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Tag: Jonathan

  • Jonathan hailed on condolence visit

    Former Akwa Ibom State Deputy Governor Dr. Chris Ekpenyong has hailed President Goodluck Jonathan for visiting Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola to condole with him on the death of his father, Pa Ademola Fashola.

    Ekpenyong said in a country such as Nigeria where everybody is getting too partisan along religious and political lines, it is heartwarming to see the “father of the nation” toe a line that promotes the essence of humanity, unity, love and peace.

    Speaking in Uyo, the state capital, Ekpenyong said the President’s visit showed that he is the President of all Nigerians, not just of one party or one section of the country.

    He said: “I have been calling on people around the President to be courteous in their dealings with Nigerians, in order not to cordon off the President and making him a President of a political party or a section of the country.

    “Nigeria is too complex and in this season of politicking, the President needs to be seen as the father of the nation. I am glad he showed this by that visit.

    “I urge Nigerians to support him, so that he can fulfill his remaining campaign promises.”

    Ekpenyong, who condoled with Fashola on his father’s death, said the deceased’s life was exemplary.

    He also condoled with the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, on the death of her mother, who he described as a devout, compassionate and hardworking woman.

     

  • Jonathan inspects skill acquisition centre

    Ahead of the inauguration of a skill acquisition centre in his Otuoke home town in Bayelsa State, President Goodluck Jonathan, at the weekend, inspected the centre.

    The Otuoke centre is among the nine skills centres being built in the nine states of the Niger Delta by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.

    Its mandate is to train youths in specialised trades, such as oil and gas, maritime and entertainment industries.

    The President, according to a statement by Mrs. Boloko Mohammed, the Director (Press) in the ministry, expressed satisfaction with the level of work the ministry has done at the centre.

    He restated his administration’s commitment to transforming every nook and cranny of the country through infrastructural and institutional development.

    The statement quoted Jonatha as saying: “I am particularly happy with what I have seen today. In fact, I commend the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs for a job well done.”

     

     

  • Jonathan meets security chiefs

    Jonathan meets security chiefs

    President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday met with security chiefs at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, for about two hours behind closed-door.

    But issues discussed were not known at the end of the meeting as the security chiefs kept sealed lips.

    There was also no official statement by the Presidency.

    It was however gathered that the meeting is not unconnected with the security situation in the country.

    Among those that attended the meeting are the National Security Adviser (NSA), Dasuki Sambo, Chief of Army Staff Lt-General Azubike Ihejirika, Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba, Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar and the Director-General of State Security Service (SSS) Ita Ekpeyong,

    Others are the – Minister of State for Defence, Erelu Obada, Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim.

     

  • El-Rufai accuses Jonathan of playing ethnic, religious politics

    El-Rufai accuses Jonathan of playing ethnic, religious politics

    A former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, yesterday accused President Goodluck Jonathan of playing ethnic and religious politics as a way of diverting Nigerians’ attention from alleged bad governance going on in the country.

    El-Rufai, who is now Deputy National Secretary of the All Progressive Congress (APC), also accused the President of lacking the capacity to call to order all those beating the war drum across the country.

    He spoke on the Kaduna-based Liberty Radio. The former minister warned that the country having fought a civil war would find it difficult surviving another war.

    He said that the ruling PDP is afraid of former military ruler, General Mohammadu Buhari and therefore will do everything possible to destroy him and brand him an ethnic and religious bigot.

    He said: “There are many agents confronting the Nigerian nation. What is very worrying is the kind of rhetoric going on in this country, a lot of which are being sanctioned by the government. For example, whenever Asari Dokubo speaks, just know that a week earlier, he had been called to the Villa and whenever E.K Clark speaks, you know it is arranged.

    “How can one ethnic group, the Ijaw, threaten the rest of us? We have 170 million people, I don’t know how many of that population make up the Ijaw nation, but I don’t think they are more than five million.

    “How can five million people threaten us saying unless their son becomes President, there will be no Nigeria? Who are they to do that? The government keeps quiet when somebody says that. Of course, the expected reaction is that you have people from the North also threatening similar thing.

    “What type of country do we have where there is no one to call people to order? It is sad. Again, it is this political strategy of Jonathan to always use ethnicity and religion whenever there is a problem.

    “Whenever there is a big issue about Excess Crude account or subsidy issue, they bring this issue of ethnicity and religion. But I have not lost hope because I know that Nigerians can see through their pranks and their game and will vote them out in the next election. The challenge for the next President is to build trust among the various ethnic groups so that Nigeria can walk towards one direction.

