Critically analyse the administration of Yar'adua and Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Political philosophy tends to extricate different dimensions of ruling and administration in a state. Man is said to be a political being, thus he seeks various ways to organise his state. Broadly speaking, one may be characterised as political all those practices and institutions that are concerned with government.
Samely, polictical philosophy as distinct from the study of political and administrative organisation, is more theoretical and normative than descriptive. It is relaed to general philosophy and is itself subject of social anthropology, sociology and the sociology of knowledge. Unlike the characters of political philosophy, a study of administrative strategies of any organisation involves essentially description. The object of this essay is to analyse and describe how the administrations Yaradua and Goodluck were able to reflect the theoretical political system of democracy in Nigeria. Before, proceeding to this aim, I wish to describe the political system of Nigeria. 2.0 POLITICAL SYSTEM IN NIGERIA It is essential to state that the political life of state controls other sectors of that state. Therefore, it is the function of the administrative force of a state to dictate the efficiency of economic, security, education and religious situation of the state. They pass bills and decree on how the state should be organise. This modern system of democracy in Nigeria has a recent origin. It merely started with the general election of 1999, with Nigeria practicing federal system of Government. This federal system in Nigeria is governed in accordance with the provisions of a constitution. The most recent came into being in May, 1999 when the then out-going military head of state, General Abdulsalamin Abubakar promulgated a decree recognising the new body of laws as the country’s supreme document. Significantly, the constitution affirms that Nigeeria is one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign state whose constituent units are bound together by a federal arrangement. It provides for a presidential system of government in which there is an executive, a legislature and a judiciary, with each acting as a check and balance on the powers of the other two arms. The constitution further provides for the operation of three tiers of government, at the federal, state and local levels. These provisions are binding on all authorities and persons through-out the federation. 2.1 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 2.1.1 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE At the federal level, the Government is headed by an elected President. As provided for by the constitution, the president is the Head of State, the Chief Executive of the Federation as well as the commander in chief of the Armed forces. He is also the head of the executive arm in the tripartite. The office of the president is a concentration of considerable powers and a repository of vast responsibilities. As Head of State, the President is the ceremonial head of the Nigerian government. As the chief executive, he/she bears ultimate responsibility for the smooth and effective running of government on day to day basis and must accept the ultimate blame for any failures that may occur therein. As commander in chief of the Armed Forces, he/she is responsible for how those forces are organised, trained and equipped and is accountable for how they are deployed to ward off external aggression and guarantee internal security. As the position is paramount in the making of foreign policy, he/she is also the country’s chief diplomat. Furthermore, although not explicitly specified in the constitution, the president must share responsibility with the national Assembly in the making of laws for good governance of the Federation and the public looks up to him as the leading formulator and expounder of public opinion in the country. In the same way, the public looks up to him/her as the overall manager of the nation’s economy, in which capacity he may claim credit in times of prosperity but must surely suffer unsparing criticism for any failures of economic performance. The president is not a member of the National Assembly but may attend to deliver lectures on what is obtainable in the nation including fiscal measures, or to make such statements on the policy of government. The president appoints ministers after due screening and confirmation of the list of nomenees by the Senate. He is enjoined by the constitution to appoint his ministers from all the 36 states of the federation. The president and his ministers constitute the Federal Executive council, with the president as the chairman. The body initiates the policies and programmes of the Federal Government and ensures that they are properly implemented after they may have been passed into law by the legislature 2.1.2 THE FEDERAL LEGISLATURE The highest law making body of the federation is the National Assembly. The Assembly is made up of upper house known as Senate and a lower house known as the house of Representative. The senate is headed by a senate president who is supported by a deputy senate president. It consists of three members from each state of the federation and one member from the federal capital territory. Thus the senate has a total of 109members. The House of Representative is presided over by speaker of House supported by Deputy speaker. The National Assembly has responsibility for making laws for the good governance of federation. Each of the house of Assembly is made up of several specialised commitees whose work focus on aspect of national life. All members of the Assembly in accordance with the constitution are required to sit for a minmum of 181 days in a year. The power of the National Assembly to make laws is exercise through bills passed by both the senate and the House of Representatives and assent by the president. A bill may originate from either house of assembly but cannot become law until it has been passed by both house and assented to by the president. When a bill from the assembly is presented to the president for his assent, the constitution stipulates that the president shall within 30days thereafter, signify that his assents or withholds his assent and the bill is again passed by two-thirds majority in each house, such a bill becomes a law, requiring no further presidential assents. 2.1.3 THE JUDICIARY While the legislature is responsible for making laws and the executive is charged with the implementation of such law, thejudiciary is responsible for the interpretation of the law in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. In line with the doctrine of separation of powers, which is a cardinal feature of a democratic system, the Nigerian Constitution guarantees the independence of judiciary. The constitution provides for Federal and State Courts, as well as Election Tribunals. At the apex of the judiciary is the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice of Nigeria, the President of the Court of Appeal, the chief Judge of the Federal High Court and chief judge high court of the Federal Territory, Abuja are all appointed by the president on the advice of the National Judicial Council subject to the consent of the Senate. The President also appoints the Grand Kadi of the sharia Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and the President of the Customary Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. All other judicial appointments to the Federal courts are made by the President on the advice of the National Judicial Council. 2.2 THE STATE GOVERNMENT Each of the 36states that make up the Nigerian Federation is administered by a Chief Executive. The Chief Executive is the Governor of the state and is elected like the president to a four year term office in the 1st instance. The Governor is empowered to appoint commissioners and advisers and to assign responsibilities to them. The governor, Deputy Governor and Commissioners constitute the state Executive Council. They cannot be members of the State House of Assembly. The State house of Assembly is the unicameral legislature for the State. It comprise of representatives from all the local government areas within the State, it exercises identical functions with those of the National Assembly at the state level. It makes law fr the good governance of the State, and acts as a check and balance on the powers and actions of the State’s Chief Executive. The governors appoint the Chief Judges of the States, the Grand Kadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal and the President of Customary Court of Appeal, in those States where those courts exist, on the advice of the national judicial council and the State House of Assembly. 2.3 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT The local government is the third tier of the administrative structure in Nigeria structure in Nigeria. There are 774 local government areas in the country. The functions of local Governments as spelt in the constitution are as follows: a. Consideration and making of recommendations to the State commission on economic planning or any similar body on economic development of the State, particularly in so far as the area of authority of the Council and of the State are affected. b. Collection of rates, and radio and television licences. c. Establishment and maintenance of cemeteries, burial grounds and homes for destitute or infirm. d. Licensing of bicycles, trucks, (other mechanically propelled trucks), canoes, wheel barrows and carts, e. Establishment, maintenance and regulation of markets, motor parks and public conveniences. f. Construction and maintenance of roads, streets, drains and other public highways, parks, open spaces or such public facilities as may be prescribed from time to time by the House of Assembly of a state. g. Registration of birth, deaths and marriages. h. Assessment of privately owned houses or tenements for the purpose of levying such rates as may be prescribed by the House of Assembly of a State. i. Naming of roads and streets and numbering of houses. Etc The local government council comprises of the chairman who is the chief executive of the LGA and other elected members who are referred to as councillors. The chairman is normally elected, but can, under special circumstances, also be appointed. He/she supervises the activities of the local government and presides over all meetings of the council. All members are enjoined by law to meet the aspirations of the people who elect them. A local government council is the pivot of socio-economic planning and development in its area of authority. Being also the tier of government closest to the people, it is considered a most important facilitator of economic and social development at the grass root. On this juncture, it is pertinent to go into the main topic of discussion-examinig the administration of Presidents Yaradua and Goodluck from various perspectives by noting firstly the biographies of this two personalities in Nigerian government. 3.0 BIOGRAPHIES OF PRESIDENT YARADUA AND GOODLUCK JONATHAN 3.1 BIOGRAPHY OF UMAR MUSA YAR’ADUA Umaru Musa Yar’adua was born in Katsina Town, Katsina State in 1951 into a family active in Nigerian political and military affairs. He started his primary education at Rafukka Primary School, Katsina in 1958. He left Rafukka for Dutsinma Boarding Primary School in 1962 from where he completed his primary education in 1964. Umaru Yar’Adua was at Government College, Keffi in present-day Nasarawa State for his secondary education from 1965-1969. He then moved to the famous Barewa College Zaria for his Higher School Certificate from 1970-1971. For his university education, Yar’Adua attended the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria from 1972-1975 where he obtained the B.Sc Education/Chemistry. He returned to the same University from 1978-1980 for his M.Sc Degree in Analytical Chemistry. Umaru Yar’Adua working career began at the Holy Child College, Lagos for the mandatory one year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) between 1975 and 1976. He was a Lecturer at the Katsina College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria between 1976 and 1979. He moved to Katsina Polytechnic, also as a Lecturer in 1979 and was there until 1983 when he left the public service. At the inception of General Abdulsalam Abubakar’s transition in 1998, Yar’Adua founded the K34 political association which later teemed up to form the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He contested and won election as Governor of Katsina State in 1999 and was re-elected in 2003. Governor Yar’Adua is best remembered as the first Governor to publicly declare his assets and has promised to do same again at the end of his tenure. During his tenure as Governor, the state passed through an unprecedented development, culminating into profoundly transformation of the educational and health institutions, provision of rural and urban roads, electrification, water supply and agriculture. In the year 2000, he became the fifth northern Nigerian state governor to adopt sharia, or Islamic law. Yar’Adua primary health care delivery system and primary education policies became models. On 16th and 17th December 2006, Yar'Adua was chosen as the presidential candidate of the ruling PDP for the April 2007 election, receiving 3,024 votes from party delegates; his closest rival, Rochas Okorocha, received 372 votes. Shortly after winning the nomination, Yar'Adua chose Good luck Jonathan, governor of Bayelsa State, as his vice-presidential candidate. In the presidential election, held on 21st April 2007, Yar'Adua won with 70% of the vote (24.6 million votes) according to official results released on 23 April. After the election, Yar'Adua proposed a government of national unity. In late June 2007, two opposition parties, the ANPP and the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), agreed to join Yar’Adua government... On 28 June 2007, Yar'Adua publicly revealed his declaration of assets from May (becoming the first Nigerian Leader to do so), according to which he had ₦856,452,892 (US$5.8 million) in assets, ₦19 million ($0.1 