President Jonathan’s performance on the ECONOMY

This article, the second in the series on President Jonathan’s performance is edited from many online publications. They are here acknowledged. This administration has been accused of running the nation’s economy aground. We must examine that to see the verity or otherwise of the allegation. What has President Jonathan done with respect to the economy, and has it helped or not?

1.  Nigeria’s banking industry rescued and stabilized by the establishment of the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) in the year 2010.

2.  The report of National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that the country’s economy size grew from about $510 billion (about N80 trillion) to about N81.009 trillion between 2010 and 2013.

3.  Signing into law the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Bill 2010 (Local Content Bill) which has increased Local Content in the Oil and Gas sector.

4.  As a direct result of that law Royal Dutch Shell awarded a N7.8 billion ($49.9 million) contract to a Nigerian firm, S.C.C Limited, for the manufacture of high pressure line pipes that would otherwise have been awarded to a foreign firm.

5.  As a result of this law, Exxon Mobil awarded an off shore platform contract to a local firm, NigerDock Nig. PLC,  that would otherwise have been awarded to a foreign firm.

6.  Nigeria’s GDP grew by a record 8.29% during the last quarter of 2010 and by over 7% in 2011. In the first quarter of 2012 Nigeria had verifiably become the fourth fastest growing economy in the world as recently attested to by several multilateral bodies and trading partners.

 7.  On March 29th, 2011, The UK Government in London described Nigeria as the fourth fastest growing economy in the world.

8.  Improvement in Economic Indices - In October 2011 International Ratings agency, Fitch Ratings revised the country’s Outlook upwards from Negative to Stable.

9.  Standard and Poor’s another internationally respected and independent ratings agency, revised Nigeria's ratings from stable to Positive.

10.  Launched the Youth Enterprise with innovation in Nigeria (YOUWIN) initiative on the 11th October 2011 which is the administration's job creation centre piece.

11.  On Thursday April 12, 2012, 1,200 Nigerian youths emerged winners of the competition following a transparent process. Each winner receives a business start up grant of between 1 to 10 million Naira.

12.  Foreign exchange reserves rose to $37.02bn by May 14, 2012, the highest level in 21 months.

13.  Proceeds from Nigeria’s non-oil exports rose to 2.97 billion by the end of 2013, up from 2.3 billion in 2010.

 14.  Transformation of the agricultural sector, so that, in the words of Agriculture minister Akinwumi Adesina, “Nigerians will stop thinking of agriculture just as a means of livelihood, but more as a business.” The details of this transformation are too well known to friends and foes of Jonathan that space need not be taken up here for them.

15.  Nigeria has reduced its food imports by over 40% as of 2013, moving the country closer to self sufficiency in agriculture.

16.  Nigeria is the world’s largest producer of cassava with an output of over 45 million metric tonnes in 2014 according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

17.  The growth of Nigeria’s economy was recognized at New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2013 when on September 23 of that year President Jonathan was given the honour of ringing the closing bell at the Exchange. The bell ringing ceremony is seen as an endorsement of that country’s positive economic reforms. This was an honour Obasanjo asked for in 2006 and was denied because of poor economic performance.

 18.  Opening up of Nigeria to the global business community and becoming Africa’s number one destination of foreign investors. In the first six months of 2014, a total of US$9.70 billion or N1.51 trillion flowed into the national economy as foreign direct investments (FDI).

19.  Under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Nigeria became the first country in West Africa to host the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2014. It was also the most successful World Economic Forum for Africa (WEFA) in history, boasting of a global reach of 2.1 billion people according to estimates. On its website, the World Economic Forum explained why it chose Nigeria as the host of the 2014 African edition. It said, “...More importantly, it is a reflection of the growing attraction of Nigeria to international capital as one of the world’s most rewarding new markets, following recent painful but highly rewarding set of economic reforms."

20.  Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote’s net worth increased from US$2.1 billion at the start of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s administration to US$23 billion in 2014, making him Forbes’ richest black person in the world and the overall 26th richest in the world. He attributed this mammoth increase in his monetary worth to Goodluck Jonathan administration favourable economic policies.

21.  According to Central Bank of Nigeria’s report, Nigeria’s economy created 1.2 million jobs in 2013, and 500,000 jobs in the first half of 2014.

