– Last week Goodluck Jonathan was present at a
dinner in his honour by Cercle Diplomatique,
Geneva, Switzerland
– The immediate past president of Nigeria spoke
on his challenges and feelings during the 2015
presidential campaign and the March 28 election
– The ex leader of Nigeria is sure his decision
prevented war in Nigeria
– Jonathan expressed confidence on the bright
future of Africa
Former president Goodluck Jonathan obviously
has some tensed moments ahead of his decision
to call Muhammadu Buhari and congratulate him
.
“I was actually in that valley on March 28, 2015,” he
said, adding that he did not want Nigeria to slide
into a theatre of war.
The situation required an immediate action
“I never knew that the human brain had the capacity
for such enhanced rapid thinking. One hundred and
one things were going through my mind every
second. My country was at the verge of collapse.
The tension in the land was abysmally high and
palpable, in the months leading to the election. The
country became more polarised more than ever
before, such that the gap between the North and the
South and between Christians and Muslims became
quite pronounced
“In fact, it became so disturbing that some interest
groups in the United States began to predict indeed,
many Nigerians did buy into this doomsday prophesy
as they began to brace themselves for the worst.
“We worked hard to grow our economy and to
improve and bring Nigeria up as the biggest
economy in Africa, with a GDP of about half a trillion
dollars.”
Jonathan’s foray into politics and allure of power
“I entered politics in 1998 and, barely one year after,
I got elected as the deputy governor of Bayelsa, my
state. I later became the governor, the vice
president and, eventually, got elected as the
president of my country. I remain the only leader in
my country to have travelled that route.
“It was not an easy decision to take. Power has an
attraction so controlling and powerful that it takes a
man who has the fear of God and who loves his
people and nation to relinquish power so easily in
Africa.”
Resisting the lure of power
“I promised my God that I will not let that fate befall
Nigeria under my watch, hence the historic
telephone call I put through to congratulate my
challenger even when the results were still being
tallied. I believe that for a country to be great, both
the leaders and the led must be prepared to make
sacrifices. This is why, everywhere I go, I always
advise that the new generation of African leaders
must think differently.
“We can no longer afford to wilfully sacrifice the
blood of our citizens on the altar of dangerous
partisan politics. It is not worth it. This reminds me
of one of my campaign statements to the effect that
my ambition was not worth the shedding of the
blood of any Nigerian. Some people took it then as
mere political slogan but I knew that I meant it when
I said it.
“We must all fight for the enthronement of political
stability in Africa, for in it lies the panacea for
sustainable growth and development. For Africa to
record the kind of advancement that will be
competitive and beneficial to our citizens, we must
have stable states supported by strong institutions.
That appears to be the irreducible minimum that is
common to all developed societies. Africa’s political
odyssey can distinctly be categorised into three
eras, and probably another that would later signpost
its classification as a developed continent.”
On the difficulties ahead
“Some may doubt this, but it is no fluke that Africa
is growing and rising. However, I will admit before
you here that we still have challenges. That is why
people like us did all we could to ensure that
Nigeria, the biggest black nation on earth, would not
drift into anarchy because such a situation would
have spelt doom for the rest of the continent. It
would have affected not just Nigeria alone, but the
GDP and economy of the entire West Africa. And, if
the economy of West Africa crashes, it would
definitely affect the performance of the economy of
the whole of Africa.
“As you know, the GDP of Africa is less than three
trillion dollars, with only six African countries able to
boast of nominal GDP above $100 billion. Even for
those in this ‘elite’ category, you can’t really say that
they are rich countries. Apart from maybe South
Africa that has an industrially competitive economy,
the rest are still mainly commodity exporting
countries. Even the case of that of South Africa is
not very encouraging, because we have a situation
which we could refer to as a first world economic
performance, yet the ordinary people live the life of
the people in the so called third world.
“In the case of Nigeria which is even the biggest
economy on the continent, the reality is that we have
an unenviable per capita GDP of $3,203, which is the
World Bank average for a period covering
2011-2015.”
On Africa’s potential
“Even then, I still believe that Africa has a bright
future; a promising prognosis that is supported by
the fact that the continent remains a very fertile and
attractive territory that yields irresistible returns on
investments. I believe that in the next few years
many more big investors will be jostling to come to
Africa, if only we will do the right thing.
“The process of getting it right has already started
with a democratic and increasingly democratising
Africa. But we have to deepen and strengthen our
democratic credentials through regular, free and fair
elections. This will in turn bring about the stability
necessary to improve the infrastructure that
promotes rapid economic growth. These are the
guarantees that would lead us into the next period
which I would like to call the era of a developed
Africa. I have no doubt in my mind that we will get
there some day.”
About future plans
“First, is to work for good governance by promoting
credible and transparent elections. This will bring
about the strengthening of our institutions and the
enthronement of stability.
“I also believe that there is the urgent need to create
jobs for our teeming young population. This is
another area that will be receiving my attention.
“I believe more programmes like that (Youth
Enterprises with Innovation (YouWin) and the
Nagropreneur programme) should be established to
promote youth entrepreneurship. That way, we
reduce their reliance on paid employment. We will
not only teach them to become entrepreneurs, they
will also acquire the capacity to employ other
people. We will be paying special attention to this
segment of our society, especially young people and
women.
“As we speak, Our Nagropreneur programme, to
promote youth involvement in agriculture value
chain, is being scaled up by the African
Development Bank presently. It is already being
replicated in 19 African countries because of the
success of the programme in Nigeria.
“I am very optimistic that if we encourage young
men and women in this continent to develop
businesses of their own, the story of Africa will
change within 10 years.”
Details on Vanguard .
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