million) of which belonged to his wife. He also had ₦88,793,269.77 ($0.5 million) in liabilities. This disclosure, which fulfilled a pre-election promise he made. In 2007 Yar'Adua, who suffered from a kidney condition, challenged his critics to a game of squash in an endeavor to end speculations about his health. On 6th March 2007 he was flown to Germany for medical reasons. President Yar'Adua left Nigeria on 23rd November 2009, and was reported to be receiving medical treatment at a clinic in Saudi Arabia. On 24 February 2010, Yar'Adua returned to Abuja. His state of health was unclear, but there was speculation that he was still on a life support machine. Various political and religious figures in Nigeria had visited him during his illness saying he would make a recovery. Yar'Adua died on 5th May, 2010 at the Aso Rock presidential villa. An Islamic burial took place on 6th May 2010 in his hometown. The Federal Government of Nigeria declared a seven-day mourning period. Yar’Adua married to Hajia Turai Umaru Yar’Adua of Katsina in 1975; they had seven children (five daughters and two sons). Their daughter Zainab is married to Kebbi State governor Usman Saidu Nasamu Dakingari.another daughter Nafisat is married to Bauchi State governor Isa Yuguda. Yar'Adua was married to Hauwa Umar Radda as a second wife. 3.2 BIOGRAPHY OF GOODLUCK JONATHAN Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCFR), was born to a humble Niger Delta family of canoe makers on November 20th, 1957 in Otuoke Young Goodluck Jonathan began his primary education at St Stephen’s Primary School (now State School, Otuoke) and later moved to St Michael’s Primary School, Oloibiri, where he completed his elementary education in 1969, at the age of 12. His leadership traits began to come up for reckoning in the course of his secondary school days. In 1973, while in form three, he was appointed class prefect and Secretary of the Food Committee, an administrative body of hostel masters and senior students. He occupied that position up to form five. On completion of his secondary education, he worked as a Preventive Officer with the Nigerian Customs Service for two years. In 1977, he secured admission into the Department of Zoology, a pioneer student of the newly established University of Port Harcourt. He graduated with Second Class Upper honours in 1981. As a corps member, Goodluck served Nigeria as a classroom teacher at Iresi, a community in Oyo State, now in Osun State. At the end of the NYSC programmed in 1982, he took up appointment as a classroom teacher under the auspices of the Rivers State Civil Service Commission. Following his exceptional performance at the interview, he was promptly upgraded to the rank of Science Inspector of Education in the Ministry of Education. In 1985 and 1995 he studied for his Master’s and PhD degrees in Hydrobiology and Fisheries Biology, and Zoology respectively from the same University He ventured into politics and at the dawn of the Fourth Republic, Dr Jonathan pitched tent with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and emerged as the running mate to the party’s gubernatorial flag-bearer, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. The duo emerged triumphant at the polls in the 1999 governorship election, and so Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan stepped into office as the first Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State. After a successful tenure, Dr. Jonathan repeated the feat where he led Chief D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha Campaign machinery popularly called ALAMCO. The duo won the gubernatorial elections again, in 2003. And Goodluck Jonathan is thus, serving as a Deputy Governor for a second tenure, not until his boss was impeached on corruption charges. Dr Jonathan took over as governor and two years later he was busy preparing for re -election to his first full term as substantive governor of Bayelsa state, when the people democratic party (PDP), nominated him as running mate to the Presidential candidate, He and Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua were elected in April and inaugurated on May 29th, 2007, as Nigeria’s Vice President. After taking office, Yar'Adua publicly declared his assets, and on 8th August 2007, Jonathan also did so .According to Jonathan, as of 30th May 2007 he had a total of 295,304,420 naira ($8,569,662.40) in assets. President Umaru Yar'Adua left Nigeria on 23rd November 2009 for medical treatment. He did not provide for anyone to assume his duties. On 13th January 2010, a federal court handed Vice-President Jonathan the power to carry out state affairs in the president's continued absence. On 22nd January 2010, the Supreme Court of Nigeria ruled that the Federal Ministries had 14 days to decide on a resolution about whether President Yar'Adua "is incapable of discharging the functions of his office". On 9th February 2010, the Senate determined that presidential power should be transmitted to the Vice President. He was appointed to serve as Acting President, with all the accompanying powers, until when and if Yar'Adua returned to full health. Precisely on February 9th, 2010, Dr. Jonathan assumed office as Nigeria’s Acting President by virtue of a National Assembly resolution empowering him as Acting President, following President Yar’Adua long absence for medical attention in Saudi Arabia. He became officially the President of Nigeria May 6th; 2010.This comes as the country prepares to bury its former leader Umaru Yar’Adua who died on 5th of May 2010, after a prolonged illness. 4.0 CRITICAL EXAMINATION INTO THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF PRESIDENTS YAR’ADUA AND GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN To make a successful examination into the administration of these personalities in the executive government will not be an easy task at all. It will involve essentially knowing their aspirations and then knowing fully what they are able to accomplish in their tenure in office basing on different sector of development. I will therefore compare the two administrations and then note specifically some criticisms arising to their government. It should be noted clearly that this work is under the scope of Nigeria’s political system. This is to say that this work will specify in philosophical way how they were able to fit into our political system. 4.1 PRESIDENT MUSA YAR’ADUA’S ADMINISTRATION Yar’adua took over from Obasanjo under the platform of people’s democratic party (PDP). It was rumoured then that it was the wish of Obasanjo to be succeeded by such an ill-willed and ill-health president so that he (Obasanjo) will find it easy to control the federal Government from behind as the god-father. In certain aspect, it seems that they are correct to their criticisms especially on the side of the ill-health reason because Yar’adua could not complete his tenure in the office; he died before he could complete his tenure. On another note, Yar’adua tried to define his ambition in the office. Thus he brought into view the 7 point agenda which is aimed to change almost all the sector of the country. The 7 point agenda of Yar’adua are as follows: Energy, security, wealth creation, Education, Land Reform, mass transit, and Niger Delta. The demands of this ambition are significant such that it will go a long way to boost the development of the nation. To accomplish these important ideals, certain precedential conditions are much necessary. The paramount respect and obedience to law, order, established regulations and procedure are very important and crucial to achieve enumerated points.Also the issue of planning well is also necessary for achieving the said goal. It is said that “he who fails to plan, plan to fail”, therefore, it becomes a way to make our goals to be achieved in little or no time. Good leaders who are patriotic and hardworking are also a tool of achieving this wonderful aim, thus, electoral reform is necessary of producing a good leaders. The question is whether Yar’adua was able to accomplish the mission of his 7 points agenda which purported. It is worthy of note here that guideline of achievements is contained in this 7 points agenda and it will be good to explain briefly these agendas his. 4.1.1 THE SEVEN POINT AGENDA OF PRESIDENT YAR’ADUA a. POWER AND ENERGY – The infrastructural reforms in this critical sector through the development of sufficient and adequate power supply will be to ensure Nigeria’s ability to develop as a modern economy and an industrial nation by the year 2015. b. FOOD SECURITY – This reform is primarily agrarian based. The emphasis on the development of modern technology, research, financial injection into research, production and development of agricultural inputs will revolutionalize the agricultural sector leading to a 5 – 10 fold increase in yield and production. This will result in massive domestic and commercial outputs and technological knowledge transfer to farmers. c. WEALTH CREATION – By virtue of its reliance on revenue from non-renewal oil, Nigeria has yet to develop industrially. This reform is focused on wealth creation through diversified production especially in the agricultural and solid mineral sector. This requires Nigerians to choose to work, as hard work by all is required to achieve this reform. d. TRANSPORT SECTOR – The transportation sector in Nigeria with its poor roads networks is an inefficient means of mass transit of people and goods. With a goal of a modernized industrialized Nigeria, it is mandatory that Nigeria develops its transport sector. The PDP government has already started this process by the ongoing rehabilitation and modernization of the railway. While the reforms might take some time to take effect, it is a need that must be addressed. e. LAND REFORMS – While hundreds of billions of dollars have been lost through unused government-owned landed asset, changes in the land laws and the emergence of land reforms will optimize Nigeria’s growth through the release of lands for commercialized farming and other large scale business by the private sector. The final result will ensure improvements and boosts to the production and wealth creation initiatives. f. SECURITY – An unfriendly security climate precludes both external and internal investment into the nation. Thus, security will be seen as not only a constitutional requirement but also as a necessary infrastructure for the development of a modern Nigerian economy. With its particular needs, the Niger Delta security issue will be the primary focus, marshaled not with physical policing or military security, but through honest and accurate dialogue between the people and the Federal Government. g. EDUCATION – The two-fold reforms in the educational sector will ensure firstly the minimum acceptable international standards of education for all. With that achieved, a strategic educational development plan will ensure excellence in both the tutoring and learning of skills in science and technology by students who will be seen as the future innovators and industrialists of Nigeria. This reform will be achieved through massive injection into the Education sector. 4.1.2 ASSET DECLARATION Mr. Yar’adua became the first Nigerian Head of State to declare his assets. It was commendable and one or two State governors emulated his path by declaring their own assets as well. But Nigerians are skeptical of these politicians’ bogus asset declarations because they have some unspecified foreign and local accounts opened in the names of their family members, associates and offshore corporations in which they wired looted, public money. In the case of Mr. Yar’Adua, contracts had gone to companies with links to his family’s vast businesses during his three-year tenure as Nigerian president and seven years as Katsina State governor. Yar'Adua publicly revealed his declaration of assets from May, according to which he had ₦856,452,892 (US$5.8 million) in assets, ₦19 million ($0.1 million) of which belonged to his wife. He also had ₦88,793,269.77 ($0.5 million) in liabilities. This disclosure, which fulfilled a pre-election promise he made. Yar’adua seems not to have achieved his plans and proposals because of his poor health conditions and then his sudden death. We will surely discuss in later section certain flaws that arose from his government, especially with his 7 points agenda. 4.1.3 YAR‟ADUA AND THE WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION: A NEW DAWN OR BUSINESS AS USUAL? The election of President Umaru Musa Yar‟Adua raised hopes that the war against corruption would be re-energized and strengthened. The President himself promised to take the fight against corruption to a new height, vowing to run a “clean government‟ based on the “rule of law‟: “If the federal Government is to take action against any person for any act of corruption which has been determined, without doubt, the government will act….As it stands, I assure you that the federal Government has zero tolerance for corruption. But also in the process, the rule of law and due process must be followed”. Similarly, while receiving the visiting World Bank Vice-President for Africa, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, the President assured the world that he will not seek to instrumentalize the anti-corruption agencies. In his words: “I have given all the institutions a free hand. I have told them I won’t interfere, because I am strongly in support of the fight against corruption. No hurdle has been put on their paths. The only thing I have made very clear is that they must follow the rule of law and due process”. To what extent were these promises kept? How did the anti-corruption war fare under Yar‟Adua? Did specific improvements occur? If not, what challenges were encountered? The above were some of the questions we put before our respondents during interviews. The more widely held view was that the Yar‟Adua administration presided over a dramatic lull in the tempo of Nigeria‟s anti-corruption campaign. This view is voiced by many donor organizations, Nigerian civil society groups, including Transparency in Nigeria, the local arm of the global anti-corruption watchdog and highly placed sources in government, including some within the anti-corruption agencies. For example, Titi Ogunye of the Civil Liberties Organization, was of the opinion that: “Events since May 2007, particularly recent events relating to the EFCC, indicate that the fledging anti-corruption crusade handed over to the Yar‟Adua administration is facing a reversal of the worst kind. The challenge before the Nigerian people is to resist this subversion and build ownership around the anti-corruption effort”. In a similar tone, one senior civil servant in the Presidency, described the President‟s frequent talk about „human rights‟ as a smoke screen for protecting some of the President’s friends, especially the former governors, who are guilty of corruption. There are at least three main reasons for this pessimistic view of Nigeria’s anti-corruption campaign under the Yar’Adua administration. The first one was the perception that prosecutions of top public officials, like the implementation of several other government policies, were stalling after Yar’Adua took over. It was in this light that President Yar’Adua was derisively nick-named baba-go-slow by sections of the Nigerian press. The second was the feeling that some ex-public officials accused of corruption by the EFCC, especially the former governors who played key roles in the election of President Yar‟Adua, were been shielded from justice under the pretext of following the „Rule of Law‟. The third major source of concern was the fact that, some anti-corruption crusaders (such as Nuhu Rubadu, the former chairman of the EFCC and Malam Nasir El-Rufai, former Minister of the Federal Capital) have been purged from their positions. 