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It is not in dispute that the Federal Government under the indefatigable President Jonathan has made considerable progress with its growth and localism agendas. New tools have been added of late to the regeneration tools kit of the present administration by development which has spread across every sector and further shaped plans for the future.
President Jonathan took over from his predecessor who died by twist of fate with his boots on. His first task though onerous was to restore the health of the ailing economy by dint of hard work . To improve standards of living and free Nigerians from the shackles of poverty , unemployment, poor health etc economic growth was deemed absolutely necessary and this he fought with dogged determination by making Nigeria rise from behind to become the largest economy on the continent, a rare feat which Nigeria has never dreamt of under his predecessors.
With a strong national economy further strategies were put in place by our economy experts to encourage locally-driven growth that is sustainable and fair, encouraging business investment and promoting economic development, thanks to Dr Ngozi Iweala, a globally renowned Nigerian the Finance Minister, who is also the Coordinating Minister of the Nigerian Economy.
Dr Ngozi Iweala saw the need to employ a new approach by ensuring that local economies prosper, that parts of the country previously over-reliant on public funding see a resurgence in private sector enterprise and employment; and that everyone gets to share in the resulting growth. The dividends of this economic wizardry gave us a new status on the continent after a re-basing calculation of our GDP. This is a remarkable achievement that would be talked about for a long time to come. Her economic policies breathed economic life into sectors that were previously untapped thereby reducing the load of unemployment in the country. An estimated 1.6 million jobs we reliably gathered was created by the Federal Government in 2013.
The Transformation Agenda by President Jonathan has in deed worked miracles by removing barriers that hinder local ambitions, providing targeted investment and reform to strengthen the infrastructure for growth and regeneration and to support the most vulnerable, Nollywood the Nigerian Film Industry today, for instance , is a huge employer of labour and foreign exchange earner for Nigeria. In fact this has all been about widening opportunities, growing the local economy, and improving people’s lives.
This administration has been freeing up places to grow their economies by providing powerful incentives for delivery. Following the elimination of middle men fertilizers, I have it on good authority , are now sold directly to farmers by the Federal Government and over 6 million farmers we reliably gathered benefit from this scheme annually thereby giving us a thriving agro-based economy. A clear departure from Obasanjo’s Operation Feed The Nation and Shehu Shagari’s Green Revolution Programmes which did not yield any fruitful dividend. Before President Jonathan our food import bill was astronomically high and this stood at N1.1 trillion but today it has reduced drastically to N680bn!
It is not in dispute that the Federal Government has continued to help rebalance growth across the country except the north eastern flank being ravaged by bloody insurgency. Men, they often say are the architects of their misfortunes. Militancy has greatly impeded development in that parts of the country that is why the armed militants must lay down arms and embrace peace in order to benefit from this rare opportunity provided by President Jonathan’s on-going Transformation Agenda. This will allow for rehabilitation , reconstruction and connect the embattled north eastern province to growth and opportunities nearby. A word , it is said, is enough for the wise.
Iyoha John Darlington , aka Lington Donovan writes from Turin, Italy.
Email: jamestmichael2003@yahoo.com