Jonathan Defends Democratic Governance

20.06.2009

The Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, has described democracy as the best system of government for any plural society.

He said the concept of continuity and orderly succession guarantees the success of any nation.

He stated this on Tuesday during a reception organised in his honour by the Nigerian community in Geneva, Switzerland.

He maintained that after eight years of the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and God-willing, another eight years of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s administration, if Nigeria can have another eight years of unbroken democratic rule, Nigerians would begin to appreciate the level of development and prosperity that stability brings.

Reacting to criticism from members of the Nigerian community in Geneva that the Yar’Adua administration was slow, Dr. Jonathan said it was better for a government to be slow and methodical than to be hasty and “overshoot the runway.”

On the power sector, he assured the Nigerians in the diaspora that issues in the sector were being given attention by the Federal Government through the NIPP Steering Committee.

The vice president urged Nigerians to be patient with the government, especially as the power production chain required a hundred per cent execution for electricity to eventually get to homes.

He added that the government also planned to explore other areas of power generation using solid minerals like coal with modern technologies, as obtainable in countries like the United States of America.