4.1.4 FOOD SECURITY Being an agricultural inclined person, Yar’adua wished in a possible to create a situation where the country would feed themselves from our agricultural products. He posited that the only challenge of this aim is food poisoning caused essentially from global warming and green house gases. It is a case where acidic carbon will make its way to the ground waters and irrigation waters thus increasing in higher level the acidic content of the land which will surely affect the products. To combat against food poisonings especially that arising from global village, in his statement to the high-level conference on world food security, he proposed that Nigeria is also set to mitigate global warming effects through aforestation & reforestation, Integrated Water Management and the promotion of biofuels using jatropha and Cassava as feedstock. Nigeria is currently the World’s largest producer of cassava. (about 50 million tons was produced in 2007 and moving to 60mt in 2009). The promotion of Jatropha plantations is partly due to the need to use up the over 3 million hectares of degraded non-arable land in the Sudano Sahelian areas of the Country and its income generating capability for the rural poor especially women. Using cassava as a feedstock is part of the strategy to sustain its increased local production without jeopardizing cassava food production as over 1 million additional hectares will be open, cultivated and dedicated as cassava for ethanol. If that is to be achieved in Nigeria agriculture then the story food poison from imported foods will be reduced because there is so much to be harvest in Nigerian’s farm to feed the nation. 4.2 PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN’S ADMINISTRATION Goodluck Jonathan succeeded Musa Yar’adua as the president of federal republic of Nigeria under the platform of PDP. It became very important Goodluck to prove himself in his administration as he is the first south-east to become the head of state since Ironsi. In his inaugural address on the occasion of his swearing in as President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria on May 29, 2011, he enumerated his strategies of administration. Below are some of his exact words culled from his inaugural speech. a. Today, our unity is firm, and our purpose is strong. Our determination unshakable. Together, we will unite our nation and improve the living standards of all our peoples whether in the North or in the South; in the East or in the West. Our decade of development has begun. The march is on. The day of transformation begins today. We will not allow anyone exploit differences in creed or tongue, to set us one against another. b. The moment is right. The signs are heart- warming. We are ready to take off on the path of sustained growth and economic development. In our economic strategy, there will be appropriate policy support to the real sector of the economy, so that Small and Medium Enterprises may thrive. Nigeria is blessed with enormous natural wealth, and my Administration will continue to encourage locally owned enterprises to take advantage of our resources in growing the domestic economy. A robust private sector is vital to providing jobs for our rapidly expanding population. But this must be a collaborative effort. c. We must form technical and financial partnerships with global businesses and organizations. We live in an age where no country can survive on its own; countries depend on each other for economic well- being. Nigeria is no different. Returns on investment in Nigeria remain among the highest in the world. We will continue to welcome sustainable investment in our economy. d. Over the next four years, attention will be focused on rebuilding our infrastructure. We will create greater access to quality education and improved health care delivery. We will pay special attention to the agricultural sector, to enable it play its role of ensuring food security and massive job creation for our people. The creation of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority will immensely contribute to strengthening our fiscal framework, by institutionalizing savings of our commodity-related revenues. With this mechanism in place, we will avoid the boom and bust cycles, and mitigate our exposure to oil price volatility. The lesson we have learnt is that the resolution of the Niger Delta issue is crucial for the health of the nation’s economy. In the interest of justice, equity and national unity, we shall actively promote the development of the region. I believe that peace is a necessary condition for development. Fellow citizens, in every decision, I shall always place the common good before all else. The bane of corruption shall be met by the overwhelming force of our collective determination, to rid our nation of this scourge. The fight against corruption is a war in which we must all enlist, so that the limited resources of this nation will be used for the growth of our commonwealth. 31. I am confident that we have every reason to look to the future with hope. We owe ourselves and posterity the duty of making this country respectable in the comity of nations. 4.2.1 SECURITY Goodluck Jonathan’s aspiration for the country’s security was stated in his speech made at the UN 66th general assembly. The meeting was preceded by the bombing of UN House at Abuja, and with that spirit he is particularly thinking on the necessary tool to combat security in Nigeria State and the World in general. According to him, “the world of the 21st century in which we live is becoming more precarious, unprecedented and more dangerous perhaps more than any other times in history. The increasing use of terror as a form of political actions posses serious threat to international peace and security. Terror infringes on the fundamental human right to live and to live in safety of fear.” In the same speech, he gave veritable strategies of fighting terrorism in Nigeria of which he has started implementing already. He noted that terrorism acts is very crucial to resolve terrorism issues and will go a long way to appropriate national strategies and corroborate even more closely with international communities to fight the menace of insecurity. He also noted that Nigeria has sign into law “terrorism bill 2011 and antimony laundering provision amendment act” on 3rd June 2011. The new laws are not only to outline measures to combat terrorism but also to prohibit the financing of terrorism and laundering of the proceeds of crime. Nigeria is also working closely with UN counter terrorism implementation task force and other friendly bodies to strengthen our mechanism to combat crimes. As a quick resolution to fight crime, the UN terrorism implementation task force launched its project in Abuja on November 2011. They seek to embark on preventing conflict and countering the appeal of terrorism through education, dialogue and mediation. Also preventive diplomacy is another to avoid insecurity situations. Jonathan looked with stern repudiations to trading of small arms and light weapons. The fact that such trade would increase highly, the situations of insecurity in the country. He retracted the act of 2006 to sanction people who engage in such actions. On December 31, 2011, Goodluck made a declaration of a state of emergency in certain part of the federation in order to restore public order, peace and security in the federation. Following 25th madalla bombing and other security threats in many northern part of Nigeria probably by the sect Boko haram. The sectarian crises in the north has gradually evolved into terrorist activities in different parts of the country with attendant negative consequencies on our national security. Goodluck tends to have responded adequately by constituting Presidential Committee under the chairmanship of Ambassador Usman Gaji Galtimari, to ascertain the immediate and remote causes of the crises. With the ongoing search for necessary solution to this problem, the president consequently took a decisive measures necessary to restore normalcy in the country especially within the affected communities. Therefore, he declared state of emergency on those areas following the provisions of section 305 (1) of the constitution. He went on to order the closure of the land borders contiguous to the affected local government areas so as to control incidences of cross boarder terrorist activities as terrorists have taken advantage of the present situation to strike at targets in Nigeria and retreat beyond the reach of our law enforcement personnel. Despite all these measure taken by Jonathan, it is a fact that insecurity persists in the country with the obvious infliction of pain by the notorious sect called Boko Haram. Their nefarious and heinous acts are seen now and then in the country at every corner of the country. The federal government has not up till today decided on a nice strategy to disarm this particular set of groups. Has Goodluck failed in security sector? That is what we will see in the next section. 4.2.2 ECONOMY UNDER JONATHAN’S ADMINISTRATION One of the most critical economic manifestation in Jonathan’s administration is seen in the deregulation of the downstream sector. The broadcast of Goodluck Jonatthan on 7th January portrays his ambition to stabilize the economic system by the deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector. Briefly, his speech is mainly geared to reviving our economic system thus he said “either we deregulate and survive economically, or we continue with a subsidy regime that will continue to undermine our economy and potential for growth, and face serious consequences.” He went on to explain that the subject of deregulation is not new, we have been grappling with it for more than two decades. Previous administrations tinkered with the pump price of petroleum products, and were unable to effect complete deregulation of the downstream sector. This approach has not worked. If it did, we would not be here talking about deregulation today. I understand fully well that deregulation is not a magic formula that will address every economic challenge, but it provides a good entry point for transforming the economy, and for ensuring transparency and competitiveness in the oil industry, which is the mainstay of our economy. The deregulation of the petroleum sector is a necessary step that we had to take. Should we continue to do things the same way, and face more serious economic challenges? Or deregulate, endure the initial discomfort and reap better benefits later? The discontinuation of fuel subsidy is because it poses a huge financial burden on the government, disproportionately benefits the wealthy, encourages inefficiency, corruption and divesion of scare public resources away from investment in critical infrastructure. Subsidy removal would save additional resources for programmes targeted at mitigating poverty and spurring economic growth. Accordingly, the money realized from it would be used in a special way to build new private refineries. Such deregulation of the downstream sector as claimed the Federal government would lead to rapid private sector investment in refineries and petro-chemicals, which will generate millions of jobs and increased prosperity for Nigerians. The total projected subsidy reinvestible fund per annum is N1.134trillion based on average crude oil price of $90 per barrel. Out of this, N478.49billion accrues to Federal Government, N41.03 billion to state government, 203.23billion to local government, 9.86billion to the Federal capital territory and 31.37billion as transfers to derivation and ecology, development of natural resources and stabilization funds. 4.2.3 EDUCATION IN GOODLUCK’S ADMINISTRATION Vincent Ehiabhi reported in the daily times that Jonathan promises education for all youths. As a scholar and doctorate holder, Jonathan has insisted in many of his policy to implement for education of the future leaders. Presisdent Goodluck has pledged to make education accessible to all youths, as part of the government’s policy on human capital development. He made this known on 14th april, 2012 at the convocation ceremony of the Federal University of Technology, Minna Niger State, where he was represente by the Minister of Education, Prof Ruqayyatu Rufai. Accordingly, human development through education is regarded highly as a way to improve lot of the people of Nigeria. He said “let me point out that our administration is committed to improving education, to ensure appropriate human capital development in Nigeria. 