(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2618253/ForumPhotos/Goodluck-Jonathan-Namadi-Sambo-PDP.PNG)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2618253/ForumPhotos/Goodluck-Sambo-2011-Time%20for%20Transformation.PNG) In this thread, I will be sharing contents of President Goodluck Jonathan's manifesto for Nigerians and Nigeria.
President Goodluck Jonathan, the presidential flag bearer of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has his manifesto tagged "Issues" on the campaign website. The issues of concerns as conceived on the website has the following key areas that require attention in Nigeria:
• Peace
• Development
• Power
• Energy
• Transportation
• Industry
• Education
• Human Rights
More information will be posted later on the issues as listed above. Follow up and post your comment.
PEACE QuoteOnly through lasting peace can we secure life and prosperity, the foundation for all initiatives in Nigeria.
President Goodluck Jonathan believes that no Nigerian should suffer the indignity of fright or any form of violent misfortune. Every Nigerian should feel completely safe in any part of the country and visitors from abroad should be confident that Nigeria is a secure, peaceful and hospitable country.
For our security agencies, an improved training regime will be introduced alongside better equipment and more intrusive discipline. Each security formation will be held accountable for lives and property within its area of command. To increase the accountability of our security agencies, it is imperative that we enhance the civilian oversight of these agencies.
In order to promote and embed the enhanced peace and security strategy, we will work with civil society and community leaders to implement a nationwide early warning system. This will identify and address issues before they become spark plugs for mass violence.
DEVELOPMENTQuoteIt is vital to everyone in Nigeria that we accelerate the development of our agricultural sector.
The government has injected funds and initiated various programmes with the aim of boosting food production and ensuring food security for the citizens. Food security has taken a global dimension with varying degrees of severity in different parts of the world, including Nigeria therefore, agriculture is placed on the concurrent list so that it would receive adequate attention at all levels of government.
Government has shown commitment towards addressing the current food situation in the country through the introduction of different policies and programmes, such as increased funding, FADAMA and National Food Security,other initiatives are the promotion of processing and storage of agricultural products to reduce post harvest losses, development of cottage industries and support for on farm processing centres.
The President has assured that food production must increase for the country to meet the Millennium Development Goals of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.The Nigerian leader said research has opened new investment opportunities in agriculture, including the production of bio- fuels.
He commended Nigerians and developing partners for their contributions toward the transformation whilst pledging government's continued support for efforts for the sector.
President Jonathan will accelerate the improvement of transportation, education, health and services (including technical infrastructure). This will ensure that Nigerians have access to the tools required for their individual development as well as the development of their communities.
Financial reforms will be on going to solidify the productivity and growth of our economy. The introduction of economic and financial policies that will cause our economy to grow at double-digit rates is one of President Jonathan's core objectives.
President Jonathan will focus on creating more jobs, providing better goods and services so that Nigerians and all those eligible to seek employment in Nigeria will be gainfully employed. Meeting the basic and intermediate needs of Nigerians is a must.
POWERQuoteWith a constant power supply, we can strengthen our democracy and develop Nigeria's infrastructure.
President Goodluck Jonathan has reiterated that power (electricity) is essential to economic development and improved standard of living. The President has launched a power road map that clearly articulates short, medium and long term plans across the power supply chain e.g. fuel-to-power generation, transmission and distribution.
While improvements in the sector are already noticeable, President Jonathan will continue to push his team until his goal of structurally transforming the power industry is attained. This will encourage and promote private sector led initiatives in areas of power generation, capacity building, transmission and efficient distribution of power across residential homes and businesses in Nigeria.
Goodluck Jonathan wants above anything else, to be remembered for his role in bringing about constant and uninterrupted power supply in Nigeria.
From strategic and technical perspectives, President Jonathan has the right strategy together with an experienced and knowledgeable team under his direct control. Collectively, they will achieve our national objective of affordable and constant power supply in our homes, offices and factories. This will translate into job creation opportunities, improved quality of life/standard of living and electricity being available and affordable by all Nigerians.
ENERGYQuoteGoodluck has assured power failure will soon be a thing of the past.
The Energy sector witnessed a significant change since Goodluck Ebele Jonathan assumed leadership of Nigeria. Many Nigerians admit that the issue of fuel scarcity has drastically reduced in the past nine months. The President said many Nigerians were glad that there was no fuel scarcity last festive season unlike previous years. He added that this did not happen by chance but a deliberate effort by this administration to ease the pains of Nigerians. All our refineries are working, saving us huge amounts of funds spent on importation of petroleum products.
