ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDPPCO) has said that no amount of cynicism by the All Progressives Congress (APC) can undo the achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan during his first term in office.
In a statement signed by its Director, Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, the PDPPCO said, “Since there are some people in this country, especially members of the APC, who are perpetually trying to drown facts in their pool of cynicism, it is important to let them know that no amount of cynicism on their part can undo the achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan during his first term in office.
“In the Power Sector, for instance, it is important to remind Nigerians that before President Jonathan came on board as the leader of this country, the total amount of power generated nationwide stood at 2,550 megawatts. Today the amount of power being generated is over 4,500 megawatts and is still growing.
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“It is also important to recall that the Jonathan administration unbundled the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) into 18 companies for greater efficiency and effectiveness in power generation and distribution.
“Furthermore, President Jonathan re-instated the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). The NERC is responsible for providing appropriate regulatory oversight for the electricity market in Nigeria.
“Equally worthy of note is the creation of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET Plc). NBET Plc provides confidence to the power generating companies that they will be paid for power produced.
“In 2012, President Jonathan embarked on a massive rural electrification project involving over 300 communities. As at December 2014, over 190 communities have been connected while the remaining areas are still under-construction with a completion target date of December 2015.
“Nigerians in the rural areas whose lives and businesses have been touched by President Jonathan’s rural electrification drive know first-hand that Mr President’s Transformation Agenda is working.
“Additionally, the Jonathan-led Government is partnering the global electricity leader, General Electric. The partnership will see General Electric investing up to 15 percent equity in power projects in Nigeria in order to achieve a target of 15,000 megawatts capacity by 2020. Generic Electric is also committed to setting up in Nigeria a packaging facility for aero-derivative turbines which will provide well over 5,000 jobs.
“Moreover, few Nigerians are aware that the Exim Bank of the United States of America has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the President Jonathan-led Government to provide an investment window of up to $1.5BN for investors who are willing to invest in the Nigerian Power Sector. Never has such a huge amount of money been set aside by the US Exim Bank for investment in a specific sector in Africa.”
On agriculture, the PDPPCO said, “It is no longer news that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) formally presented Nigeria with an award for achieving the Millennium Development Goal on Hunger three years ahead of the 2015 target date set for the Millennium Development Goals.
“What may be news to some Nigerians is the fact that, under President Jonathan’s leadership, Nigeria has achieved a record 60 percent sufficiency in rice production. Now, to appreciate the significance of this, the FAO has said that Nigeria’s achievement is capable of raising world rice output to a record level this year.
“To further put this in perspective, consider that Nigeria’s food production has expanded by 21 million metric tons; over three million new farm jobs have been added and, of the utmost importance, Nigeria’s food import bill has declined from 1.1 trillion naira (6.9 billion dollars) in 2009 to 684.7 billion naira (4.35 billion dollars) by December 2013, and is still declining.
“These feats were not achieved without careful planning and leadership. Take for example that in 2013 the President Jonathan-led Federal Government provided the leadership and policy direction which led to 14 new rice mills, with capacity to process 240 metric tons of rice, being set up by the private sector. The Government further secured a sum of 1.2 billion dollars to install 100 large scale rice processing mills capable of producing 2.1 million metric tons of rice annually.
“Let’s not forget also that the President Jonathan-led Government has implemented a self-employment initiative under the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP) called the Nagropreneur programme. By the end of this year, over 750,000 young Nagropreneurs will be engaged in commercial agriculture as entrepreneurs.
“Lest the facts be lost to history or some people’s pool of cynicism, Nigerians should recall that the Jonathan administration took only 60 days to bring about a total revolution in Nigeria’s fertiliser distribution system.
“It is on record that under the old system only 11 percent of Nigerian farmers received fertilisers. The ‘political farmers’ got the greater bulk of the fertilisers, leaving the real farmers to wring their hands in despair. Today fertilisers go straight to the farmers—not to any government ministry and not to middlemen.
“Another fact that is not well publicised is that before President Jonathan, there were only five seed companies in Nigeria. Today there are about 350 seed companies in Nigeria. If that is not transformation, we would like to know what it is.”
