President Goodluck Jonathan has urged Nigerian youths not to allow themselves be used for any electoral violence in the April general elections saying no politician, including himself and Vice President Namadi Sambo, was worth the blood of anybody.
Speaking during the presidential campaign in Akwa Ibom State, at the Uyo Township Stadium, President Jonathan said the time had come to think of creating jobs for the youths and not to kill them during electoral violence.
“We have a young population that we must create jobs for and not to plan to dig graves and give them mass burial. Nobody gains when people are being killed. If the violence happening in Asia should happen to us, we will all be consumed,” he said.
He maintained that the government was keen on turning around the fortunes of Nigeria, saying “neither our ambition or any other person is worth your blood. Say no to violence. You don’t have to kill to protect your vote; all you need to do is wait, follow INEC guidelines, vote and wait at the polling station for the votes to be counted. Your agent will announce your result.”
Speaking on the efforts of the government in tackling the problem of power, President Jonathan said, “I don’t want to be giving deadlines but what I can assure you is that after four years, power will be taken for granted,” adding that Nigerians would be disappointed if the state of electricity was allowed to remain the same at the end of the administration.
The president said, “it is power that drives agriculture and small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in other countries” reassuring Nigerians that his government would not dissapoint on the delivery of power.
President Jonathan who emphasised the importance of quality education in the overall development of any nation said “before you can change people, you must first educate them,” noting that the lack of education explained why abandoned gigantic projects abound in the country due to lack of trained hands.
“Akpabio is a good example of what Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government can do,” he said assuring that if voted into office for the next four years “Nigeria will go beyond producing and exporting crude oil but will also export refined products. We have no reason to keep importing petrol and kerosene. The downstream activities create jobs and we intend to invest in them,” he said, adding that mobility was a major factor in the transformation of any nation.
While commending Godswill Akpabio, governor of Akwa Ibom State for his transformational efforts in the state, Jonathan urged other governorship aspirants to put on hold their governorship aspiration to enable Akpabio complete the good works he had begun in the state.
In the same vein, the president has promised the people of Cross River State of a coastal road and a coastal rail line to facilitate transportation within the Niger Delta region and beyond.
Speaking at the Goodluck/Sambo 2011 presidential rally in Cross River State at the U.J. Esuene Stadium, Calabar, Jonathan disclosed that the Federal Government had embarked on a series of intervention programmes to create jobs and wealth including the transportation project, which are expected to address challenges faced by the people. He added that the programmes would not only impact on the economy of the region but also improve the well-being of Nigerians.
Goodluck, who disclosed that the mission of the present government was to create jobs and wealth and not to create disunity, said many intervention programmes had been carried out in many areas to improve the economy.
The president further said the programmes included an aggressive focus on the power sector as well as moves to improve the medium scale enterprises and agriculture through mechanisation to impact on the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
President Jonathan explained that the recently passed Petroleum Law was expected to create jobs with emphasis on the local content component in the oil and gas sector as the proposed petro- chemical industry was aimed at adding value to the economy as well as address the problem of youth unemployment in the area while soft loans would be injected into the industrial sector to revamp it as well as create jobs and wealth.
He disclosed that N50 billion has been earmarked as fund for roads rehabilitation expected to be handled by indigenous civil engineers as a way of creating jobs while a robust programme has been put in place to tackle gully erosion.
Referring to Cross River as Nigeria’s “living life” in tourism, Jonathan commended the state for embarking on an aggressive tourism programme and assured to work with the state government to patronise Obudu Ranch Resort to attract international dignitaries, adding that the duo would also continue to work and bring major investments to Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort to avoid it lying waste.
On the issue of Bakassi, the president promised to engage the services of the National Boundary Commission (NBC) to get the area properly delineated while assuring the people of more Federal Government presence to create a sense of belonging. Speakers after speakers who spoke at the rally reassure the president of a 100 per cent vote from the state promising to re-enact the feat achieved by Akwa Ibom state delegates at PDP presidential primaries in Abuja, in January this year.
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