    “This country has gone through one civil war. I don’t know of any country that can survive two civil wars and those that are stealing crude oil; buying and stockpiling arms should know it is not the amount of arms you have that decides who wins a war. Otherwise, the USA would have won in Iraq, but they couldn’t and at the end they had to leave the Iraqi to solve their problems.

    “So, they should think very deeply about what they are doing and learn from history. I know that Nigeria will survive these bad and incompetent leaders who steal during the day and drink and womanise at night instead of working for the Nigerian people”.

    The former Minister described the PDP as a toxic party which must be destroyed. His words: “a party that has earned the highest oil revenue in Nigeria`s history, but has converted this oil revenue to personal wealth when our schools have remained closed and our educational system collapsing, our hospitals not functioning and fly abroad for medical treatment and send their children to school abroad, is a danger to the Nigerian nation.

    “PDP has become a virus that is infesting and destroying the country and because they are not doing anything productive, they have changed our politics to that of ethnicity and religion to divert attention from their incompetence, lack of capacity and their looting of the treasury. So, PDP has become a clear and perfect danger to the existence of Nigeria as a nation and the prosperity of its people. So, it is toxic party and should be destroyed.

    “The PDP has evolved from a party that was trying to be democratic in its practices and to have decency in its governance to one that has become a danger to the people of Nigeria and the only person they are afraid of, who is their nightmare, is Gen. Buhari.

    “So, anytime Buhari makes a statement or does anything, the PDP machine will be at work to twist whatever he says in order to destroy his character and give the impression that he is a religious and ethnic zealot.

    “There is nothing by way of fact that shows that Gen. Buhari is that kind of person. Buhari has been in public life for so long that if he was a religious bigot, or ethnic surrogate, it would have been clear. There is no way a man will rise to the position of a Major General in the Army and people will not know that he is preference for his ethnicity or religion or attained the position he has attained in life without people knowing he has all these qualities.”

    He accused the PDP of trying to paint Buhari in bad light, adding, “They have tried everything possible to paint the man black and they are not even afraid that one day, they will stand before God and defend their action. That is why I say they are afraid of him more than God…”

    He expressed concern about the future of the country, saying, “Nigeria has a population of about 170 million and every year, about six million babies are born. What this means as far as policy making is concerned is that within the next 20 years, those babies will need at least three million jobs because from the six million, one million will die from avoidable illnesses.

    “Any responsible government should be thinking of these challenges. My concern is that not much is being done and the environment is not conducive at all. Electricity supply is going down and industries are dying while competition from China is killing the little industrial base that we have and our leaders are not making the environment attractive for investors.”

  • Jonathan’s many controversies

    Jonathan’s many controversies

    President Barack Obama gave some useful insights into Africa’s problems during his three-nation visit to Africa recently. At his town hall meeting in South Africa which was beamed live on satellite TV to a global audience, the American President blamed poor leadership and corruption for the collapse of infrastructure and the consequent youth restiveness in Africa. This was a response to a question from a lady from Nigeria, who sought Obama’s intervention to the problems of education in our country.

    This was the same position Rev. Chris Okotie maintained when he reviewed Nigeria’ s 14 years of democracy recently: “Although President Goodluck Jonathan has been fighting a tough battle in the area of insecurity in which he deserves full support of all Nigerians, it is very disappointing that he failed to fight corruption with as much vigour and determination. Corruption has soared to new, unprecedented levels under his watch.

    “Contrary to his campaign promise, he has not been able to fight this monster which is now a great impediment to our development efforts. In the next two years, President Jonathan must address the infrastructural deficit with emphasis on our collapsed educational system and the power project, if he truly hopes to transform Nigeria in the remaining 24 months of his presidency.”

    The confluence of ideas between Mr. Obama and Rev. Okotie on the way forward for Nigeria reflects a broad recognition of our nation’s predicament, when viewed from the prisms of a local and global perspective. It is a wake-up call for Mr. Jonathan to inject active purpose into his administration which has grown lethargic due to his own lack of political savvy to rein in the various contending forces on the Aso Rock corridor.

    Truly, the Jonathan presidency is embattled on all fronts; from the northern elites who are working to frustrate his 2015 ambitions and disparate armed groups led by Boko Haram who have created the biggest security challenges ever faced by any sitting president to the weak leadership of his party, the PDP, which is unable to unite the various power blocks within its ranks. Anyone in the Presidential Villa at this time will face an uphill task running the affairs of state.

