The presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the March 28, 2015 election, Goodluck Jonathan, has pledged to build on the foundation his administration has laid in the last four years, to deliver growth, prosperity, peace and justice for all, adding, “We are ready to take Nigeria to the next level.”
The pledge was contained in a document titled, ‘My Vision for Nigeria’, a copy of which was made available to BusinessDay.
Jonathan said the next four years would afford him the opportunity to ensure that Nigeria makes a quantum leap in the areas of security, education, health-care delivery, economy, agriculture, economic diversification and wealth creation.
He also promised that infrastructure, jobs, wealth creation, governance and public sector management would be greatly given more attention.
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The President, who noted that his administration has faced unprecedented challenges in the area of security, particularly from the activities of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, expressed satisfaction with the ongoing campaign by the military to put the insurgents to rout.
Exuding confidence, he said: “In the next four years, we will build on the progress we have made so far. Our military efforts, both domestic and through international cooperation has enabled us make progress in our fight against Boko Haram. We will expand and intensify our military presence in the affected region and communities to ensure that we leave no gaps for Boko Haram to take advantage in the future. We will continue to equip the military and other security agencies to meet the security challenges of modern Nigeria.”
The PDP standard bearer, who also reeled out his administration’s achievements in the area of economy in the last four years, said if returned to power, “we shall rebuild our reserves, shore up the value of the Naira, grow our economy, and create wealth.”
According to him, “We will diversify our sources of revenue and make Nigeria less dependent on oil. We will build on the progress we have made on non-oil revenues sources and move from the current 70:30 ratio to 60:40 for oil and non oil government revenues, respectively.
“While respecting the autonomy of CBN, I have directed the monetary and fiscal authorities to work together to enhance our macroeconomic stability, especially price stability.
“We will work with the states to strengthen savings in the Excess Crude Account (ECA), increase investments in the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) and continue to maintain healthy foreign exchange reserves.
“We will continue to increase the short and long term access to finance to critical sectors of the economy, including agriculture, manufacturing, solid minerals; housing and construction etc and address the long term finance challenges in the economy through deepening our financial system.”
“Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) will continue to receive special attention as they account for over 45 percent of Nigeria’s GDP and employs over 60 percent of the workforce. We shall revitalise the insurance sector to ensure it fulfills its huge potential, expand the level of risk businesses can undertake, and expand insurance sector jobs from the current 30,000 to 300,000,” Jonathan said.
President Jonathan from Otuoke in Bayelsa State in South-South geo-political zone, whose first tenure ends on May 28, 2015, is seeking re-election. He is however, facing a fierce competition from a retired military general and one time head of state, Muhammadu Buhari, candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).
The presidential election comes up on Saturday after it was postponed in February owing to security reasons. Analysts say the election is too close to call.
ZEBULON AGOMUO
