PRESIDENT GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN: The Beacon of Hope for a New Nigeria
Great presidents are made great by horrible circumstances combined with character, temperament and intelligence. Like firemen, cops, doctors or soldiers, most presidents perform best under pressure and crisis situations. However, most often than not, calculated effort at overcoming such challenges are usually taken for granted, and therefore, not appreciated by all.Goodluck Jonathan in the history of Nigeria is the first President, PHD holder and of course, the second fully fit university graduate to preside over the affairs of Africa’s most populous nation. His personal character and intellectual capabilities is also solid gold. President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan took the oath of office on 29th May, 2011 amidst thunderous expectations of a new dawn, given the mountain of problems that characterized the nation.
A MAN OF INTEGRITY THAT CAN BE TRUSTED WITH CAMPAIGN PROMISES AND DIVIDENDS OF DEMOCRACY
a man of integrity
Where many leaders are two-faced; publicly kind, but privately feared and/or hated by people closest to them, Jonathan is consistent in the way he treats people, consistently kind and personally humble. He lives by the code that those who lead must serve. He believes that. He lives it. He lived it long before he was in the public eye.Jonathan puts service ahead of ideology. He also knows that to succeed politically you need to be tough. He can be. This is a man who does what works, rather than scoring ideological points. In other words he is the quintessential non-ideological pragmatic Nigerian. He will (thank God!) disappoint ideologues and purists of the left and the right.
BEACON OF HOPE
hopeForUs Jonathan has a reservoir of personal physical courage that is unmatched in our presidential history. Why unmatched? Because as the first minority contender for the presidency who has won, Jonathan, and all the rest of us, know that he is in great physical danger from the seemingly unlimited reserve of unhinged tribal hatred, and just plain unhinged ignorant hatred, that swirls in the bowels of our wounded and sinful country.By stepping forward to lead, Jonathan has literally put his life on the line for all of us in a way no other Nigerian ever has had to do. (And we all know how dangerous the presidency has been) Thus putting the nation on the right track towards eliminating primordial sentiments, tribal loyalty, party loyalty, ideology and pride as against national loyalty and putting the country first in all that we do as a people.
CALCULATIVE AND UNTIRING
untiring

The greater point about Jonathan is that he inherited myriad problems and crises when he assumed office. Thus, President Jonathan has taken on the leadership of our country at a make or break time of historic proportions. He has therefore faced not one, but dozens of crisis, each big enough to define any presidency in better times. This, however, has been exacerbated by the opposition and doing all they can to undermine the government’s capabilities and programs. The word panic is not in the Jonathan dictionary.Jonathan brings a moral clarity to his leadership reserved for those who have had to work very hard for everything they’ve gotten. His experience of succeeding in spite of his social background could have been embittering or one that fostered a spiritual rebirth of forgiveness and enlightenment. Jonathan radiates the calm inner peace of the spirit of forgiveness
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His believe and hope for the survival of Nigeria is unassailable. His achievements have become evident in 4 years. A hundred years from now Jonathan’s portrait will be placed next to that of Obafemi Awolowo, NnamdiAzikiwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello, KingJaja of Opobo, Ahmadu Bello and Nana of Itsekiri and all the Great Icons of this century, for bringing Nigeria back from the brinks of bad Governance, underdevelopment and self destruct.
KEY GOLDEN ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE GOODLUCK JONATHAN ADMINISTRATION
The Goodluck Jonathan administration is anchored on his transformation agenda which has achieved indubitable level of success in key areas of our social, political, economic and infrastructural development.
The stepping stones into golden achievements of the President driven by his immeasurable love for the nation include among others:
THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR
AgriculturalTransformation
There is now more private investment in agriculture, including bank lending, than ever before.
Nigeria under President Jonathan has reduced its food imports by about 40 percent, which is N415.3billion, in four years 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 (FDI). In the last 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 #7billion worth of investments from Nigerian businesses have been made to develop new fertilizer manufacturing plants, which will make Nigeria the largest producer and exporter of fertilizers in Africa. It is also noteworthy that agricultural lending as a share of total bank lending has risen from two percent to six percent in two years.
On several platforms, the Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has made known the momentous achievements of the government in the campaign to sanitise and transform the nation’s agricultural sector. The Minister has always mentioned that this government’s intention is to treat agriculture as a business and that the Ministry is integrating food production, storage, food processing and industrial manufacturing to ensure job creation; The government’s deregulation of the seeds and fertilizer sectors completely eradicated the graft that once defined the sector within 90 days via the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GES).
The Ministry launched a Growth Enhancement Scheme, where farmers receive 50% subsidy on fertilizers, for a maximum of two bags, through the use of their mobile phones, through a system known as the Electronic – wallet system (or E – wallet). In 120 days, over 1.2 million farmers bought their subsidized fertilizers using the E – wallet system is the first of its kind in Africa countries have indicated they want to implement the Nigerian system.