5.0 CRITICISMS OF THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF THESE PRESIDENTS As much as one tries to impress certain people, he must in a way be unsatisfied by another people. With that in mind, Yar’adua and Jonathan would not have impress everybody despite their enthusiasm to work for the benefit of their country. It is on this note I wish to state clearly the area they seem not have measured up in their administration, hoping that someday , something will be done to give a maximum result. 5.1 CRITICISMS OF YAR’ADUA’S GOVERNMENT It was stipulated by critics that Yar’adua did not care best about the value of naira and as such the value of naira has degenerated to N163 to a dollar. One will be forced to ask if Yar’adua is really aware about the situation at hand. It is an obvious fact that the value of the naira affects willy-nilly the well being of the people. His administration was labeled by Sam Nda-Isaiah as a situation no electric supply, no portable water, no health care system, collapsed education system and total insecurity of life and property, worsening poverty level. In his inaugural speech, He listed the seven critical areas his administration would tackle as power and energy, food security and agriculture, wealth creation and employment, mass transportation, land reforms, security, Niger Delta and qualitative and functional education. The president was confident that his administration would adequately address these key sectors and by so doing jump-start an economy capable of making Nigeria one of the world’s 20 developed economies in 2020. However, a critical assessment of the performance of Yar’Adua’s administration in the past one and half years shows that he has failed to implement his seven- point agenda. For instance, the president had said it loud and clear that he would declare a state of emergency on the problematic energy sector in order to tackle the problem of erratic electricity supply in Nigeria. He identified epileptic power supply as one of the strongest variables among the factors slowing down the nation’s economic progress. According to him, the power sector is characterized by low generating capacity relative to installed capacity. The president promised to put in place the necessary machinery that would move power generation from its level in June 2007 which was below 4,000 megawatts to 10,000 megawatts in December 2007. He was confident that through the concerted efforts of his administration, power generation would be further increased to 30,000 megawatts by 2011 and 50,000 by 2015. When the president realized that his administration could not actualize its first target of increasing power to 10,000 megawatts by December 2007, he had to establish an 11- member Presidential Committee for the Accelerated Expansion of Nigeria’s power infrastructure. He challenged the committee to deliver within 18 months the 6,000 additional megawatts targeted under the National Integrated Power Project, NIPP, as well as add an extra 11,000 megawatts of power generation capacity by 2011 through diverse sources. Although the committee has submitted its report to the president, the situation on ground does not give hope that the 6,000 additional megawatts target is achievable. This is because; there has not been significant improvement in power supply. Yinka Odumakin, publicity secretary of Afenifere told Newswatch that the inability of Yar’Adua to effectively declare state of emergency in the energy sector was a clear indication that his seven-point agenda was a mere slogan. “President Yar’Adua has been long on promises but very short on delivery. In terms of food security and agriculture, the Yar’Adua administration has equally not lived up to expectation. Due to the lip service paid to the agricultural sector by the Yar’Adua administration, food prices have gone beyond the reach of many Nigerians. The situation has been worsened because of the current global food crisis. Sayyadi Abba Ruma, minister of agriculture and water resources, said recently that about 65 percent of Nigerians are food insecure. This is because a substantial number of the Nigerian people earn below the one dollar benchmark stipulated in the hunger index of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO. The efforts of the present administration to ameliorate the problems faced by Nigerians as a result of food shortages through the release of 66,000 metric tonnes of food items from the strategic grains reserves did not yield the desired result. This was because the process of obtaining the allocation paper from the federal ministry of agriculture, Abuja was abused. Newswatch learnt that the release/process of the grains was hijacked by contractors who bought in bulk and rather than sell to the ordinary Nigerians, sold to the breweries or agro-allied industries. Simeon Ehui, head economist and sector leader, sustainable development of the World Bank in Nigeria, recently painted a grim picture of the current level of hunger in Nigeria. “There is of course hunger. But I will not dramatize it in a way that people are dying. We are not at that level yet. There is concern that price rise is making some people poor. There is no question about that.” He, however, believes that since Nigeria is rich in natural resources, rich in expertise and rich in knowledge, the problem of food insecurity could be effectively tackled, if the Yar’Adua administration adopts the right policies. The president appears to have realised that his efforts so far have not boosted food production. This was why he said recently that his government now intends to actualize food security through the utilization of the National Resources Development Account to boost domestic production of food crops and development of agro-allied industries. The president has equally not matched words with action in the area of providing efficient transport infrastructure in line with his seven-point agenda. The transportation system, including road, marine, rail and air are in disastrous conditions. Although it is commendable that Yar’Adua listed the transportation sector as part of his seven-point agenda, so far no concrete steps have been taken by his administration to make a difference in this important sector. The conditions of the nation’s major roads are deplorable. Many sections of the roads have been cut off and commuters spend hours and days on the bad roads with huge costs to the economy and vehicles alike. The situation has become alarming in recent times because the two major roads linking the West to the East and the North to the South are in very bad shape. Consequently, there is always a traffic gridlock on the Benin-Ore road because of its deplorable condition. When Diezani Alison-Madueke assumed office as minister of transportation last year, she visited the bad portion of the Benin-Ore road and was at a loss why such a major trunk road in the country was allowed to degenerate to that degree. But more than one year after her lamentations, President Yar’Adua’s administration has become guilty of the same offence - neglect. It has not done much to improve on the decayed roadinfrastructure inherited from its predecessor. Eze Benett Elenda, traditional ruler of Ohiaocha Arocont kingdom in Abia State, advised the Yar’Adua administration to move beyond making declaratory statements by aggressively implementing the transportation policy that would create a modern and efficient inter-modal transportation system for the country. He suggested that he should also revive the railways and give desired attention to the inland waterways and air transport. In consonance with the goals and targets of the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, Yar’Adua also adopted wealth creation, job creation and qualitative education as part of his seven-point agenda. However, one and half years after he adopted the blueprint, the country has not made much progress in these areas. For instance, despite Yar’Adua’s avowed commitment to job creation and employment, the number of unemployed graduates is still on the increase. In terms of wealth creation, the poverty index has gone up. Odumakin, spokesman of Afenifere, told Newswatch that Yar’Adua’s promise of making Nigeria one of the world’s twenty largest economies by 2020 is a mere wish. According to him, his seven-point agenda is deficient in terms of concrete actions for a better and prosperous Nigeria. “The indices of getting there are not on ground. An average growth rate of less than seven percent, is a far cry from the needed annual growth rate for a country aspiring to compete among the top league of twenty largest economies. At the moment, the standard of living of most Nigerians remains painfully low,” he said. President Yar’Adua appropriately made education as an item in his seven-point agenda. The huge challenges facing the nation in that sector justify putting education in the priority list by the present administration. However, beyond the proclamations made by the president on assumption of office, not much of policy articulation has been done. The sector is, in fact a disaster waiting to happen because of poor quality of education and inability of government to adequately fund education. Uchendu Obinna, a seasoned educationist, told Newswatch that it was necessary for government to ensure that public schools are adequately funded to ensure qualitative education for the majority of Nigerian children. He advised Yar’Adua to implement his policy on education by not leaving the sector in the hands of some amorphous private sector in making policy choices on education. The government should be guided by the principle of social justice. “To price education beyond the reach of the children of the poor is a terrible injustice and it is antithetical to the provisions of the Chapter II of the 1999 Constitution,” he said. As regards, land reforms, Yar’Adua appears not to have the political will to address the controversial issue. Nothing has happened regarding this issue. “President Yar’Adua’s seven-point agenda, which is based on the commitment of the ruling political party manifesto to continue and strengthen economic reforms, does not meet the requirements for a clearly defined shared vision of the country of tomorrow for these reasons: it lacks specifications of the structural transformations to be undertaken and it is limited to seven priorities.” The report faulted the duplication of visions and agenda on the country by successive regimes which it said had not helped the development of the country. “Generally, it seems that each administration wants to redefine its own vision of the future of Nigeria, and not as building blocks towards a common vision,” the APRM stated. The body, however, said that Nigeria has the potential to occupy leading positions in the continent and even in the world but could only do so if it has visionary and transformative leadership at all levels of the society. The group advised the Yar’Adua administration to be more committed towards taking a comprehensive strategy for achieving set goals. To say that Yar’Adua has failed to live up to expectation is to put it mildly. Both Yar’Adua and the PDP have failed woefully,” he said Agbaje said he was not surprised that Yar’Adua has not delivered on promise because he took over power without the knowledge of what to do. “It is only in our own part of the country that an unhealthy mind can lead a sick nation. How can a sick president administer a sick nation?,” Pat Utomi, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in the 2007 polls also believes that Yar’Adua has failed to deliver because he was not prepared for power when it was dropped on his laps. This led to his lack of a clear cut agenda for solving Nigeria’s problems. Utomi said that based on the fact that Yar’Adua has not actualized any aspect of his seven-point agenda, it was clear he was handed over challenges he did not prepare for at all and has, therefore, found himself in a trap. “The gentleman got himself in a trap. This is basically why he has no focus. We all have different styles on how to get ourselves out of traps. I don’t know whether his style is to keep lip service, watching things.” Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, president of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, also condemned the president’s recent decision to administer oath of secrecy to his aides. “Oath of secrecy is inimical to transparency. Lack of transparency breeds corruption. The administrations of oath put in question the anti-corruption stance of the federal government,” Akeredolu said. 5.2 CRITICISMS OF GOODLUCK’S ADMINISTRATIONS The on-going administration of Goodluck has received a lot of criticisms especially on the bases of security and economy although one may not criticize him enough because he is still in office of transformation of the country’s situation. One of his policy of transforming the nation’s economy through removal of the fuel subsidy crop up certain fear in the mind of the people. People would have it as their way of embezzling the public fund since our nation is surrounded by corruptive governments. Also such policy was criticize because of the inability of the government to keep in place certain infracstructure that will help reduce the pleas of the masses. On the second note, the president is labeled as incompetent because of his inability to handle Boko haram situations. The book continues to rampage the country’s infractructure and even the lives of people. He has not once tried to arrest the situation but keep on assuring us of better security while we continue to die in the hands of our fellow countrymen. This also gave rise of seeking for disintegration so that we will be safe as whom we are. 6.0 CONCLUSION Nigereia as it stands now is still under-developed because of the bane of corruption that is incessant and in ascending order. Apart from our leader, the necessary tool to upgrade our human abilities is mental re-cultivation of our abilities to stay without corruption especially as it regards to funds. Accordingly, Mr Ugo Ughaerumba would suggest that to combat this evil menace in our country, the leaders should be up and doing to lessen the level of poverty, unemployment and generate adequate usable energy in Nigeria. Finally, Musa Yar’adua and Goodluck tried and still trying to set a standard but they should be more concern on how to make a favourable decision both on short and long term bases.
