performance in the outgoing year and gave itself a pass mark,
saying that it recorded unprecedented feat despite distractions
from the opposition.
However, the opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) pooh-
poohed the Presidency's claims, saying the citizenry are worse
off on account of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party's
alleged bad rule.
Dismissing the Presidency's claim, Lagos State Publicity
Secretary of the APC, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, said all the indices of
a failed state are present in Nigeria.
The presidency boasted that during the year, major policies
were made and key projects executed for the good of
Nigerians.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public
Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, gave the presidential score card in
a statement made available to Vanguard last night in Abuja.
Okupe noted that contrary to impressions being created by
vocal leaders of the opposition, Nigeria, under President
Goodluck Jonathan has moved significantly forward in many
sectors than it was in 2011.
He said that the transformation which had taken place in the
economy, transportation, agriculture, power and other critical
sectors were the routes which all developed nations had taken
before now but which unfortunately had not been taken by
Nigeria before now.
According to Dr Okupe: "It is an incontrovertible fact that
Nigeria under Jonathan has reduced its food imports by about
40 per cent and increased its local production of rice, cassava,
sorghum, cotton and cocoa in percentages ranging from 25 to
56 in the last two years.
"For the first time since independence, the Nigerian
agricultural sector is attracting unprecedented Foreign Direct
Investment. Over the past two years, the sector has attracted
$ 4 billion in private sector executed letters of commitment to
invest in agricultural value chains, from food crops, to export
crops, fisheries and livestock.
"The number of private sector seed companies grew from 10
to 70 within one year. Over $ 7 billion of investments from
Nigerian businesses have been made to develop new fertilizer
manufacturing plants, which will make Nigeria the largest
producer and exporter of fertilizer in Africa. It is also
noteworthy that agricultural lending as a share of total bank
lending has risen from two per cent to six per cent in two
years.
"On the power sector reforms initiated by President Goodluck
Jonathan in 2010, Okupe explained that the major component
of the reform which is the privatization of the generation and
distribution power infrastructure was successfully
accomplished in 2013 thus putting Nigeria on a sure path of
steady power supply in a no distant future."
Okupe explained that with the completion of this process and
the 10 NIPP projects, Nigeria would for the first time in
history move away from vertically integrated state-owned and
very poorly managed electricity industry to a modern private
sector-led fully regulated market with the right incentives
capable of attracting accelerated new investments to kick start
the re-industrialization of Nigeria.
He also said that the Jonathan administration brought about
the recovery of the Nigerian stock exchange, which he said
was made possible by a combination of sound fiscal and
monetary policies as well as a transparent conduct of state
affairs in a manner which has rekindled investors' confidence
in the Nigerian market.
Okupe said those who always seek to use the security
challenges in some parts of Northern Nigeria as the only
barometer to measure President Jonathan's performance were
not being fair to the President, considering the fact that the
war on insurgency and terrorism had never been a quick fix
anywhere in the world.
While reminding the public that bombings and killings by
insurgents happened in Kano, Kogi, Niger,Yobe,
Borno,Sokoto, Adamawa and the Federal Capital Territory in
2011 and 2012, the Presidential aide noted that the activities
of the terrorists had been largely contained and restricted to
one or two states in 2013.
"Yes, we are not where we hope to be but it will be sheer
mischief to insist that we are where we were or as some
wickedly say, we are worse than we were. Definitely, their
position is not based on facts and so should be ignored by
Nigerians" he stated.
Okupe reiterated the determination of President Jonathan to
remain steadfast in his pursuit of accelerated economic growth
and stability, peace and development of all parts of Nigeria.
He also promised that the Federal Government would
consolidate on the growth recorded in the outgoing year by
completing all ongoing projects as well as initiating new
programmes and projects especially in sectors capable of
creating jobs for Nigerians.
Okupe feeding the nation with lies—APC
*Jonathan not in charge Igbokwe said: "What do you expect
Okupe to say? You should not have expected them to score
themselves low or to have agreed that they have failed. There
is nobody in the presidency who will have the courage to say
that the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government is
not doing well. I am not surprised. There is no need wasting
time on Okupe's claims. He is just earning a living, that is
why he feeds the nation with lies.
"The fact is that the President is not in charge. All the indices
of a failed state are present in the country at the moment. Our
economy is not doing well, the hospitals are still mere
consulting clinics, security is a luxury, while oil theft is on the
rise. I was reading an article on Sahara Reporters and the
author of the article listed all the contracts that have been
awarded by the present administration and there is nothing to
show for it. He specifically mentioned the Benin/Ore
Highway which is still dilapidated and they award the contract
yearly. Maybe they are claiming the glory of Lagos because
the state is doing well. Same applies to all APC states. Maybe
they are claiming the glories of the APC states."
Via: Vanguard
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