Is President Goodluck Jonathan Really Working?

By Fedelis Duker and Anthony Elikene:
This should be the question on everyones lips and the next question should be what has he done? Is it verifiable? Instead of vehemently antagonising the man, let us judge him by the works of his hands.
On this write up I will offer everyone the opportunity to rate this man who seems to lack a PR department or executive. Mind you publicity is not PR. So please, read the first edition and watch out for the second one within the week.

1. Remember 125 Almajiri Schools in 13 Northern States, no Northern government ever deemed it fit to educate the so called rejects of their society till GEJ came on the scene, not even Buhari
2. 27 Special girls school
3. Built 12 New Federal Universities
4. Created 34 new NCE awarding institutions
5. Provided 101 Presidential Special Scholarship for Innovation and development
6. An increase by 10 Million in Basic education enrolment (UBEC)
7. A 75% Increase in O'Level credit pass in Math and English
8. 100 Innovation Enterprise Institutions licensed
9. Over 7000 lecturers sponsored for post graduate studies home and abroad
10. Rehabilitation of 51 Polytechnic laboratories
11. Doubled increase on Education allocation
12. 104 candidates scaled the final hurdle (First Class Graduates) for Presidential scholarship award and were asked to apply to study in any of the top 25 universities in the world approved for the scheme for their Phd.

LIST OF GEJ Universities:                                                              
1) Federal University, Lafia, Nasarawa State — North Central.
2) Federal University, Lokoja, Kogi State. — North Central.
3) Federal University, Kashere, Gombe State – North East.
4) Federal University, Wakari, Taraba State. —-North East.
5) Federal University, Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State.-North West.
6) Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa State — North West.
7) Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State — South South.
8) Federal University, Ndufe-Alike, Ebonyi State - South East.
9) Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State — South West.
10) Federal University of Oil and Gas, Bonny, Rivers State -South South

ROADS:
The following roads are either reconstructed or nearing completion: 1. Apapa - Oshodi Expressway
2. Benin- Ore-Sagagamu Highway
3. Enugu-Portharcourt Dual carriage way
4. East-West Road
The following roads are undergoing dualisation:
1. Kano - Maiduguri Road
2. Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja-Benin Road The following is fully done: Oweto Bridge across River Benue
The Following Roads are fully done:
1. Onitsha- Owerri Road
2. Vom-Manchok Road
3. Onitsha Head Bridge- Flyover (Ojukwu Gateway) to Upper Iweka road which Gov Obi repaired and got federal refund
The following roads are under construction or reconstruction:
1. Onitsha - Enugu Road
2. Lokoja - Benin Road
3. Lagos-Ibadan Expressway
4. Mokwa- Bida Road
5. Akure-Ilesha Road
6. East-West Road
7. Sokoto- Tambuwal-Jega Road
8. Enugu- Abakaliki- Cross River Road 9. Ogoja - Ikom Road
10. Vandekiya-Obudu Road He might not have started some of them but he is ensuring that work is going on (eg East-West Road) BRIDGE The second Niger bridge which previous governments played endless politics with was awarded to Juluis Berger and work has commenced. 

ELECTIONS
No governorship election conducted under Jonathan administration has been cancelled or deemed fraudulent by any court of law. Elections may not be yet perfect but at least results mostly reflect the wishes of the people. No political prisoner anywhere in Nigeria under GEJ administration.

AVIATION:
1. National Aviation Master plan and Road map was developed and is being implemented
2. Air Safety - INSTALLATION of cutting age navigational aids and Instruments Landing Systems, including runway lights and Total Radar Coverage (TRACON)
3. Airport Infrastructure - For the first time in three decades, ALL 22 federally owned airports are being remodeled and renovated
4. Cargo Airport - 16 airports close to nation's food baskets designed to transport perishables.
5. New Terminal for 5 International Airports at Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Enugu.
6. Certification - US Category 1 Certification attained.
INDUSTRIES:
1. Under GEJ, Nigeria has two automobile industries manufacturing vehicles, Innoson in Nnewi, Hyundai, Kia and Nissan in Lagos. Toyota to start assembling cars in early 2015.
2. Nigeria exports cement and rice. Prices of food have remained relatively stable for 2 years now.

HOUSING:
1. Mortgage - The Nigerian Mortgage Refinancing Corporation was set up to enable 200,000 affordable mortgages within 5 years at affordable interest rate. Over 324 such housing units were recently commissioned in Enugu this July.
2. Over 61,000 housing units have been built in six geographical zones. LIFE Life expetancy under GEJ improved from 47 years in 2010 to 52 years in 2014 (UN)
CORRUPTION
According to the report released on December 3, 2014, Nigeria scored 27 out of out of a maximum 100 marks to clinch 136th position out of the 175 countries surveyed. This means that Nigeria has ‘improved’ by eight points against its 2013 rating as 144th out of 175 countries. A statement issued from the Berlin office of Transparency International shows that more than two-thirds or over 75 percent of the 175 countries surveyed this year scored below 50, on a scale from 0. Countries within the 0-50 range are perceived to be strikingly corrupt.