    Nonetheless, Mr. Jonathan ought to show himself as a President who can rise above these challenges and govern effectively. This requires an imaginative leadership manoeuvre that will make his Transformation Agenda work at the national level inspite of the disquiet in the polity. That’s the stuff great leaders are made of. Nobody says turning this country around is ever going to be a tea party.

    Mr. President may do well to reflect on the views canvassed by Rev. Okotie who argued that Aso Rock could use a special juicy package of agricultural and educational reforms to develop the north where Islamic fundamentalism is rife as a counter-force against the hypocritical Ulamas who are quietly championing a theological commitment to the promotion of political sharia.

    As some have said, we can look back to look forward. The pastor-politician recalled how early in his presidency, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo barely settled in office when the northern Muslim clergy instigated some governors in the core north to introduce the Islamic penal code, sharia, despite the secular character of the Nigerian constitution. But the wily OBJ was able to stare down the sharia governors and went on to govern effectively, drawing a red line the governors dare not cross.

    Consequently, the sharia scare died a natural death. It was only when President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua came on board that Boko Haram reared its ugly head. It is on record that Yar’Adua, on settling down in office, promptly summoned the Niger Delta militants to the negotiation table. That was how the amnesty programme was born. Needless to say that it brought peace to the troubled south- south region.

    Many have said that the peculiarity of our problems which are aggravated by a defective federal structure would require a mercurial type of leader in the mould of OBJ or ex-military President Ibrahim Babaginda for the nation to run smoothly. While that may be true, the laid-back President Jonathan may use his task force style of governance to drive his political outreach to all the six geo-political zones, by addressing their peculiar problems. An example of this is his prompt intervention in the 27-year old Lagos-Ibadan Expressway which is finally being rebuilt after dilly-dallying by three previous administrations.

    This has gladdened the hearts of the south-westerners and the Igbos who use the strategic vital link road between the North and the South. Jonathan could do same for the East-West road, a second Niger bridge at Onitsha and the lingering security challenges in the north. He was elected to solve problems. He can not run away from this task despite his many controversies that continue to hurt his two-year presidency which again Rev. Okotie highlighted in his article titled: Jonathan’s Many Controversies.

    President Jonathan must also find the courage to engage the corrupt elements in his government in a direct head-to-head combat to restore his appeal as a leader with zero tolerance for corruption. All the encumbrances hampering the functions of the anti-graft agencies must be removed and the so-called untouchable cabal be put under the transparent trail they have always evaded because of their connection to the Presidential Villa.

    •Ayodeji wrote from Lagos.

  • Jonathan must stop his Makossa dance, says Obahiagbon

    Jonathan must stop his Makossa dance, says Obahiagbon

    Patrick Obahiagbon, a former member representing Oredo Federal Constituency of Edo State in the National Assembly in 2007, is Chief of Staff to Governor Adams Oshiomhole. He speaks with OSEMWENGIE BEN OGBEMUDIA on Rivers State crisis and others.

    The feud between Governor Amaechi of Rivers and Jonathan

    What are Amaechi’s political transgressions? That he regularly gives vent to the collective decisions of his brother governors? That he nurses vice presidential ambition which he has even denied? That he habilimented himself with a perfume of recusancy and not decumbency when he suspected a foul play on the oil wells that he insists belong to Rivers State? That he hobnobs with progressive governors? That he insists on the deepening of the practice of our unitary federalism? That he insists on the exercise of his inalienable right to re-contest as Chairman of the Governors Forum? Is this why the apparatchik and coercive apparatus of state, sustained by tax payers money has been arrayed against him? I see in this malodorous script the hands of Esau though the voice of Jacob and this is certainly an eschewable socio-political asphyxia cascading into a Frankenstein monster that does not dignify the Presidency and this Makossa dance must stop forthwith.

    As a lawyer, the NBA general election is just around the corner, will you advocate for Mid-West Bar to lead the NBA this time as president?

    What is the big deal about the genealogical fons et origo of where the President of the Nigerian Bar Association comes from? What to me is more of the moment is an NBA President that can dialectically interrogate the political class by providing a bulwark of virile and utilitarian leadership. The Nigerian Bar Association should and must be a strategic social force for revolutionary change and that is the more reason the process of the emergence of its leadership must not be subordinated to parochial, atavistic, astigmatic and putrescently parapoistic sentiments. We all saw the difference it made when Chief Bola Ajibola and Alao Aka Bashorun led the Nigerian Bar. As a matter of fact, the next NBA general election should be a clarion call for the Nigerian Bar to extricate itself from the gangrenous clutches of Presidential trappings. These, for me, are the real issues.

