2015: My single term agreement was for seven years – Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan said that his agreement to serve for a single term as president was premised on the belief that his proposal for a single seven-year term for the presidency would sail through.
Jonathan, however, denied signing any document agreeing to serve for a single term.
The President, who spoke on Sunday night on Media Chat, a live television and radio programme, offered the explanation owing to the controversy surrounding whether he will seek reelection in 2015 or not.
Jonathan said before he got into office, he had verbally discussed the idea of a single seven-year term and was hoping it would sail through.
He said it was based on this that he thought he would be in office for just a single term of seven years.
He told Nigerians and the rest of the world on the programme: “I didn’t sign any agreement to serve for a single term.
“If I had signed any agreement, they would have shown you.
“They should show you the agreement.
“I only talked about single term arrangement because I was proposing seven-year tenure and thought it could materialise.
“Not that Jonathan will serve for a single term of four years.”
The President, however, was still not categorical about his position on seeking reelection in 2015.
On the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Jonathan said it has been politicized.
Urging the lecturers to return to work, Jonathan said: “In the past, they did not go this far when strikes were called off.
“But now, politics has gone into everything.”
Jonathan said his administration has done everything possible to ensure the strike was called off.
These, according to him, included making several concessions to the lecturers and taking steps to remedy the problems in the universities.
He added: “Throughout this time, no government has taken inventory of all the problems in federal and state universities.
“We said this must change.
“But it cannot change overnight.
“So for ASUU to go on strike over infrastructure, they need to understand that we are serious about intervening starting with N100 billion.”
The President also debunked insinuations in certain quarters that Nigeria insolvent, saying Nigeria is neither broke nor bankrupt.
He said: “The claim that Nigeria is broke is politically motivated.”
He explained that the misunderstanding between the Federal and States’ Ministries of Finance during the meeting of the FAAC was not because Federal Government could not afford allocations due to states.
He said the misunderstanding was misconceived by the opposition to label the country as being bankrupt.
According to him, the nation’s economy is witnessing tremendous growth with the right policies put in place by his administration.
He said: “Nigeria is now an investors’ haven in sub-saharan Africa and the GPD is growing at appreciable rate.”
The President said that oil theft, which hitherto was at alarming rate, was being brought under control, adding that government was building a robust security architecture to check the crime.
He said that some arrests had been made and prosecution of the offenders were on course.
Jonathan likened oil theft to Boko Haram insurgence and said “it is a cancer that must be crushed.”
He called on the international community to label oil theft an international crime and assist in arresting the perpetrators when such crude got to their soil.
The President also noted that government was winning the war against corruption and said the menace was not the country’s number one problem.
On the recent killing of seven suspected Boko Haram members at Apo, a suburb of Abuja, Jonathan said that his administration would continue to safeguard all citizens from terrorist attacks.
According to him, the preliminary security report on the incident shows that there was element of Boko Haram at the uncompleted building.
“It is my duty as a president to stop the killing of innocent people by militant groups across the country,” he said.
The President also dismissed the assertion that the Federal Executive Council had been turned into a contract awarding council, saying the council was not violating the nation’s constitution by approving the award contracts.