MAY 24, 2015 : TOBI AWORINDE

Convener of the Coalition of Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, in this interview with TOBI AWORINDE, evaluates the government of President Goodluck Jonathan

What do you think are the highlights of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration?

I believe, for most Nigerians, the highlight of Jonathan’s administration is the heightened terrorist activities in the country. Another is the enormous corruption, which, even by the standard of Nigeria, is unprecedented. There has never been any government in this country as corrupt, indolent and irresponsible as this government. Also, for a nation which has so many ethnic groups, religious differences, and identities, one was expecting a measure of inclusiveness. Unfortunately, Jonathan and his cabal are the most divisive set of people to have been at the top of an administration in this country.

Frankly speaking, I can’t think of anything I would regard as a positive highlight. Everything that I can think of, which I consciously or otherwise associate with this President, is terribly negative. I hope I am not disappointing you, but I have nothing positive to say about the government.

Why is corruption believed to have thrived under Jonathan’s administration, despite the checks and balances that the constitution provides?

Checks and balances only work if they are being applied to control political will. It requires a measure of sincerity for him to use the checks and balances in order to tackle corruption. Clearly, the institutions are there. Clearly, most of the checks and balances are there. But as we see, the tragedy of Jonathan and his administration is that they have nothing but contempt for Nigerians and the institutions that make up Nigeria. So, he feels he can play with everybody’s intelligence. If you are caught involved in some malpractice and you happen to be one of his favoured people, he would say, ‘No, you are not corrupt; maybe you did a little bit of stealing.’

As you mentioned, there have been several allegations of marginalisation under Jonathan, especially by the South-West and the North. What is responsible for this?

There have been deliberate efforts to marginalise certain sections of the country. The background that somebody comes from, his culture and certain things that make him tick clearly influence whatever he does: good or bad. For example, I lived in Port Harcourt for four years as a federal commissioner. I noticed that within the same broad South-South zone, there are some people you can regard as conceited. They believe that apart from their village, settlement or creeks, there are no other people who live elsewhere. I suspect that is the same attitude Jonathan has; that apart from the Ijaws, there are no other human beings and that what is uppermost in his mind is that Ijaws must be gratified or favoured in everything. Where he cannot get Ijaws, he looks for other people from the South-South, or preferably from the Igbo. Therefore, if you come from that background, it is always safe. If you have no consideration for other people other than your own, it shows. I believe that it was a tragic mistake that we had to end up with this kind of character as a president because he is so unilateral in everything he does. I don’t see how that kind of person can successfully govern a country of almost 300 ethnic groups and do justice to all. He hasn’t done that; he has failed woefully and I am not surprised that he has. Don’t forget that he worked directly under me when I was at the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission. Therefore, I know a little bit about him even before he became the acting president.

Are you saying the South-South ganged up with the South-East to marginalise other regions in the country?

If you compare man for man, the South-West has more people that are better educated with university degrees than the entire South-South. But when you look at the protocol list of the top 20 officials in the country, from the President downwards, there is only one Yoruba man. I am not trying to incite any unnecessary fears, but if all the appointees were chosen based on merit and there was no qualified Yoruba person who could be in that group of 20, I am prepared to concede. But the fact of the matter is that for every one out of those 20, there are thousands of Yorubas who are qualified but were not appointed. If you don’t call that marginalisation, then I don’t know what it is. You can make an excuse that maybe northerners like me are not educated. That was what Edwin Clark said until he had to admit at the National Conference that he was mistaken and he had become aware that the governors were also educated.

The reality is that there was a deliberate machinery set in motion to alienate certain sections of the country; the entire North and the South-West were particularly singled out for marginalisation and, to a large extent, that succeeded. Look at the economy, for instance; it is headed by a woman who started her career as a geographer that was bundled up and shipped to Nigeria to be made Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy. The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria is an Igbo man. Within the CBN, there is an agency called the Assets Management Company of Nigeria. For the most part, it has been headed by Igbo men. The Nigeria Economic Summit Group is also headed by an Igbo man. The Securities and Exchange Commission, until two months ago, was headed by an Igbo woman. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has been headed by an Igbo man.

If you look carefully, you will notice that the movers and shakers of the national economy are Igbos, and not because they are the best or the brightest, but simply because they could not find Ijaw people. Now that this so-called Coordinating Minister of the Economy has driven the economy into a ditch, we are being confronted with economic disaster for which every Nigerian, whether Igbo or non-Igbo will pay a price. We now have the highest level of unemployment in the history of this country, in addition to corruption.