    The CJN is also taking steps to clean up the judiciary. What is your take on it?

    No doubt at all that the Chief Justice of Nigeria has begun to intrepidly walk the talk by demonstrably showcasing her salubrious fingers in cleansing the judiciary of its odoriferous Augean stables. Recall that when she took her oath of office inside the hallowed chamber of Aso Rock on July 16, last year, she said inter alia: “I will do my best to tackle corruption in the judiciary by leading by example and hope that others will follow” and since her assumption of office, some judges who have been adjudged guilty of malversation have been committed to judicial sepulcher. She still has a long walk and she should be under no illusion that her audacious efforts would be resisted by retrograde forces of primitive accumulation as we have lugubriously witnessed in the case of the suspended Justice Talba. If she remains well focused and consistent in her logic, she can be rest assured of the strategic support of the progressive community.

    The military action in the three states where emergency rule was declared, do you think the action will solve the insurgent?

    Mark my words and you can quote me on this. The state of emergency that carries along with it increased military presence in three northern states of Nigeria would be in the long run a deprecable sciamachy. Students of history and historiography would not find it difficult to predict a recrudescence after a lull of the extant military kamikaze. It’s like an apple of Hesperides which is attractive on its face value but would amount to quixotically tilting at the security windmills at the end of the day.

    The phenomenon of Boko Haramism preceded the assumption of office of President Jonathan but it did not take on a sanguinary toga, until what was perceived rightly or wrongly as a megalomaniacal usurpation of the presidential mandate of our northern brothers. That is why for me a political solution is the ultimate Aladin lamp out of the phantasmagorical gridlock. I must urge that whilst the military blitzkriegism lasts, our military must respect the rules of engagement and ensure that the lives of innocent Nigerians in that part of the country are not wasted.

    Edo State PDP has raised a lot of issues against the government of Oshiomhole in the area of his age, Airport road, SUBEB and that contractors had abandoned site for lack of government’s inability to pay.

    Let me say that there are no issues here to respond to. Casual visitors to Edo State would bear eloquent testimony to the fact that Edo State still remains a huge working construction site daily in progress. As for SUBEB, I do think that Mr Governor should be eulogised for his sense of commitment to Edo state when his eagle eyes discovered some irregularities and refused to paper over it as a family affair. I can also say authoritatively that the Airport road remains one of his testimonials as a political miracle worker and man of redoubtable vision.

    The matter of his age is over flogged but it behoves of me to remind the world again that it was Mr Governor himself who decided to set the records straight without promptings from anybody. Let me use this opportunity to call on all Edo sons and daughters wherever they are domicile(and this include members of the opposition political parties to continuously pray to the Great Grand Architect of the Universe for the good health and long life of the governor for his selfless duties to our state. Edo State is truly work in progress and it’s my pleasure to be part of this irreversible history occasioned by Comrade Adams Oshiomole and I say cheers to him as he continuously basks in the euphoria of his 61st birthday.

     

  • Jonathan: Nigeria without Muslims, Christians is unthinkable

    Jonathan: Nigeria without Muslims, Christians is unthinkable

    President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday congratulated Muslims on the successful completion of the Ramadan fast.

    The President said the nation would have no meaning without Muslims and Christians co-existing.

    Jonathan spoke at the Presidential Villa in Abuja when he hosted a delegation, led by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed.

    Jonathan restated his determination to reposition the country.

    According to a statement in Abuja by the Office of the Minister, the President said: “It is not an easy thing to forgo food for 24 hours. I congratulate you. A Nigeria without Christians and Muslims would not be called Nigeria but another name. Let me assure you that our team will do its best to reposition this country.”

    He noted that the nation’s diversity enhances growth, adding: “We are not even exploring it. Christians and Muslims are brothers; so, we must live together. Let’s continue to pray for peace, not just in Nigeria but also all over the world. For Nigeria to move forward, there must be peace.”

    Jonathan assured of his administration’s readiness to reposition the country, despite sundry challenges.

    “By Allah’s grace, we will overcome,” he said.

    Bala hailed FCT residents for their confidence in his administration.

    “Our message is that of gratitude and appreciation to the people. They have been very wonderful. They have shown that they have confidence in us and we are committed to making things work. We will make sure that we will not let them down,” the minister said.

  • Nigeria won’t break up – Jonathan

    Nigeria won’t break up – Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday assured that Nigeria will not break up pointing out that the country’s diversity is a great strength yet to be tapped.

