President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, gave a robust defence of his administration’s performance at mid-term and dismissed public and media assessment of his ministers, saying the criticisms were mostly bereft of objectivity.
President Jonathan spoke at the public presentation of the administration’s mid-term report in Abuja during which administration officials rolled out positive financial indicators which among others was that Nigeria has become the highest investment destination in the continent.
The presentation was graced by former Nigerian leaders, including former President Shehu Shagari, General Yakubu Gowon, Chief Ernest Shonekan, former Chief of General Staff, Gen. Oladipo Diya; one-time United States presidential candidate, Jesse Jackson among others.
Also present at the event were the Senate President, Sen. David Mark; Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha and the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloma Mukhtar.
Jackson, speaking at the occasion, commended the president for giving a mid-term report of his performance. He said that it was indicative that the ship of the nation was sailing in the right direction.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim also commended the leadership of President Jonathan, who he said had shown impressive democratic culture through his restraint in the face of unparalleled challenges to his authority.
President Jonathan was nevertheless dismissive of media assessment of his administration. He said that as a former teacher, he was conscious of the fact that any examination should be guided by a marking scheme.
Challenges media of objective assessment
He thus challenged the media to use the 234-page report as a veritable tool for any objective assessment.
He said: “Only on Monday, I looked through a particular publication in one of our dailies, which gave an assessment of the performance of the ministers.
“The first thing I looked for that I did not see was the criteria they used to assess the performance of the ministers. As a teacher, I know that for you to mark a student, you must have a marking scheme. Because, assessment could be very subjective, and if a fellow politician is assessing another politician, you assess the person based on heartbeats.”
He said two ministries; the ministries of Trade and Investments and National Planning which performed creditably well were rated average.
“Since I came to the centre in 2007, I have worked with three ministers of National Planning and three ministers of Trade and Investments. They have never done what is being done today.
“In terms of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) attracted to this country by activities of that ministry, it has never happened. In spite of our security challenges, there is so much interest from business men wanting to come to Nigeria.
“Before now, that Ministry of Trade and Investments was a dead end, but now they are very active. Talk about Ministry of Planning, people say that until Shamsudeen came on board, we did not even know that we had a Planning Ministry.
“But these two ministries were scored average and I asked what are the criteria? That is the purpose of today, our elders, ladies and gentlemen. The idea is to formally present a document to all Nigerians about the activities of the government these past two years.
“I plead with all of us especially those who want to assess and write about it to develop criteria because without a marking scheme, you cannot mark anybody’s paper. Develop your own, compare with previous governments. Develop your marking scheme and mark us.”
Nigeria‘s economy waxing strong — Okonjo-Iweala
Making her presentation earlier, the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said that despite challenges of inequality and inclusion, the nation’s economy was waxing strong.
She said in the last two years, the GDP had recorded significant growth and dollar exchange rate had remained stable between N155 and N160.
She said the rate of inflation had dropped to 9.1 per cent from 12.4 per cent in May 2011, while the external reserve had risen from $32.08 billion in May 2011 to $48.4 billion as at May, 2013.
Specifically, she said the External Crude Account (ECA) had risen from about $4 billion in May, 2011 to about $9 billion at the end of 2012 and presently $6 billion in May 2013.
The minister said the ECA had been of help in improving the economy since oil production had fallen from the projected 2.53 million bpd to between 2.1 and 2.2 million bpd, adding that there were deliberate government policies to reduce recurrent expenditure and complete unfinished capital projects.
She said: ”Recurrent expenditure has dropped from 70.4 per cent of total budget in 2011 to 68.7 per cent in 2013″.
She added that government’s annual borrowing had fallen from N852 billion in 2011 to N588 billion in 2013 while the debt to GDP is 21 per cent.
According to her, the administration’s waiver and tariff policies had also changed positively. She said: “Government is focusing on sectoral waivers such as agriculture, power, aircraft spare parts, solid minerals at zero duty. Trade has improved and exports are up in plastics and rubber, vegetable products, prepared food stuff and beverages.”
The minister explained that exports have increased from nine per cent in 2008 to 31 per cent in 2012, saying oil export had increased to 69 per cent of total exports compared to 91 per cent in 2008.
She said with over $7 billion foreign direct investment into the country in 2012, Nigeria has become the highest investment destination in Africa.
Also speaking at the event, the Minister of National Planning, Dr Shamsudeen Usman said the Federal Government has achieved eight of 14 points in its transformation agenda.
Giving sectoral appraisal of the achievements of the administration, he said the railway which had become irrelevant in the national transportation system for over 30 years was back on track, adding that the western rail corridor from Lagos to Kano as well as intra-city train services in Lagos, Kaduna and Kano are now fully operational.
In the road sector, the Minister said there had been key improvement on key access roads across the country, citing the Benin-Ore Road, Kano-Maiduguri Road and the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Road among others.
The minister added that there has also been significant improvements in power and the government was working hard to ensure that Nigerians were provided with uninterrupted power supply.
In agriculture, Usman said the administration had saved significant amount of money through the blocking of loopholes in the procurement of fertiliser and other agricultural inputs and ensuring the direct distribution to farmers. She added that with the policy, there has been increased production of crops like cassava, wheat and rice, thereby moving the country to self sufficiency in food and liberating the people from poverty.
He said there had also been a significant improvement in the airports across the country with the expansion, renovation and remodelling works in the existing airports
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