…Boasts of Sound, Competent Economic Team
…Pursued Policies Rewarding to the People
…Offered Focused Leadership Via Institutional and Sectorial Reforms
…Inflation Tamed at Single Digit With Price Stability
…Brought Nigeria to Number one Foreign Direct Investment Destination on the Continent
By Chibuike Nwabuko
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – Former President Goodluck Jonathan has used the opportunity provided by the Peoples’ Democratic Party’s non-elective convention to react to some issued raised by the APC-led federal government against his administration.
Sundiata Post recalls that the APC government led by President Muhammad Buhari has at several public fora, argued that Nigerian economy would have performed worse if PDP had remained in Power beyond 2015.
While reacting to this canvassed view, Jonathan said, “This couldn’t
have been the case, because we had a sound economic team in place,
managing the economy.
He recalled the great floods of 2012 that
was a major calamity that damaged homes and farmlands on the plains of
River Niger and Benue. But reminded that despite the devastating effect of this
natural disaster, there was no food shortages or arbitrary increase in
prices, because of what his administration was able to accomplish with its Agriculture Transformation Agenda, which considerably boosted food production.
Jonathan said his administration was able to rekindle hope in the people and regained international goodwill because his government pursued a number of policies and programmes that were not only richly rewarding for our people, but are also being copied by many countries across the globe.
Former President said, “as a government we provided focused leadership, through institutional and sectoral reforms which impacted positively on the fundamentals for growth, especially in the last four years of our time
in power”.
He continued: “The effect was that we tamed inflation at a single digit,
maintained price stability, grew the economy to become the largest in
Africa with a GDP of over half a trillion US dollars, and the number one foreign direct investment destination on the continent.
Jonathan who said his agricultural transformation agenda
rapidly transformed key agricultural value chains, boosted local
production, and created a new generation of young commercial farmers
and agriculture entrepreneurs that were proudly identified as Nagropreneurs, stressed that one very remarkable achievements of the reform his government introduced was that
it ended decades of fertiliser sector corruption through electronic
wallet system.
Former President who alluded to the acceptability and workability of the reform said, “Since then, its success has continued to resonate outside our shores.
Adding that the programme is not only being scaled up by the African Development Bank, but is already being replicated in close to 20 African countries.
He reminded that a contract has just been awarded to Cellulant, a Nigerian IT solutions firm, to export the e-wallet system which his administration conceived, to Afghanistan. Emphasising that this is in deed, a good
development for our country.
Jonathan said that the Afghanistan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and
Livestock contracted Cellulant in their bid to establish a market-based input distribution technology, might have
been inspired by his administration’s successful deployment of the
e-wallet technology to increase food production.
While arguing that there was no way the economy under PDP would have nosedived given it’s formidable team and articulate policies, Jonathan informed that the “Youth Enterprises with Innovation (YouWin) designed to turn thousands of youths into entrepreneurs and employers of labour, has been endorsed by the World Bank for replication in other developing countries.
He also said that ECOWAS Commission expressed interest in partnering with Nigeria with a view to establishing an automotive policy for the sub-region, in line with his administration’s auto industry development policy, which led to the establishment of many vehicle
assembly plants, including indigenous companies.
Jonathan maintained that PDP should be celebrated for the fact that it introduced key policies that improved governance, enhanced welfare, boosted and
stabilized the economy of our great country, and above all, that the party PDP, provided a leadership that gave our
Nigerians hope.