Economic experts have repeatedly called for a diversification of the country’s economy. Do you think Jonathan’s government has done enough in the agricultural sector to reduce the country’s reliance on crude oil?

In all fairness, it takes a while to diversify the economy. Any talk of diversification of the national economy will have to focus on royalties or tangibles, as they say. How many people are employed in the oil sector today, compared to the number of people who are employed in the agricultural sector? Yes, oil contributes substantially to our earnings in foreign exchange. But in terms of gross domestic product, agriculture is still ahead of oil and it is the mainstay of the economy. I don’t know the latest, but when I was involved in the industry up to five years ago, I knew that the total number of people employed in the oil sector was not more than two to three million. And till now, over 60 per cent of employment in the makings of the national economy is based on agriculture. Whether we like it or not, it is agriculture that will have to be diversified for our economy to be called a diversified and balanced economy.

Secondly, it takes time to diversify any economy and when you look at oil on one hand and agriculture on the other, the two are miles apart. There is no connection between oil and agriculture. If anything, wherever you have oil exploration activity, it has the effect of destroying our soil and you cannot engage in agriculture without an enabling environment, in terms of land and water. For anyone to talk about diversification of a nation’s economy, he has to have a long-term view. It is not something a politician can do easily because if he gives himself a timeline, it would be a serious mistake. The process of diversification has many linkages and unless those linkages are understood, explored and are sincerely connected, there can be no diversification. This government has made a lot of noise about diversification of economy, but you don’t develop agriculture by making a noise about it.

What should Jonathan have done differently in tackling insecurity?

There is one word for it: merit. Since he came to office, every single key appointment in the Nigerian Armed Forces and the Nigerian security establishments like the State Security Service and the Police has been made on the basis of nepotism and corruption. For example, if you appoint an Inspector-General of Police for the purpose of manipulating elections, that is corruption. If you appoint Brigade Commanders, Battalion Commanders and General Officers Commanding, not on the basis of competence or professionalism, but on the basis of their ability to do their bidding and you then post them to areas where they will make money and perhaps, allow terrorists sponsored by the government to go scot-free, that is also corruption. If we had had the service chiefs we deserved, particularly in the Army, the situation of Boko Haram could have happened but certainly, it would not have risen to the ugly levels that we are witnessing. And I believe that if anybody is going to do anything about the security challenge, he is going to have to go back to the root of the problem.

How will Jonathan be remembered?

I don’t see him being favourably considered by history. But as far as I am concerned, he is already history. He will be remembered as the man who messed up security, the first president to be defeated in a reasonably free and fair election, and one whose government is the worst in terms of corruption.


http://www.punchng.com/politics/crossfire/history-will-not-favour-jonathan-junaid-mohammed/

Honestly dunno wato say

Senile dementia on full display.
Did Jonathan and d PDP not zone d speaker of HOR to d southwest?
Was it not Tinubu that ordered his minions in d house to dash it to their masters in d northwest who already had d post of VP?

A northern born to rule tribalist has spoken. But, in all fairness, this did'nt come as a surprise to many of us. The spokesman of the north is at it again.

I won't waste my time to read a tribalistic comment from one disgruntled old fool.

dokyOloye:
Senile dementia on full display.
Did Jonathan not zone d speaker of HOR to d southwest?
Was it not Tinubu that ordered his minions in d house to dash it to their masters in d northwest who already had d post of VP?

hmmmmmm

NDI ARA!! They have come again

Wonders shall never end. Junaid claims North was marginalised? Let us check the top six high ranking positions in the country today

0) President........................South South

1) Vice President................North

2) Senate President.............North

3) Speaker..........................North

4) Chief Justice ................North

5) President Court of Appeal........North

Jonathan established 14 brand new Universities, 10 of which were in the north

Chiwude:
A northern born to rule tribalist has spoken. But, in all fairness, this did'nt come as a surprise to many of us. The spokesman of the north is at it again.

Don't mind them, they just have that fooolish mentality, that if it is not them, then it shouldn't work

Hypertrash

Jonathan has had the opportunity of making a positive, indelible mark in the history of Nigeria, when at the helm of affairs the progress he made was not considerable.
All he did was lying to himself and his army of zombies that he's the best thing ever to happen to Nigeria, even after being booted out for incompetence.

otr1:
Jonathan has had the opportunity of making a positive, indelible mark in the history of Nigeria, when at the helm of affairs the progress he made was not considerable.
All he did was lying to himself and his army of zombies that he's the best thing ever to happen to Nigeria, even after being booted out for incompetence.

