Jonathan blames economic woes on poor planning

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said that his administration is taking the country back to the good days when there was long term economic planning and vision.

According to him, emergency economic and developmental plans employed over the years are responsible for the current economic woes.
Jonathan spoke during the New Year church service held at Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Garki, Abuja.
The President said: “For you to achieve anything, you must have a clear vision. Even if you look at what we have been doing as a nation, you will really see that before this time when the country used to have this 25 year plan, the budget was based on 25 year clear plan for the country. So you know where you are going for 25 years. Then it is broken down into five year plan and annual budget and we knew where we were going.
“But after sometime, things collapsed and we run government on emergency basis and you see government start wobbling. We are going back to those good days when we have vision. We have plan for agriculture, we have plan for industry, we have plan for automobile and many other areas.
“If you have a vision, any proposal that comes in, no matter how good they are, must fall into your vision for it to go through.”
Jonathan noted that with the support of all Nigerians, the country would overcome its present challenges of terrorism and falling oil prices like it tackled the Ebola Virus Disease.
He explained that the peace and calm in the country since the Christmas period was as a result of not only the efforts of the government but the prayers of all Nigerians.
Jonathan explained that the country was able to overcome both external and internal conspiracies in the past three years because of the prayers of committed Christians and religious leaders
The President assured that his administration was committed to the fight against corruption and insecurity stressing that he would do his best to come up with programmes that would help the masses.
“We are coming out with programmes and plans to clean up. These are things that you don’t just use magical wand to wave off otherwise even before I became a President there won’t have been corruption in Nigeria.
“It is not just about trying corruption and looking at one person, arrest the person and show him on television, it is about strengthening institutions and coming up with credible plans to make sure that anybody who gets involved with corruption, the system must have a way of detecting him and punishing him,” he said
In his sermon titled: ‘The Life of Vision’, the Senior Pastor of the church, Dr. Paul Enenche, stressed the need for a clear vision for the country.
According to him, vision is the compass of destiny, stressing that without clear vision, stagnation is inevitable and nothing can be achieved.
The President has also reassured Nigerians that terrorists operating in the North-East would not get away with their atrocities.
In his New Year broadcast to the nation, Jonathan restated his administration’s determination to rout the terrorists and bring them to justice.
He said that the Federal Government had done the necessary groundwork to finally resolve the current security challenge in the country.
“Regrettably, terrorists have unleashed much pain and agony on our land. They have made widows of our mothers and sisters and orphans of our children.
“They have shut down businesses, desecrated places of worship and brought untold hardship to both men and women.
“They have violated the culture and peaceful way of life in our country, which took generations to build.
“They have destroyed countless schools and displaced people from their communities, driving them into exile.
“I want to assure you that the terrorists will not get away with their atrocities: they will not win; they will be routed.
“As President, I feel the pain of all affected communities and families. I hear their cries and share their sorrow and pain.
“We will not forget; we will not look the other way. We have done a lot of painstaking planning and work to resolve the current security challenge.
“We will bring justice to the savage terrorists known as Boko Haram. They will be defeated,” he said.