Aribisala, Jonathan and 2015 Election
jobs in 2013 alone.
To be clear, even critics of the President have conceded that the unbundling and privatisation of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) is one of the best policies ever initiated by government in the interest of all Nigerians. Moreover, it is on record that Jonathan signed into law the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Bill which led Shell Petroleum, a foreign oil company operating in Nigeria, to engage a Nigerian company, S.C.C. Limited, to manufacture high pressure line pipes at a cost of N7.8 billion ($49.9 million) for the first time ever.
Under President Jonathan, the Federal Government commenced implementation of the National Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), which is aimed at industrialising Nigeria and diversifying the nation's economy. The proof that the NIRP is achieving results is seen in the fact that, for the first time in her history, Nigeria is exporting rather than importing cement.
As the President himself remarked in his 2014 New Year message, “I am pleased to note that as a result of our backward integration policies, Nigeria has moved from a country that produced 2 million metric tonnes of cement in 2002, to a country that now has a capacity of 28.5 million metric tonnes. For the first time in our history, we have moved from being a net importer of cement to a net exporter.”
In the same vein, the President further revealed that foreign direct investment (FDI) into Nigeria has remained high. He said, “For the second year running, the UN Conference on Trade and Development has named Nigeria as the number 1 destination for investments in Africa.”
Additionally, even the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture, Mohammed Monguno—a member of the APC—said, during an official event televised and broadcast by the AIT, “I must say that the agricultural transformation agenda being pursued by your [Jonathan's] administration is unparalleled and unprecedented. We must learn to give credit where credit is due and I'm doing exactly that.”
Still under agriculture, it is well-known that 4.2 million farmers received subsidized input through the Jonathan-led administration's e-wallet system in 2013 alone. Even without delving into more aspects of his commendable performance, it is self-evident that the inevitability of Jonathan's re-election in 2015 is not as a result of the incumbency factor—as Aribisala would have us believe—but a direct consequence of the President's verifiable achievements in office.
Kayode Ojo sent this piece from Ketu, Lagos.