by Isi Esene
The Presidency has today urged Nigerians to assess the President Goodluck Jonathan administration on a broad range of issues, not only on the insurgent crisis currently ravaging the North-east of the country.
The message was delivered today by Dr. Doyin Okupe, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs while addressing participants at the Public Affairs Forum which took place at the NICON Luxury Hotel, Abuja.
Okupe who declared the forum open told participants to disregard the propaganda from the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) geared at portraying the president as clueless and underachieving.
He said, “Somebody wants us to believe that the only testimony of performance of this administration is insecurity, (but) that’s not true. This government was totally unprepared for the insurgency.
“Nobody planned for insurgency. And yet insurgency is a serious problem on its own to contain. America with all their power and resources were in Iraq for up to about five or six years with over 400,000 soldiers put on ground and yet see Iraq the way it is today.”
Okupe addressed the collapse of the ceasefire agreement purported to have been struck between the FG and Boko Haram saying the deal was announced at the instance of the insurgents.
“Yes, a ceasefire was announced and it was at the instance of the insurgents. What the President has demonstrated today is that he said that all options are on the table. So when the insurgents call for talk, how can anybody blame the government for that? If it doesn’t work out, that is not the fault of the government. That is actually the nature of the insurgents. Because they are factionalized, their line of command is not clearly defined.
“So this government’s capability and performance cannot solely be represented on the outcome of the insurgency in Nigeria. There is agriculture, education, infrastructure, health, social development and many other component parts,” he stressed.
The Public Affairs Forum which started last Thursday aims to highlight the achievements of the Jonathan administration in the past four years.
This administration needs to do more with regards to insurgency because it has ravaged and potrayed the nation as a weakling.The FG needs to take a drastic approach to curtail this problem that seems insurmountable.This could make the nation lose value before the international community to say the least,it has economic deprivations on the country. Concerned Youth Forum.
Mr okupe pls note that security s parity of any government without security nothing can b achieved pls tell ur pay master to sit down and lead nigeria out of this insecurity and stop fighting opposition party or speaker women,children and others citizens of this country are being kill on daily basis u re busy campaign for 2015 election nigerians re watching u & presido