very bad shape. This government introduced the power sector roadmap, reactivated what it met on the ground and as at this moment and improved electricity generation and distribution in the country.

“Before the President took over, the rail sector was completely comatose. Under this President, the sector has been re-energised. Nigerians can now travel from Lagos to Kano, from one part of the country to the other. The few complaints we have heard is that people are saying that it can be further modernised. The truth is that the railway sector that used to be one of the poster agencies for the abandonment of government responsibilities has come back to life. There was a time when the aviation sector was a major centre of scams. The Jonathan administration has taken the bold step to revitalise that sector both in terms of infrastructure and the basic provision of facilities across the country. It is also this administration that allowed Nigerians to have the Freedom of Information. Nigerians have never been freer to express their views on any issues, without intimidation”, he said.

Defending Jonathan’s anti corruption record, Adekola Iyiola, a PDP chieftain in Etiosa Local government of Lagos, said, “Corruption in Nigeria is not new to President Jonathan. It is an inherited problem. It is a problem that has been with us since independence, so for people to be talking as if Jonathan imported Corruption to Nigeria is a partisan opinion. The problem is also not limited to Nigeria. The countries and individuals, who shout most about corruption, are also facing the challenge”.

Speaking in the same vein, veteran journalist, Tajudeen Olumo said, “The subsidy scam is the biggest scam in Nigeria and I praise President Jonathan for having the courage to face it.  People will collect allocation to bring in fuel, they will not own any vessel, they will not import any fuel and they will still collect government money. Over the years, previous governments have created system of legalised corruption through subsidy and Jonathan said this is economic sabotage and it must stop. The oil cabal set up propaganda machineries since they are the beneficiaries and insisted it must continue. If Nigeria is serious, we must remove subsidy for the economy to grow. True oil prices will increase but it will go reduce in the end”, he said.

Another supporter, Chief Bayode Ogunmupe said, “If I must talk about Jonathan’s achievements, I will say, free and fair elections.  The 2011 general elections were acclaimed to be free and fair. Every subsequent elections conducted under this President’s having been free and fair and so adjudged by both local and international observers. In Adamawa, Kogi, Sokoto, Edo and Ondo, there were no problems when elections were conducted in those states. Another major achievement is that he conceded defeat to the president elect. This is good because it shows that he is not desperate for power and he put the interests of this nation above personal and parochial selfish interests.”

An educator, Mrs. Gloria Ofunoye who spoke with Sunday Mirror on the achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan, said, “The 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 is one of his achievements. She noted that under the watch of the 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 under the administration of former president Olusegun Obasanjo. 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.  He also does not interfere 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.”

On whether, the president was corrupt, Ofunoye said, “the truth of the matter is that Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, made it clear that last year it secured over 200 convictions. Those who say Jonathan is not fighting corruption are not speaking on the basis of facts. The only point I want to make is that during Nuhu Ribadu, there used to be a lot of media publicity on EFCC activities even when they make ordinary arrests but under this administration much attention is not given to publicising these things because they used to be headlines in those days but under Jonathan, he did not push these activities on corruption”.

Some commentators also point out that President Jonathan has been credited with the liberalisation 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.

The President has also been credited with opening up Nigeria to the global business community and making the nation Africa’s number one destination of foreign investors. Statistics show that in the first six months of 2014, a total of $9.70bn or N1.51 trillion was reported to have flowed into the national economy as foreign direct investments, FDI.  Also last year, 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.

Proceeds from Nigeria’s non-oil exports rose to $2.97bn by the end of 2013, up from $2.3bn in 2010.

The Jonathan administration has also spearheaded 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, sports utility vehicles, trucks and buses at various locations in Nigeria.

Under President Jonathan, the Ebola outbreak was arrested. The outbreak of the deadly and highly contagious Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) was nabbed in the bud in record time, though it unfortunately claimed some lives at the onset,”

In the area of agriculture, Nigeria has reduced its food imports by over 40 per cent, moving the country closer to self sufficiency in agriculture. Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava with an output of over 45 million metric tones in 2014 according to the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

Under the outgoing government, Internet penetration in Nigeria increased from about 45 million in 2011 to 63 million in 2014, overtaking countries such as the United Kingdom and France in the process. 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.

The president also introduced the Nigerian electronic identity card (e-ID card), one of the most secure in the world and the largest in Africa. The e-ID card serves as both an international identification module and an electronic payment solution.  In the banking sector, there is the 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.

