Nigeria: ‘Why Power Supply is Still an Issue’

Original Post Date: 2011-03-21 Time: 22:00:03  Posted By: News Poster

By Lilian Agih

Last week, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan concluded his campaign tour of the 36 states of the Federation which was flagged off in Lafia, Nassarawa State on Monday, February 7, 2011. In this session with Lilian Agih, Spokesman to the president, Imma Niboro speaks on how the campaign fared, as well as the president’s plan for security. He also explains his absence at the NN24 presidential debate. Excerpts:

You’ve toured the 36 states of the federation. How has the feedback been? Are you confident that the president will make a comeback?

I am very confident that the President will win a resounding victory at the polls on April 9. Having just completed a campaign tour of the 36 states of the federation with President Jonathan and personally witnessed the overwhelming outpouring of support, love and affection for him from the thousands of Nigerians that welcomed him at every stop, I am very certain that he will get a fresh mandate and continue in office after May 29 this year.

My confidence is also backed by the results of a countrywide scientific poll recently conducted by IPSOS, one of the world’s leading polling organisations, in collaboration with ThisDay, which showed that 73% of registered Nigerian voters believe that President Jonathan has performed very creditably in the little time he has spent in office. I am very optimistic that this confidence shown in him by almost three quarters of the Nigerian electorate will be reflected in the coming presidential elections.

So what is next, more campaigns?

We are certainly not going to rest on our oars. In spite of our confidence, we are not taking anything for granted and we will continue to campaign at different levels to win all the votes we can until the campaign deadline set by INEC.

Apart from the grand finale of the PDP Presidential Campaign scheduled to hold in Abuja on March 26, the various state chapters of the party and other voluntary support groups working for the renewal of President Jonathan’s mandate will continue with their efforts to convince every Nigerian that the President is indeed the best candidate in the field.

The president has come under fire over the spate of violence in the nation. How would you react to it?

The causes of violence in some parts of the country are many and multifarious. Some of the seeds of the violence which we now witness were sown by acts of omission or commission years before. President Jonathan has an excellent grasp of the problems underlying violence in these areas and he is tackling them frontally to guarantee the safety of lives and property in all parts of the country.

You would have noted that the incidence of kidnapping has more or less died out. That was as a result of the president’s direct and unambiguous intervention in the South-East, Aba in particular, which appeared to be the epicentre of that criminal scourge. Also, in spite of incidents few and far in between, the Niger Delta is largely peaceful today, and the amnesty programme proceeds apace. Jos and Borno remain somewhat of a challenge due to the nature of the problems there, but the president is determined to bring all stakeholders on board to fashion out a lasting peace in those areas.

But critics say he isn’t committed to security, as nothing much has been done to fix the Jos and Borno crisis? General Buhari specifically accused him of playing politics with security.

We know those playing politics with national security, and it is not President Jonathan. How can anyone seriously claim that the President has not done much to address the security problems in Jos or Borno when the unprecedented beef up of the security apparatus in both states is a matter of public knowledge? Not only have regular police operations in both states been greatly strengthened, President Jonathan has also ordered the deployment of special military task-forces to both states, with orders to do everything possible to ensure the safety and security of law abiding residents.

In the specific case of Plateau, President Jonathan set up a high-powered committee to review the crisis and make recommendations for its resolution. The committee has submitted a report with recommendations which are being carefully studied by the Jonathan Administration before implementation. The President has also held several personal consultations with a cross-section of stakeholders in Plateau with a view to finding workable solutions to the crisis which will be acceptable to all parties.

Specifically, what are his plans in the area of security?

We are confident of success in next month’s elections, following which President Jonathan will forge ahead with ongoing efforts to reform and reposition the Nigerian Police Force to discharge its responsibilities for crime prevention much more efficiently and effectively. The police fund is also underway; therefore, resources will be made available to ensure that the Police have all the manpower, training, logistics and equipment they need to function properly.

The new coordinator of the nation’s anti-terrorism efforts is already in place to complement the work already being done in this area by the National Security Adviser and other security agencies.

There are new security initiatives that are coming on stream, driven by the NSA, which we cannot discuss here. Rest assured that the president is on top of the situation, and as I noted earlier, things can only get better.

MEND has issued fresh warnings. What exactly do they have against the President and why would they want to ruin their chance of producing the next number one citizen?

It is impossible to account for the motives of a faceless organisation whose very existence is in doubt. All the ex-militant leaders known to be driving forces behind MEND in its hey-day have accepted the present administration’s amnesty, renounced violence and are now participating actively in efforts to move Nigeria and the Niger Delta forward.

I do not think that those now masquerading as MEND are fighting any cause. They are clearly criminally-minded individuals out to continue a lucrative racket of extorting oil companies and other big business in the area. The revelation by security agencies on the recent sabotage of AGIP’s facilities confirms this point of view.

There is this impression that the president is too dependent on others. To put it bluntly, some feel he is easily influenced. How true is this?

That is the joke of the year, and it is only one that doesn’t know the president that can say that. This is a workaholic president that even some of us his younger aides have difficulty in keeping pace with. This is a man that goes to bed at 4am on the average and is at his desk sometimes at 8am.

