When President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua died on 5 may 2010 and Goodluck Ebele
Azikiwe Jonathan was sworn in on 6 May 2010 as the 14th Head of State
of Nigeria, I was extremely pessimistic about his government
effectiveness and seriously had doubts that his government would build
on the legacy of late President Yar’Adua. As he set the mechanism of his
government in motion, so many unpleasant events that unfolded proved me
right.
President Jonathan is naturally a gentle man with a very good heart; a
man who loves children; a man who cares about the well being of people; a
man who has the ability to stand firm against insurmountable
situations; a man who is warm-hearted; a man who has the ability to
invigorate every ministry in the Nigerian Government and reposition
Nigeria on the move-ahead track; a man who has the ability to make
positive and productive invincible choices for Nigeria. And above all, a
man who is God fearing. But Jonathan appears to be bereft of all these
qualities because of so many wrong choices made and some of those in his
government including his wife Patience and those within his own family
turned him into a mere inert resource for their diabolical schemes.
Although President Jonathan has made notable impact by: Promotion and
practice of relatively stable democracy by creating an enabling
environment where people from diverse opinions can be accommodated;
liberalization of the press and guaranteeing the freedom of speech;
Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YOUWIN); establishing nine
federal universities across the Country; introducing the Almajiri system
of education in the academically disadvantaged Northern parts of the
country; opening up of Nigeria to the global business; opening up of
Nigeria to the global business community and becoming Africa’s number
one destination of foreign investors. In the first six month of 2014 a
total of US$9.70 billion or N1.51 trillion flowed into the national
economy as foreign direct investments (FDI); making proceeds from
Nigeria’s non-on exports to rise to $2.3Billion by the end of 2013, up
from $2.3 Billion in 2010; remodeling, beautification and
standardization of airports across the Country; arresting the outbreak
of the deadly and highly contagious Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in record
time; transforming the agricultural sector making Nigeria to reduce its
food imports over 40% as of 2013, moving the country closer to self
sufficiency in Agriculture; making Nigeria the world’s largest producer
of Cassava with an output of over 45Million metric tons in 2014
according to the food and Agricultural Organization of the United
Nations (FAO); improvement in Economic indices- in October 2011
international Ratings agency, Fitch Rating revised Nigeria’s Outlook
upwards from Negative to Stable among other achievements but his
government has been marred and over shadowed by the high level of
corruption and insecurity which have led to gross incompetence and
failure of his government since his achievements are not commensurate to
the resources claimed to have been used.
The issue of corruption has placed Nigeria in a very tight situation
because corruption leads to bad governance, insecurity, high rate of
unemployment, poor infrastructure, lack of quality education, poor
salaries among others.
When Jonathan was sworn in on 6 May 2010 as the President of Nigeria, he
cited anti-corruption, power and electoral reforms as focuses of his
administration. But his administration has rather promoted corruption
than curbed it. The basic problem Jonathan has is corruption which has
neutralized his achievements and made most Nigerians to have ambivalent
feelings toward his Transformation Agenda.
The Malabu Oil deal corruption is one of the issues that has questioned
Jonathan’s anti-corruption competency. According to The Economist of 15
June 2013, In 2011 Goodluck Jonathan’s government facilitated the
transfer of payment of $1.1Billion to a fake company set up by a
controversial former Petroleum Minister under Sani Abasha’s corrupt
regime, Dan Etete. The fake company, Malabu Oil and Gas was set up in
1998 by Etete using a false identity so as to award himself a lucrative
Oil block, OPL245, for which he paid only $2million of the $20million
legally required by the State. At the time of Jonathan’s government
helping to facilitate the transfer of payment from shell and Eni to the
fake company, Etete was already a convicted felon of money laundering in
France. The Economist further says that only $800million out of the
$1.1billon meant for Malabu Oil and Gas was even remitted by the
Nigerian government.
The Nigerian Attorney General, Mohammed Bello Adoke, who signed the
documents involved in facilitating the payments, denied the rest was
shared by public officials.
The transfer to convicted Felon, Etete, only came to public light when a
Russian lawyer that claimed to have helped Malabu negotiate a deal with
the Jonathan’s government sued in New York for a $66Million unpaid
commission. Both Shell and Eni as of September 2014 were under
investigation for corruption by the UK and Italian authorities for the
incidence.
The way which Jonathan handled the corruption act of the erstwhile
Minister of Aviation Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah who bought 2 BMW
bullet proof cars at the rate of N255miillion upset many Nigerians.
According to Punch, February 27, 2013, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina was
accused of spending up to N1billion to carry out biometric verification
for retirees, both in Nigeria and abroad. On the whole, Maina allegedly
misappropriated about N195billion, according to the Senate Pension Probe
Committee headed by Aloysius Etuk and Kabiru Gaya. This resulted in
extreme difficulties in getting money to pay thousands of pensioners
their due.
Lamido sanusi was suspended by Jonathan and later replaced as the
Central Bank Governor for leaking information that about $20billion of
petrodollars were missing from the coffers of Nigeria. And this act made
most Nigerians to lost faith in Jonathan’s government in effectively
fighting corruption.
Premium Times of March 24, 2014 reports that the Petroleum Minister,
Diezani Alison-Madueke was accused by Federal lawmakers of squandering
N10billion to charter and maintain private jet for her personal use. She
was accused of spending about N130Million Naira monthly to maintain the
aircraft, solely for her personal needs and those of her immediate
family.
Samuel Adejare, the lawmaker who raised the matter made it explicitly
clear that there was irrefutable evidence showing that the financing for
the Challenger 850 aircraft was drawn from government funds.
According to Mr. Adejare, the estimated N10billion would be “a tip of
the iceberg” as further investigation would show the minister spent far
higher.
As a result of many cases of high level of corruption in the Jonathan
government, the United States Government in 2013 indicted the President
Goodluck Jonathan led Federal Government of massive and widespread
corruption.
According to the United States Department of State, government officials
and agencies frequently engage in corrupt practices with impunity.
The former United States’ Secretary of State, Mrs. Hillary Clinton in a
public interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts, lambasted Nigerian government
saying: “They have squandered their oil wealth, they have allowed
corruption to fester and now they are losing control of parts of their
territory because they wouldn’t make hard choices”. According to her,
President Goodluck Jonathan led government is indirectly aiding
corruption to worsen the nation’s many problems.
It is evident that high level of corruption flows in Jonathan government
like moving water. This is where Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd)
is better than President Jonathan. Although Buhari also is not free from
corruption since no human being is corrupt-free. But Buhari has been
known to have the will to fight corruption and reduce its negative
impact and his level of corruption can never be equated with Jonathan
since he is far better than Jonathan in this regard.
Most Nigerians turned their backs on President Jonathan and voted
against him because his government failed to live up to the expectations
of Nigerians.
Buhari should learn great lesions from Jonathan’s mistake and should
never allow all these happen in his government. If Buhari must succeed
as a good leader, he must put the interests of Nigerians above that of
himself, his family, his party and his friends.
