As if realising the dismal rating of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in the eyes of Nigerians, Minister of Information, Labaran Maku has appealed to Nigerians to bear with his boss because two years are insufficient to turn the country around.
Speaking on Friday while delivering a lecture entitled Sector’s Perspective of the Transformation Agenda at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Jos, Plateau State, Maku urged Nigerians to be patient with the president in his bid to transform the country. He appealed that the administration should not be judged yet as it is nascent and has a long way to go.
According to Maku, the Jonathan administration inherited many uncompleted projects, many of which were abandoned and therefore require time to complete.
“I call on Nigerians to exercise more patience with this administration and its transformation agenda because we are doing our best to see that the country is transformed,” he said.
“President Goodluck Jonathan met a lot of abandoned projects on ground, and will need much time to put back those projects to proper use.
“The rail lines have been abandoned for over 20 years; education sector in total decay; even the agricultural sector that is supposed to create millions of jobs was malfunctioning. So, with all these, how can you then use just two years of this government to assess its performance?”
Maku argued that the Federal Government is doing a lot to ensure that Nigerians are provided with better infrastructure and social developments that would enhance their standard of living.
Listing government’s priority as provision of employment opportunities through the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), improvement of standard of education at all levels, and construction of roads, he said the government is making efforts to revamp the Zungeru, Kainji, Mambilla and such others through private partnership to enhance the living standard of the people of the country. He also begged states and local governments to assist the Federal Government in its transformation agenda.