In the power sector, the president unbundled the dysfunctional Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) into about 18 profit-driven successor companies.

In the area of sports, Nigeria won the African Cup of Nations for the first time in 19 years in South Africa in February, 2013.  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. Abuja Stadium Rehabilitated, Kano International Airport Remodeled. One of 9 airports remodeled across the nation.

Women were given more prominent roles in his administration. A large number of the federal appointees of the Goodluck Jonathan administration are women. They include, , 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.

The president also launched the NigComSat-1Rsatellite, which will help expand Internet Bandwidth, monitor the weather and provide early warning to prevent natural disasters like floods, crop monitoring and urban planning. It has the attendant benefit of reducing the over $1 billion spent in purchasing Internet Bandwidth from abroad.

Nigeria’s banking industry was rescued and stabilised by the establishment of the Asset Management Company of Nigeria. (AMCON)

What the critics say said about President Jonathan

For many critics, Jonathan’s government was nothing short of a disaster.

One of the most strident,  the All Progressives Congress, APC, described President Goodluck Jonathan’s admdidntration as having recorded as a “scorecard of failure”. The APC National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, in the run up to the elections had said the president failed to get the usual bounce from his recent declaration for a second term because Nigerians were not the least impressed by his achievements, which have not positively impacted on the lives of the citizens.

“Mr. President, Nigerians have asked themselves a simple question: Are we better off today than we were before President Jonathan assumed office, and they have unanimously answered in the negative. This is why your declaration failed to resonate, despite the hired crowds you ferried to Abuja,” he said.

The party said the areas of insecurity and job creation, which are intertwined, represent the biggest failure of the Jonathan Administration, irrespective of its claims to the contrary.

“Today, after the Jonathan Administration has spent $32bn (N6.4trn) on security and defense, Nigeria is not any safer, with thousands of deaths,”

APC said while the government claimed to have created 1.9 million jobs in all of five years, the truth is that this is a mere tokenism.

”Even if the jobs they said they have created are not phantom, which we know they are, the situation on the ground is grim: 1.8 million Nigerians enter the job market every year, 5.3 million youth are unemployed and overall 20 million Nigerians are in the job market, and these are very conservative figures. Therefore, creating 1.9 million jobs over several years cannot amount to any achievement,” the party said.

”Mr. President, under your watch, Nigeria’s rating by the global anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International has fallen. In 2009, Nigeria was rated 133 out of 180 countries, while in 2013, the country was rated 144 out of 177 countries.  On electricity, the party said the statement by President Jonathan that his administration’s “bold move” in the sector has put the country “on the road to guaranteed regular power supply in the months ahead” is nothing but sheer deceit.

“Under the Jonathan Administration, Nigerians should not be in a hurry to throw away their generators. The facts on the ground show this to be true: While the FG has spent N533bn on power, at best Nigerians enjoy less than six hours of electricity per day, where they enjoy it at all, while spending over N800bn annually to fuel their generators.  Also, the 4,000MW of electricity being generated by Nigeria cannot guarantee stable power for 170 million people or propel the country towards industrialisation. By comparison, South Africa, with less than a third of Nigeria’s population, generates over 44,000MW of electricity. There is therefore no way that Nigeria can enjoy a stable power supply with a meagre 4,000MW in power generation,” it said.

The party said, with 51 per cent of Nigerians, representing 90 million people, being illiterates, the establishment of 150 Almajiri schools has not even scratched the surface of the problem.

A member of APC, Abiodun Amisu, who spoke on the president’s achievements however said, ‘‘it is laughable and a misplaced achievement to say building Almajiri schools is an achievement. The president merely built additional public schools. Almajirin are human beings, with right to education, to mix with other children in public schools. There is no need to build different schools for them and give it a new name.  Right education policy is the answer. Look at the electricity under President Goodluck Jonathan; everybody knows that it is a failure. Nigerians still groan under the weight of epileptic power supply. On the supremacy of the rule of law and respect for the constitution, Mr. President is still lacking. The Rivers State Government crisis is notable. It’s not acceptable for a commissioner of police to impede, obstruct the way and passage of a sitting sovernor. His duty is to advice and protects the governor and if necessary escort him to wherever the governor may want to go within Rivers State.”

However, after the presidential elections which saw the APC presidential candidate General Buhari wining the elections, APC sang a different tune with President Jonathan conceding victory. Lai Mohamed described him Jonathan as a hero and a statesman.