Shortly after the death of Umaru Yar’adua, his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan was sworn in as president on May 6, 2010, . Over the past 100 days, President
Jonathan has announced some policies, appointed officials and set up committees.
Some of the most notable policies made were the banking reforms, the appointment of new Independent Electoral Commissioners and their chairman, and the banning–and unbanning–of the national football team, the Super Eagles.
He had banned the team from playing in any international matches for two years, following their poor performance at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, but also reversed the ban before a deadline set by FIFA for the reversal, elapsed. He further took steps to clean up the country’s football by dissolving the board of the Nigeria Football Federation, and also ordered an audit of the finances of the World Cup project.
Mr Jonathan has also clocked several air miles through trips to several countries, as both the leader of Nigeria and that of ECOWAS. He also made history as the first Nigerian leader to embrace social networking as a tool of governance, with a popular page on Facebook. The signing of the Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) Bill into law, during his tenure, is a major aspect of a reform which has had a huge impact on the banks and the entire economy.
But some Nigerians said the reforms have left some out in the cold. An Abuja based policy analyst, Chukwuemeka Obi, said “many bank heads fell prey and ever since, we have been expecting that government will give them a chance to defend themselves, before totally branding them negatively. As it now stands, people cannot even borrow or if they do, it is at a very exorbitant interest rate. Not much has been happening. There is just so much to do and a 100 days is just not time enough to justify his performance.”
Citizens’ rating
Nwankwo Nnaemeka, an environmental consultant who also lives in Abuja, rates Mr Jonathan a whopping 75 per cent. “He has done more of politiking than the real thing, which is giving him the popularity. So far, so good. He has done surface changes, which have helped improve his popularity. Like the ministerial changes, INEC and NCC. We are yet to see real deep rooted sustainable changes. However, I rate him 75 per cent.”
Audu Khark, a banker, said: “I think he is still trying to find his feet. For me, he hasn’t done much but I think the best he has done is maintain stability in the political system. His worst is kidnap of journalists, which goes to show that security under him is still very slack.”
But more than anything, Mr Jonathan’s 100 days in office have been dogged by public debates of whether or not he should contest for the presidency in 2011.