Stop lieing to yourself, and for once, tell yourself the truth

Frankly speaking, I can’t think of anything I would regard as a positive highlight. Everything that I can think of, which I consciously or otherwise associate with this President, is terribly negative. I hope I am not disappointing you, but I have nothing positive to say about the government.

Anyone who has a different opinion should convince us otherwise.

Seriously, I'm tempted to call Junaid Muhammed a mad man.
[size=13pt]
Apart from Alison Madueke (who all the haters want to crucify) which other Ijaw person is in Jonathan's cabinet? [/size]

chaberry:
Stop lieing to yourself, and for once, tell yourself the truth

Unfortunately, this is the truth;

Frankly speaking, I can’t think of anything I would regard as a positive highlight. Everything that I can think of, which I consciously or otherwise associate with this President, is terribly negative. I hope I am not disappointing you, but I have nothing positive to say about the government.

Junaid Mohammed, is this not the same man that said they will make Nigeria ungovernable for Jonathan?

Claptrap!

Chiwude:
MAY 24, 2015 : TOBI AWORINDE

Convener of the Coalition of Northern Politicians, Academics, Professionals and Businessmen, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, in this interview with TOBI AWORINDE, evaluates the government of President Goodluck Jonathan

What do you think are the highlights of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration?

I believe, for most Nigerians, the highlight of Jonathan’s administration is the heightened terrorist activities in the country. Another is the enormous corruption, which, even by the standard of Nigeria, is unprecedented. There has never been any government in this country as corrupt, indolent and irresponsible as this government. Also, for a nation which has so many ethnic groups, religious differences, and identities, one was expecting a measure of inclusiveness. Unfortunately, Jonathan and his cabal are the most divisive set of people to have been at the top of an administration in this country.

Frankly speaking, I can’t think of anything I would regard as a positive highlight. Everything that I can think of, which I consciously or otherwise associate with this President, is terribly negative. I hope I am not disappointing you, but I have nothing positive to say about the government.

Why is corruption believed to have thrived under Jonathan’s administration, despite the checks and balances that the constitution provides?

Checks and balances only work if they are being applied to control political will. It requires a measure of sincerity for him to use the checks and balances in order to tackle corruption. Clearly, the institutions are there. Clearly, most of the checks and balances are there. But as we see, the tragedy of Jonathan and his administration is that they have nothing but contempt for Nigerians and the institutions that make up Nigeria. So, he feels he can play with everybody’s intelligence. If you are caught involved in some malpractice and you happen to be one of his favoured people, he would say, ‘No, you are not corrupt; maybe you did a little bit of stealing.’

As you mentioned, there have been several allegations of marginalisation under Jonathan, especially by the South-West and the North. What is responsible for this?

There have been deliberate efforts to marginalise certain sections of the country. The background that somebody comes from, his culture and certain things that make him tick clearly influence whatever he does: good or bad. For example, I lived in Port Harcourt for four years as a federal commissioner. I noticed that within the same broad South-South zone, there are some people you can regard as conceited. They believe that apart from their village, settlement or creeks, there are no other people who live elsewhere. I suspect that is the same attitude Jonathan has; that apart from the Ijaws, there are no other human beings and that what is uppermost in his mind is that Ijaws must be gratified or favoured in everything. Where he cannot get Ijaws, he looks for other people from the South-South, or preferably from the Igbo. Therefore, if you come from that background, it is always safe. If you have no consideration for other people other than your own, it shows. I believe that it was a tragic mistake that we had to end up with this kind of character as a president because he is so unilateral in everything he does. I don’t see how that kind of person can successfully govern a country of almost 300 ethnic groups and do justice to all. He hasn’t done that; he has failed woefully and I am not surprised that he has. Don’t forget that he worked directly under me when I was at the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission. Therefore, I know a little bit about him even before he became the acting president.

Are you saying the South-South ganged up with the South-East to marginalise other regions in the country?