22.  Under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Nigeria rebased its GDP for the first time in over a decade to become the largest economy in Africa, overtaking South Africa and Egypt in the process. Recently (January 2015) CNN Money said Nigeria’s economy grew by 7% in 2014, only after China 7.3% and Qatar 7.1%. The business analysts rated Nigeria’s economy 3^rd among 5 with the strongest potential for growth in 2015.

23.  The Federal Government under President Jonathan has secured investment commitments worth 4.89 Trillion Naira.

24.  MasterCard made Nigeria its regional headquarters for its West/East and Indian Ocean islands zone raising the profile of Nigeria’s e-commerce industry. No business outfit would settle where the economy is sinking.

25.  Introduction of the cashless system which aims to encourage the use of e-payment systems in the country and reduce the volume of physical cash in circulation.

26.  Due to favourable economic policies, Internet penetration in Nigeria has now increased from about 45 million in 2011 to 63 million in 2014, overtaking countries such as the United Kingdom and France in the process. What this means is that more people now use the internet in Nigeria than in the UK and France.

27.  Nigerians are now a step closer to being fully integrated into the international e-commerce community with the approval and re-inclusion of Nigeria as one of the Paypal-compliant countries after being banned from using the service at the peak of the advanced fee fraud (419 scams). With Paypal, Nigerians can now pay for goods and services online from anywhere in the world.

28. Goodluck Jonathan administration is the one behind the revival of the dead automotive industry in Nigeria. Global auto giants like Peugeot, Nissan and Hyundai now either assemble or wholly manufacture small cars, Sport Utility Vehicles, trucks and buses at various locations in Nigeria. In addition to that, Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company (IVM), Nigeria’s flagship indigenous automaker, has begun the sale of their first made-in-Nigeria cars and SUVs in August 2014. Again, which Company would choose to settle where the economy is sinking?

29.  Revival of the Textile industry via the 150 billion Naira Textile Industry Bailout. As a result the United Nigerian Textile Limited was reactivated amongst others and 2000 employees re-engaged.

30.  World Bank has commended Jonathan’s administration and projects that if he continues, Nigeria will have the most vibrant economy in Africa by 2018. According to World Bank Report, "Nigeria's short-term economic outlook improved in 2014 and prospects for continued growth and macro-economic stability are good..."

31.  The International Finance Agency are giving foreigners expo that they should rush to go and invest in Nigeria because "an economic shift has happened, and the way things are going, the Nigerian economy will hit the one trillion dollar mark by 2025."

32.  Google reports Nigeria has one of the world's ten fastest growing economies in the world as at 2015, with "...established functioning free markets, the country offers large potential markets and boasts of huge raw material bases."

33.  Focus on Africa says Nigeria has "created more trade than aid, improved business policies, a liberalized market oriented economy and improved infrastructure." Nollywood alone will yield billions of dollars as foreign investors are looking to join Iroko TV to export our movies which the world want but have no easy means of getting.

34.  In the economic forum that France hosted recently, the Nigerian Finance Ministry was invited to talk to Finance Ministers from other countries on how to grow an economy. This cannot be rubbished by contrary talks.

The Holy Bible says “In the testimony of two or three witnesses every word shall be confirmed.” Let us then see the witnesses to the Nigerian economy under President Jonathan:

National Bureau of Statistics says it is good.

The UK government says it is good.

Fitch Ratings Agency says it is good.

Standard and Poors Agency says it is good.

Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN says it is good.

New York Stock Exchange says it is good.

World Economic Forum says it is good.

Aliko Dangote says it is good.

Central Bank of Nigeria says it is good.

CNN Money says it is good.

MasterCard says it is good.

World Bank says it is good.

International Finance Agency says it is good.

Google says it is good.

Focus on Africa says it is good.

European Economic Forum says it is good.

If an enemy were to have this record the honourable thing to do would be to admit he is good. To do otherwise is to deny the truth which stares everyone in the face for any other reason but the decorous.

 Let us conclude with the words of an analyst: 

“Jonathan has shown he's not nurturing an okra plant that yields within one year and dies, but an orange tree that will benefit the country for generations to come. Soup takes time to cook while people are hungry but in the end, it's more enduring than Indomie which takes 3 minutes to cook.”