In January 2014, President Jonathan granted an interview to the CNN’s reporter – Christiane Amanpour inside Aso Villa, Abuja, Nigeria. Here is the transcribed copy of the interview. It contains insights into Mr. President’s government’s programmes and political ambitions. Kindly read on…
Christiane Amanpour: President Goodluck Jonathan thank you very much for joining me from Davos.
GEJ: Thank you
Christiane Amanpour: Let me get straight to the heart of the matter. Today on Capitol Hill, Secretary of State,
Hillary Clinton is testifying about Libya and about militant Islam in the region. She identified Boko Haram as the biggest threat to one of the most important countries, namely your own. Do you see Boko Haram as a major existential threat to Nigeria right now?
GEJ: Definitely, Boko ra, eh.. haram, if it is not contained it will be threat, not only to Nigeria, but t-to West Africa, Central Africa and of course to North Africa . Because, of course you know, eh…, some elements of Boko Harams in the same link , eh…, link up with some of the Al-Qaedas operating in northern Mali and other North African countries. And that is why the Nigerian government is totally committed to work with other nationals, other friendly governments to make sure that we contain the problems in Mali.
Because rightly, right…, eh…, as you rightly said the issue of Libya try to create more problems in the sub region. Because when ah…, Ghaddafi was thrown and a number of fighters looted the weapons, that is weapons enter into hands of non-state actors and they are being used for criminal activities.
Christiane Amanpour: We have seen what has happened, you mentioned Mali, you mentioned Algeria, is Nigeria prepared, in case there is a terrorist attack like we just saw in Algeria, on a natural gas or oil facility? Again you are the most significant exporter in the region.
GEJ: Of cour,… Yes, of course ah…, what happened in Algeria is quite unfortunate and that is why all the governments have been working day and night to make sure that, ah…, we, we… prevent such excesses.
Christiane Amanpour: Do you believe that Boko Haram is just a security threat for you or, as some others believe, that it is also about resisting misrule, and corruption and that there needs to be a different or an additional way of dealing with it other than just military.
GEJ: No, no, no. Boko Haram is not as a result of misrule, definitely not. And sometimes people feel it is as a result of poverty, definitely not.
Boko Haram is a local terror group and we call on the rest of the world to work with us. Because now we are talking about Algeria, we are talking about northern Mali and our believe is that if we allow terror to exist in any part of the world it will not only just affect that country or that state but it will affect the rest of the globe. And we should not play politics with Boko Haram.
Christiane Amanpour: Mr. President, the United States believes that the security forces, in Nigeria, are driving more people into the arms of Boko Haram and one NGO lead is quoted as sayin…
GEJ: (Cuts in) how?
Christiane Amanpour:….as saying…..
GEJ: (cuts in) how?
Christiane Amanpour: How? By what they quote as indiscriminate security, ah…, security measures, heavy handed crackdowns that drowned up thousands of people whether they are civilians and children people who’ve got nothing to do with Boko Haram. And they are also saying that the police, like in the last year or so, have killed more people than Boko Haram has.
So my question is: do you admit that there is a problem in the security dealing with it?
GEJ: That is not correct! That is not correct! And I have said it severally; those are insinuation by some interest group. Definitely they are insinuation by some interest group.
Christiane Amanpour: Alright. And one of the interest groups is the State Department of the United States. But let me ask you this: There is…
GEJ: (Cuts in) No, no, no. People….
Christiane Amanpour: (Cuts in) Yes sir!
GEJ: ….people get wrong information to the State Department of the United States. The State Department from the United States they have, they have the means of knowing the truth. They should try and filter the truth.
Christiane Amanpour: (Cuts in) well sorry, let me just say….
GEJ: …They should not just listen to some people who have access to them. But they have means of knowing the truth!
Christiane Amanpour: Alright, well the United States Assistant Secretary of State has said that the method of the crackdown is inflaming the population and inflaming the situation.
Let me move on to the issue of corruption. When I interviewed you three years ago now, in your first interview as you assumed power, you said that the main issues for the people of Nigeria are corruption and even electricity, power you talked about. Well today those are still the same issues. Some 60% of the people of Nigeria don’t have enough or regular power, regular electricity. There’re constantly shortages and outages. Three years later, what do you have to say about that?
GEJ: I would have loved that you asked an ordinary Nigerian on the streets of Lagos, Abuja or any other city the situation about power.
That is one area that Nigerians are quite pleased with the government, that our commitment to improve power is working. So if you are saying something different I am really surprised. That is one area, one area that even civil society members agreed that government has kept faith with its promise.
Christiane Amanpour: So, so what should I tell people that keep contacting us and say they hope they have electricity just to be able to watch this interview on their televisions? Clearly it is still a big problem. Is it still a big problem, despite, you say, the progress you say you’ve made?
GEJ: We have not got to where we should be and of course you know the power infrastructure is one investment that you must complete the chain before the, th.., the bulb can light. You must generate, you must transmit, you must distribute. And even if you have the money and the political will to do so, you cannot do it over night. And we are working very hard, and I promise you that before the end of this year power will be really, reason…, reasonably stable in Nigeria. This is something that has been a problem for years, for years. So you cannot correct it overnight. It takes time even if you have the money.
Christiane Amanpour: I am sure that will be a relief. Obviously you sit atop massive reserves of natural gas and that leads me to the whole issue of corruption which you say you are trying to tackle. And when people look at Nigeria and see all your wealth, they say, “Oh my goodness! This is a country that is stealing and bleeding itself dry.” Even your own minister, your minister of finance, has talked about, you know, just this past April, perhaps 400,000 barrels of oil a day simply being stolen, simply disappearing without any account. One of your ministers has said that the level of theft from the country, from the government, amounts to about $7bn a year. That’s still a problem, isn’t it?
GEJ: In fact when you talk about crude oil stealing, yes I agree with you. Frankly speaking, we want international community to support Nigeria. Because this stolen crude is being bought by refineries abroad and they know the crude was stolen. The world must condemn what is wrong. The stolen crude is refined abroad, is not refined in Nigeria.
Christiane Amanpour: President Goodluck Jonathan, thank you for joining me.
GEJ: Thank you
Transcribed by Hussaini Jibrin