If you compare man for man, the South-West has more people that are better educated with university degrees than the entire South-South. But when you look at the protocol list of the top 20 officials in the country, from the President downwards, there is only one Yoruba man. I am not trying to incite any unnecessary fears, but if all the appointees were chosen based on merit and there was no qualified Yoruba person who could be in that group of 20, I am prepared to concede. But the fact of the matter is that for every one out of those 20, there are thousands of Yorubas who are qualified but were not appointed. If you don’t call that marginalisation, then I don’t know what it is. You can make an excuse that maybe northerners like me are not educated. That was what Edwin Clark said until he had to admit at the National Conference that he was mistaken and he had become aware that the governors were also educated.

The reality is that there was a deliberate machinery set in motion to alienate certain sections of the country; the entire North and the South-West were particularly singled out for marginalisation and, to a large extent, that succeeded. Look at the economy, for instance; it is headed by a woman who started her career as a geographer that was bundled up and shipped to Nigeria to be made Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy. The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria is an Igbo man. Within the CBN, there is an agency called the Assets Management Company of Nigeria. For the most part, it has been headed by Igbo men. The Nigeria Economic Summit Group is also headed by an Igbo man. The Securities and Exchange Commission, until two months ago, was headed by an Igbo woman. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has been headed by an Igbo man.

If you look carefully, you will notice that the movers and shakers of the national economy are Igbos, and not because they are the best or the brightest, but simply because they could not find Ijaw people. Now that this so-called Coordinating Minister of the Economy has driven the economy into a ditch, we are being confronted with economic disaster for which every Nigerian, whether Igbo or non-Igbo will pay a price. We now have the highest level of unemployment in the history of this country, in addition to corruption.

Economic experts have repeatedly called for a diversification of the country’s economy. Do you think Jonathan’s government has done enough in the agricultural sector to reduce the country’s reliance on crude oil?

In all fairness, it takes a while to diversify the economy. Any talk of diversification of the national economy will have to focus on royalties or tangibles, as they say. How many people are employed in the oil sector today, compared to the number of people who are employed in the agricultural sector? Yes, oil contributes substantially to our earnings in foreign exchange. But in terms of gross domestic product, agriculture is still ahead of oil and it is the mainstay of the economy. I don’t know the latest, but when I was involved in the industry up to five years ago, I knew that the total number of people employed in the oil sector was not more than two to three million. And till now, over 60 per cent of employment in the makings of the national economy is based on agriculture. Whether we like it or not, it is agriculture that will have to be diversified for our economy to be called a diversified and balanced economy.

Secondly, it takes time to diversify any economy and when you look at oil on one hand and agriculture on the other, the two are miles apart. There is no connection between oil and agriculture. If anything, wherever you have oil exploration activity, it has the effect of destroying our soil and you cannot engage in agriculture without an enabling environment, in terms of land and water. For anyone to talk about diversification of a nation’s economy, he has to have a long-term view. It is not something a politician can do easily because if he gives himself a timeline, it would be a serious mistake. The process of diversification has many linkages and unless those linkages are understood, explored and are sincerely connected, there can be no diversification. This government has made a lot of noise about diversification of economy, but you don’t develop agriculture by making a noise about it.

What should Jonathan have done differently in tackling insecurity?

There is one word for it: merit. Since he came to office, every single key appointment in the Nigerian Armed Forces and the Nigerian security establishments like the State Security Service and the Police has been made on the basis of nepotism and corruption. For example, if you appoint an Inspector-General of Police for the purpose of manipulating elections, that is corruption. If you appoint Brigade Commanders, Battalion Commanders and General Officers Commanding, not on the basis of competence or professionalism, but on the basis of their ability to do their bidding and you then post them to areas where they will make money and perhaps, allow terrorists sponsored by the government to go scot-free, that is also corruption. If we had had the service chiefs we deserved, particularly in the Army, the situation of Boko Haram could have happened but certainly, it would not have risen to the ugly levels that we are witnessing. And I believe that if anybody is going to do anything about the security challenge, he is going to have to go back to the root of the problem.

How will Jonathan be remembered?

I don’t see him being favourably considered by history. But as far as I am concerned, he is already history. He will be remembered as the man who messed up security, the first president to be defeated in a reasonably free and fair election, and one whose government is the worst in terms of corruption.


http://www.punchng.com/politics/crossfire/history-will-not-favour-jonathan-junaid-mohammed/

Indeed Gej will always be remembered when cluelessness, corruption and weakness are mentioned.

