President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday
said some of the security challenges facing the country, started at a
time the nation’s security architecture was not properly designed to
combat them.
Jonathan, at a New Year service at the
Catholic Church’s Pro-Cathedral of Our Lady Queen of Nigeria, Garki
in Abuja, also described the activities of Boko Haram in the North and
kidnappers in the South as Nigeria’s fair share of worldwide security
challenges.
“Some of these challenges we have been
seeing came at a point that our security architecture was not properly
designed for that,” he said during the service presided over by the
Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan.
The President added, “The world as a
whole is facing a lot of challenges at the moment. If you turn on your
television set, and if you turn the pages of newspapers, you will
always see breaking news. Breaking news is not positive news and
whenever I see such , I know there is one crisis somewhere in the
world.
“We are reading about crises everywhere.
And our country too, unfortunately, we also have our own fair share of
crises. There is the issue of Boko Haram and the excesses of the
militia groups in the, North; and kidnapping in southern Nigeria.
Jonathan, however, assured Nigerians that his government was committed to tackling the security challenges.
“We are improving every day, we have our
challenges but there is significant progress,” he said, adding that
this year would be better for Nigerians than 2013.
He said as President, he would continue
to work harmoniously with the National Assembly and his appointees to
provide Nigerians with good governance in 2014.
The President expressed confidence
that with the commitment and prayers of Nigerians, the country would
get to where the citizens desired.
He described yesterday (Wednesday) as a
special one because apart from being the first day of the New Year, it
also marked 100 years of the nation’s amalgamation.
Jonathan said, “Today(Wednesday) is a
special day. January 1, 2014 is special because the amalgamation of
the southern and northern protectorates happened on January 1, 1914.
“Today (Wednesday), modern Nigeria is 100
years old. The formal ceremony will take place in February. The
programme will soon be advertised for all Nigerians to see and know the
areas they will participate. All the religious houses will be involved
in one form of prayer or the other.
“So, today (Wednesday), we are not just
celebrating the New Year, we are also celebrating a special new year. A
new year that modern Nigeria is 100 years old. And we should use
this period to begin to think of what Nigeria will be in the next
100 years.
We should think what the future of our children and our grandchildren will be in the next 100 years.”
Jonathan promised that this year, he
would work hard to get the nation’s economy to continue to move in the
direction Nigerians wanted it to move.
He added that he would not only work
harder to ensure that jobs were created for young Nigerians, he would
make sure that foodstuffs were cheap in the markets.
Jonathan said, “I assure you that as the
person you have elected to serve you, I will work hard with the National
Assembly, my cabinet and other officials of my government to make sure
that you get what we call the dividends of democracy.
“In spite of the challenges, all what
we will continue to request from you is your continuous prayers. We
believe that no matter what an individual thinks he is, if God doesn’t
want him to succeed , he will not.”
Jonathan again pleaded with politicians to place the interest of the country above their individual interests.
He said, “As we continue to play politics, leaders will come and go but the country will stay.
“Luckily, we have a constitution that
nobody will be a governor or president forever. It is only in the
parliament that you can be there till you die.
“As long as we consider the interest of
our country, children, grandchildren and we begin to plan for the next
generation instead of wasting all our energies , this country will be
better.
“Nigeria can even change in the next few
years and things will be better for everybody. By God’s grace, this
country will be better in 2014.
“Even in the power sector that people
always make reference to, since we have been able to do be first phase
of privatisation and generation and distribution handed over to the
private sector, we believe that before the middle of this year, power
will be reasonably stable and that will stimulate the economy.
“I believe and I am convinced that 2014 will be a better year than 2013.”
Earlier, the President of the Senate,
David Mark, who also attended the service had said Nigerians truly
believed that with prayer God could solve their problems.
He said, “In Nigeria, we have our own
fair proportion of security challenges. It is what we are doing to end
it that matters. The Legislature will cooperate with the Executive to
end them as soon as possible.
“We must not politicise security. We all
have responsibilities to work towards peace. We will work in 2014 to
ensure the security challenges are resolved.
Onaiyekan, in his sermon, charged the
President to summon enough courage to tackle what he described as the
twin demons of corruption and insecurity in the country.
Although he said the problems were not
restricted to Nigeria as shown in Pope Francis’ message on the Day of
Peace, he prayed God to give Jonathan the grace to be able to restore
peace in the country.
He regretted that Nigeria which should be united was currently polarised along ethnic, religious and political lines.
Onaiyekan said, “We have a serious challenge to promote a sincere fraternity starting from our families.
“Even in Nigeria, do we see one another
as brothers and sisters? We see ourselves as Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo. We
form circles of exclusivity.
“Even in religion that is supposed to
bring us together, there is division. Religious leaders talk and behave
as if it is not one God that we are serving. They behave as if their
different ‘gods’ are fighting and they must join them.”
He said while adherents of a particular
religion expected others to respect them, they should also respect the
rights of others to hold their faith.
Onaiyekan urged Christians not take
their freedom of religion for granted because there were regions of
the world where people could not openly profess their faith.
He said while Nigerians were celebrating
the New Year, they should use the opportunity to thank God for his
favour and pray for protection in the New Year. He also urged them to
also reflect on the significance of the time.
The cleric said, “As every day comes, it
brings something new. Therefore we are not leaving in a meaningless
circle. Time moves towards a purpose. For most people, 2014 is just a
figure but for those who believe in Christ, it is more than that.
“Jesus Christ is the centre of all
history. He is the final aim of our history and human existence. We have
to live our lives in union with him so that our lives may acquire a
lasting value and meaning,” he said.
While stressing the Pope’s message,
Onaiyekan regretted that while a lot of efforts were being made to
ensure peace, peace had continued to elude the world.
He made specific reference to the
troubled Central Africa Republic and South Sudan which he said were in
peace this time last year.
He also called attention to what he
described as the less visible and no less cruel war being fought in the
economic and financial sectors.
PUNCH
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