TO understand the Jonathan Presidency, we must return to its roots in the Yar’Adua era and trace developments therefrom. The Yar’Adua presidency at its inception announced a seven-point agenda, focusing on key issues of power and energy, Niger Delta, land reform, national security, wealth creation and employment, transportation, and food security and agriculture. The objective according to the then President was to reduce poverty in a country where more than 70% of the 150 million population lives below the poverty line, on less than a dollar per day, ensure peace in the troubled Niger Delta region, achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals, and fast-track the country’s development process. President Yar’Adua in a remarkable show of candour also admitted publicly that the 2007 elections which brought him and others to power was indeed flawed and that there was an urgent need for electoral reform to which his administration was committed. This raised a critical question of legitimacy but whereas Nigerians may have been suspicious of the PDP’s performance in the 2007 elections, they seemed willing to give the new administration a chance.

It was the first time since 1960 that two university graduates would take charge of the reins of power at the top.  This in a way underscored the importance Nigerians attach to education, but the output from the administration would end up a telling comment on Nigerian university education. President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had a Master’s degree in Analytical Chemistry, he had worked as a college teacher, and in his early days, he had been a fire-brand Marxist, one of the radicals from the North despite the aristocracy of his pedigree. He had also served in Katsina state as Governor for eight years. He was 56. His Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan, 50,  had a Ph.D, had also been a college teacher, worked in a development agency, and served as Deputy Governor and Governor. The duo may not have been the best leadership materials that the country could have at the time but it was assumed in many quarters that they would understand the issues at stake and go to work in the public interest.

The first signs of trouble had occurred long before Yar’Adua took office, but more trouble became evident when the administration could not put a cabinet together on time, and when it did, it was an uninspiring team, many of whose members were meeting the President for the first time. The new Federal Government also displayed much indecisiveness as it found itself in a difficult situation whereby early policy decisions were soon reversed and so much intra-governmental dissonance was advertised. The most celebrated in the latter regard was the announcement of a redenomination of the Naira policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which the Presidency claimed it had no knowledge of, and which it ordered Charles Soludo, then CBN Governor to reverse; his complaints that he was backed by the CBN Act notwithstanding. Senior government officials routinely contradicted each other, showing a seeming lack of direction.

Posted by admin on Dec 19 2010. Filed under Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry