The Federal Government has done a lot in bringing down
the infant mortality rate, associated death rate of child bearing mothers and polio problems in children etc, through innovation of different types of immunization vaccines in the country for the people concerned.
With the various positive achievements, in the last five years of Jonathan’s administration, Nigeria’s reputation and international diplomacy have grown stronger, despite the recent international uproar signing of the anti-gay bill into law by the President.  Nigeria still remains committed to fostering friendly and profitable liaisons with interested countries.
Presently, Nigeria still remains the number one destination for foreign investments in Africa (ahead of South Africa) and is currently working on new collaborative efforts with the U.K. and Chinese government to explore future diplomatic and economic ventures.
As long as the rights of Nigeria citizens are protected and the government remained focused in promoting the well being of all her citizens, the country will continue to have cordial relationship with the global community.
Signing into law, the Nigeria Oil and Gas content development Bill (2010) has led to the increment on the local content in the oil and gas sector.  This has helped in the award to an indigenous contractor job to the tune of N7.8 million and has also assisted in the creation of jobs and increase in revenue.
The creation and initiation of the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) has led to the establishment of three other sub funds in Nigeria, viz infrastructure fund, future generation fund and stabilization fund which are pillars of the sovereign wealth fund.
President Jonathan has improved internet communication services when his administration launched the NIJCOM Sat-1 Satellite which will help in the monitoring of weather and providing early warning to prevent natural disasters such as flood, crop monitoring and urban planning.  This will also help in the tracking of crimes, making it difficult for kidnappers, robbers and other criminals to perpetuate their nefarious activities.
The establishment of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria ( AMCON) has reassured and firmly established the Nigerian Banking Industry.  Master card made Nigeria, its Regional Headquarters for its West/East and India Ocean Island zone.  This has raised the profile of Nigeria’s e-commerce industry.
The Textile Industry has been revived with the introduction of N150 Billion bail-out fund for the industry.  As a result, the United Nigeria Textile Limited was reactivated among others, leading to the engagement of 2000 employees.  The non-oil exports, from 2010, standing at $2.3 Billion and subsequent years are 10 times what they were in 2000 as a direct result of this intervention by the Jonathan administration in the textile and other sectors.
In terms of roads and other infrastructures, the Government has been gradually making significant move with particular reference to the East/West Road in the Niger Delta Region.
On the power sector, President Jonathan launched “A Road Map for the Power Sector Reform”.  Its primary goal was to achieve stable electricity in Nigeria.
The Nigerian Power Sector has been plagued blackout. The Economist estimates that the power outages cost Nigeria, Africa’s second biggest economy, billions of dollars on importation of diesel for generators and in lost output.
Jonathan has over seeing the privatization of Nigeria’s power sector, the end goal being an efficient and reliable power supply for the Nigeria population.  The Power Holding Company of Nigeria which acted as the State Electricity provider has been broken up into 15 firms with Nigeria handing over control of state electricity assets to 15 private bidding companies.
The Nigeria government contracted the services of CPCS Franscom Limited, a Canada-based consulting firm specializing in transportation and energy infrastructure project, to act as the transaction adviser for the handover of the state electricity assets.
On youth enterprise with innovation in Nigeria, President Jonathan launched the Youth Enterprise With Innovation in Nigeria (YOUWIN) initiative which he stated was an innovative business plan competition that harness lucrative energies of young people between the ages of 18 and 35.  YOUWIN initiative is expected to create between 40,000 to 50,000 sustainable jobs by 2014.
According to President Jonathan, Nigeria’s foreign policy is “citizen-focused” (designed) to “accord the vision of defending the dignity of humanity the highest priority”.
Although Jonathan’s has seen positive break through, the need to fight corruption and insecurity continue to be major limiting factor to the country’s growth.
Cases of misappropriation of public funds constantly make the headlines.  Insecurity from the Boko Haram sect and kidnapping remain the greatest problems confronting Nigeria citizens.
There are also elements of regional and ethnic division which significantly continue to heat up the polity.  It should be made clear that the problems highlighted above did not start with the present administration.
It is safe to say that Jonathan indeed inherited these problems from past leaders.  However, he has on several occasions pledged to the people of Nigeria his commitment to fight corruption and the violent ethno-religious crisis.
To achieve this, he needs to show definite steps that will cast a perception of trust  and confidence to the people as advised by the co-ordinating Minister of Finance and the economy, Prof. Okonjo Iweala.  There must be an independent audit concerning the controversial missing $20 billion.  This audit must clearly identify where the money is and restore the hope of poor Nigerian masses that live below the poverty line.
The National Conference needs be taken seriously by ensuring that it has proper representation and that its decision are moved as a second phase of referendum to realize the national constitution at the Senate level.  This is the way the North-South dichotomy will be resolved permanently in Nigeria.
The painful issues must be addressed and everyone allowed airing their view.  And since the elections are at the corner, it is important that citizens in Nigeria assess the political situation objectively and vote base on credibility rather than kinsmenship.
At the National Conference, one of the major agenda will be to discuss the ownership and distribution of wealth resources.  This sensitive issue is critical to solving the rising tensions in the Niger Delta region.  The amnesty introduced by Lat President Yar-Adua remains an effective but temporary solution to the violence and crises witnessed in the region.  Therefore, need to Jonathan the resolutions of the conference to fashion out policies that will appease all parties concerned with wealth distribution.
There was a recent clamour by the Niger Delta people for direct control of their resources.  One good way to start will be to hold oil companies to closer scrutiny towards environmental preservation, while extracting crude oil in the Niger Delta.  Pollution of the environment by oil exploration activities can no longer be acceptable as the people of the Delta region deserve an unhindered access to clean water, healthy crops, soil and pollution-free environment.
The underlying factors that provoked the upsurge of the Boko Haram sect remain debatable and relatively unclear.  However, some factors can be said to be responsible for the insurgence among which are low standard of education in the Boko Haram region, the extreme level of poverty in the Northern region, the general antagonistic attitude of some Northern political class towards Jonathan’s administration, and the porous nature of our boarders to other high risk countries such as Chad and Niger Republic.
Therefore, attempt to beef up education sector and promote poverty alleviation programmes in the region need to be intensified.  Protection of our boarders has to be made top priority to ensure potential terrorists do not have access into our country.
Finally, national leaders from the Northern region need to learn to promote unity and perception of good governance within their people in words and action.  They need to adopt a nationalist mentality like the heroes of our past such as Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Amadu Bello and Chief Obafemi Awolowo among others.
Eezeanochie is of the Federal Information Centre, Port Harcourt.

Eezeanochie Uchenna Mary