Samely, polictical philosophy as distinct from the study of political and administrative organisation, is more theoretical and normative than descriptive. It is relaed to general philosophy and is itself subject of social anthropology, sociology and the sociology of knowledge. Unlike the characters of political philosophy, a study of administrative strategies of any organisation involves essentially description. The object of this essay is to analyse and describe how the administrations Yaradua and Goodluck were able to reflect the theoretical political system of democracy in Nigeria. Before, proceeding to this aim, I wish to describe the political system of Nigeria. 2.0 POLITICAL SYSTEM IN NIGERIA It is essential to state that the political life of state controls other sectors of that state. Therefore, it is the function of the administrative force of a state to dictate the efficiency of economic, security, education and religious situation of the state. They pass bills and decree on how the state should be organise. This modern system of democracy in Nigeria has a recent origin. It merely started with the general election of 1999, with Nigeria practicing federal system of Government. This federal system in Nigeria is governed in accordance with the provisions of a constitution. The most recent came into being in May, 1999 when the then out-going military head of state, General Abdulsalamin Abubakar promulgated a decree recognising the new body of laws as the country’s supreme document. Significantly, the constitution affirms that Nigeeria is one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign state whose constituent units are bound together by a federal arrangement. It provides for a presidential system of government in which there is an executive, a legislature and a judiciary, with each acting as a check and balance on the powers of the other two arms. The constitution further provides for the operation of three tiers of government, at the federal, state and local levels. These provisions are binding on all authorities and persons through-out the federation. 2.1 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 2.1.1 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE At the federal level, the Government is headed by an elected President. As provided for by the constitution, the president is the Head of State, the Chief Executive of the Federation as well as the commander in chief of the Armed forces. He is also the head of the executive arm in the tripartite. The office of the president is a concentration of considerable powers and a repository of vast responsibilities. As Head of State, the President is the ceremonial head of the Nigerian government. As the chief executive, he/she bears ultimate responsibility for the smooth and effective running of government on day to day basis and must accept the ultimate blame for any failures that may occur therein. As commander in chief of the Armed Forces, he/she is responsible for how those forces are organised, trained and equipped and is accountable for how they are deployed to ward off external aggression and guarantee internal security. As the position is paramount in the making of foreign policy, he/she is also the country’s chief diplomat. Furthermore, although not explicitly specified in the constitution, the president must share responsibility with the national Assembly in the making of laws for good governance of the Federation and the public looks up to him as the leading formulator and expounder of public opinion in the country. In the same way, the public looks up to him/her as the overall manager of the nation’s economy, in which capacity he may claim credit in times of prosperity but must surely suffer unsparing criticism for any failures of economic performance. The president is not a member of the National Assembly but may attend to deliver lectures on what is obtainable in the nation including fiscal measures, or to make such statements on the policy of government. The president appoints ministers after due screening and confirmation of the list of nomenees by the Senate. He is enjoined by the constitution to appoint his ministers from all the 36 states of the federation. The president and his ministers constitute the Federal Executive council, with the president as the chairman. The body initiates the policies and programmes of the Federal Government and ensures that they are properly implemented after they may have been passed into law by the legislature 2.1.2 THE FEDERAL LEGISLATURE The highest law making body of the federation is the National Assembly. The Assembly is made up of upper house known as Senate and a lower house known as the house of Representative. The senate is headed by a senate president who is supported by a deputy senate president. It consists of three members from each state of the federation and one member from the federal capital territory. Thus the senate has a total of 109members. The House of Representative is presided over by speaker of House supported by Deputy speaker. The National Assembly has responsibility for making laws for the good governance of federation. Each of the house of Assembly is made up of several specialised commitees whose work focus on aspect of national life. All members of the Assembly in accordance with the constitution are required to sit for a minmum of 181 days in a year. The power of the National Assembly to make laws is exercise through bills passed by both the senate and the House of Representatives and assent by the president. A bill may originate from either house of assembly but cannot become law until it has been passed by both house and assented to by the president. When a bill from the assembly is presented to the president for his assent, the constitution stipulates that the president shall within 30days thereafter, signify that his assents or withholds his assent and the bill is again passed by two-thirds majority in each house, such a bill becomes a law, requiring no further presidential assents. 2.1.3 THE JUDICIARY While the legislature is responsible for making laws and the executive is charged with the implementation of such law, thejudiciary is responsible for the interpretation of the law in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. In line with the doctrine of separation of powers, which is a cardinal feature of a democratic system, the Nigerian Constitution guarantees the independence of judiciary. The constitution provides for Federal and State Courts, as well as Election Tribunals. At the apex of the judiciary is the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice of Nigeria, the President of the Court of Appeal, the chief Judge of the Federal High Court and chief judge high court of the Federal Territory, Abuja are all appointed by the president on the advice of the National Judicial Council subject to the consent of the Senate. The President also appoints the Grand Kadi of the sharia Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and the President of the Customary Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. All other judicial appointments to the Federal courts are made by the President on the advice of the National Judicial Council. 2.2 THE STATE GOVERNMENT Each of the 36states that make up the Nigerian Federation is administered by a Chief Executive. The Chief Executive is the Governor of the state and is elected like the president to a four year term office in the 1st instance. The Governor is empowered to appoint commissioners and advisers and to assign responsibilities to them. The governor, Deputy Governor and Commissioners constitute the state Executive Council. They cannot be members of the State House of Assembly. The State house of Assembly is the unicameral legislature for the State. It comprise of representatives from all the local government areas within the State, it exercises identical functions with those of the National Assembly at the state level. It makes law fr the good governance of the State, and acts as a check and balance on the powers and actions of the State’s Chief Executive. The governors appoint the Chief Judges of the States, the Grand Kadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal and the President of Customary Court of Appeal, in those States where those courts exist, on the advice of the national judicial council and the State House of Assembly. 2.3 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT The local government is the third tier of the administrative structure in Nigeria structure in Nigeria. There are 774 local government areas in the country. The functions of local Governments as spelt in the constitution are as follows: a. Consideration and making of recommendations to the State commission on economic planning or any similar body on economic development of the State, particularly in so far as the area of authority of the Council and of the State are affected. b. Collection of rates, and radio and television licences. c. Establishment and maintenance of cemeteries, burial grounds and homes for destitute or infirm. d. Licensing of bicycles, trucks, (other mechanically propelled trucks), canoes, wheel barrows and carts, e. Establishment, maintenance and regulation of markets, motor parks and public conveniences. f. Construction and maintenance of roads, streets, drains and other public highways, parks, open spaces or such public facilities as may be prescribed from time to time by the House of Assembly of a state. g. Registration of birth, deaths and marriages. h. Assessment of privately owned houses or tenements for the purpose of levying such rates as may be prescribed by the House of Assembly of a State. i. Naming of roads and streets and numbering of houses. Etc The local government council comprises of the chairman who is the chief executive of the LGA and other elected members who are referred to as councillors. The chairman is normally elected, but can, under special circumstances, also be appointed. He/she supervises the activities of the local government and presides over all meetings of the council. All members are enjoined by law to meet the aspirations of the people who elect them. A local government council is the pivot of socio-economic planning and development in its area of authority. Being also the tier of government closest to the people, it is considered a most important facilitator of economic and social development at the grass root. On this juncture, it is pertinent to go into the main topic of discussion-examinig the administration of Presidents Yaradua and Goodluck from various perspectives by noting firstly the biographies of this two personalities in Nigerian government. 3.0 BIOGRAPHIES OF PRESIDENT YARADUA AND GOODLUCK JONATHAN 3.1 BIOGRAPHY OF UMAR MUSA YAR’ADUA Umaru Musa Yar’adua was born in Katsina Town, Katsina State in 1951 into a family active in Nigerian political and military affairs. He started his primary education at Rafukka Primary School, Katsina in 1958. He left Rafukka for Dutsinma Boarding Primary School in 1962 from where he completed his primary education in 1964. Umaru Yar’Adua was at Government College, Keffi in present-day Nasarawa State for his secondary education from 1965-1969. He then moved to the famous Barewa College Zaria for his Higher School Certificate from 1970-1971. For his university education, Yar’Adua attended the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria from 1972-1975 where he obtained the B.Sc Education/Chemistry. He returned to the same University from 1978-1980 for his M.Sc Degree in Analytical Chemistry. Umaru Yar’Adua working career began at the Holy Child College, Lagos for the mandatory one year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) between 1975 and 1976. He was a Lecturer at the Katsina College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria between 1976 and 1979. He moved to Katsina Polytechnic, also as a Lecturer in 1979 and was there until 1983 when he left the public service. At the inception of General Abdulsalam Abubakar’s transition in 1998, Yar’Adua founded the K34 political association which later teemed up to form the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He contested and won election as Governor of Katsina State in 1999 and was re-elected in 2003. Governor Yar’Adua is best remembered as the first Governor to publicly declare his assets and has promised to do same again at the end of his tenure. During his tenure as Governor, the state passed through an unprecedented development, culminating into profoundly transformation of the educational and health institutions, provision of rural and urban roads, electrification, water supply and agriculture. In the year 2000, he became the fifth northern Nigerian state governor to adopt sharia, or Islamic law. Yar’Adua primary health care delivery system and primary education policies became models. On 16th and 17th December 2006, Yar'Adua was chosen as the presidential candidate of the ruling PDP for the April 2007 election, receiving 3,024 votes from party delegates; his closest rival, Rochas Okorocha, received 372 votes. Shortly after winning the nomination, Yar'Adua chose Good luck Jonathan, governor of Bayelsa State, as his vice-presidential candidate. In the presidential election, held on 21st April 2007, Yar'Adua won with 70% of the vote (24.6 million votes) according to official results released on 23 April. After the election, Yar'Adua proposed a government of national unity. In late June 2007, two opposition parties, the ANPP and the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), agreed to join Yar’Adua government... On 28 June 2007, Yar'Adua publicly revealed his declaration of assets from May (becoming the first Nigerian Leader to do so), according to which he had ₦856,452,892 (US$5.8 million) in assets, ₦19 million ($0.1 million) of which belonged to his wife. He also had ₦88,793,269.77 ($0.5 million) in liabilities. This disclosure, which fulfilled a pre-election promise he made. In 2007 Yar'Adua, who suffered from a kidney condition, challenged his