By Ibrahin Dutse
One of the hallmarks of the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan was that it was an embodiment of people oriented policies. But many did not see it until when he left office in 2015, and Nigerians were exposed to harsh policy of other regimes. Today, Nigerians are not only regretting his exit but are demanding that he returns to power to complete his remaining four years. Many pressure groups have been calling on Jonathan to contest for president during the 2027 general election.
A people-oriented economic policy prioritizes the well-being and development of individuals within an economy, focusing on improving living standards, fostering human capital, and ensuring equitable distribution of resources. It contrasts with policies that primarily emphasize economic growth metrics without considering the social and human impact.
To show that he was out to deliver an impactful system that was meant to work for all, former President Jonathan discarded the temptation of nepotism and carefully selected well tested technocrats which, constituted a 24-member Federal Government Economic Management Team to coordinate the management of the economy and harmonise government’s deliverables led by the present Director General of World Trade Organisation, WTO Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala.
Members of the EMT were: President Goodluck Jonathan Chairman, Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo Vice Chairman, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance Co-ordinating, Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga and Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsudden Usman
Also we had Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Adesina Akinwunmi, Minister of Works, Chief Mike Onolememen, Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai, Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu
Others are Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Lawal Ngama, Minister of State for Health Mohammed Ali Pate and Chief Economic Adviser, Prof. Nwanze Okidegbe, Special Adviser on Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation, Prof. Sylvester Monye, Director-General of Budget Office, Dr. Bright Okogu, Director-General of Debt Management Office, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo and Director-General of Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Mr. Emeka Eze.
Also on the list are Director-General of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Ms Bola Onagoruwa. Director-General of Infrastructure Concessioning Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mr. Ahmed Mansur, Honorary Adviser on Agriculture and Governor of Adamawa State, Rear Admiral Murtala Nyako (rtd), Honorary Adviser on Finance and Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, Honorary Adviser on Economy and President, Nigerian Economic Society, Dr. K. S. Adeyemi, Chairman of IBTC Stanbic Bank, Mr. Atedo Peterside.
No wonder most of the policies his government introduced are still relevant in the past decade. For instance, the government of Jonathan spearheaded reforms aimed at enhancing transparency in government accounts and strengthening institutions against corruption, such as: implementing systems like GIFMIS, IPPMS, and TSA. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, former minister of finance, says former President Goodluck Jonathan, acknowledged that he did not know economics but had a clear direction of where he wanted to take Nigeria to.
It will be recalled that the practice of having a coordinating Minister was introduced by former President Goodluck Jonathan when he made Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala the Minister of Finance with an additional responsibility of coordinating economic activities of other Ministries. Her appointment, it seemed then, pointed to the need to address the negative pullovers from inadequate synergy among Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government to the extent that in many instances ‘’the right hand did not know what the left hand was doing”.
This unique coordination role for Ngozi Iweala was criticised at the time not least because it had no constitutional basis. Being the first of its kind in Nigeria’s history, her elevated office was seen as equivalent to that of a Prime Minister, which placed her in a position to superintend over every other ministry, department and agency of government.
However, from the experience of many countries where the position of a coordinating minister exist, it is always created to address a complex policymaking environment and the need to coordinate responses to challenges involving multiple ministries, and so the position, in most cases are occupied by a powerful minister with the clout and experience to provide the needed push for coordinated action across government ministries, departments and agencies. And there is no need to argue that it worked for Jonathan administration because, the last 10 years after the exit of that administration has shown the difference.
There were many areas that the government of Jonathan structured his economic policy which helped promotes the general welfare rather than allowing the rich to get richer.
Some of such areas include: the arrangement of the financial sector both the Monetary Policy and the Fiscal sector of the economy. Then you have the institutions of corporate governance and deliberate efforts to employment for youths in the country.
It has been argued that the financial sector serves an enormously important purpose in a modern economy. It allocates capital among firms and households. It also allows people to save for future needs.
