President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said his administration is slow because it takes the time needed to properly think over policies and programmes so as to avoid making mistakes.
“By human thinking our administration is slow; I won’t say we are slow but we need to think through things properly if we are to make lasting impact,” Jonathan said during the Christmas Day service at the Cathedral Church of the Advent, Life Camp, Abuja.
“If we rush we will make mistakes and sometimes it is more difficult to correct those mistakes,” he added.
This was not the first time that the President was admitting to the tardiness of his administration, though he previously gave a different reason for that.
In July, Jonathan said at the PDP national executive committee meeting that the Boko Haram insurgency was the cause of the slow pace of his administration. But earlier in January, the President told a New Year church service audience that he was “slow at taking decisions to avoid costly mistakes.”
Yesterday, Jonathan harped on the need to avoid making mistakes as the reason for the slow pace of his government.
But he added that his administration also reacts quickly where this is required, like in the flood disaster earlier in the year.
“I want to assure Nigerians that any step we take whether little or giant, we won’t go back. And where we need to act fast we will do so, that we demonstrated with the flood disaster because it required immediate response,” he said.
The President called on the clergy to play active role in reforming the people.
“The church has a great role to play if the transformation must succeed because you can’t transform without reformation and it is the role of the church to do so. I urge the church to come up with various programmes to talk about how we Nigerians can be reformed,” he said.
“People play politics with things that affect even their own lives. You wonder why a person that carries saw to go and cut down a conductor carrying cables that produce electricity, because you want a government to fail, this happened somewhere in Enugu. You begin to wonder if they are humans. That is why we need to reform if we must transform.”
He urged Nigerians to continue to have faith in his administration as it remains committed to the transformation agenda.
“We have laid solid foundation for power, agriculture and transport sectors and I can assure you we will not go back again,” he added.
In his sermon, Primate of all Nigeria/Bishop of Abuja Diocese, Most Rev Nicholas Okoh, urged the Federal Government to rid the country of various security challenges including Boko Haram insurgency, armed robbery, kidnapping and political intimidation.
He said those involved in armed robbery and kidnapping cannot blame unemployment for their crime but greed, as no employment can pay them N50 million or more per job done as they constantly make from crime.
“We cannot justify them (kidnappers) by looking at the issue of unemployment. A kidnapper is looking for big money and not a job. There is no place of employment that can pay you N50 million or more for one job done. There is something wrong with our psyche if kidnappers have settled for that as a source of livelihood,” he said.
He said because of Boko Haram insurgency, many Christians stay away from the church, adding: “We need to embrace peace in this country. We have of late been praying to have peace between man and man in our country. The Christian faith does not encourage tit for tat for the frequent killings because Christians are peace bearers. Irrespective of provocations, we must promote peace.”