critics to a game of squash in an endeavor to end speculations about his health. On 6th March 2007 he was flown to Germany for medical reasons. President Yar'Adua left Nigeria on 23rd November 2009, and was reported to be receiving medical treatment at a clinic in Saudi Arabia. On 24 February 2010, Yar'Adua returned to Abuja. His state of health was unclear, but there was speculation that he was still on a life support machine. Various political and religious figures in Nigeria had visited him during his illness saying he would make a recovery. Yar'Adua died on 5th May, 2010 at the Aso Rock presidential villa. An Islamic burial took place on 6th May 2010 in his hometown. The Federal Government of Nigeria declared a seven-day mourning period. Yar’Adua married to Hajia Turai Umaru Yar’Adua of Katsina in 1975; they had seven children (five daughters and two sons). Their daughter Zainab is married to Kebbi State governor Usman Saidu Nasamu Dakingari.another daughter Nafisat is married to Bauchi State governor Isa Yuguda. Yar'Adua was married to Hauwa Umar Radda as a second wife. 3.2 BIOGRAPHY OF GOODLUCK JONATHAN Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCFR), was born to a humble Niger Delta family of canoe makers on November 20th, 1957 in Otuoke Young Goodluck Jonathan began his primary education at St Stephen’s Primary School (now State School, Otuoke) and later moved to St Michael’s Primary School, Oloibiri, where he completed his elementary education in 1969, at the age of 12. His leadership traits began to come up for reckoning in the course of his secondary school days. In 1973, while in form three, he was appointed class prefect and Secretary of the Food Committee, an administrative body of hostel masters and senior students. He occupied that position up to form five. On completion of his secondary education, he worked as a Preventive Officer with the Nigerian Customs Service for two years. In 1977, he secured admission into the Department of Zoology, a pioneer student of the newly established University of Port Harcourt. He graduated with Second Class Upper honours in 1981. As a corps member, Goodluck served Nigeria as a classroom teacher at Iresi, a community in Oyo State, now in Osun State. At the end of the NYSC programmed in 1982, he took up appointment as a classroom teacher under the auspices of the Rivers State Civil Service Commission. Following his exceptional performance at the interview, he was promptly upgraded to the rank of Science Inspector of Education in the Ministry of Education. In 1985 and 1995 he studied for his Master’s and PhD degrees in Hydrobiology and Fisheries Biology, and Zoology respectively from the same University He ventured into politics and at the dawn of the Fourth Republic, Dr Jonathan pitched tent with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and emerged as the running mate to the party’s gubernatorial flag-bearer, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. The duo emerged triumphant at the polls in the 1999 governorship election, and so Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan stepped into office as the first Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State. After a successful tenure, Dr. Jonathan repeated the feat where he led Chief D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha Campaign machinery popularly called ALAMCO. The duo won the gubernatorial elections again, in 2003. And Goodluck Jonathan is thus, serving as a Deputy Governor for a second tenure, not until his boss was impeached on corruption charges. Dr Jonathan took over as governor and two years later he was busy preparing for re -election to his first full term as substantive governor of Bayelsa state, when the people democratic party (PDP), nominated him as running mate to the Presidential candidate, He and Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua were elected in April and inaugurated on May 29th, 2007, as Nigeria’s Vice President. After taking office, Yar'Adua publicly declared his assets, and on 8th August 2007, Jonathan also did so .According to Jonathan, as of 30th May 2007 he had a total of 295,304,420 naira ($8,569,662.40) in assets. President Umaru Yar'Adua left Nigeria on 23rd November 2009 for medical treatment. He did not provide for anyone to assume his duties. On 13th January 2010, a federal court handed Vice-President Jonathan the power to carry out state affairs in the president's continued absence. On 22nd January 2010, the Supreme Court of Nigeria ruled that the Federal Ministries had 14 days to decide on a resolution about whether President Yar'Adua "is incapable of discharging the functions of his office". On 9th February 2010, the Senate determined that presidential power should be transmitted to the Vice President. He was appointed to serve as Acting President, with all the accompanying powers, until when and if Yar'Adua returned to full health. Precisely on February 9th, 2010, Dr. Jonathan assumed office as Nigeria’s Acting President by virtue of a National Assembly resolution empowering him as Acting President, following President Yar’Adua long absence for medical attention in Saudi Arabia. He became officially the President of Nigeria May 6th; 2010.This comes as the country prepares to bury its former leader Umaru Yar’Adua who died on 5th of May 2010, after a prolonged illness. 4.0 CRITICAL EXAMINATION INTO THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF PRESIDENTS YAR’ADUA AND GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN To make a successful examination into the administration of these personalities in the executive government will not be an easy task at all. It will involve essentially knowing their aspirations and then knowing fully what they are able to accomplish in their tenure in office basing on different sector of development. I will therefore compare the two administrations and then note specifically some criticisms arising to their government. It should be noted clearly that this work is under the scope of Nigeria’s political system. This is to say that this work will specify in philosophical way how they were able to fit into our political system. 4.1 PRESIDENT MUSA YAR’ADUA’S ADMINISTRATION Yar’adua took over from Obasanjo under the platform of people’s democratic party (PDP). It was rumoured then that it was the wish of Obasanjo to be succeeded by such an ill-willed and ill-health president so that he (Obasanjo) will find it easy to control the federal Government from behind as the god-father. In certain aspect, it seems that they are correct to their criticisms especially on the side of the ill-health reason because Yar’adua could not complete his tenure in the office; he died before he could complete his tenure. On another note, Yar’adua tried to define his ambition in the office. Thus he brought into view the 7 point agenda which is aimed to change almost all the sector of the country. The 7 point agenda of Yar’adua are as follows: Energy, security, wealth creation, Education, Land Reform, mass transit, and Niger Delta. The demands of this ambition are significant such that it will go a long way to boost the development of the nation. To accomplish these important ideals, certain precedential conditions are much necessary. The paramount respect and obedience to law, order, established regulations and procedure are very important and crucial to achieve enumerated points.Also the issue of planning well is also necessary for achieving the said goal. It is said that “he who fails to plan, plan to fail”, therefore, it becomes a way to make our goals to be achieved in little or no time. Good leaders who are patriotic and hardworking are also a tool of achieving this wonderful aim, thus, electoral reform is necessary of producing a good leaders. The question is whether Yar’adua was able to accomplish the mission of his 7 points agenda which purported. It is worthy of note here that guideline of achievements is contained in this 7 points agenda and it will be good to explain briefly these agendas his. 4.1.1 THE SEVEN POINT AGENDA OF PRESIDENT YAR’ADUA a. POWER AND ENERGY – The infrastructural reforms in this critical sector through the development of sufficient and adequate power supply will be to ensure Nigeria’s ability to develop as a modern economy and an industrial nation by the year 2015. b. FOOD SECURITY – This reform is primarily agrarian based. The emphasis on the development of modern technology, research, financial injection into research, production and development of agricultural inputs will revolutionalize the agricultural sector leading to a 5 – 10 fold increase in yield and production. This will result in massive domestic and commercial outputs and technological knowledge transfer to farmers. c. WEALTH CREATION – By virtue of its reliance on revenue from non-renewal oil, Nigeria has yet to develop industrially. This reform is focused on wealth creation through diversified production especially in the agricultural and solid mineral sector. This requires Nigerians to choose to work, as hard work by all is required to achieve this reform. d. TRANSPORT SECTOR – The transportation sector in Nigeria with its poor roads networks is an inefficient means of mass transit of people and goods. With a goal of a modernized industrialized Nigeria, it is mandatory that Nigeria develops its transport sector. The PDP government has already started this process by the ongoing rehabilitation and modernization of the railway. While the reforms might take some time to take effect, it is a need that must be addressed. e. LAND REFORMS – While hundreds of billions of dollars have been lost through unused government-owned landed asset, changes in the land laws and the emergence of land reforms will optimize Nigeria’s growth through the release of lands for commercialized farming and other large scale business by the private sector. The final result will ensure improvements and boosts to the production and wealth creation initiatives. f. SECURITY – An unfriendly security climate precludes both external and internal investment into the nation. Thus, security will be seen as not only a constitutional requirement but also as a necessary infrastructure for the development of a modern Nigerian economy. With its particular needs, the Niger Delta security issue will be the primary focus, marshaled not with physical policing or military security, but through honest and accurate dialogue between the people and the Federal Government. g. EDUCATION – The two-fold reforms in the educational sector will ensure firstly the minimum acceptable international standards of education for all. With that achieved, a strategic educational development plan will ensure excellence in both the tutoring and learning of skills in science and technology by students who will be seen as the future innovators and industrialists of Nigeria. This reform will be achieved through massive injection into the Education sector. 4.1.2 ASSET DECLARATION Mr. Yar’adua became the first Nigerian Head of State to declare his assets. It was commendable and one or two State governors emulated his path by declaring their own assets as well. But Nigerians are skeptical of these politicians’ bogus asset declarations because they have some unspecified foreign and local accounts opened in the names of their family members, associates and offshore corporations in which they wired looted, public money. In the case of Mr. Yar’Adua, contracts had gone to companies with links to his family’s vast businesses during his three-year tenure as Nigerian president and seven years as Katsina State governor. Yar'Adua publicly revealed his declaration of assets from May, according to which he had ₦856,452,892 (US$5.8 million) in assets, ₦19 million ($0.1 million) of which belonged to his wife. He also had ₦88,793,269.77 ($0.5 million) in liabilities. This disclosure, which fulfilled a pre-election promise he made. Yar’adua seems not to have achieved his plans and proposals because of his poor health conditions and then his sudden death. We will surely discuss in later section certain flaws that arose from his government, especially with his 7 points agenda. 4.1.3 YAR‟ADUA AND THE WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION: A NEW DAWN OR BUSINESS AS USUAL? The election of President Umaru Musa Yar‟Adua raised hopes that the war against corruption would be re-energized and strengthened. The President himself promised to take the fight against corruption to a new height, vowing to run a “clean government‟ based on the “rule of law‟: “If the federal Government is to take action against any person for any act of corruption which has been determined, without doubt, the government will act….As it stands, I assure you that the federal Government has zero tolerance for corruption. But also in the process, the rule of law and due process must be followed”. Similarly, while receiving the visiting World Bank Vice-President for Africa, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, the President assured the world that he will not seek to instrumentalize the anti-corruption agencies. In his words: “I have given all the institutions a free hand. I have told them I won’t interfere, because I am strongly in support of the fight against corruption. No hurdle has been put on their paths. The only thing I have made very clear is that they must follow the rule of law and due process”. To what extent were these promises kept? How did the anti-corruption war fare under Yar‟Adua? Did specific improvements occur? If not, what challenges were encountered? The above were some of the questions we put before our respondents during interviews. The more widely held view was that the Yar‟Adua administration presided over a dramatic lull in the tempo of Nigeria‟s anti-corruption campaign. This view is voiced by many donor organizations, Nigerian civil society groups, including Transparency in Nigeria, the local arm of the global anti-corruption watchdog and highly placed sources in government, including some within the anti-corruption agencies. For example, Titi Ogunye of the Civil Liberties Organization, was of the opinion that: “Events since May 2007, particularly recent events relating to the EFCC, indicate that the fledging anti-corruption crusade handed over to the Yar‟Adua administration is facing a reversal of the worst kind. The challenge before the Nigerian people is to resist this subversion and build ownership around the anti-corruption effort”. In a similar tone, one senior civil servant in the Presidency, described the President‟s frequent talk about „human rights‟ as a smoke screen for protecting some of the President’s friends, especially the former governors, who are guilty of corruption. There are at least three main reasons for this pessimistic view of Nigeria’s anti-corruption campaign under the Yar’Adua administration. The first one was the perception that prosecutions of top public officials, like the implementation of several other government policies, were stalling after Yar’Adua took over. It was in this light that President Yar’Adua was derisively nick-named baba-go-slow by sections of the Nigerian press. The second was the feeling that some ex-public officials accused of corruption by the EFCC, especially the former governors who played key roles in the election of President Yar‟Adua, were been shielded from justice under the pretext of following the „Rule of Law‟. The third major source of concern was the fact that, some anti-corruption crusaders (such as Nuhu Rubadu, the former chairman of the EFCC and Malam Nasir El-Rufai, former Minister of the Federal Capital) have been purged from their positions. 