Former President Goodluck Jonathan was recently invited by the United States United States House sub-committee on Africa to address some issues about Nigeria.
Speaking at the event on Wednesday, February 1, 2017, Nigeria's ex-president, Jonathan spoke the Southern Kaduna killings, Niger Delta crisis and relevance of the 2014 Confab report.
Here are five important things Nigeria's former President told the U.S lawmakers.
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Former President, Goodluck Jonathan in the United States of America
(LIB)
1. Religious crisis and Nigeria
Jonathan said: “If, as a nation, we do not kill religious persecution and extremism, then religious persecution and extremism will kill Nigeria.
“The potential danger associated with the level of conflicts going on across the country is so glaring that no sane mind can ignore.”
2. Establishment of Religious Equity Commission
“In view of the fact that religion plays a vital role in many aspects of our national life especially in the aspect of national security and national unity, it is highly imperative that it be singled out from other fundamental rights and given a special attention via the creation of an Equity Commission whose sole mandate will be to focus on religious rights and their promotion.
3. The Niger Delta
Ex-president Jonathan said: “The people in this region feel that though they suffer from the environmental hazards of the exploitation of the God given resources, they do not commensurately benefit from the exploitation of these resources."
3. Contracts awarded to the region
He said: “The greatest stumbling block of these interventionist agencies was lack of continuity, resulting from an over politicisation of projects as each successive management awards new contracts rather than continue with those awarded by their predecessors and as such, the Niger Delta is littered with many abandoned projects with very few completed projects to show for the huge monies spent.”
4. Military intervention in the Niger Delta
He said: “The military crackdown in the Niger Delta will not end the agitation there. It will have the opposite effect of provoking the youth, which will cause them to seek to acquire sophisticated weapons to defend themselves and their communities.
“This may, in turn, lead to secessionist movements and the reincarnation of the Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro-led revolution and the Biafra civil war. The Federal Government and the international community must work to avoid this.”
5. Trump Presidency and Nigeria
"I call this body [United States United States House sub-committee] and the new American administration of PresidentDonald J Trump, of whom we are very confident, to please work with the government and people of Nigeria by way of capacity building and intelligence gathering and sharing and indeed in any way possible to bring an end to religious extremism in Nigeria," the former president added.
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