Last night, President Goodluck Jonathan held his seventh media chat and touched on a range of issues gravely affecting the state of the nation: the kidnap of the 276 girls in Chibok, Borno State, growing insecurity across the country, the missing $20bn, Boko Haram and the economy.
The President insisted that despite two bombings in the same area within a fortnight of each other the government is winning the war on terror, he rubbished claims of the missing $20bn saying such an amount would be impossible to steal and evaded questions as to whether he would seek re-election in 2015.
The chat was anchored by Cyril Stober, and the panel was made up of Funke Fadugba, Ray Power and Bashiru Saad Abdulahi and Jide Ajani.
Below are some of the highlights:
On insecurity: “Things are not getting worse. The situation is calming, for now there is a low vibe. We have been able to suppress it reasonably well”.
On the abducted school girls: “Wherever the girls are we’ll find them. So far there is no story they have been hurt….We request maximum cooperation from the parents. Police records has it that 46 girls escaped but the Principal says it’s 53. The Parents should come forth and work with us. Cooperate with the government, we need identity and photographs”
On claims of negotiations with Boko Haram for the girls release: ‘You can’t negotiate with people you don’t know.”
On Boko Haram infiltrating his cabinet: “I never said that Boko Haram has infiltrated my cabinet, I used the word government.”
On the difference between Boko Haram and Niger Delta militants: The Niger Delta militants were not terrorist. I’m not trying to defend them…The Niger Delta situation was different, they had a reason for their agitation and they showed up for meetings when invited”he approach of Boko haram is different. Nobody has applied and said I am the leader of Boko Haram and this is what I want.”
On closing down Abuja for the World Economic Forum: “Nigeria will not be the first country, people in other countries do that,” he said. “It does not affect our economy. We are not saying that private companies must close down, but we advise that they do.
On the rebased economy: “Re-basing the economy does not mean new things were created, it simply means proper stock taking of the economy.”
On the missing $20bn: “$20Billion is a lot of money, where will you hide it that people will not know?. America will know and will tell you where it is.”
On the former CBN governor Lamido Sanusi: ‘Sanusi is not an ordinary Nigerian.”
Share your thoughts on the media chat below
Sources: Premium times & Nigerian Bulletin
Image: /hotgistnaija.blogspot.com