President Goodluck Jonathan replied
yesterday to calls for the probe of his administration. He said any
probe by the incoming Muhammadu Buhari administration should not be
limited to his administration.
The other administrations include those
of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (1998-1999), former President Olusegun
Obasanjo (1999-2007) and the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (2007-2010).
Jonathan said such probe should cover
how oil wells and fields were allocated in the past.
Limiting the probe to his
administration, he said, will amount to witch hunting.
Said Dr Jonathan: “Some people are even
calling for the probe of this government. I agree in Nigeria there are a
number of things that we will probe, very many things. Even debts owed
by states and this nation from 1960 up to this time, they say it is
Jonathan’s administration that is owing all the debt.
“I believe that anybody calling for
probe must ensure that these probes are extended beyond the Jonathan
administration; otherwise, to me, it will be witch hunting. If you are
very sincere, then it’s not just the Jonathan’s administration that
should be probed.
“A number of things have gone wrong and
we have done our best to fix them. The Attorney General is aware of
massive judgment debts. If we aggregate all of them, it’s almost going
to $1 billion. How did we come to this kind of huge judgment debts?
“These issues should be probed. How do
you allocate our oil wells, oil fields, marginal wells and all that; do
we follow our laws? All these should be probed. And I believe all these
and many more areas should be looked at.”
According to him, the fuel scarcity and
workers’ strikes are acts of sabotage by those bent on bringing down his
administration, despite having few days to go.
Jonathan said: “Even this last fuel
scarcity, to me, one can clearly say it was an act of sabotage. This
government has few days to go. That is definitely not the time you
expect massive strikes, using marketers and unions; unions asking for
increase in salaries at a time oil price has dropped and volumes have
dropped.
“None of the International Oil Companies
(IOCs) is increasing salaries but our unions wanted 11 per cent
increase in allowances and so on and so forth and went on strike.
“There was 21 days reserve in this
country. It is not as if we had no products but they just refused to
lift. Diesel was deregulated long ago, so the issue was not the product
but people who felt they must bring this government to its knees even
when they know that we had few days to leave. But we thank God we are
getting over it and God will see us through.”
The President also stressed that his
administration had done its best for Nigeria.
His words: “One thing that is clear, I
enjoyed working with all of you. I’m very pleased with all of you. I
want to thank all of you for your various contributions to the
development of our country. I want to thank those that have been with
us, the Advisers, Special Senior Assistants, the secretariat, other
senior government functionaries, including the media that covered
proceedings every Wednesday.”
“As a cabinet, we have tried our best. I
believe we have done well under a very difficult situation. There are a
lot of criticisms; people say different things at different times. Some
of those who make some statements know they are purely political.
“I have always throw, the challenge that
those who criticise us should compare what we have done in the various
sectors to what others have done. I may not need to enumerate but if you
look at the rail system and what we have done within this period, the
oil sector where there has been so much attack, one good thing we did
was the Nigerian content law that revolutionised the oil industry.”
He went on: “There were a lot of
fabrication going on in Lagos and other places but it was never like
this before. Nigerians are playing key roles in the oil sector. People
sometimes forget this. Even with that, maybe we have offended some
people but the Nigerian local content has really helped so many
Nigerians to play big in the oil sector.”
“The agriculture, power sectors and
maybe in foreign relations, like the Minister of Foreign Affairs
mentioned, from 1960 to date, we have been members of the Security
Council as non-permanent members five times; out of these five times,
two times was with the five years of our administration.”
“We have been an independent nation for
years and we have been in the United Nations Security Council as
non-permanent members five times, two within this administration. That
shows clearly that the rest of the world appreciates our little
contributions to global issue.”
“In education, the road system; we have
added Kasambilla to our dams; we have done wonderfully well in sports
within this period. Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and, of
course, the financial inclusion within this period is more than ever
before. I can go on and on and mention almost all the sectors. So I
believe we have done our best ýand Nigerians will continue to assess
us,” he said.
“Even though we operated under an
extremely difficult situation, maybe because politics in Nigeria is just
maturing, we witnessed the longest ASUU strike. I don’t think we have
ever witnessed a strike that lasted for six months and we believe that
that strike was partially politically-motivated; otherwise lecturers
cannot troop out for six months.
“There were the terror attacks. We know
Boko Haram predates this administration but immediately after the
elections, I believe because of local and external factors, they became
very vicious, extremely destructive, killing people and destroying
properties.”
The President said that the cabinet will
be dissolved at the end of all official functions today.
He said: “But remember we still have a
programme tomorrow; the government is not ending today. We have the
formal handover process tomorrow and you must come as ministers of the
Federal Government. I’m saying so because of the media; the cabinet has
not been desolved.
“This is only a valedictory session
because this is the last Wednesday. We will certainly formally dissolve
the cabinet. But today, the cabinet has not been dissolve because
ministers are yet to hand over and that ceremony will come up tomorrow,
and you will come for tomorrow’s dinner as ministers of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.”
“We will probably have a little meeting
here where we will formally dissolve the cabinet but all these
programmes coming up tomorrow you have to attend as ministers.”
Vice President Namadi Sambo, who set the
ball rolling during the valedictory, thanked the President for the
confidence reposed in him over the years.
He noted that he never lobbied to be
Jonathan’s running mate both in 2011 and the 2015 presidential
elections.
He said: “His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck
Ebele Jonathan found me worthy to be his running mate twice, first in
2011 when we were returned with an overwhelming majority to emerge
victorious at the election and in 2015 where we encountered some
electoral misfortune.
“I can recall confidently that I had
neither canvassed nor lobbied to be appointed the Vice President at any
point in time, except that Mr. President found me worthy to support him
in steering the ship of state. This is a clear demonstration and proof
of the confidence Mr. President reposed in me in the discharge of my
onerous responsibility of my office to the best of my ability.
“I am privileged and humbled to be found
worthy to be the Vice President of this great nation by a great leader,
democrat, peace ambassador and patriot of our time.”
He praised other members of FEC for what
he called their monumental service to the country and their collective
spirit to serve their fatherland.
Sambo pointed out that the
administration came into being at a difficult time but through the
effort of Jonathan, especially in electoral reforms that allowed the
conduct of free, fair and credible elections and his concession of
defeat as an incident, showed the President’s exemplary spirit of
sportsmanship.
Recalling Jonathan’s declaration that
his ambition was not worth a drop of any Nigerian’s blood, Sambo said
Jonathan’s action had put Nigeria firmly on the global map of democracy.
All the ministers commended the
leadership style of President Jonathan as they expressed gratitude
for the opportunity to serve.
The Minister of State for Niger Delta
Affairs, Awal Bappa, predicted that Jonathan would return to office in
2019 following the footsteps of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and
Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, who returned to office decades after they
were heads of state.
According to her, the only difference
will be that Jonathan would wait only for four years rather than decades
before coming back.
Minister of Defence, Lt.-Gen. Aliyu
Gusau (rtd), concurred with Bappa that Jonathan will indeed be back to
office as president “soon”.
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