4.1.4 FOOD SECURITY Being an agricultural inclined person, Yar’adua wished in a possible to create a situation where the country would feed themselves from our agricultural products. He posited that the only challenge of this aim is food poisoning caused essentially from global warming and green house gases. It is a case where acidic carbon will make its way to the ground waters and irrigation waters thus increasing in higher level the acidic content of the land which will surely affect the products. To combat against food poisonings especially that arising from global village, in his statement to the high-level conference on world food security, he proposed that Nigeria is also set to mitigate global warming effects through aforestation & reforestation, Integrated Water Management and the promotion of biofuels using jatropha and Cassava as feedstock. Nigeria is currently the World’s largest producer of cassava. (about 50 million tons was produced in 2007 and moving to 60mt in 2009). The promotion of Jatropha plantations is partly due to the need to use up the over 3 million hectares of degraded non-arable land in the Sudano Sahelian areas of the Country and its income generating capability for the rural poor especially women. Using cassava as a feedstock is part of the strategy to sustain its increased local production without jeopardizing cassava food production as over 1 million additional hectares will be open, cultivated and dedicated as cassava for ethanol. If that is to be achieved in Nigeria agriculture then the story food poison from imported foods will be reduced because there is so much to be harvest in Nigerian’s farm to feed the nation. 4.2 PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN’S ADMINISTRATION Goodluck Jonathan succeeded Musa Yar’adua as the president of federal republic of Nigeria under the platform of PDP. It became very important Goodluck to prove himself in his administration as he is the first south-east to become the head of state since Ironsi. In his inaugural address on the occasion of his swearing in as President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria on May 29, 2011, he enumerated his strategies of administration. Below are some of his exact words culled from his inaugural speech. a. Today, our unity is firm, and our purpose is strong. Our determination unshakable. Together, we will unite our nation and improve the living standards of all our peoples whether in the North or in the South; in the East or in the West. Our decade of development has begun. The march is on. The day of transformation begins today. We will not allow anyone exploit differences in creed or tongue, to set us one against another. b. The moment is right. The signs are heart- warming. We are ready to take off on the path of sustained growth and economic development. In our economic strategy, there will be appropriate policy support to the real sector of the economy, so that Small and Medium Enterprises may thrive. Nigeria is blessed with enormous natural wealth, and my Administration will continue to encourage locally owned enterprises to take advantage of our resources in growing the domestic economy. A robust private sector is vital to providing jobs for our rapidly expanding population. But this must be a collaborative effort. c. We must form technical and financial partnerships with global businesses and organizations. We live in an age where no country can survive on its own; countries depend on each other for economic well- being. Nigeria is no different. Returns on investment in Nigeria remain among the highest in the world. We will continue to welcome sustainable investment in our economy. d. Over the next four years, attention will be focused on rebuilding our infrastructure. We will create greater access to quality education and improved health care delivery. We will pay special attention to the agricultural sector, to enable it play its role of ensuring food security and massive job creation for our people. The creation of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority will immensely contribute to strengthening our fiscal framework, by institutionalizing savings of our commodity-related revenues. With this mechanism in place, we will avoid the boom and bust cycles, and mitigate our exposure to oil price volatility. The lesson we have learnt is that the resolution of the Niger Delta issue is crucial for the health of the nation’s economy. In the interest of justice, equity and national unity, we shall actively promote the development of the region. I believe that peace is a necessary condition for development. Fellow citizens, in every decision, I shall always place the common good before all else. The bane of corruption shall be met by the overwhelming force of our collective determination, to rid our nation of this scourge. The fight against corruption is a war in which we must all enlist, so that the limited resources of this nation will be used for the growth of our commonwealth. 31. I am confident that we have every reason to look to the future with hope. We owe ourselves and posterity the duty of making this country respectable in the comity of nations. 4.2.1 SECURITY Goodluck Jonathan’s aspiration for the country’s security was stated in his speech made at the UN 66th general assembly. The meeting was preceded by the bombing of UN House at Abuja, and with that spirit he is particularly thinking on the necessary tool to combat security in Nigeria State and the World in general. According to him, “the world of the 21st century in which we live is becoming more precarious, unprecedented and more dangerous perhaps more than any other times in history. The increasing use of terror as a form of political actions posses serious threat to international peace and security. Terror infringes on the fundamental human right to live and to live in safety of fear.” In the same speech, he gave veritable strategies of fighting terrorism in Nigeria of which he has started implementing already. He noted that terrorism acts is very crucial to resolve terrorism issues and will go a long way to appropriate national strategies and corroborate even more closely with international communities to fight the menace of insecurity. He also noted that Nigeria has sign into law “terrorism bill 2011 and antimony laundering provision amendment act” on 3rd June 2011. The new laws are not only to outline measures to combat terrorism but also to prohibit the financing of terrorism and laundering of the proceeds of crime. Nigeria is also working closely with UN counter terrorism implementation task force and other friendly bodies to strengthen our mechanism to combat crimes. As a quick resolution to fight crime, the UN terrorism implementation task force launched its project in Abuja on November 2011. They seek to embark on preventing conflict and countering the appeal of terrorism through education, dialogue and mediation. Also preventive diplomacy is another to avoid insecurity situations. Jonathan looked with stern repudiations to trading of small arms and light weapons. The fact that such trade would increase highly, the situations of insecurity in the country. He retracted the act of 2006 to sanction people who engage in such actions. On December 31, 2011, Goodluck made a declaration of a state of emergency in certain part of the federation in order to restore public order, peace and security in the federation. Following 25th madalla bombing and other security threats in many northern part of Nigeria probably by the sect Boko haram. The sectarian crises in the north has gradually evolved into terrorist activities in different parts of the country with attendant negative consequencies on our national security. Goodluck tends to have responded adequately by constituting Presidential Committee under the chairmanship of Ambassador Usman Gaji Galtimari, to ascertain the immediate and remote causes of the crises. With the ongoing search for necessary solution to this problem, the president consequently took a decisive measures necessary to restore normalcy in the country especially within the affected communities. Therefore, he declared state of emergency on those areas following the provisions of section 305 (1) of the constitution. He went on to order the closure of the land borders contiguous to the affected local government areas so as to control incidences of cross boarder terrorist activities as terrorists have taken advantage of the present situation to strike at targets in Nigeria and retreat beyond the reach of our law enforcement personnel. Despite all these measure taken by Jonathan, it is a fact that insecurity persists in the country with the obvious infliction of pain by the notorious sect called Boko Haram. Their nefarious and heinous acts are seen now and then in the country at every corner of the country. The federal government has not up till today decided on a nice strategy to disarm this particular set of groups. Has Goodluck failed in security sector? That is what we will see in the next section. 4.2.2 ECONOMY UNDER JONATHAN’S ADMINISTRATION One of the most critical economic manifestation in Jonathan’s administration is seen in the deregulation of the downstream sector. The broadcast of Goodluck Jonatthan on 7th January portrays his ambition to stabilize the economic system by the deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector. Briefly, his speech is mainly geared to reviving our economic system thus he said “either we deregulate and survive economically, or we continue with a subsidy regime that will continue to undermine our economy and potential for growth, and face serious consequences.” He went on to explain that the subject of deregulation is not new, we have been grappling with it for more than two decades. Previous administrations tinkered with the pump price of petroleum products, and were unable to effect complete deregulation of the downstream sector. This approach has not worked. If it did, we would not be here talking about deregulation today. I understand fully well that deregulation is not a magic formula that will address every economic challenge, but it provides a good entry point for transforming the economy, and for ensuring transparency and competitiveness in the oil industry, which is the mainstay of our economy. The deregulation of the petroleum sector is a necessary step that we had to take. Should we continue to do things the same way, and face more serious economic challenges? Or deregulate, endure the initial discomfort and reap better benefits later? The discontinuation of fuel subsidy is because it poses a huge financial burden on the government, disproportionately benefits the wealthy, encourages inefficiency, corruption and divesion of scare public resources away from investment in critical infrastructure. Subsidy removal would save additional resources for programmes targeted at mitigating poverty and spurring economic growth. Accordingly, the money realized from it would be used in a special way to build new private refineries. Such deregulation of the downstream sector as claimed the Federal government would lead to rapid private sector investment in refineries and petro-chemicals, which will generate millions of jobs and increased prosperity for Nigerians. The total projected subsidy reinvestible fund per annum is N1.134trillion based on average crude oil price of $90 per barrel. Out of this, N478.49billion accrues to Federal Government, N41.03 billion to state government, 203.23billion to local government, 9.86billion to the Federal capital territory and 31.37billion as transfers to derivation and ecology, development of natural resources and stabilization funds. 4.2.3 EDUCATION IN GOODLUCK’S ADMINISTRATION Vincent Ehiabhi reported in the daily times that Jonathan promises education for all youths. As a scholar and doctorate holder, Jonathan has insisted in many of his policy to implement for education of the future leaders. Presisdent Goodluck has pledged to make education accessible to all youths, as part of the government’s policy on human capital development. He made this known on 14th april, 2012 at the convocation ceremony of the Federal University of Technology, Minna Niger State, where he was represente by the Minister of Education, Prof Ruqayyatu Rufai. Accordingly, human development through education is regarded highly as a way to improve lot of the people of Nigeria. He said “let me point out that our administration is committed to improving education, to ensure appropriate human capital development in Nigeria. 5.0 CRITICISMS OF THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF THESE PRESIDENTS As much as one tries to impress certain people, he must in a way be unsatisfied by another people. With that in mind, Yar’adua and Jonathan would not have impress everybody despite their enthusiasm to work for the benefit of their country. It is on this note I wish to state clearly the area they seem not have measured up in their administration, hoping that someday , something will be done to give a maximum result. 