Jonathan replies Obasanjo: Odi invasion was a failure

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday replied former President Olusegun Obasanjo who criticised his handling of the Boko Haram crisis as “slow”.
Obasanjo said Boko Haram would have been nipped in the bud, if the government had been fast as, according to him, he did about Odi in 1999 when he deployed troops in the Bayelsa community.
But, to Jonathan, the deployment of troops did not solve any problem.
Speaking last night during the Presidential Media Chat, the President said innocent people, including women and children, were killed.
Jonathan said: “It was old men and women and children that were killed. None of the militants was killed.
“Bombarding Odi was meant to solve a problem but it never solved any. The attack on Odi never solved the militancy problem.”
The President said there was no negotiation going on with the Boko Haram sect because it remains a faceless group.
“There is no dialogue that is going on anywhere,” he said.
“Presently, government is not dialoguing with Boko Haram.There is no dialoguing between Boko Haram and government. Though there was a news item talking about dialogue, but Boko Haram is still operating under cover; they wear masks; there is no face. So, we do not have anybody to discuss with.”
Jonathan said he was misunderstood in his statement on the total removal of petroleum subsidy.
According to him, he was trying to explain that Canada has up to 15 refineries because they are privately-owned and state-regulated.
“I did not say we’re going to remove subsidy. I said if we want to get to the level of Canada, then we have to deregulate. We have to revisit the issue of subsidy,” he said.
The President added that provision was made for fuel subsidy in the 2013 budget estimate sent to the National Assembly.
Jonathan said the problem of fuel scarcity would be solved with the sanitisation of the oil sector.
According to him, his administration began the cleansing of the oil industry even before the House of Representatives set up the Farouk Lawan-led Committee on Subsidy Regime.
“By the time we’re done with sanitising the oil sector, the issue of fuel scarcity will be a thing of the past,” he said.
On First Lady Patience Jonathan’s long absence in public, he said: “She is fine. In fact, she was at the church service with us today. What happened is that Nigerians are always looking for negative things. Noting bad that she was ill . She received treatment and immediately she came back, she is still recuperating; she couldn’t get very active role. She is okay.”
The President denied that the government had revoked the N3.6billion three-year contract with Manitoba Hydro International of Canada for the management of the Transmission Company of Nigeria.
He, however, said that there were issues which needed to be clarified following the new procurement law.
“Manitoba contract has not been revoked. There were some issues raised. There were some confusion on the status of Manitoba because of the new procurement law. We saw some loopholes that were not properly done. “I have given the relevant agencies until Tuesday to get things done.” Dr. Jonathan assured Nigerians that the nation would never experience a food crisis as being speculated in some quarters.
He, however, maintained that the country would record a bumper harvest through massive dry season farming.
Asked to comment on low level of conviction for corruption, and why nobody has been jailed in some instances, such as in the Halliburton case, the President said the fight against corruption is still ongoing.
He said it was sometimes better to move slowly and do the right thing than move too fast and do the wrong thing.
“This government is tackling corruption frontally. The biggest form of corruption is political corruption. What we did, first and foremost, was to sanitise the electoral process. We had free and fair elections because we dealt with corruption in that area. We have done well in various forms in terms of tackling corruption,” he said.
The president said his administration has also solved the corruption problem that bedevilled fertiliser subsidy, and now focuses on the oil sector.
“The future of this country is quite bright. The outlook is positive and we’re committed. By the time we get to May 29, 2015, Nigerians will know that Jonathan and his team meant well for the country,” he said.
On the ongoing Constitution amendment and call for a referendum, Jonathan said the process had to align with the provisions of the Constitution.
“The issue of Sovereign National Conference – when you mention the word ‘sovereign’, people get frightened – but people need to know that the President swore to an oath to defend the Constitution. Whatever we do should be in line with the Constitution.
“If today you jettison the provision of the Constitution, you will run into anarchy, and the best option is to stick with the Constitution.”
On the call for a referendum, he said the National Assembly’s constituency hearings are also aimed at getting the people’s input.
“Whether it is done in form of referendum or not, it is the exclusive right of the National Assembly to amend the Constitution and I wouldn’t want to impose my own ideas on them. That is a different arm of government, and they are competent to handle the subject-matter.”
On the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Jonathan said the concessionaire, Bi-Courtney, lacks the capacity to carry out the job.
“The country is held to ransom. We cannot continue that way. We’ll intervene on that road,” the President said, adding that the government would also fix the Benin-Ore road.
On reducing the cost of governance, Jonathan noted that some parastatals were no longer relevant, which was why the Orasanya Panel was set up to review and recommend which should be scrapped or merged with others. He said work would be concluded on the White Paper before the end of this year. “At best wd can reduce the votes we give them. We can’t scrap any of them, until the National Assembly amends the relevant law,” he said.
The President said had directed the relevant agencies to resolve the oil well disputes between Rivers and Bayelsa on one hand, and Kogi, Anambra and Enugu states on the other.