Farmers now receive subsidies on fertilizer directly through a cell phone – based system which was developed to send subsidies via electronic vouchers. Estimates show that about 7.5million people felt the impact of the scheme within the first year of its implementation. The number of farmers getting fertilizers has increased from 11 percent before the program to 92 percent. Participation in the program in every state has increased.
1.3 Million Metric Tons of fertilizer and 55, 000 Metric Tons (MT) of improved seeds have been delivered to farmers.
Nigeria stands as the first in Africa to deliver inputs to farmers at the current scale through the E – Wallet system.
2.5 Million Women farmers have been reached through the E – Wallet scheme by 2014, Up 287% from 2012.
To ensure that real farmers get fertilizer supplies under the scheme, a database of the country’s farmers is being developed.
So far, over 10 million farmers have registered for the scheme. The GES system saved the Federal Government about N25 billion in 2012 alone. The government no longer buys and sells fertilizers and seeds; this responsibility has been handed out to the private sector, but the government provides 50% support for seeds and fertilizer. Vouchers and electronic – wallets (mobile phones) are being used to better target subsidized inputs to farmers, with the target of reaching 5 million farmers annually.
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Also, the government has established a Nigerian Seed Venture Capital Fund with the goal of raising the use of hybrid seeds from 8,000 metric tons to 1,000,000 metric tons, per year.
The Federal Government is established marketing corporations to facilitate marketing of agricultural commodities. The marketing corporations, which will be owned by agricultural value chains and run as private sector – led institutions, are to coordinate the production, investments, grades/standards, and market price stabilization for all value chains in Nigeria; Staple Crop Processing Zones (SCPZ) are being developed as well to drive food processing and manufacturing industries. It is believed and manufacturing industries. It is believed that this will attract private investors into areas of high food production to set up food processing plants; reduce current high levels of post – harvest losses, add value for increased local content of foods, link farmers in clusters to food manufacturing plants, create jobs and drive rapid economic growth.
Also, external markets are being developed for cassava chips. In January 2012, a trade agreement was concluded to export 1 million metric tons of cassava chips to China, in two tranches of 500,000 MT each. The total benefit of Nigerian farmers and processors was estimated at N40 Billion. Cassava Bread with 20% high Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF) and 80% Wheat is now commercially available. Cassava bread is approximately 30% cheaper than wheat bread, has a higher nutritional value, and above all, is PROUDLY NIGERIAN.
The government facilitated acquisition of 6 Medium Scale Plants (148,000MT/year) and concession to the private sector by 2015. Private sector participants are set up 7 Medium Scale plants (126,000MT/yr). Estimates show that Nigeria will save 254 Billion Naira annually, create markets for 1.6 Million Metric Tons (MT) of HQCF, 6.4 Million MT of cassava and thousands of jobs. Also, 137 Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) cassava flour mills are being upgraded across the country, with capacity of 63,000 MT per year. An agreement has also been reached with Coca – Cola to establish cassava syrup plant, of 30,000 MT per year to replace sugar currently being imported.
THE INDUSTRIAL SECTOR
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Under The Jonathan Administration, the industrial sector is steadily being revived. One of the fallouts of this development is the dramatic increase in manufacturing growth in the country. Not only has the increase been physical, there have also been conscious attempts to enhance manpower development through the revival of vocational centres that are designed to provide a trained workforce for the industrial sector such as the Industrial Training Fund, National Power Training Institute of Nigeria and others.
That an industrial revolution has been re-ignited in Nigeria is an undeniable fact which is amply evident in the revival of automobile assembling plants in Nigeria amongst others under the leadership of the indefatigable Minister of Commerce, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga and with the full support of President Jonathan.

industrial sector
1. Today, Nigeria has become a major destination for multinational investment in car manufacturing. Big auto giants, including Peugeot, Nissan and Hyundai, now either assemble, or entirely manufacture, their cars, SUVs, trucks and buses at various locations in Nigeria.
2. Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company (IVM), Nigeria’s flagship indigenous automaker, began the sale of its first made-in-Nigeria cars and SUVs in August 2014.
3. National Automotive Industry has made it possible for ten Car manufacturing companies to open business in Nigeria. These include KIA, INNOSSON, NISSAN amongst others. Some of the plants that where already operational in the country but where forced to shut down due to influx of imported fairly-used vehicles, including Peugeot Automobile Nigeria, Leyland, Fiat, Volkswagen and Mercedes, would bring into the country complete knock-down vehicles.
4. The textile industry has not been left out as the Jonathan Administration has effectively provided bailout funds for the industry amounting to N150 Billion. Once fully revived, employment opportunities will be available for thousands of Nigerians.
The Goodluck Jonathan administration has also articulated a National Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) through the ministry of Commerce and Industry and would be made available on the site.