My focus is on governance, not 2015 politics - Jonathan

President Jonathan has asked political jobbers and their associates to stop distracting his administration's focus on governance.The President made the call in Lagos at a media presentation of a book entitled Sure and Steady Transformation, which

documents the numerous achievements of his administration in the first one year in office, said the next general election is still three years away.

The president, who was represented by his Senior Special Adviser on Research, Documentation and Strategy, Mr. Oronto Douglas, said the call had become necessary given the preponderance of reports and comments on the 2015 elections in national newspapers and other media channels.

He argued that in politics, 24 hours was a long time, and wondered why politicians were already talking about 2015 that is three whole years away.

He stated, 'There seems to be too much politics in Nigeria than governance. In other democracies, politics stops at the end of an election and governance starts. But in Nigeria, it is the opposite.

'Politics will not put food on the table of the people. It is governance that will. Let us focus on governance.'

He advised Nigerians not to allow politicians to distract them with talk about 2015 elections, and focus on sincere assessment of his administration's 'Transformation Agenda', whose achievements in the last one year are documented in the book, and a website, www.sureandsteadytransformation.gov.ng.

The President's Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe, who was also at the media briefing, highlighted Jonathan's numerous achievements, as highlighted in the 155-page book.

In his remark, Dr Okupe said the Jonathan administration was one of the most performing governments Nigeria had ever had since independence, adding that the president was a very serious and straight forward person.

Arguing that the president kept his promises, Dr Okupe said the Jonathan administration was transforming all the sectors of the nation, especially the agriculture and power sectors.

He said, though most Nigerians had acknowledged a noticeable improvement in power supply, with many areas reporting about 12 hours of uninterrupted supply, this would most likely increase to 16 hours by the end of the year, when power generation is expected to reach 7,000 megawatts.

  'In a very short time, the agriculture sector will be providing about 25 per cent in terms of revenue of what oil is currently providing us.'

He described as pedestrian many of the arguments on the state of security in the country, saying that classified information available to him personally, but could not be made public was reassuring. 'The slow down in these terror attacks is not a fluke. It is because more and more efforts are being made, using technology, to nip in the bud the activities of these terror agents,' he said.

The 155-page book has 32 sections, with highlights of the achievements of 30 ministries. It also contains the president's inaugural address, and a section on 'Building Strong Institutions.'

Reviewing the book, Dr Otive Igbuzor, a human rights activist, said that the book was a major effort at documenting government's achievements within the first year in office, adding that what was next is for the ministries to sustain the tempo and double their efforts on service delivery.