RAIL TRANSPORT:
Over 15 years, Rail transport had been comatose and deserted. It took GEJ less than 2 years to put it back on track and commissioned 6 New Air-condition Trains in Lagos last.
1. Lagos-Kano Rail (functional)
2. Kano-Maiduguri,under construction 3. Lagos- Portharcourt (under construction)
4. Kaduna-Abuja - Almost completed, to begin operation in first quarter of 2015
5. Lagos-Oshogbo line fully operational.
6. Port Harcourt-Aba- Umuahia -Enugu fully operational from December 2015. Intra PH rail system fully operational. 7.Rigachikun-Kaduna- Taunin Kura rail line fully operational. Under
Construction:
1. Abuja axis - to begin operation in Dec. 2014 3.
Port-Aba-Uyo-Calabar under construction.
Kano/ Dai/Jimbia an approximate distance of 354KM,
Ilela/ Sokoto/Jega / Kontagora, 408km,
Aba/ Ikot Ekpene/ Itu/ Uyo / Odukpani/Calabar, covering a total distance of 340km,
Kano/ Nguru/ Geshua/ Damaturu/ Maiduguri/ Gamburu Ngala, covering 707 Km,
Calabar/ Ikom/ Obudu/ Ogoja/ Katsina Ala/ Wukari/ Jalingo/Yola/ Maiduguri, 1669km.
The last of the corridor is the rail line from Port Harcourt/ Aba/ Umuahia/ Enugu/ Lafia/ Jos/ Bauchi/ Biu/ Maidiguri, 550km
POWER: Privatised PHCN and Power Generating Plants undergoing constructions in different states.
37 large dams completed nationwide,
10 dams rehabilitaed and 49 dams being built nationwide.

Economy:
Nigerian economy was rebased and became biggest economy in Africa, overtaking South Africa. Previous leaders didn't see the need to do this.
Single digit inflation and sustained growth in economy
Nigeria's economy is the 26th largest in the world
In 2013, IMF classified Nigeria as a Middle Income Nation from the Low Income Nation it had been all the while
IMF also said that hunger has reduced in Nigeria under Jonathan from 16% to 14.1%. KPMG also listed Nigeria's interstate High Speed Rail project as one of the world’s top 100 infrastructure projects.
The rail system which is currently under construction would connect all states of Nigeria to one another. Economic growth has been at a constant minimum of 6%per annum in the last 3 years Agriculture has grown considerably,
Nigeria imports less food and produces more than enough for export.
The airports now wear new looks unlike before when they looked like Oshodi bus stop of the OBJ era. Elections are now free and fair and no snatching of ballot boxes.
Some horribly sentimental people would not do the needful which is to try to verify these things, they would still continue on their hateful trajectory.

French terror suspects demand 'martyr's death

DAMMARTIN-EN-GOELE, France (AP) --

French security forces struggled with two rapidly developing hostage-taking situations Friday, one northeast of Paris where two terror suspects were holed up with a hostage in a printing plant and the other an attack on a kosher market in Paris.

The two brothers suspected in a deadly terror attack Wednesday were cornered by police Friday inside a printing house in the small industrial town of Dammartin-en-Goele. One lawmaker said they told negotiators they "want to die as martyrs."

Hours later, a gunman seized an unknown number of hostages at a kosher market in eastern Paris, France's anti-terrorism prosecutor said. A police official, who was not authorized to speak to the media about the events, told The Associated Press there were several hostages and wounded in the kosher market.

Police SWAT squads descended on the area near Paris' Porte de Vincennes neighborhood and France's top security official rushed to the scene. The attack came before sundown when the market would have been crowded with shoppers.

France has been high alert for other attacks since the country's worst terror attack in decades — the massacre Wednesday in Paris that left 12 people dead at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. But French officials could not confirm reports of a link between the hostage-taker at the kosher market Friday and the two suspects holed up at the printing house.

French security forces had poured into Dammartin-en-Goele near Charles de Gaulle airport after the two terror suspects hijacked a car early Friday in a nearby town.

One of the men had been convicted of terrorism charges in 2008, the other had visited Yemen. A U.S. official said both brothers — 32-year-old Cherif Kouachi and 34-year-old Said Kouachi — were on the American no-fly list.

"They said they want to die as martyrs," Yves Albarello, a local lawmaker who said he was inside the command post, told French television station i-Tele.

At least three helicopters hovered over the town, and authorities appealed for residents to stay inside. Charles de Gaulle closed two runways to arrivals to avoid interfering in the standoff, an airport spokesman said.

Authorities evacuated a school near the CTF Creation Tendance Decouverte printing plant around midday Friday after the suspects agreed by phone to allow the children safe passage, town spokeswoman Audrey Taupenas told The Associated Press. About an hour later, an AP reporter counted nine large, empty buses headed toward the area, apparently to evacuate the children.

