Friday, March 6, 2015
President Jonathan Admits Re-election Bid Tougher Than '11, Reveals Scarcity Won't Stop Until Nigeria Begins Refining Fuel
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President Goodluck Jonathan has admitted that his his chances of winning the March 28 presidential poll was slimmer than in 2011.
Jonathan expressed confidence that he was going to win the March 28 election under the platform of the PDP, but admitted that his chances were not as bright as they were in 2011.
He said, "Globally, a sitting president wins with fewer votes than during his first attempt. The PDP still has better chances of winning a national election. The PDP is still the dominant party; there's no polling unit where you don't have PDP members.
"If you remove the PDP elements in the opposition, it collapses like a pack of cards. PDP still has an edge over every other party; I am not worried about what the outcome of the presidential election would be."
He said he believed that Nigerians would vote for him because his administration had done well.
Jonathan added that sometimes, his administration was busy developing the country that it forgot to advertise its achievements.
He said if Nigerians considered the present state of the nation with its position some years back, they would prefer that he continued in office for the next four years.
He said the additional years would afford him the opportunity to stabilise the country.
"If Nigerians really know what we were before and what we did within these four years, then they will encourage us to at least continue for the next four years," Jonathan added.
On the alleged plot by the Peoples Democratic Party and his administration to foist an interim government on the nation, Jonathan maintained that there was no provision for such in the country's constitution.
"There's no provision for interim government in our constitution. The only interim government is military government. Talking about interim government to me is treasonable. There are some Nigerians that are bent on creating crisis in this country. There is no reason to doubt the May 29 handover," the President said.
Jonathan also spoke on the difficulties faced by motorists at filling stations across the country, saying that the pain was temporary.
He said with the issue of payment being addressed by his government, fuel queues would end in the next one or two days.
"For fuel scarcity, we are doing everything humanly possible to ensure it is taken care of. It is very temporary. Of course, there are issues of payment being addressed and we believe that within one or two days, this will completely go," the President said.
He however explained that Nigeria might not be completely free from fuel scarcity until the nation started refining crude oil.
The President faulted claims in some quarters that the recent reduction in the pump price of petrol was politically-motivated, saying the decision was purely an economic one.
He said, "It (price reduction) is not politically-motivated. The way people play politics with everything in Nigeria is quite unfortunate. Pump prices are not constant but are based on changes in the international market.
"When I came on board as Vice-President in 2007, the price of crude oil at the international market dropped to about $40, there was a day it dropped to $38 per barrel and we dropped the pump price to N65 per litre.
"We had to keep it up to N97 when the price went up to about $111 per barrel at the international market. The cushioning gap was because the subsidy became unbearable to government. So we had to push it up to N97 per litre.
"Now that the international crude oil price has dropped back to about $60 or so, it would not be fair for you to still ask Nigerians to pay N97 except you want to deregulate completely.
"But if you are not deregulating completely then the pump price will oscillate based on the international price of crude oil. So it has nothing to do with politics."
When asked whether he would privatise the nation's refineries, Jonathan said the private sector was better in terms of managing enterprises.
He said globally, the best practice was for government to create an enabling environment for the private sector to drive the economy.
The president added, "If the refineries are privatised and the private sector takes over, they are not going to bring people from the moon to work, they are still going to employ Nigerians but there is the fear of the unknown which is normal in human behaviour.
"That makes people to resist some changes. But for the refineries, we will definitely do that. We will privatise them completely in a way they would have no effect on Nigerians.
"So, we cannot continue to have refineries that would not work. It is not even helpful to them.
"But the most important thing is not just to privatise the government-owned refineries but allow the private sector to build their own refineries and that is where we are going."
President Goodluck Jonathan has admitted that his his chances of winning the March 28 presidential poll was slimmer than in 2011.
Jonathan expressed confidence that he was going to win the March 28 election under the platform of the PDP, but admitted that his chances were not as bright as they were in 2011.
He said, "Globally, a sitting president wins with fewer votes than during his first attempt. The PDP still has better chances of winning a national election. The PDP is still the dominant party; there's no polling unit where you don't have PDP members.
"If you remove the PDP elements in the opposition, it collapses like a pack of cards. PDP still has an edge over every other party; I am not worried about what the outcome of the presidential election would be."
He said he believed that Nigerians would vote for him because his administration had done well.
Jonathan added that sometimes, his administration was busy developing the country that it forgot to advertise its achievements.
He said if Nigerians considered the present state of the nation with its position some years back, they would prefer that he continued in office for the next four years.
He said the additional years would afford him the opportunity to stabilise the country.
"If Nigerians really know what we were before and what we did within these four years, then they will encourage us to at least continue for the next four years," Jonathan added.
On the alleged plot by the Peoples Democratic Party and his administration to foist an interim government on the nation, Jonathan maintained that there was no provision for such in the country's constitution.
"There's no provision for interim government in our constitution. The only interim government is military government. Talking about interim government to me is treasonable. There are some Nigerians that are bent on creating crisis in this country. There is no reason to doubt the May 29 handover," the President said.
Jonathan also spoke on the difficulties faced by motorists at filling stations across the country, saying that the pain was temporary.
He said with the issue of payment being addressed by his government, fuel queues would end in the next one or two days.
"For fuel scarcity, we are doing everything humanly possible to ensure it is taken care of. It is very temporary. Of course, there are issues of payment being addressed and we believe that within one or two days, this will completely go," the President said.
He however explained that Nigeria might not be completely free from fuel scarcity until the nation started refining crude oil.
The President faulted claims in some quarters that the recent reduction in the pump price of petrol was politically-motivated, saying the decision was purely an economic one.
He said, "It (price reduction) is not politically-motivated. The way people play politics with everything in Nigeria is quite unfortunate. Pump prices are not constant but are based on changes in the international market.
"When I came on board as Vice-President in 2007, the price of crude oil at the international market dropped to about $40, there was a day it dropped to $38 per barrel and we dropped the pump price to N65 per litre.
"We had to keep it up to N97 when the price went up to about $111 per barrel at the international market. The cushioning gap was because the subsidy became unbearable to government. So we had to push it up to N97 per litre.
"Now that the international crude oil price has dropped back to about $60 or so, it would not be fair for you to still ask Nigerians to pay N97 except you want to deregulate completely.
"But if you are not deregulating completely then the pump price will oscillate based on the international price of crude oil. So it has nothing to do with politics."
When asked whether he would privatise the nation's refineries, Jonathan said the private sector was better in terms of managing enterprises.
He said globally, the best practice was for government to create an enabling environment for the private sector to drive the economy.
The president added, "If the refineries are privatised and the private sector takes over, they are not going to bring people from the moon to work, they are still going to employ Nigerians but there is the fear of the unknown which is normal in human behaviour.
"That makes people to resist some changes. But for the refineries, we will definitely do that. We will privatise them completely in a way they would have no effect on Nigerians.
"So, we cannot continue to have refineries that would not work. It is not even helpful to them.
"But the most important thing is not just to privatise the government-owned refineries but allow the private sector to build their own refineries and that is where we are going."
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