Don't just open your mouth and judge us- Special Adviser

Having read the ACN and Mr. Lai
Mohammed’s predictable statement
stating that Nigerians need no
marking scheme to score the current
administration as a failure, let me
say that in no way can the duo of the
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and
the Congress for Progressive Change

(CPC) compare with the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP) neither can
their leaders compare to President
Jonathan and this is a factual
statement.
For one, it is grammatically
incorrect to even refer to a group
centered around individuals as a
party. The ACN and the CPC are
centered around individuals and it is
quite clear that without these so
called ‘National Leaders’ of these
parties, they would collapse. At best
both organizations are personality
cults not parties.
I call on Nigerians to recall that
only the People’s Democratic Party
Presidential candidate, President
Goodluck Jonathan, emerged by a
function of internal democracy in the
form of a highly contested party
primary. The presidential candidates
of the ACN and the CPC did not so
emerge. Rather, they were imposed on
those parties by their so called
National Leaders without the benefit
of primaries. It is therefore not
surprising that both parties were too
ashamed to include the word
‘Democratic’ or ‘Democracy’ in their
party’s names as there is nothing
democratic about both parties.
I further call on Nigerians to recall
that not only was President Jonathan
the only Presidential candidate that
went round the nooks and crannies of
Nigeria, visiting EVERY state, he is
also the only candidate that told
Nigerians of his plans and codified
those plans in a Document called the
Transformation Agenda which was
released publicly in the website of
the National Planning Commission
(npc.gov.ng) and has on every
anniversary of his swearing given
Nigerians an update on the
fulfillment of that agenda with time
lines and specifics. If the ACN or
the CPC have a party manifesto,
Nigerians are yet to see it.
If Mr. Lai Mohammed of the ACN now
accuses the President of increasing
the rate of unemployment in Nigeria,
perhaps Mr. Mohammed may also want to
accuse the President of bribing the
World Bank to release its statement
released this month indicating that
poverty has reduced in Nigeria
from 64.2% to 62.6%. Perhaps the ACN
can explain why according to the
United Nations Human Development
Index report Life Expectancy in
Nigeria increased from 47 years to
51 years after the first year of
President Jonathan’s ascension to
power.
Obviously, Nigeria’s population has
benefited from the micro and macro
economic policies of this
administration which includes
stabilizing the Naira at an exchange
rate of 155-160 Naira to the U.S.
dollar for the last 2 years,
 reducing inflation to a single digit
rate of 9% and growing our Foreign
Exchange to the $48 billion it stands
at today.
Farmers who constitute a majority of
our work force are now able to access
fertilizers directly from source with
the voucher system of fertilizer
procurement which cuts out the middle
man. They are also able to get their
goods to the market faster than ever
before, courtesy of the revived intra
city Rail Transit that exists
throughout the Southwest where the
ACN hold sway all the way to Kano.
Under President Jonathan, all federal
employees now benefit from the New
Minimum Wage Bill he signed into law
with all staff getting their wages in
a timely and efficient manner. Can
the ACN controlled states boast of
the same? Of course it is public
knowledge that many ACN governors
have come out publicly to say they
cannot pay the Minimum Wage, despite
receiving much more money from the
Federation Account under President
Jonathan than at any time in their
history. This however does not stop
them from sending their state
legislators and their wives on visits
to London and other exotic
destinations to ‘learn’ about
legislative functions.
President Jonathan in his efforts to
bid farewell to poverty also
increased the allowances of members
of the National Youth Service Corp
many of whom are serving in the ACN
controlled states with a higher
morale courtesy of the vision of Mr.
President.
Lai Mohammed asks how Nigeria’s 6.5%
GDP growth rate under President
Jonathan benefits Nigerians when
graduates are taking up employment as
bus drivers. This question itself
betrays Mr. Mohammed and the ACN’s
lack of understanding of basic
economic issues. Mr. Mohammed should
note that there is dignity in labour
rather than shame and that the fact
that graduates are now being employed
is better than the past when they sat
at home doing nothing. Mr. Mohammed
may also note that it was precisely
because of the steady GDP growth rate
that the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) promoted Nigeria from a Low
Income nation to a Middle Income
nation and both Fitch International
ratings and Standard and Poor’s
increased Nigeria’s rating to BB and
Positive, which paved the way for
states (particularly ACN states) to
access loans internationally at
better rates.
Finally, Mr. Mohammed and the ACN may
want take President Jonathan’s advise
and develop a Marking Scheme to use
in gauging this administration’s
performance. If Lai Mohammed had done
that, he would have been comparing
what exists today with what existed
before. Instead, he is comparing what
exists today with what never existed
before.
Today, our railways are back and
functioning and it is now possible to
travel between Lagos and Kano for
only 1500 Naira. Yesterday, there
were no railways. Today, the Life
Expectancy of the average Nigerian is
51 years. Yesterday it was 47 year.
Today poverty in Nigeria is at 62.6%.
Yesterday it was at 64.2%. Today, 93%
of all Nigerians have access to
mobile phones. Yesterday it was less
than 70%. Today, Nigeria generates
almost 4500MWs of electricity.
Yesterday we generated 2800MWs.
Today, it takes 4 hours to drive from
Lagos to Benin. Yesterday it took 9
hours. Today, Nigerian workers are
earning the New Minimum wage.
Yesterday, they were not earning it.
Today Nigeria’s crude production is
at an all time high of almost 2.5
Million Barrels Per Day. Yesterday it
had fallen to only seven hundred
thousand. Today, our domestic
refining capacity has peaked at over
10 million liters per day which is
our highest level in decades.
Yesterday we were importing almost
all our domestically consumed fuel.
Today, Nigerians now have access to
information courtesy of the Freedom
of Information Bill signed by
President Jonathan. Yesterday they
did not have that liberty.
These are verifiable facts that Mr.
Mohammed and his co travelers can use
to score President Jonathan. And so,
I repeat Mr. President’s words to
Mr. Lai Mohammed; develop your own
marking scheme and don’t access this
administration using “your
heartbeat”.
Obviously, knowing that they cannot
compete with the President on the
level of ideas, the ACN is desperate
to direct the narrative away from the
verifiable achievements the President
and his team listed during the Mid-
Term report so that the focus may be
on gutter-sniping, an area where they
have an undue advantage.