    Speaking while receiving the Vice President, Namadi Sambo, who led the Muslim community on the annual Sallah homage, faulted the United States report that predicted that Nigeria will break up on or before 2015.

    Congratulating the Muslim brothers and sisters for successfully observing the Ramadan, he urged them to continue to pray for peace in Nigeria and all over the world.

    He noted that fasting wasn’t an easy task, saying he participated in the 30 days fasting every year in solidarity with Muslims in the country.

    He said: “For us, we cannot imagine a Nigeria without Muslims and Christians; you can call it another name, but not Nigeria. So it is a blessing that this is one country that you have significant population of Muslims and Christians and this religious diversity will enhance our development because we can get across the whole world, wherever we go we are accepted. That helps us in so many ways.

    “We are not even exploiting our diversity because of the myopic views about situations. Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters and we must live together, those who are predicting that this country will separate based on our frontlines as at the time of amalgamation, by 2015 they will know that these predictions will not be true.

    “Today is a unique day, and I urge our Moslem brothers and sisters that they should continue to pray for peace not just in Nigeria but all over the world. If you watch television these days, more than 60 percent of the time is spent on showing crises all over the world and for the world to move ahead and for Nigeria to move ahead. For us to develop first and foremost, there must be peace and security. Nobody will come and invest in an environment where you are not sure of the safety of your workers and investment.”

     

     

  • President Jonathan Sagamu road-show

    President Jonathan Sagamu road-show

    The image of President Jonathan behind the wheel of land-mover to mark the kick off of work on the long abandoned Lagos-Ibadan expressway was not only insensitive but equally an assault on the sensibilities of Nigerians who had been at one time or the other marooned on that road for hours, sometimes days or have lost loved ones in the harvest of deaths occasioned by PDP 14 years of misrule, of corruption and of abandoned projects spread across the nation. That the collapsed Lagos-Ibadan expressway has been the most visible is because of its impact on our overall socio-economic development. It is only in this part of the world that politicians behave as if they are doing those who elected them a favour.

    Tragically, PDP that should be apologizing to Nigerians, victims of the party’s inept leadership, has been celebrating what was nothing but a ‘Sagamu charade’, as another manifestation of President Jonathan transformation agenda. The party has now said, through Caesar Okeke, its acting secretary, that the flag-off was a demonstration of President Jonathan’s love for the people of South-west as the exercise has ‘‘put the lie’ to the insinuation of marginalization against South-west by the Jonathan administration’. But PDP forgets that the people of South-west, like their true representatives, the ACN governors that snubbed the Sagamu charade, have the capacity to interpret even the motive behind greetings. These are highly principled and proud people who at the height of intimidation and oppression by federal government backed Akintola NNDP’s ‘Ijoba Tulasi’ (government by force) loudly proclaimed ‘if you see my hand, you cannot see my heart’. They can differentiate between those who treat them with contempt and those who treat them with respect.

    Not even the Works Minister, Mike Onolememen’s statement that federal government renewed interest on the road was informed by the fact that “It is a major artery that connects Lagos, major Nigerian seaports, to other states of the federation and forms not only a part of the Trans-Saharan Highway that links Lagos on the Atlantic Ocean to Algiers on the Mediterranean Sea but also part of the Trans-African Highway”, has stopped the celebration of the absurd by PDP buccaneers who assumed the abandonment of this all important road for 14 years hurt the South-west more. But the truth of the matter is that the South-west that has many alternative inter-state roads through Agege, Ota, Ikorodu, Epe, Sagamu, Ijebu-Ode to Ibadan, Abeokuta and Ilaro; is not the greatest victim of federal government 14 years of insensitivity. Those hit most are other Nigerians from South-south, South-east, North-central and North-west that have no alternative to traversing through the road to ferry their goods from the country’s major port and the nation’s economic nerve centre.

    Governor Fashola of Lagos recently observed that ‘all manner of things happen in an election season’. But let us pretend we don’t know the president is a veteran of politics of subterfuge, politics of trade-off, that the flag off of work was motivated by politics of 2015, and that the acting PDP scribe was right about the president’s new found love for South-west. The problem however is that judging from PDP antecedents and the numerous abandoned projects all over the country; successful completion of the road in spite of the flag-off with fanfare is not assured. Indeed the only thing that appears certain in spite of PDP fraudulent celebration of yet to be implemented transformation agenda is that relief for motorists that ply Lagos-Ibadan expressway is a forlorn hope. The reasons are apparent.

