Will Boko Haram succeed?

Kerry Jackson

Like the popular saying, if a witch cries out at night and the next morning a child dies in the compound, the people in the house will say it is the witch that killed the child.
At inception of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, some people declared they would make the country un-governable for him; so it will not be out of place to say those people should be held responsible for the carnage wreaking Nigeria today.
It would be recalled that the challenges of insecurity and insurgency became intense after Jonathan became president.If the truth must be told, Nigerians need to tell it the way it is, which is that, the primary purpose of the Boko Haram insurgency is to make the present administration a living hell for the leaders, so as to make the leaders look incompetent.

Consequently, going by recent attacks by the sect, it seems that the groups target historic dates such as when Nigerians are celebrating so that if there are reasons for Nigerians to celebrate, the attack would leave them with no other option, but to mourn.
We stand to be corrected, that the present administration has been the most criticised and most heated; but you may agree with us also that this administration has done so much for the nation that we cannot finish highlighting its achievementshere.But for the records, we need to mention some of the milestone achievements.
Firstly, the educational sector which had been in a state of rot for decades. Thisadministration has invested billions of naira in the sector and now our universities are adequately funded to enable them build state-of-the-art facilities that will help produce graduates that are employable anywhere in the world.

The power sector is another aspect that the Nigerian history will not write off, because the present administration is the first to privatize, and the process was adjudged to be free and fair.Though, Nigerians may not have begun to see the benefits of the privatization, because it requires manifest.
The agricultural sector is where most people have seen the reality of the present administration’s transformation agenda. Farmers have been given a platform to produce food but subsistence and commercial purposes through the provision of soft loans and fertilizers by the government; truthfully the transformation agenda in the agricultural sector is working.

Youth empowerment, through the YouWinprogramme, has engaged many youths from all parts of the country to be self-employed and be employers of labour. The Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy,DrNgoziOkonjo-Iweala,said 26,000 jobs have been created by the two phases of the programme.
Although youth unemployed is still high, we need to understand that no government can employ all its citizens –it requires collaboration of private and public sectors.

Some say our president is too weak to act, but we “say the president must be very weak” to have championed the national conference, bringing together all Nigerians to a round table to discuss the future of the nation. This must be an act of transparency to have people to come discuss issues of any kind, without a no-go area, except the indivisibility of Nigeria; we callthat bravery not weakness.
The United States Secretary of State Mr. John Kerry was once asked what he thought was Africa’s biggest challenge, and what solutions he would he propose to counter the challenge? Kerry said, Providing jobs & education for millions of young people, transparency & accountability in governance.”
Let’s look at the key things Kerry mentioned – Job Creation, Education, Transparency and Accountability in Governance.The present government is more concerned in creating jobs for young Nigerians. This can be evidenced through the SURE-P which is under the social safety net of the programme, where people are employed in their locality to engage in social activities for their communities such as traffic control, environmental sanitation, health officers, etc.

As earlier mentioned, this administration has invested so much in the sector thanany previous government in Nigeria. This is visible by the creation of the Almajiri Schools in the North, and the creation of more federal universities across the country.
Although, universities were closed for some months because of the rot in the sector, the president in his wisdom went into dialogue with the academic union and the issues were resolved. However,efforts are on to endthe polytechnics strike.

Transparency, on the other hand can be seen here, where in May 2011 the present administration signed the Freedom of Information Act into law. The gesture by the president is seen and applauded by both local and international community as a right step in the right direction. The Act also allows the public to have access to information on government activities and seek explanation if need be. This is the height of transparency, since the inception of democracy in Nigeria.

Also in May, last year, President Jonathan presented to the general public, what he called his mid-term report, showcasing his achievements since he became president; more so, his ministers took turn to explain to the world what they had been doing in their ministries at the World Ministerial Platform. This is accountability.

Corruption in Nigeria has also been attributed to the lack of political will of the present administration in fighting the menace. Like we may all know corruption did not start with this present government, but rather is like cankerworm that has eaten deep into the system, and requires a systemic approach to root it out.

These, and many other achievements, are what the so-called Boko Haram and their sponsors don’t want Nigerians to know, but we must not allow them get this chance. We will stand by you,Mr. President. We, the Niger Delta Professionals, believe in your leadership just like the United States, United Kingdom and France believe in your government and are giving you support to fight this battle to victory; we will support you with all it takes.
Nigerians, it is high time we decided whether or not we will allow these faceless people to ruin our country.We need to believe in our leaders. Believe in the fact that in our unity we will overcome them. We are not terrorists. We are good people, great nation.

Jackson is National Coordinator, 9jaDelta Professionals for President Goodluck Jonathan