THRILLER FROM THE VILLA By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem
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The past week was a little controversial as some newspapers reported on Monday that President Goodluck Jonathan contested the chairmanship of the African Union. Critics argue that that ambition had brought an embarrassment to the country. The President had attended the 18th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia over the weekend and while some newspapers merely reported the outcome of the election which saw the emergence of President Boni Yayi of Benin Republic as chairman on Monday, others reported boldly in their cover pages that the leader of a very tiny Benin Republic –which I don’t even think is as big as Kogi state- floored the President of Nigeria, the giant of Africa.
The reports claimed that Jonathan had made last minute desperate efforts to be presented as West Africa’s soul candidate by the ECOWAS Heads of States and Heads of Government since the AU chairmanship position for this year was zoned to West Africa. This, the reports claimed, met a brickwall as Boni Yayi was able to get the support of majority of the members. President John Atta Mills was even reported to have stood behind Boni Yayi and urged other leaders to shun Jonathan.
While still in the Addis Ababa, the Presidential Adviser on media and publicity, Dr Reuben Abati issued a statement and condemned the reports and described it as intended to cast the administration in bad light.
Abati insisted that President Jonathan was not defeated by Boni Yayi since according to him, there was no election and he was never a candidate.
The statement also denied that President John Atta Mills of Ghana opposed President Jonathan at any time, insisting that Ghana and Nigeria still enjoyed strong and excellent relations.
“It is true, however, that in the last week, some newspapers have been speculating that President Jonathan may be adopted by the ECOWAS Heads of States and Governments to be the next chairman of the African Union, since it was the turn of ECOWAS to produce the AU Chairman for 2012-2013. Mr. President was indeed approached by leaders within and outside the West African sub-region to take up the challenge of leading the AU for the next one year,” the statement noted.
It continued: “While appreciating this kind gesture, President Jonathan resolved that he needed time to focus on domestic affairs in Nigeria, and that it would be practically difficult for him to combine the three positions of President of Nigeria, Chairman of ECOWAS and Chairman of African Union. He therefore rejected the offer.”
The Presidential spokesman further clarified that in order to make his position clear, he summoned a mini-Summit of ECOWAS at the AU Commission Headquarters on Saturday, January 28, 2012, to ensure that there was a meeting of minds on the position of AU Chairman.
According to the statement, the President even preferred the position going to another country since Nigeria had occupied the seat of AU chairman four times since its creation.
“As it turned out, the President of the Republic of Benin had indicated interest in the position, which paved the way for his unanimous adoption by the ECOWAS Heads of State as the sub-region’s candidate for the AU Chair. Thus, it becomes obvious that President Jonathan rather than being “defeated” by President Yayi Boni of Benin actually facilitated his emergence as AU Chairman,” the statement noted.
Since even in the first report, there was no record of any votes count and how many were recorded for both Jonathan and Boni Yayi, President’s Jonathan’s clarification seemed more convincing.
On Wednesday, after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, Minister of Information, Labaran Maku informed State House correspondents that the President had ordered MDAs to stop harassing National Assembly members for the upward review of their allocations. This, he said, was responsible for the difficulty in the full implementation of budgets in the past.
He also directed the ministers to ensure the quick implementation of the 2012 budget as according to him, its life span would not be extended beyond December 31, 2012.
The President reportedly said that if there is any MDA or parastatal that has any urgent need to review its estimates, they must follow the normal process of going back to the Federal Ministry of Finance for approval.
It seemed Mr. President was serious about doing things differently this time but in what sounded like another needless and wasteful jamboree, the Minister revealed plans for a Centenary celebration of the country in 2014 as according to him, the Council considered the report of a committee set up for the purpose.
"Our country will be 100 years in 2014. In order to mark it, the FEC has constituted a committee to review all the activities and projects that will come up as part of the celebration. A special committee was set up to plan the orderly execution of the projects towards the celebration of our centenary in 2014," Maku said.
The Minister also noted that Jonathan emphasised the need for prudence and cut in expenditure this year, reminding them the need to cut down on foreign trips while international conferences should only be considered on the basis of their true significance to ongoing national development efforts.
Same day, President Jonathan and state governors elected under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had met in the State House following the cancellation of the meetings of the party's Board of Trustees (BoT) and National Executive Committee (NEC) scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday respectively.
The agenda of meeting which started at about 5.30pm at the First Lady's Wing of the Presidential Villa, was not made public but was expected to review the implication of the Supreme Court judgement on the future programmes of the PDP including its now postponed congresses and national convention.
When the 2- hour meeting ended by 7:15 pm, the governors declined to speak with State House correspondents who requested to know the essence and outcome of the gathering.
However, the new Kogi state governor, Captain Idris Wada (rtd) said he would reconcile the different forces in the state as he intended to run an all inclusive government in the Confluence state.
Also in the meeting were Vice President Namadi Sambo, Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Ayim Pius Ayim, acting National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje, and acting National Secretary, Shehu Babayo.
Other governors at the meeting were Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Theodore Orji (Abia), Danbaba Suntai (Taraba), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Jonah Jang (Plateau), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Patrick Yakowa (Kaduna), Sullivan Chime (Enugu) and Abdulfatai Ahmed (Kwara).
Sokoto, Cross River, Adamawa and Bayelsa states were represented by their acting governors.
Ten years after former President Olusegun Obasanjo made a failed attempt to ensure the full participation of 18 private companies in the refining of petroleum products, President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday disclosed that the Federal Government was willing to give licences to those interested in setting up refineries in the country.
This he said, was part of the overall effort to raise the nation’s petroleum refining capacity and reduce the importation of refined products in line with current deregulation policy.
Speaking to a delegation of investors from Brazil, led by Mr. Reuben Voigt, Chairman of the Voigt Group, at the State House yesterday, President Jonathan said, “Nigeria has four refineries, but their combined capacity does not meet the country’s needs, so we are willing to approve applications for refining licences.”
The President said that Nigeria was still a green area in terms of investments, adding that government had opened up sectors of the economy, which were previously restricted, to private sector investment.
He directed the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to hold discussions with the Voigt Group, to explore areas of mutual cooperation.
Earlier, Mr. Voigt had said they were donating 120,000 housing units to Nigeria over three years, adding that the Voigt Group was interested in investing in construction, housing, power plants, petroleum refining and oil spillage clearing.
While the new steps by the Federal Government sound good for the downstream sector, it is hoped that the same issues that truncated previous attempts would not come back to haunt the country.
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