    First, we have passed through this same road before. Obasanjo, Jonathan’s godfather once embarked on similar road show when he flagged off with fanfare, the Ibadan-Ilorin expressway in 2001. Last week, after 13 years of politics of ‘motion without movement’, the current PDP minister of works assured Nigerians that efforts ‘are being made to complete the Oyo-Ogbomosho portion of the road.’

    There were other road shows by successive PDP work ministers. Adeseye Ogunlewe flagged off the rehabilitation and reconstruction of this same Lagos-Ibadan expressway shortly before the 2003 election. Under Tony Anenih currently the chairman of Nigeria Ports Authority and chairman of PDP (BOT) as Minister of Works, over N300b budgetary allocation for roads construction, brought little relief to road users. There was also the road show by the current minster of petroleum that had, as minister of works, wept and sobbed like a baby while supervising the suffering of motorists on the collapsed Sagamu-Ore Benin expressway. The revered Oba of Benin who did not want his palace desecrated was said to have barred one PDP minister of works from entering his palace.

    One other reason to assume the whole flag off was a political gimmick or a publicity stunt that is not likely to end the nightmares of motorists plying the Lagos-Ibadan expressway anytime soon can be deduced from the candor of the president who has already indirectly hinted that the funds to construct the road are not readily available. The president is more cautious than his PDP riotous merchants and celebrants.

    This is understandable. He already has his cup full. The Presidential Projects Assessment Committee (PPAC) he set up in March 2011, to look into cases of abandoned federal government projects claimed that there were 11,886 abandoned projects that will cost an estimated N7.78 trillion to complete. The Institute of Project Management of Nigeria (IPMN) and the president’s Special Assistant on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Professor Sylvester Monye have given the breakdown and the spread of some of the projects to the public. They include the 400 metre long Utor bridge along Asaba-Ebu-Uromi road awarded in 2006 but abandoned in 2009, Ikorodu-Sagamu road and Lagos-Otta road project awarded in 2001 but abandoned by both Impresit Bakolori PLC and Julius Berger because of ‘inadequate funding,’; the 36 kilometres Bodo-Bonny road in Rivers awarded in 2002; the abandoned 285 NNDC projects and 1,994 rural electrification projects among many others spread around the various geo-political zones of the country.

    Experts have claimed that ‘it will take more than five years budgeting about N1.5trillion annually to complete these abandoned projects’, if government does not add new ones. But , as recently argued by Nasir El Rufai, ex minister for Abuja federal territory, “rather than these figures compelling the government to accelerate… the government would rather continue the weekly charade of awarding new contracts or re-awarding old ones at higher prices during its weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meetings.”

    To many cynics and government critics, it is only logical to assume the Lagos-Ibadan expressway flag-off perfectly fits into this charade conceived in the main to raise money for 2015 which has already taken on the character of ‘do or die election’ as evidenced by the on-going PDP’s vicious intra-party battles.

    Government’s failure to give sufficient information on the contract is further fueling this suspicion. For instance the public would like to be assured that N1.3b rate for a kilometre of road is competitive. And if according to the minister of works, “government concession agreement with Messrs Bi-Courtney to develop …, a distance of approximately 105 kilometres under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement” was at a cost of N98.5b in 2009, they want to know why 127 kilometres is now costing N167 billion. Although the money is not even there to start with, but a gloomier prospect is the project getting stagnated after the election, to be followed by an upward review of cost by a 100 percent as recently witnessed by the stagnated vice president’s official mansion and the abandoned Lagos-Otta road.

  • FG committed to national transformation – Jonathan

    FG committed to national transformation – Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan in a Sallah message to Nigerians on Wednesday reassured his resolute commitment to overcoming all distractions and delivering on his promise of good governance and national transformation.

    Wishes all Nigerians happy Eid-el-Fitri celebrations, he congratulated all Nigerians of the Islamic faith who have successfully completed the month-long Ramadan fast.

    In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the President thanked all Moslems in the country who responded to his calls for special prayers during the Ramadan for greater peace, security and progress in Nigeria.

    He joined them and all other patriotic citizens in the pious expectation that God Almighty will hearken to the supplications of the faithful and bless Nigeria abundantly with peace, political stability and national prosperity.

    The statement reads: The President assures Nigerians that his administration will continue working tirelessly to build on the firm foundations for sustainable national development which it has already established in key areas such as public infrastructure, power supply, roads, transportation, aviation, agriculture, education, healthcare, youth employment and electoral reform.”