Junaid Mohammed couldn't have said it any better.

gregg2:
Seriously, I'm tempted to call Junaid Muhammed a mad man.
[size=13pt]
Apart from Alison Madueke (who all the haters want to crucify) which other Ijaw person is in Jonathan's cabinet? [/size]

Here is your answer and a quote from the interview. "If you look carefully, you will notice that the movers and shakers of the national economy are Igbos, and not because they are the best or the brightest, but simply because they could not find Ijaw people."

Frankly speaking, I can’t think of anything I
would regard as a positive highlight. Everything
that I can think of, which I consciously or
otherwise associate with this President, is
terribly negative. I hope I am not disappointing
you, but I have nothing positive to say about the government.

Absolutely sir. There is just NOTHING about this government one can say is genuinely positive.

Imagine the suffering he's decided to put Nigerians through simply because they rejected him at the polls. Dude is desperately wicked at heart.

The Shehu Shagari government too was a spendthrift, corrupt and reckless government that had a weak and clueless leader.

Human rule has been failing since the time of Adam and Eve (Psalms 146:3,4)

dokyOloye:
Senile dementia on full display.
Did Jonathan and d PDP not zone d speaker of HOR to d southwest?
Was it not Tinubu that ordered his minions in d house to dash it to their masters in d northwest who already had d post of VP?

Is it that you lack understanding? Junaid Muhammed was talking about appointive posts, not elective posts.

What is not true in that write up?

He was betrayed by pple he gave almost everything(northerners) the same pple sponsored boko haram 2 tear naija apart, Gej was weak no doubt but dos so called northern leaders crippled his government so badly...

Most of the posters dismissing Junaid's words have said the same things about Jonathan in the past week, now because this is coming from a Fulani man, it is suddenly trash.

Was Jonathan not corrupt, incompetent and sectional? Has Okonjo Iweala not led our economy to shambles leaving us no option but to borrow to pay salaries? Did Jonathan not pardon and empower militants (Tompolo), fugitives (Kashamu) and convicted criminals (Alams)?

Was Jonathan not a failure?

Hausa and Fulani people doing what they do best.

Goddex:
Wonders shall never end. Junaid claims North was marginalised? Let us check the top six high ranking positions in the country today

0) President........................South South

1) Vice President................North

2) Senate President.............North

3) Speaker..........................North

4) Chief Justice ................North

5) President Court of Appeal........North

Jonathan established 14 brand new Universities, 10 of which were in the north

This is just the top five leadership position held by just the North west zone apart from the President. In the military and para-military, the under listed was how the positions were shared during GEJ's first tenure.

1) Minister of Defence: South West.

2) Chief of Defense: North-Central.

3) Chief of Army Staff: South-East.

4) Chief of Air Staff: North-East.

5) Chief of Navy Staff: South-South.

6) I.G of Police: North-West.

7) Director General SSS: South-South.

Compt. General Customs: North West.

9) Compt. General Immigrations: South East.

10) Compt. General Prisons: North-Central.

11) Compt. General Civil Defence: South-West.

History will favour Jonathan Ebele Goodluck But will be cruel to Junaid Mohammed. So shall it be.

Chiwude:
A northern born to rule tribalist has spoken. But, in all fairness, this did'nt come as a surprise to many of us. The spokesman of the north is at it again.

^^^Notice how he was subtly trying to curry favor of the Yoruba! He wants to get them onside in the ongoing 'battle' to wrest power from the SE/SS! They've succeeded to some extent (they've got back the political power) with the help of some of their Yoruba allies like Tinubu; but there's still a bit more work to be done before the northern hegemonic and feudalistic oligarchs can relax and proclaim Uhuru; economy, administrative and public-service power still need to be consolidated!

Now i have a question for anyone who buys into this mans assertion that GEJ favoured and wilfully appointed Ndigbo and Ijaw to marginalize and slight the Yoruba and North: can you tell me how this action benefitted Ndigbo? I want facts and figures to prove your point that Ndigbo and Ijaw used the appointments to these offices to gain an unfair advantage materially and economically to the detriment of the Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani!

Sweetguy25:
Hausa and Fulani people doing what they do best.

^^^......Setting the cat amongst the pigeons!

You have to admit, the core muslim north have excellent form in this regard! They've been at it since the 60s, and are even getting better and better sef! With just a little wheeling and dealing here and there, the Hausa/Fulani have the power to reduce the entire south to little more than a chaotic family scene from an episode of Fuji House Of Commotion!