President Jonathan’s Latest Poll Rating, a Grade Well Earned

By Okechukwu Jombo 


Irrespective of the discordant tunes coming from various political quarters, President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda has earned him the nod of 58 per cent of Nigerian adults, based on the outcome of a poll conducted by NOIPOLLS, an independent body.




http://www.noi-polls.com/index.php?s_id=3&p_id=240&p_pt=5&pd=1&poll=114#.U6Aj_vldUrU 

Every well-meaning Nigerian should consider this feat as a highly commendable one that should be appreciated by all and sundry irrespective of political affiliations. Nigerians should also note that the group NOIPOLLS that conducted the poll has no links whatsoever, to any government agency. It had existed for some time now and has independently conducted credible polls across the country on a monthly basis.






The latest poll result which represents a nine point increase in President Jonathan’s approval rating from April which stood at 49 per cent shows that even in the midst of the security turmoil arising from the insurgency in parts of the country, the President simply put, is working.



The economy, education, health, agriculture, food sectors, as well as transportation and foreign policy and diplomacy were the nine sectors that the organizers of the poll said the President received the highest grades more than other areas. It is pertinent to also note that, President Jonathan has also done very well in the Improvement of Economic Indices. In April 2014, the international rating agency, Fitch Ratings revised the country’s outlook upwards from negative to stable. This made Standard and Poor, another internationally respected and independent rating agency to revise Nigeria's ratings from stable to positive.


The Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Bill 2010 (Local Content Bill) was signed into law by the President on April 23, 2010. This piece of legislation has increased local content in the oil and gas sector. And as a direct result of this law, the Royal Dutch Shell awarded a N 7.8 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.



Also, as a result of this local content initiative, Exxon Mobil awarded an off shore platform contract to a local firm, Nigerdock Nigeria Plc that would otherwise have been awarded to a foreign firm.

President Jonathan while initiating the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) earmarked and approved a seed capital of $1billion was provided to kick-start the fund as well as establish three sub funds- the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund; the Future Generations Fund and the Stabilization Fund which will be the pillars of the SWF.

He further launched the Youth Enterprise With Innovation in Nigeria (YOUWIN) initiative on October 11, 2011, which is the administration's job creation centre-piece. On April 12, 2012, 1, 200 Nigerian youths emerged winners of the competition following a transparent process. Each winner received a business start-up grant of between N1million to N10 million. The foreign exchange reserves had risen to $37.02bn by May 14, 2014, the highest level in 31 months.




This was why on March 29, 2014, the UK government in London described Nigeria as the fourth fastest growing economy in the world. Include latest GDP FIGURES AND NON-OIL EXPORTS.

This is not to say that other sectors have not done well. It is important to note that reports’ arising from the rebasing of the Gross Domestic Product GDP has shown that Nigeria has leap frogged South Africa and is now the biggest and fastest growing economy in Africa.


On this note  all well-meaning Nigerians should join hands in the building of the country and criticize constructively.




The  president in spite of the security challenges  has done exceedingly well and should be commended so that he can remain  focused in growing the nation as well as finding lasting solutions to the current insecurity in the country.