The narrowly defined financial sector, investment banking and securities and commodities trading, was adjudged as very strong throughout the stay of Jonathan in the office, as a share of private sector GDP leapfrogged. Indeed, when the country’s economy was rebased, Nigeria’s economy overtook that of South Africa to become the continent’s largest and the world’s 26th most productive.
The rebasing simply involves updating the size of a nation’s gross domestic product. According to Nigeria’s Chief Statistician Yemi Kale, who was at the helm of affairs during Jonathan’s administration, the rebasing of the Nigeria’s economy exposed the size of the West African nation’s economy at estimated $509 billion, a virtual doubling from the $270 billion estimated before the rebasing during the time of Jonathan government.
Rebasing an economy is defined by the United Nations as the “process of replacing present price structure, base year to compile volume measures of GDP with a new or more recent base year.”
One of the efficient ways that Jonathan administration demonstrated link with the masses was to ensure that there was little or no wastage for various services, rather it was handled either by the government sector or through a better regulated financial sector.
The corporate governance structure both in private and public sector during former President Jonathan has been unmatched with any other since he left the Aso Rock. It will be recalled that Jonathan inherited a turbulent banking sector because of the global downturn, when he assumed office.
While Nigeria was basking in the euphoria of success of reforms introduced by the Obasanjo administration, the global economy crashed which led many Nigerian banks to become insolvent. It was during that administration that stringent measures were adopted to salvage the economy and yet the ordinary Nigerians were shielded from the impact of the global economic down turn. Although many banks were forced to merge with the ones that survived the global banking crises during the time of Jonathan, it was on record that nobody was allowed to suffer loss of their money in any bank. The government of Jonathan created Asset Management Company of Nigeria, AMCON to absorbed toxic loans and ensure that the many banks did not go out of circulations.
Established on the 19th July 2010, when the President Jonathan signed the AMCON Act into Law, it was created to be a key stabilizing and re-vitalizing tool aimed at reviving the financial system by efficiently resolving the non-performing loan assets of the banks in the Nigerian economy.
Other reasons for establishing AMCON by President Jonathan was to positively impact and improve the economy of Nigeria by; complementing the recapitalization of affected Nigerian banks; providing an opportunity for banks to sell off Non Performing Loans, NPLs; freeing up valuable resources and enabling banks focus on their core activities and to propel the lending ideology in banks again.
Jonathan government also resumed the online and newspapers publication of monthly revenue allocations to Nigeria’s three tiers of government – federal, state and local governments to boost government transparency. Okonjo-Iweala actually started this practice in 2004, but it faded out under her successors, despite proving popular with Nigerians.
The idea was for increase governance responsibility and accountability, because if the people and civil society know what goes to various tires of government they would be able to hold those in public office accountable. For instance if the people are not getting the services that are supposed to be rendered using this money, they can ask questions.
The on the issue of tackling the endemic youth unemployment, the government of former president Jonathan initiated YouWin!, where over 3,600 Nigerian youths were financially assisted to actualise their entrepreneurial ideas and plans. Till date the business of many of the youths who benefited from the YouWin project are still thriving, with employment opportunities created for the youths withy skills. Within just four years, the programme created 110,000 sustainable jobs.
According to him, “As I formally launch this programme, I am also formally declaring the application for the first cycle open. Following this national launch here, the programme will be re-launched in each of the six geopolitical zones of the country over the next two weeks.”
The President explained that the scheme, which is in fulfilment of his electoral promises, was one of the first programmes to be funded, in part, from the N50 billion job creation fund set aside in the 2011 budget.
According to him, the programme is a demonstration of government’s goal of developing a robust private sector by encouraging locally-owned enterprises.
”In the course of the campaigns for the April 2011 Presidential election, I met many young Nigerians, based at home and in Diaspora who have refused to submit to the blackmail of self-defeat and despair, and who are showing great initiative in making positive use of their God-given talents.
