ago
President Goodluck Jonathan
yesterday denied signing an
agreement with governors elected
on the platform of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) to spend
one term in office.
He challenged those who have the
pact to produce the document.
The President spoke last night
during a Presidential media chat –
his fifth since his election in 2011-
aired on national television.
Jonathan also spoke on various
topics in the two-hour live
programme in which he fielded
questions from five journalists in
the studio. He also took questions
sent by some Nigerians.
He also spoke on the ongoing
university teachers’ strike which is
nearing the 90th day, the Boko
Haram activities and the
controversy over the death or
otherwise of its leader Abubakar
Shekau, oil theft, the state of the
economy, corruption and the sack
of some minister, among others.
Jonathan said: “I did not sign
agreement with anybody; if I had
signed an agreement, they would
have shown you.
“What I said in Ethiopia was that
should Nigerians agree to a single
term of seven years, I would not
be part of it so that they would
not say I canvassed it in order to
spend 12 years in office.
“A lot of people are misinforming
Nigerians. I was in Addis Ababa
when I advocated for this single
tenure. I said if we look at the
politics of Nigeria, especially now
that the country is just
developing…in terms of the
political evolution, we started the
First Republic, it collapsed, the
Second Republic collapsed, the
Third Republic collapsed. This is
the very first time that we have
stayed.
“So, I said if we look at the way we
go about our politics, to be
productive, definitely if a
president a tenure of seven years
of one term without any
interference, he must be
productive more than even in the
so-called eight years. I advocated
for that, people would say the
president, having completed the
late President Yar’Adua’s tenure
and another four years that make
it five years, want to serve for
another seven year single tenure,
that would make it 12 years.”
“If Nigerians agree to that single
tenure, I believe it will be more
productive for the country
because I am thinking more about
the
country. I did not say oh, Jonathan
is or not going to contest election.
I discovered that the concept of
the single tenure which I was
advocating at that time, it was
when I was interfacing with some
Nigerians in Addis Ababa, that
some said I signed an agreement.
They should show you the
agreement.”
On his 2015 ambition, Jonathan
said it is too early to declare.
He said: “We have laws in this
country and our electoral laws
regulate political activities. It gives
the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) time
frame to declare campaign open.
“My declaring early will create
more problems for the system
than solving it. A lot of people
have been holding meetings
silently but have you heard any of
them coming out to say I want to
be president or governor?”
On Boko Haram, Jonathan said it
was not caused by poverty. He
insisted that poor people cannot
afford the weapons used by the
sect.
When asked if Boko Haram’s
leader Abubakar Shekau is dead or
alive, Jonathan said: “I do not
know whether he (Shekau) is dead
or alive. I do not know him and
have never seen him before. You
cannot have clear information on
security operation.
“If he was talking regularly in the
past and suddenly stopped, there
should be speculations.”
On the cademic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) strike, the
President said politics had crept
into so many things. He said: “We
have agreed on all issues, except
transferring government’s assets
to the university.
“Until we get to that level where
universities that claim to be
autonomous are autonomous in
funding and other areas, we will
still face similar challenges.
“The earned allowances which the
lecturers are talking about are
supposed to be paid from the
Internally Generated Revenues
(IGR) of the universities. The
Federal Government cannot close
all other departments because we
want to solve ASUU problem.”
Jonathan wondered why state
universities’ lecturers should join
those in the federal universities to
embark on strike.
He said: “Is it Federal Government
that will provide infrastructure for
state universities when we say we
are in a federation? ASUU strike is
very unfortunate because the
union knows we are committed to
revamping the infrastructure.”
The President also spoke on
revenue, saying the monthly
meetings to share allocation were
not necessary.
He chided those who said the
country was bankrupt, wondering
why people play politics with
serious issues.
Jonathan said: “How can someone
say Nigeria is bankrupt? What are
the yardsticks used when Nigeria
currently has the highest Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa.
If Nigeria is bankrupt, investors
will remove their money
overnight.
“We should be mindful of what we
say as citizens. Despite all political
interests, we must take our
country first when making
statements.”
Appealing to ASUU to suspend the
strike, he said the government’s
commitment to make changes is
total but that everything cannot
be done overnight.
He said: “ We set up a team,
technical team, they visited all the
universities, all the hostels
including the toilets that we had in
the hostels, they took
photographs and videos records
and when it was present to the
executive council, I said it must be
presented to the governors.
“So , I asked the Vice President
that during the National Economic
Council meeting with the
governors, the Finance Minister is
a member, the Planning Minister,
Chief Economic Adviser to the
President and the Central Bank
Governor, the report should be
presented.
“The report was on Federal
Universities and states, we did not
go to the private universities and
we saw the enormous
responsibilities that we have as a
nation; the Vice-President could
not recognise where he learnt his
Architecture.
“I believe we can say there is
misunderstanding; definitely,
politics has come into so many
things that we do, some we
observe that the way we do
certain things I have a feeling that
something else is happening, they
may be saying something
different.
“Anybody who talked about
Nigeria being broke is just playing
politics with the issue, we should
be mindful of what statement we
make.”
He said Boko Haram did not start
in 2009 and that because it was
not handled properly at the initial
stage, it became cancerous.
He denied the allegation that the
sack of ministers has anything to
do with the aggrieved governors.
On privitasation, he said: “There is
no selective privatisation, you
cannot privatise everything the
same day.”
On power, he said: “We are not
talking about how many
megawatts. That is not the issue,
because. When we generate and
you do not have the capacity to
evacuate, then you have done
nothing.
“As at the time we were talking
about megawatt, we couldn’t
even have done more than 5500
megawatts, but We are taken the
whole chain, including the
privatisation of Gencos and
Discos.”
He said those criticising the
Petroleum Ministry are those who
want to get oil blocks or lift oil
and are not able to do so.
“They will complain. Most of the
stories are based on perception.
Some of the stories are ‘molue’
stories. We are now paying a little
less than a Trillion.”
On oil theft, he said: “When
something starts in a very small
way, if it is not checked it will
result in what we are seen now. I
can assure you that we will get it
under control. Government is also
working with other heads of
states outside Nigeria. There is no
reason why you should accept
stolen crude oil. It is not done by
poor people.”

overall complete broadcast good 1 here