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President Goodluck Jonathan this weekend rallied his supporters including the opposition to join hands with him in nation building, affirming that indeed "no President works and achieve any milestone alone."
Speaking in Lagos at a fund raising dinner organised by 'Friends of Goodluck Jonathan', the President, in what appears to be a continuation of an extension of his olive branch to both 'friends and foes', restated his willingness to run an inclusive government not only to give every Nigerian a sense of belonging but also get the country to take her pride of place among the comity of nations.
He noted that "I know collectively, we can all get there; no President works alone, we will work together and mostly with those who have been in government. From experience, the economy of a nation is driven by the private sector but the government has to create the enabling environment for that private sector to thrive. That is why we have been striving that the private sector would work with us to refocus our economy."
On his key thrust if he wins in April, the President declared "job creation, is one target of this administration. We believe that the private sector will play a key role in the blue print from the Aliko Dangote committee on job creation we are currently working on. We will work towards that and I believe that the economy of this country, in the next few years, people will see something different. We are equally commited to that and for this reason, let me thank you for your commitment, for your words of encouragement and donations."
In what appears to be an indication of a possible reshufflement of his economic team when he wins in April, the President said "after the elections, we will still work with you, a number of committees will be set up by government and a number of you will be involved to see how collectively, we can make this country better."
He also enjoined members of the private sector to be committed in ensuring that Nigeria's economy, meets up with other fast growing economies of the world. In an emotion laden speech, the President who acknowledged that he was challenged by the huge expectations placed on his government by the people, however "promised not to let Nigerians down."
According to him, "Whenever I listen to the expectations of Nigerians on the elections I feel quite challenged. I want to say that our leaders from Indepen-dence, have done very well and I want to say that we will carry on so that Nigerians will meet up with other countries that are not on the same level with us."
While tasking the private sector to work with him, especially in boosting the economy of the Nation; he promised to create an enabling environment to create employment.
Earlier, chairman of the occasion, the Wakilin of Adamawa, Alhaji Hassan Adamu called on Nigerians to vote massively for the President in the April polls.
He stressed that "under our President's short term in office, we have already seen significant progress and he has already put us on the path to greater economy recovery. I call on you to vote him for in April so that he can do more to make Nigeria great."
Chief host of the event, Otunba Funsho Lawal , on his part ,explained that the reason for supporting Jonathan was based on the attributes and qualities he possessed.
According to him, "Some months ago, all of us from the corporate world came together to look at all the presidential candidates and after a rigorous exercise, the name Goodluck Ebele Jonathan came up as the man we should support. The decision was unanimous."
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