5.1 CRITICISMS OF YAR’ADUA’S GOVERNMENT It was stipulated by critics that Yar’adua did not care best about the value of naira and as such the value of naira has degenerated to N163 to a dollar. One will be forced to ask if Yar’adua is really aware about the situation at hand. It is an obvious fact that the value of the naira affects willy-nilly the well being of the people. His administration was labeled by Sam Nda-Isaiah as a situation no electric supply, no portable water, no health care system, collapsed education system and total insecurity of life and property, worsening poverty level. In his inaugural speech, He listed the seven critical areas his administration would tackle as power and energy, food security and agriculture, wealth creation and employment, mass transportation, land reforms, security, Niger Delta and qualitative and functional education. The president was confident that his administration would adequately address these key sectors and by so doing jump-start an economy capable of making Nigeria one of the world’s 20 developed economies in 2020. However, a critical assessment of the performance of Yar’Adua’s administration in the past one and half years shows that he has failed to implement his seven- point agenda. For instance, the president had said it loud and clear that he would declare a state of emergency on the problematic energy sector in order to tackle the problem of erratic electricity supply in Nigeria. He identified epileptic power supply as one of the strongest variables among the factors slowing down the nation’s economic progress. According to him, the power sector is characterized by low generating capacity relative to installed capacity. The president promised to put in place the necessary machinery that would move power generation from its level in June 2007 which was below 4,000 megawatts to 10,000 megawatts in December 2007. He was confident that through the concerted efforts of his administration, power generation would be further increased to 30,000 megawatts by 2011 and 50,000 by 2015. When the president realized that his administration could not actualize its first target of increasing power to 10,000 megawatts by December 2007, he had to establish an 11- member Presidential Committee for the Accelerated Expansion of Nigeria’s power infrastructure. He challenged the committee to deliver within 18 months the 6,000 additional megawatts targeted under the National Integrated Power Project, NIPP, as well as add an extra 11,000 megawatts of power generation capacity by 2011 through diverse sources. Although the committee has submitted its report to the president, the situation on ground does not give hope that the 6,000 additional megawatts target is achievable. This is because; there has not been significant improvement in power supply. Yinka Odumakin, publicity secretary of Afenifere told Newswatch that the inability of Yar’Adua to effectively declare state of emergency in the energy sector was a clear indication that his seven-point agenda was a mere slogan. “President Yar’Adua has been long on promises but very short on delivery. In terms of food security and agriculture, the Yar’Adua administration has equally not lived up to expectation. Due to the lip service paid to the agricultural sector by the Yar’Adua administration, food prices have gone beyond the reach of many Nigerians. The situation has been worsened because of the current global food crisis. Sayyadi Abba Ruma, minister of agriculture and water resources, said recently that about 65 percent of Nigerians are food insecure. This is because a substantial number of the Nigerian people earn below the one dollar benchmark stipulated in the hunger index of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO. The efforts of the present administration to ameliorate the problems faced by Nigerians as a result of food shortages through the release of 66,000 metric tonnes of food items from the strategic grains reserves did not yield the desired result. This was because the process of obtaining the allocation paper from the federal ministry of agriculture, Abuja was abused. Newswatch learnt that the release/process of the grains was hijacked by contractors who bought in bulk and rather than sell to the ordinary Nigerians, sold to the breweries or agro-allied industries. Simeon Ehui, head economist and sector leader, sustainable development of the World Bank in Nigeria, recently painted a grim picture of the current level of hunger in Nigeria. “There is of course hunger. But I will not dramatize it in a way that people are dying. We are not at that level yet. There is concern that price rise is making some people poor. There is no question about that.” He, however, believes that since Nigeria is rich in natural resources, rich in expertise and rich in knowledge, the problem of food insecurity could be effectively tackled, if the Yar’Adua administration adopts the right policies. The president appears to have realised that his efforts so far have not boosted food production. This was why he said recently that his government now intends to actualize food security through the utilization of the National Resources Development Account to boost domestic production of food crops and development of agro-allied industries. The president has equally not matched words with action in the area of providing efficient transport infrastructure in line with his seven-point agenda. The transportation system, including road, marine, rail and air are in disastrous conditions. Although it is commendable that Yar’Adua listed the transportation sector as part of his seven-point agenda, so far no concrete steps have been taken by his administration to make a difference in this important sector. The conditions of the nation’s major roads are deplorable. Many sections of the roads have been cut off and commuters spend hours and days on the bad roads with huge costs to the economy and vehicles alike. The situation has become alarming in recent times because the two major roads linking the West to the East and the North to the South are in very bad shape. Consequently, there is always a traffic gridlock on the Benin-Ore road because of its deplorable condition. When Diezani Alison-Madueke assumed office as minister of transportation last year, she visited the bad portion of the Benin-Ore road and was at a loss why such a major trunk road in the country was allowed to degenerate to that degree. But more than one year after her lamentations, President Yar’Adua’s administration has become guilty of the same offence - neglect. It has not done much to improve on the decayed roadinfrastructure inherited from its predecessor. Eze Benett Elenda, traditional ruler of Ohiaocha Arocont kingdom in Abia State, advised the Yar’Adua administration to move beyond making declaratory statements by aggressively implementing the transportation policy that would create a modern and efficient inter-modal transportation system for the country. He suggested that he should also revive the railways and give desired attention to the inland waterways and air transport. In consonance with the goals and targets of the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, Yar’Adua also adopted wealth creation, job creation and qualitative education as part of his seven-point agenda. However, one and half years after he adopted the blueprint, the country has not made much progress in these areas. For instance, despite Yar’Adua’s avowed commitment to job creation and employment, the number of unemployed graduates is still on the increase. In terms of wealth creation, the poverty index has gone up. Odumakin, spokesman of Afenifere, told Newswatch that Yar’Adua’s promise of making Nigeria one of the world’s twenty largest economies by 2020 is a mere wish. According to him, his seven-point agenda is deficient in terms of concrete actions for a better and prosperous Nigeria. “The indices of getting there are not on ground. An average growth rate of less than seven percent, is a far cry from the needed annual growth rate for a country aspiring to compete among the top league of twenty largest economies. At the moment, the standard of living of most Nigerians remains painfully low,” he said. President Yar’Adua appropriately made education as an item in his seven-point agenda. The huge challenges facing the nation in that sector justify putting education in the priority list by the present administration. However, beyond the proclamations made by the president on assumption of office, not much of policy articulation has been done. The sector is, in fact a disaster waiting to happen because of poor quality of education and inability of government to adequately fund education. Uchendu Obinna, a seasoned educationist, told Newswatch that it was necessary for government to ensure that public schools are adequately funded to ensure qualitative education for the majority of Nigerian children. He advised Yar’Adua to implement his policy on education by not leaving the sector in the hands of some amorphous private sector in making policy choices on education. The government should be guided by the principle of social justice. “To price education beyond the reach of the children of the poor is a terrible injustice and it is antithetical to the provisions of the Chapter II of the 1999 Constitution,” he said. As regards, land reforms, Yar’Adua appears not to have the political will to address the controversial issue. Nothing has happened regarding this issue. “President Yar’Adua’s seven-point agenda, which is based on the commitment of the ruling political party manifesto to continue and strengthen economic reforms, does not meet the requirements for a clearly defined shared vision of the country of tomorrow for these reasons: it lacks specifications of the structural transformations to be undertaken and it is limited to seven priorities.” The report faulted the duplication of visions and agenda on the country by successive regimes which it said had not helped the development of the country. “Generally, it seems that each administration wants to redefine its own vision of the future of Nigeria, and not as building blocks towards a common vision,” the APRM stated. The body, however, said that Nigeria has the potential to occupy leading positions in the continent and even in the world but could only do so if it has visionary and transformative leadership at all levels of the society. The group advised the Yar’Adua administration to be more committed towards taking a comprehensive strategy for achieving set goals. To say that Yar’Adua has failed to live up to expectation is to put it mildly. Both Yar’Adua and the PDP have failed woefully,” he said Agbaje said he was not surprised that Yar’Adua has not delivered on promise because he took over power without the knowledge of what to do. “It is only in our own part of the country that an unhealthy mind can lead a sick nation. How can a sick president administer a sick nation?,” Pat Utomi, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in the 2007 polls also believes that Yar’Adua has failed to deliver because he was not prepared for power when it was dropped on his laps. This led to his lack of a clear cut agenda for solving Nigeria’s problems. Utomi said that based on the fact that Yar’Adua has not actualized any aspect of his seven-point agenda, it was clear he was handed over challenges he did not prepare for at all and has, therefore, found himself in a trap. “The gentleman got himself in a trap. This is basically why he has no focus. We all have different styles on how to get ourselves out of traps. I don’t know whether his style is to keep lip service, watching things.” Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, president of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, also condemned the president’s recent decision to administer oath of secrecy to his aides. “Oath of secrecy is inimical to transparency. Lack of transparency breeds corruption. The administrations of oath put in question the anti-corruption stance of the federal government,” Akeredolu said. 5.2 CRITICISMS OF GOODLUCK’S ADMINISTRATIONS The on-going administration of Goodluck has received a lot of criticisms especially on the bases of security and economy although one may not criticize him enough because he is still in office of transformation of the country’s situation. One of his policy of transforming the nation’s economy through removal of the fuel subsidy crop up certain fear in the mind of the people. People would have it as their way of embezzling the public fund since our nation is surrounded by corruptive governments. Also such policy was criticize because of the inability of the government to keep in place certain infracstructure that will help reduce the pleas of the masses. On the second note, the president is labeled as incompetent because of his inability to handle Boko haram situations. The book continues to rampage the country’s infractructure and even the lives of people. He has not once tried to arrest the situation but keep on assuring us of better security while we continue to die in the hands of our fellow countrymen. This also gave rise of seeking for disintegration so that we will be safe as whom we are. 6.0 CONCLUSION Nigereia as it stands now is still under-developed because of the bane of corruption that is incessant and in ascending order. Apart from our leader, the necessary tool to upgrade our human abilities is mental re-cultivation of our abilities to stay without corruption especially as it regards to funds. Accordingly, Mr Ugo Ughaerumba would suggest that to combat this evil menace in our country, the leaders should be up and doing to lessen the level of poverty, unemployment and generate adequate usable energy in Nigeria. Finally, Musa Yar’adua and Goodluck tried and still trying to set a standard but they should be more concern on how to make a favourable decision both on short and long term bases.
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