ABUJA (SundiataPost) – President Goodluck Jonathan has admitted that the twin problem facing the country were insecurity and corruption, adding that the only way the war against corruption could be won was by strengthening institutions to ensure that those caught were made to face the wrath of the law.
He said a situation where people were arrested and paraded on television and given media hype and yet nothing happens was only celebrating corruption, assuring that his administration was making efforts to tackle the challenges.
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Jonathan said this at a special New Year service at the Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Area 1, Garki, Abuja, where he worshipped alongside his mother, Eunice, his children, members of National Assembly, some members of his cabinet and his aides.
Jonathan, while admitting that a nation without a vision was directionless, said, “There are two main problems confronting us as a nation: the issue of insecurity in the North where we have Boko Haram terrorists and in the South where we have commercial kidnapping. The next thing people worry about after security is the issue of corruption.
“We are coming out with programmes and plans to clean up. These are things that you don’t just use magical wand to wave off, otherwise even before I became a President, there wouldn’t have been corruption in Nigeria.
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“It is not just about shouting corruption. It is not about looking at one person, arrest the person and show him on television.
“It is about stregthening institutions and coming up with credible plans to make sure that anybody who gets involved with corruption, the system must have a way of detecting him and punishing him.
“Until you set such a system on ground, you cannot talk about eradicating corruption, you will just be celebrating corruption.”
The President, speaking on security challenges, said his administration’s efforts backed by prayers of Nigerians resulted in the relatively peaceful festive period.
“You would have noticed that from Christmas to New Year, at least, it has been calm. It did not happen by accident.
“It happened because you have been praying for this country and the government has also been doing something. We do not need to announce what we are doing.
“With your prayers, we will surely get there, We will continue to come up with programmes that will help the ordinary people.
“The same way we won the war against Ebola, we shall win the terror war,” he said.
On the 2015 elections, the President described the new year as a turning point in the history of the country because of the forthcoming general elections.
He said, “2015 is a turning point because of elections. Some people will not mind if half of the country get burnt because of their ambition.
“I always say that we must have a country first, we must have a people first before talking about ambition.
“We must pray that God should give us the wisdom to do things with some decorum and we should not compromise the lives of the people for ambition.
“I always say that my ambition and the ambition of any politician for that matter is not worth the blood of the smallest Nigerian.”
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Agreeing with the the Senior Pastor of Dunamis Church, Dr. Paul Eneche’s sermon titled ”The life of vision”, Jonathan admitted that no nation can move forward without proper vision.
He said before now, the country had at different times been administered based on 25-year and five-year plans before the annual budget system was adopted.
He said after sometime, things collapsed and the government was being run on emergency basis.
The President said the old days when government was run with vision would be revisited.
“For you to achieve anything, you must have a clear vision. Even if you look at what we have been doing as a nation, you will really see that before this time when the country used to have this 25 years plan, the budget was based on 25 years clear plan for the country. So you know where you are going for 25 years.
“Then it was broken down into 5 years plan and annual budget and we knew where we were going.
“But after sometimes, things collapsed and we run government on emergency basis and you see government start wobblling.
“We are going back to those good days when we have vision. We have plan for agriculture, we have plan for industry, we have plan for automobile and many other areas.
“If you have a vision, any proposal that comes in, no matter how good they are, must fall into your vision for it to go through. With your prayers, surely as a nation, we will get to where our vision will take us to.
“Having passed school through school and being in government for quite sometime, I have realised that for you to achieve anything, you must have a clear vision.
“If you have a clear vision, even if you don’t get the exact target, you will get something close to the target,” he added.
Earlier, Dr. Enenche, in his sermon said the way one begins the New Year determines how they would end it.
While saying that the quality of a foundation determines the integrity of a building, Enenche said the quality of the year would be determined by the foundation laid by individuals.
He admonished that a clear definition of a destination is a clear requirement of a successful journey.
“If you don’t know where you are going, you may not like where you will end. Vision is a clear picture of a preferred future. To live by chance is to end by chance”.
On the importance of following the right principle in order to get the right result, the cleric said, “God is not a respecter of person. Either you know Him or not, if you follow the right principle, you will get the right result.
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“Pastors go on holiday in Dubai without considering religion in as much as they get excellence. Nobody cares about your religion, sex or ethnic group, once you do it well”, he said.
The prayers were said for the country, the forthcoming elections, for the war on terror to be won.
The highlight of the service was when Dr. Eneche and an 11 year-old David, did a special song with the saxophones, special choir rendition among others.