On Sunday, PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan, again restated that the crash of oil price will not ground the economy of the nation, adding that just like in previous slumps, the country would pull through.
Speaking at the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Area 1, Durumi, Abuja, on Sunday, the president said “we have talked about the drop in global price of oil. Of course, if there is a drop in oil price, it will affect us in one way or the other. We tell our people to bear with us. It has happened before in 2008, 2009 that was almost about $40, we survived as a nation.
“This time, by all predictions, it will not even go as low as that. We will surely survive it. The economic team is working very hard to stabilise it and we believe that although there may be temporary inconveniences, it will definitely not bring the economy down.”
This came as he admonished office occupants and those aspiring to take over from them not to see themselves as the best qualified for the office, as occupying office was a privilege of God.
Jonathan, when he joined worshippers for the last Sunday service for the year, said there were thousands of more qualified candidates, telling the church to pray for politicians to be able to moderate their utterances.
“There are so many good Nigerians that can hold the offices we are occupying or aspiring to occupy. It is by privilege of God that we are here in positions to ask for the mandates of Nigerians.
“None of us should begin to think that he is the best person to be anywhere from state houses of assembly to the presidency. There are a thousand and one Nigerians that are super qualified more than those people who are even aspiring to occupy offices,” he said.
Jonathan observed that next year would be critical because of the general election, but expressed confidence that God would see the country through.
According to him, “next year is a tempting year for us. Elections year in third world countries is always a turbulent year with all kinds of predictions.
“I, however, believe that the God who brought us to this level will see us through. All that I will request of you is to continue to pray for us politicians, myself and other politicians from all political parties, for God to guide us in our utterances and what we do so that we will not sacrifice the lives of Nigerians because of our ambitions.
“Nobody’s ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian. Pray to God to give us that wisdom and mind to make sure we conduct ourselves in a way that will not set the country ablaze, because of our own personal ambition,” he stated.
The president prayed to God to give politicians the wisdom to conduct themselves “in a manner that, at the end of the day, this country will triumph.”
Stressing that the development of Nigeria was all they desired, he added that “if every aspirant has the mind to develop the people, you do not need to kill or maim people to get there.
“You do not need to kill the people you want to develop in order to get to the office you want, except if you are aspiring for that office for a different reason.
“If the idea is to help the people, grow the economy and make the people happy, you won’t want to kill, you won’t want to maim or burn down houses, vehicles and property. Human beings may see things differently, but God can guide us.”
President Jonathan reiterated that his practice of moving round churches at this time was to thank the faithful for their prayers for himself, the country and government, noting that the country was experiencing a number of challenges.
He observed that the challenges had increased for one reason or the other rather than abate, saying that the situation would have been worse but for the prayers of the church.
Jonathan said that if the pace of progress made by the country was maintained, the country would be a better place in five years.
“For me and members of my team, in spite of the challenges, we will continue to do our best. As a nation, we have not reached where we want to go. Definitely not. But we are coming up with a number of policies.
“Those taking pain to look at what we are doing will agree with us that if we progress as a nation steadily in this manner, in the next four or five years, this country will be a better place.
“Only a few days back, the vice president was in Port Harcourt to kick off the Eastern railway. The Western one moving from Lagos to Kano has been running. We will start using the modern one from Kaduna to Abuja by the first quarter of next year and the one from Port Harcourt.
“When we were small, there were railways. But I believe most of our children of about 30 years only see railway as cartoons in the television but now, they are seeing it.”
He spoke of similar progress in the agriculture and efforts to create employment opportunities for young people, saying, “the result may not be obvious immediately, but God willing, job opportunities will continue to increase and many more young people will be engaged.”
Earlier in his welcome address, the President of CAC Worldwide, Pastor Abraham Akinosun, had said God would fulfill his promise to make Nigeria a great nation.
In the address read by the chairman of the church in the Federal Capital City Zonal Headquarters, Pastor Michael Olatunde, Akinosun said despite God’s promises for the nation, the devil had also appointed some people to truncate Nigeria’s progress.
According to him, such people and their activities were manifesting in various ways as they had vowed to make the nation ungovernable.
He urged Jonathan to be focused on rebuilding the nation and not be distracted.
With the president at the church service were his mother, Eunice; Chief of Staff, Brigadier-General Jones Arogbofa (retd); chief personal physician, Dr Fortune Fiberesima; and the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, among others. (AIT)