There has been a reform in the power sector and the involvement of the private sector in power generation and distribution has significantly improved power supply. The Government recently announced the test run of three power plants in Sapele and Alaoje.The Nigerian Gas sector has gone through a major repositioning lately and is now better positioned to confront the supply problem, in view of a planned capacity growth to about 4bcf/d by 2014/15.
The entrenchment of a sustainable commercial framework is beginning to manifest in a more sustainable growth in gas supply to power plants The new process for gas access will enable a faster and more transparent access to gas for IPPs - ensuring no IPP is built without an assured gas supply. However, urgent funding is required for some key pipeline infrastructure to enable delivery to the plan.
• Introduction of the Domestic Gas Supply Obligation to address short to medium term availability of gas- particularly for power.
• Review of the commercial framework for gas to stimulate investment in supply.
• Development of a streamlined process for new investors to access gas.
• Major revamp and expansion of gas infrastructure to enable flexibility of supply and better access to new power plants and other consumers.
TRANSPORTATIONQuoteIn the aviation sector, Nigeria can now boast of four airlines, all with direct flights from the United States
In the aviation sector, Nigeria can now boast of four airlines (Arik, Continental, Delta and United), all with direct flights from the United States (US) as opposed to one last year. There are also five functional international airports the US Government has approved.
The Nigerian Railway Corporation recorded another milestone as the 488 kilometer Lagos /Jebba rail line is now ready for traffic of passengers and goods.
The second section of the rail track, the Jebba/ Kano would soon be opened to traffic after the completion of the railway bridge in Akeri along the Jebba/Kano rail route.
The Federal Government in 2009 began a comprehensive rehabilitation and re-equipping of the NRC's workshops, upgrading of the signals and telecommunication equipment, Lagos/ Kano track rehabilitation, fortification of the motive power base with 25 new general electric locomotive engines from Brazil.
Others are completion of Ajaokuta/Warri rail line, rehabilitation of over 200 coaches and wagons, building of railway stations and staff capacity building across the Corporation's seven districts.
COMMERCE AND INDUSTRYQuoteReal sector growth is an imperative for Government and for Nigeria's future as a strong economic power.
Real sector growth is an imperative for Government and to achieve this, several initiatives such as the establishment of the AMCON, direct interventions in specific areas of the economy such as the N150 billion fund for the manufacturing sector and the dedication of electricity supply to industrial clusters are underway. To improve the business climate, work is being done to shorten the time for goods clearance at the ports.
In the manufacturing sector, the Government has reopened three textile mills in Kaduna that had previously been closed including the United Nigeria Textile Mills Ltd which has reopened as a result of accessing funds from the N200 billion textile industry bail out funds leading to the re-engagement of 2000 workers that were laid off when the company went out of business.
The Entertainment industry also received a 30billion naira boost.
EDUCATIONQuoteThe current government and President Jonathan have worked to allocate almost N1 trillion (N933 billion) in the proposed budget for 2011.
In the Education sector, the government has allocated almost N1 trillion (N933 billion) in the proposed budget for 2011. Prior to this time, this sector had less than a third of that amount (N249.08 billion) allocated to it last year. In addition, the Government also embarked on building one Federal University in each of the six geo-political zones for which work has already begun. The six new federal universities did not exist last year.
HUMAN RIGHTSQuoteAccess to the most basic of human rights is critical for Nigeria's future as a free and prosperous nation.
In the area of human rights, Nigerians have seen improvements. While there was tension in some parts of the North last year, this has since eased. Last Christmas, 27 soldiers serving a life sentence for an incidence some claimed was not their fault have been released and reunited with their families. Several exiles such as Nuhu Ribadu and Nasir El Rufai etc now have the liberty to be with their friends and families in Nigeria. In addition, there are NO Nigerian political exiles outside Nigeria.
The Southeast and some places in other areas were affected by the scourge of kidnappers, those kidnappers have been largely routed and normalcy has returned to the affected areas for the most part.
Source: Goodluck | Sambo | 2011 | Goodluck Nigeria | Time for Transformation (http://goodluck.org.ng/).
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT ALL THESE?