Regarding the Rivers-Bayelsa dispute, Jonathan said: “The President will not influence anything.”
He said when the agencies finish the assignment, they would submit their report to the Vice-President. “We’ll demarcate it professionally,” he added.
He defended former heads-of-state whose firms bid for stakes in the privatisation of the power sector, saying it is their right to do so.
“It will not affect the process,” he said, adding that the important thing is for the companies to be qualified technically and financially.
The president said there have been “positive trends” in job creation, adding that the textile and footwear industries are “coming up” as power stabilises.
Asked whether he was worried that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is losing some states, the president said it is good for democracy.
“PDP is doing wonderfully well. It is even dangerous for this country for PDP to control all the states,” he said.
Jonathan said it was to early to be asked whether or not he would run for a second term, saying: “Give me sometime to make sure that I and my cabinet work.”
On the falling standard of education, Jonathan said every effort would be made to return it to what it used to be.
He described United States President Barrack Obama’s victory as “the best thing that has happened to a black man. “If he did not secure a second term the conclusion would have been that nothing good can come out of the black man.”
On Odi: Luckily, you talked about Odi. Because when the Odi matter came up, I was the deputy governor of Bayelsa State and I can give you the narratives of what led to the Odi crisis. The peak of the activities of the militancy in Niger Delta was when 12 police officers were killed in a cold blooded murder. That made the federal government to invade Odi. And after that invasion, the governor and I visited Odi. Ordinarily, the governor and the deputy governor were not supposed to move together under such a situation. And we saw some dead people mainly old men and women and also children. None of those militants was killed. None was killed. So, bombarding Odi was to solve the problem but it never solved it.
“Of course, if the attack of Odi had solved the issue of militancy in the Niger Delta, the Yar’Adua Government which I had the privilege of being the Vice President, wouldn’t have come up with the amnesty programme. So, that should tell you that the attack on Odi never solved the militancy problems. People will even tell you that rather it escalated it . It attracted international sympathy and we had lots of challenges after that attack on Odi. “
Benin-Ore road: Jonathan will be the best president. Because I will fix the Benin-Ore road, my government will fix that road and of course for power, it is one area that I know that Nigerians appreciate that we are moving. We are yet to get to power all our cities, but you will agree with me that the difference is clear. There has been improvement, significantly. And we will continue to improve. The only problem we have is that our transmission lines are weak. We have a lot of infrastructure project that are going on and we believe that before the end of the first quarter of next year, we would have completed a number of infrastructure. We moved from approximately below 2000 megawatts to above 5000 megawatts but because of weakness of infrastructure we cannot evacuate and we have seen a reasonable stability. So, before the middle of next year when most of the transmission infrastructure might have been completed, power will stabilize tremendously. And this dry season we are going to intervene on that road from Lagos down.
Lagos-Ibadan and Bi-Courtney: That is the problem and that is the issue. That road has been with Bi-Courtney since we came on board in 2007 and I think we are going to take the final decision on the matter because it is like the company is not in position to do it and I don’t think as a responsible government, we can allow Nigerians to continue to suffer. It is the biggest road in this country and it is beyond the Southwest. Because that is the busiest road in this country and all of us in government, we feel pained that the country is held to ransom because of a transaction that probably was not consummated properly because of some kind of issues. But we cannot continue like this, we will intervene on that road.
Aviation : “The aviation industry is an industry that has been dominated by private sector all over the world. The most successful airline is the British Airways, globally. I believe so because everybody know about BA and almost every international airport you go you see BA.
“We had the Nigeria Airways that crashed like the shipping lines and others. But it is an industry that is dominated by the private sector. The government provides the facilities, the infrastructure, which you will agree with me that we are trying. Maybe before the end of next year, most of our airports will wear new look and the security infrastructure will be there. “So, anybody can do business in Nigeria. So, the question you ask is why is it that we had so many private people coming up with airlines in Nigeria but after sometime, they collapse. We are giving incentives now. We don’t take value added tax from the aviation industry, whether you are a commercial aircraft or bringing spare parts for repairs. We have given all incentives but we still have issues. So, I think it is an area we will have to have a retreat next year. We want to bring the experts within and outside the country to sit down and analyse what are the fundamental problems in the aviation sector and what must we do to make sure that we don’t get to where we are again.
This is quite challenging in terms of movement but we will resolve it. If there is anything government will do, we will do it. The Central Bank of Nigeria made a lot of provision for soft loans for the sector but it never worked. So, using money has never worked. So, what is the factor; what is responsible? Is it management issue. We will have a retreat in January. We actually have some challenges.
“These are things that did not come up now and so if you look at what is being done even in the case, because they are not new thing it is easier for a sitting government to deal with. “But when an issue has been dealt with by the previous administration and you want to deal with it, you must also follow a particular procedure. It may be slow, but it is better to be slow and do the right thing than to move too fast and do the wrong thing. And, of course, you know the laws we operate are based on the British pattern. It is better for 99 to escape than for one innocent person to be punished. It makes the process to be slow and that is why sometimes, we take different options.”