Professor Sotonye Amakiri, former Provost of the Rivers State College of Education now Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rumuolumeni, PortHarcourt, has endorsed the president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, for the 2015 election.
The professor said his endorsement was not because he is an Ijaw man like the president, but because the president has performed creditably within the one and half years of his first tenure.
He stated this during a chat with Press men last week, in Port Harcourt.
He said with the transformation agenda which the president is pursuing vigorously despite several stumbling blocks on his way, if given the second chance, the president would place Nigeria on a sound footing that would catapult her into greatness in the near future.
“I am not saying this because I am an Ijaw man or that because every other president had second term, the fact is that the man is trying. Look at the power sector, the industrial sector and look at his efforts in securing peace despite the great disturbances caused by the dreaded sect, Boko Haram, despite all the distractions caused by some sections of the country, he has been steadfast in ensuring peace and stability in the country. How would you not support such a person? What is it that others before him did that he has not done better? He inherited all the distractions in the system and as a president he has to do the repair works. This is exactly what he is doing.
“Think of the power sector, how many billions of naira has been invested in it without success in the past? This man has done it in a way that power supply has improved significantly, at least in Rivers State where I reside, with several megawatts added, so I fully support him,” Professor Amakiri stated.
He lauded the achievements of Professor Barth Nnaji, the former Minister of Power and stated that by resigning when there was conflict of interest, he has shown the light for others to emulate.
Only two ministers have so far resigned, the first being Ebitimi Banigo, former Minister of Science and Technology now the Amanyanabo of Ekpoma in Bayelsa State, who voluntarily resigned without being accused of any wrong doing, Prof. Amakiri added. .
However, Professor Amakiri noted that the president, Dr. Jonathan, is presently more concerned about pursuing his transformation agenda and not about 2015.
“It is also worthy to note that by the way the president is going, by 2013, it will be very clear to all that, a lot of things, plans, he has put on, will begin to yield fruits.. If he performs, then you will agree with me that there is no reason why he should not have another tenure. Definite structures have been put in place to ensure performance.”
Buttressing his assertion further, the don referred to the recently launched 80 paged progress report of Jonathan’s administration, titled, Sure and Steady Transformation, where the progress made in various sectors of the economy were itemized.
A brief summary of the achievements include, Finance
Review and clean-up of the oil subsidy regime through the creation of the Aig-Imoukhuede Committee, which later turned into a Presidential Taskforce. The committee identified N370 billion in fraudulent oil subsidy claims targeted now for recovery.
Strong performance of Nigeria’s Eurobond which has led to its inclusion in JP Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index
Five new airport terminals at Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Enugu, and Port Harcourt $500 million
Communication Technology
Launched the NigComSat-1R satellite to complement the fibre connectivity and provide more bandwidth for the nation.
10Gbs Fibre optic Network to connect Nigerian Universities to wider research and education universe, in partnership with the NUC, World Bank and TetFund
Signed an MOU with Nokia Corporation to establish a lab in Nigeria to support the domestic mobile software industry.
Power
Rehabilitation of existing power infrastructure [which] has yielded up to 1000MW of electricity
Attained a new peak generation of 4,322MW delivered in December 2011. This is the highest/maximum capacity ever attained
MOU with DAEWOO E &C of Korea in July 2012. In this Daewoo E&C has committed to investing up to 20% Equity per project summing up to 10,000MW
“Whoever reads the book would agree that the president has been doing well and is on track,” Prof. Amakiri concluded.###
Kenneth Amabipi
