Jonathan tasks politicians against personal interests in politics

President Goodluck Jonathan has urged politicians to put the interest of the country before theirs as they prepare for the 2015 elections.

This was stated as the President announced that the celebrations of Nigeria’s Centenary would kick off at the end of February.

Speaking at Our Lady Queen Of Nigeria Pro-Cathedral Church Garki, Abuja, while participating in a special new year service, the President noted that politics should be played in a way that would leave legacies for the next generation, rather than wasting efforts on selfish......

pursuits. He added that leaders would come and go but the country would remain.

According to him, there is no need to waste efforts heating up the polity rather than focusing on the job as neither President nor Governors are constitutionally entitled to stay in power beyond two terms.

“All what we need to do is to make sure that we continue to do things rightly. That is why I always plead with my fellow politicians that yes we must play the politics but let us take the interest of the country more than our own individual interest and as we continue to play the politics in that direction, 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, grand children and we begin to plan for the next generation instead of wasting all our energies to think about ourselves, before we get to the next 100 years, the 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 have been handed over to the private sector, we believe that even 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,” the President said.

President Jonathan further stated that, “With your commitment, with your prayers for us as a nation, we will surely get to where we want to go. As we enter this new year, we will surely get our economy to continue to move in the right direction and in the direction we want it to move.

“We shall continue to work hard to make sure that not just that the economy will be growing based on economic parameters and indices, but that jobs are available for our young men and women and that food is cheap in our markets for ordinary people to buy and eat. That is the commitment of government. ”

Speaking on the Centenary celebrations, the President noted that the New Year’s celebration was significant as it marked the 100th year anniversary of the amalgamated Nigeria.

“Surely, the country will get to where it wants to get to. Today is a special day, very special because we have been informing you that the amalgamation of our country to what we now call Nigeria happened on the 1st of January, 1914.

” Today, modern Nigeria is one hundred years old. The formal ceremony will take place by late February, the programme will soon be advertised for all Nigerians to see and know the areas they will participate because it is a programme for all of us. All the religious houses will be involved in one form of prayer or the other.

“So, today, we are not just celebrating the new year but we are also celebrating a special new year. A new year that Nigeria, modern Nigeria is 100 years. And we use this period to begin to think what will be Nigeria in the next 100 years. Not just to celebrate 100 years of the amalgamation of northern protectorates and southern protectorates to make the modern Nigeria, but what will be the future of our children, our grandchildren in the next 100 years. That is what occupies our mind. That is what we must all focus our attention on.”

Jonathan also assured Nigerians that the government is steadily improving efforts towards establishing the needed infrastructure to contain the security challenges in the country.

Speaking earlier, Cardinal John Onaiyekan told the congregation that security challenges were a global phenomenon, noting that the letter sent to the world by Pope Francis showed that the world was plagued by several problems.

The letter was relayed to the congregation by Onaiyekan and it read, “My brothers and sisters, these problems are not only in our nation. You only need to read the Pope’s letter to realize that all over the world, we have problems of corruption, human trafficking, drug abuse not to talk of wars and fratricidal killings. We ask you Lord to come to our aid and defend our nation.”

Source:Latest Nigerian News