He is a deep thinker, with the high analytical mind of a scientist and a trainer of scientists. He is constantly questioning the status quo and other received wisdoms, pushing for fresh perspectives and original thinking. Having worked closely with him since 2007, I can state authoritatively that when it comes to decision-making, President Jonathan is very much his own man, always guided by his abiding belief in God, the supremacy of the national interest and what is best for Nigerian people.

President Jonathan is fully in charge of his Administration and the buck stops on his desk. Like all great leaders, however, he is a very good listener and is ever-ready and willing to consider the views of experts, specialists and technocrats and even ordinary people. Having done so, however, the final decision on how to tackle any given problem or issue that arises on his watch remains President Jonathan’s sole prerogative as Head of State, Head of Government and Commander-In-Chief.

The President has been criticised for declining to participate in the presidential debate. Why was he absent?

It is an unnecessary controversy hyped by political interests for private ends, our position is clear; President Jonathan is ready and willing to debate other serious presidential candidates on a recognised national platform. The President has no reason to be afraid of debate. By reason of his incumbency, scientific academic background, qualifications and long experience in government at state and national levels, he has a better understanding of all national issues than all of the other contenders put together.

We have also said that although President Jonathan is currently a candidate in next month’s presidential elections, he remains the incumbent President of Nigeria and will not participate in any activity that will diminish the respect due to that exalted office. He has therefore declined the plethora of invitations to debate which have come so far from a multiplicity of new groups and associations.

I am glad to disclose that come March 29th, the president would attend the debate on the platform of the Nigerian Election Debate group, which has been organising election debates in Nigeria. The Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria, which include AIT, Channels, NN24 and others… the Newspaper Proprietors of Nigeria, NPAN, is also partnering with the body for this debate.

But some have argued that BON is a government organisation…

Those characters from a certain campaign organisation who described BON as a government agency have only further demonstrated their ignorance and unpreparedness for governance.

The president seems to have done well in the area of electoral reform and energy but electricity is still a major minus. Why is this so?

There is no minus, as you put it, in the area of power supply. The significant strides made in this area in a very short time by the Jonathan Administration are already obvious in improved generation. The facts speak for themselves. Thanks to the administration’s efforts, the country recently recorded a peak power generation of 4000 megawatts which it had never reached before.

President Jonathan has committed a huge effort to the resolution of Nigeria’s power supply problems. The results are gradually becoming obvious now, but they will become more apparent as time goes on. However, due to the nature of the power sector, investments in it have a long gestation period. Even as I speak, huge investments continue to be made in the sector to redress its neglect by past administrations, which allowed a huge gap to grow between power supply and demand in Nigeria.

You will recall that because of the priority he attaches to improving power supply, the president is personally supervising the Power Ministry and the Minister of State reports directly to him. And it may interest you to know that since President Jonathan assumed the mantle of national leadership, I have hardly ever attended a meeting of the Federal Executive Council at which a memorandum on new power projects wasn’t considered by the council. All those approved power sector projects valued at billions of dollars are now being vigorously implemented. A new roadmap to bring the greater efficiencies of the private sector into power generation and distribution has also been unveiled by the administration and its implementation is underway.

The Jonathan Administration is certainly on the right track as far as power supply is concerned. Many of the NIPPs would come on stream this year to boost generation further. If we are able to maintain our present tempo of progress in the sector, frequent power outages will definitely be a thing of the past by the time President Jonathan completes his tenure in 2015, if, as we fully expect, his mandate is renewed next month.

How would you assess his few months in office? Some think he hasn’t achieved much.

You should ask yourself who the critics saying so are, and what interests they represent. I told you at the beginning of this interview that in a recent poll by one of the world’s leading polling organizations, President Jonathan got a favourable approval from 73 per cent of registered Nigerian voters.

If a sitting President has such a high approval rating before an election anywhere else in the world, his opponents should be advised to go home and wait for him to complete his next tenure. No president who has not performed to the satisfaction of his people can get such a high approval rating from them.

The vast majority of ordinary Nigerians know all that President Jonathan has done for the nation in terms of power, security, stabilisation of petroleum products, and most importantly, in returning Nigeria to global reckoning and more. By the Grace of God, they will give him a fresh mandate next month.

Let’s go back to the PDP primaries. There were allegations that he bribed delegates.

Those who make the allegations should prove them. President Jonathan won an open and freely contested presidential primary. The entire proceedings were broadcast live on national television. The president did not bribe anyone or buy the votes of delegates. There was no need for him to do so as there was a clear consensus amongst the stakeholders in the party that backing his candidacy was the best option for the PDP and for the stability, peace and progress of the nation at large.

What are his plans for the education sector?

His plans for the education sector are already in the public domain as he has clearly articulated them at different fora and on the campaign trail.

Key elements of the plan include improving the quality of education at the primary, secondary and university levels, and making sure that no Nigerian child is denied education because his or her parents lack the means to pay. President Jonathan is also committed to providing a model federal university in all the states of the federation and fully rehabilitating and restoring existing federal universities to their former glory. He is also keen to see a review of the education curricula in Nigeria to ensure that products of the sector are more employable and have better entrepreneurial skills with the ability to set up businesses on their own if they choose or need to.

In the north, the president is also committed to a thorough review and improvement of Almajir education, to make these children more creative and self reliant, while keeping as sacrosanct, the mores and laws of Islamic teaching.

Original date published: 20 March 2011

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201103211107.html?viewall=1

xxxxx Sign Up