Taupenas said there appeared to be one hostage, a number confirmed by a police official on the scene who was not allowed to discuss the operation.

A man who said he had his car stolen early Friday told Europe 1 the first man who approached him was armed with machine gun and the second man had a gun "with a kind of grenade at the end."

Tens of thousands of French security forces have mobilized to prevent a new terror attack since the assault on Charlie Hebdo, which decimated its editorial staff, including the chief editor who had been under armed guard after receiving death threats for publishing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. He and his police bodyguard were the first to die, witnesses said.

Cherif and Said Kouachi were named as the chief suspects after Said's identity card was left behind in their abandoned getaway car. Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said both suspects had been known to intelligence services before the attack.

Louis Zenon, a 14-year-old who lives close to siege site, watched as helicopters hovered over closed-off industrial area.

"There is a lot of fear," he said, adding everyone he knew was staying home with their doors and shutters closed. "We're scared. The schools are being evacuated."

A senior U.S. official said Thursday the elder Kouachi had traveled to Yemen, although it was unclear whether he was there to join extremist groups like al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based there. Witnesses said he claimed allegiance to the group during the attack.

The younger brother, Cherif, was convicted of terrorism charges in 2008 for his links to a network sending jihadis to fight American forces in Iraq.

Both were also on the U.S. no-fly list, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said. The American officials also spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss foreign intelligence publicly.

Nine people, members of the brothers' entourage, have been detained for questioning in several regions. In all, 90 people, many of them witnesses to the grisly assault on the satirical weekly, were questioned for information on the attackers, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.

A third suspect, 18-year-old Mourad Hamyd, surrendered at a police station Wednesday evening after hearing his name linked to the attacks. His relationship to the Kouachi brothers was unclear.

The Kouachi brothers, born in Paris to Algerian parents, were well-known to French counterterrorism authorities. Cherif Kouachi, a former pizza deliveryman, had appeared in a 2005 French TV documentary on Islamic extremism and was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2008 for trying to join up with fighters battling in Iraq.

Charlie Hebdo had long drawn threats for its depictions of Islam, although it also satirized other religions and political figures. The weekly paper had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad, and a sketch of Islamic State's leader was the last tweet sent out by the irreverent newspaper, minutes before the attack. Nothing has been tweeted since.

Eight journalists, two police officers, a maintenance worker and a visitor were killed in the attack.

Charlie Hebdo planned a special edition next week, produced in the offices of another paper.

Authorities around Europe have warned of the threat posed by the return of Western jihadis trained in warfare. France counts at least 1,200 citizens in the war zone in Syria — headed there, returned or dead. Both the Islamic State group and al-Qaida have threatened France, home to Western Europe's largest Muslim population.

Wizkid, P-Square, Rugged Man Hold Audience Spell Bound At Pepsi Rhythm Unplugged

The highly publicised Pepsi Rhythm Unplugged which has been enjoying great media presence for weeks, took place on Friday and lived up to its rating as the biggest entertainment event to hold in Nigeria this year. This edition was special as it marked the 10^th anniversary of the event.

Attracting the best entertainers the country can boast of, the event which took place in Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, was anchored by the hilarious duo of Basket Mouth and IK of the Big Brother fame. Both cracked ribs with ensuring there was no dull moment during the all night show.

DJ Humility was on hand and he dished out tunes that no feet at the event resisted the compelling invitation to dance. The acts that raised the curtain did a good job as their outstanding performance led the way for the top entertainers to build on. Amongst them are Mr. 2K, El-Prince, Ruby Gyang and some others.

P-Square, the talented twin, stormed the stage and held their audience captive with hit songs like “E No Easy”, ”Shekini”, Collabo. Some other big performers at Pepsi Rhythm Unplugged were MI, Presh, Waje, Davido, Sound Sultan, Kaffy, Rugged Man and Don Jazzy with the Marvin’s all stars.

Commenting on the event, an elated Head of Marketing, Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc, Norden Thurston, said: “The array of stars at Pepsi Rhythm Unplugged goes to show the huge talent base in this country. This creative gifts lie with the youths and who could better project and support the youth more than a youth brand like Pepsi that has over the years been involved with youth and talent.”

The audience, tired from dancing all night felt there was nothing else that could separate them from their seats but when Olamide and Phyno climbed the stage to deliver what is undoubted their best performances, the audience took over the singing of familiar hits like “Awon Goons Mi” and “Man of the Year”.

But the best was yet to come as the audience found out. At the mention of Wizkid, the fans at the auditorium went wild with excitement. Wizkid, came on and melted hearts like a hot knife on butter. The Pepsi ambassador’s performance had many female fans standing on their chairs in a bid to catch a glimpse of the talented artiste.

It was a beautiful night to cherish, one that best exemplified Pepsi as a brand with high Pop culture and entertainment value.