PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday night
denied signing any pact or single term
agreement with anybody, saying “I didn’t sign
agreement with anybody, if I have signed
agreement with anybody he would have shown
you”. Answering questions during the Presidential
Media Chat last night as part of the programmes,
marking the 53rd Independence Anniversary of
Nigeria, Jonathan said he would concentrate on
how to deliver on his mandate to Nigerians. However, Jonathan hinted that if Nigerians had
agreed with the single tenure he suggested
previously, “I wouldn’t have been involved in the
process”. He declared that his declaration of presidential
ambition for 2015 general election will create
crisis within the political system, even as he
stated that it is too early for him to declare his
intention to contest. Jonathan, who noted that there are electoral laws
governing the conduct of elections and
regulating the political activities, added that
declaration of his ambition now or by any other
aspiring candidate would definitely create crisis
in the polity. He said “we have laws in this country and I
appreciate the fact that our electoral laws tend to
regulate the political activities. The electoral law
gives the INEC the timetable to follow. If you do it
earlier you will distablise government, whether it
is Jonathan or any other person that has right to contest. “You don’t declare intention now because it will
distablise political process. Electoral law has the
timetable for political parties and individuals to
declare his intention. It is not yet time to declare
intention. “My declaration or not does not stop anybody
from declaring intention. You don’t need to wait
for me to say I am contesting or not before you
declare your intention if you are interested. So, if
you want to contest, you don’t need to wait for
Jonathan”. President Jonathan described the strike by
university lecturers as unfortunate, declaring that
the action has serious political undertone. “Why should a state university lecturer go on
strike for a federal problem?, the president
queried. The president noted that the strike had political
colouration giving the commitment of the current
administration to address the challenges of
university education and the refusal of ASUU to
call off the strike despite the fact that government
has conceded to many of their demands in the 2009 agreement. Jonathan, however, stressed that there are some
items in the agreement that are implementable
such as the demand for transfer of government
landed property to universities. The earned allowances, the President explained
are supposed to be paid from the internally
generated revenues of the universities. He added that as part of government
commitment to transform the nation’s
universities, he set up Needs Assessment
Committee who visited all public universities in
Nigeria to take inventory of the institutions. He regretted that ASUU has failed to recognize
government in this direction, insisting that there
have been many strikes in this country and those
strikes were without such commitment as
demonstrated his government. Even though, he stated that his commitment is
total to make changes, but he hinted at the need
to revisit our labour laws because of the
excesses of the trade unions. “We will begin to look at the labour laws because
of the excesses of labour unions,” he said. President Jonathan used the occasion to call on
the Academic Staff Union of Universities to call off
the strike in the interest of Nigeria and the
children. President Jonathan who stated that the security
situation has improved significantly as the
government has put in place measures to
effectively check the Boko Haram insurgencies,
especially after the bombing of UN building and
the Police Headquarters in Abuja, however said “ I dont know if Shekau is dead or alive”. Against what people were saying, the President
said that Boko Haram is not the creation of his
government but started when he was the Vice
President and the leader of the sect was killed. On when terrorism will come to an end, the
president said, I am not God, i can”t say terrorism
wont happen again. “The excesses of Boko Haram, started with the
bombing of Mammy market in Abuja, the UN
building and Police Headquarters. We quickly
built up capacity after that to stem the
insurgence. He assured that within the limit of human
competence, his government will see that such
attacks did not occur especially in Abuja. On the recent Apo killings, President Jonathan
stated that from the security briefing he received,
there were Boko Haram elements in the place
who had confrontation with security agents.
On the sacking of the Ministers, the President said
it has nothing to do with the G7 Governors, saying that it was a normal and common process
in governance to reshuffle cabinet from time to time
and wondered why his own move should
generate such public interest. The president also said he has no need for a
Minister of Defence, saying the service chiefs are
primarily responsible for the defence of the
nation.
He explained that the low-key celebration of the
53rd Independence anniversary has nothing to do with the security challenges in the country,
even as he stated that until 2014, his government
will not do any elaborate ceremony. On the economic front, the President said that
Nigeria is not broke, as he noted the World
outside has a favourable report of the Nigeria’s
economy.
How can anybody wake up from a dream and
say the country is bankrupt? Nigeria is not bankrupt. Corruption is not Nigerias number one problem,
corruption is as old as the human race, he added. The President admitted that the stealing of crude
oil is done by the power and mighty in the
society, who are very rich and have cartel in the
countries where the stolen oil are being sold. Jonathan, who expressed hope for the future of
the country, noted that the standard of life has
improved significantly, even though he stated
Nigeria still has its challenges. But he added that the current challenges
confronting Nigeria were peculiar to developing
nations.
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