Is Jonathan really clueless?

All around us, every day we see signs that this “clueless” leader is indeed, full of clues on how to alter trends for the good of Nigeria and Nigerians. I still remember his words on his inauguration as president in 2011. He said: “Nigeria…shall be a nation where positive change will continue to take place, […]

All around us, every day we see signs that this “clueless” leader is indeed, full of clues on how to alter trends for the good of Nigeria and Nigerians. I still remember his words on his inauguration as president in 2011. He said: “Nigeria…shall be a nation where positive change will continue to take place, for the good of our people.  The time for lamentation is over. This is the era of transformation.  This is the time for action.” Indeed, I am happy that I am alive to see the major changes currently happening in my country. This change is driven by a leader who has chosen to do things differently. From road to rail and air travel, down to a sustainable economy, power and job creation, to drastically reducing the food import bill, Jonathan is making an impact which disappoints his clueless-mantra cynics and special interest. I look back and remember that the accolades and tributes poured out over the late Prof. Dora Akunyili, former NAFDAC boss, were because she chose to do things differently and left such a huge positive impact on the entire country. President Jonathan is, in my mind, driving on that same road as Prof. Dora. Change for the better is the only thing that impacts anything that is stagnant into progress and development.
 Focusing on his promise, Jonathan has made so much impact in the lives of Nigerians that summarising the effects of his transformative performance in a few paragraphs would be like summarising the Holy Book in a page. His impact on electoral reforms, which has restored a high level of confidence in the Nigerian electoral system, tops it all for me. Most other things about our progress emanate from a credible electoral system. Jonathan has touched the power sector so radically that Nigerians now look forward to October, which his administration has promised to be a date for all and sundry to have constant power supply. This promise, made by Prof. Chinedu Nebo, Jonathan’s Energy minister, is a direct outcome of investments, direct and indirect, made in the sector, including the unbundling of the PHCN, privatisation of power plants and even funding of gas-to-power projects.
 Looking at his credentials in the aviation sector, one can only say wow! Indeed, the transformation train had a stopover at the nation’s airports, on its way to the railway stations. Rail transport is revitalised, just as much as our airports have moved away from being mere glorified aircraft parking lots.
 The transformation train’s impact in the nation’s educational sector has been phenomenal. With more access created for tertiary education with the approval and take-off of more federal universities, granting of operational licences for private universities, upgrade of unity schools and improvement in study aid and teacher training, Jonathan showed how important education is to the transformation of Nigerians. His stride in creating Almajiri schools in the northern part of Nigeria has been severally lauded and epochal.
 Further, there is no way one would reel out the accomplishments of the Jonathan first era in government without talking about how much better our roads have become. From Sokoto to Rivers, Nigeria’s federal highways have become much better than they were five years ago, thereby saving millions of previously endangered Nigerian lives. These are verifiable facts. Countless bridges have been built across places where roads had been impassable. The second bridge over River Niger may stand out as one of his loudest statements on infrastructure development.
 Statistics show that Nigeria has become the favoured destination of investors coming into Africa. With the World Economic Forum on Africa successfully hosted in Abuja by the Jonathan administration, investors are tumbling over themselves to cut a piece of the Nigerian pie with multi-billion dollars investments.
 Revitalisation of the economy also led to the creation of the Subsidy Re-Investment Programme (Sure-P), which has added impetus to infrastructure development across the country. Nigerians are better for it. All these efforts have added up to create more job opportunities for the Nigerian youth. Jobs have been created in the agric sector, transport sector, housing sector, aviation sector, power sector and others, with opportunities for further human resource development. The Sure-P alone has ensured the placement of over 5,000 youths in a scheme that sees government paying each of them a minimum of N30, 000 monthly in its internship programme.
 Majority of Nigerians would attest to the fact that Jonathan’s touch on the country has been massively positive. The fact that some of his transformative actions are “intangible” and are not immediately felt, does not vitiate the other fact that, in a a few years from now, Nigerians would look back with pride. I believe it was for this reason that the former military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, addressing journalists in Minna during his recent birthday celebration, spoke of how pleased all former leaders of the country are with Jonathan’s performance. Babangida said they all have been there before and know what it means and takes to lead Nigeria and to deliver on promises. He summarised thus: “We appreciate what he is doing.” No better mark could a leader score when both the high and low sign off positively on his performance chart.
 A leader who achieves such positive appraisal by his predecessors cannot, in real sincerity of the heart, be said not to have touched lives. But I am not surprised. The leaders who transformed Singapore, China, Korea and even those who turned Dubai from a desert in the early 80s to a centre of focus on trade, commerce and leisure, were all resisted by elements in their country, who were beneficiaries of status quo. There were even blacks who opposed Martin Luther King Jnr. It is normal because change is a painful process for the bourgeois. But one thing is clear: This Jonathan knows the clues to the nation’s socio-political and infrastructural development
Feyipitan contributed this piece from Abuja