Read President Goodluck Jonathan's Official independence Message

Fellow Nigerians:
Today marks the 54th anniversary of our
country's independence as a sovereign nation.
This is also the tenth month of our journey into
a new century, having marked the centenary of
our nation in January this year. The first one
hundred years were marked by triumphs and
tribulations, benefit and burdens, opportunities
and challenges.
We made some far reaching advances in
building a strong, united and prosperous nation.
We also overcame the forces of disunity that
culminated in a debilitating civil war. We have
also renewed our faith in one another, and in
our country. We have proven that we are truly a
resilient nation.
In my address to the nation last year, I did
emphasize that we were in a sober moment in
our country. We are still in that mood in spite of
the many accomplishments of our
administration. Our sombreness has to do with
the crises of nationhood occasioned by the
activities of terrorist elements who have done
the unimaginable to challenge our unity as a
people.
On an occasion like this, it is important that we
remember all the precious souls that have been
lost in the unprecedented war of terror
unleashed on some parts of our country by these
individuals who want to compel us to live our
lives their way. They will not succeed!
In their mission, they have maimed and raped.
They have killed men, women and children,
rendering many children orphan and several
women widows.They have made violence their
ideology and are bent on destroying our
country. Dear countrymen and women, we will
not allow them.
Night after night, day after day, our security
forces continue to engage the terrorists in battle.
My gratitude goes out to our armed forces
whose will has been greatly challenged by this
insurgency more than any other time, since the
civil war.
Yet, they have remained undaunted and
unwearied in the face of constant challenge and
mortal danger. Driven by patriotic zeal, they are
turning the tide by their prowess and
determination. As Commander-in-Chief, I will
continue to do all it takes to enable them to
keep on inflicting devastating blows at the
heart of terror. Fellow Nigerians, it is our
collective duty as patriots to avail our men and
women in uniform of all the support they need
to fight and win this war.
This Administration is committed to making
Nigeria safe for all Nigerians, irrespective of our
places of birth, how we worship God and our
political persuasion. To all those waging war
against our country, I ask that you lay down
your arms and embrace peace.
To those who have genuine grievances, I
affirm that Nigeria will listen to you, if you
bring your grievances to the table of dialogue.
To the good people of Nigeria, let me restate
that our task of building a better and greater
country must not waver.
While we continue to deploy our resources in
the fight against the terrorists, we do recognize
the great toll the conflict is taking on our
people.
This is why, to assist the afflicted, we have
launched the Victims Support Fund, an
independent multi-sectoral charity, which will
aggressively solicit resources to augment
Government's statutory intervention, in
bringing succour to the injured, the displaced
and the bereaved.
In partnership with Nigerian business leaders
and international partners, we have also
introduced the Safe Schools Initiative which is
aimed at promoting safe environments for
education nationwide, starting with the North
East region.
The Presidential Initiative for the North East, a
comprehensive programme to fast-track the
economic restoration of this region, which has
been the epicentre of terrorist activity, has been
set up.
Our overall objective is to do all we possibly
can, to sustain in the North-East, the momentum
of economic advancement, which is on-going in
other parts of the country, despite the
machinations of the terrorists and their
sponsors.
It should now be clear to anyone who was ever
in doubt that these terrorists do not mean well
for anyone, of whatever religion or
dispensation. Their persistent choice of the
weakest and most vulnerable in society, for
gruesome attack, provides an insight into their
abnormal mind-set.
I urge every Nigerian to put aside political,
sectional or other parochial considerations, and
support whole-heartedly the efforts of the
government and the military, in checking this
evil.
We are grateful to the international
community, and especially our neighbours who
are working closely with us in confronting this
challenge, for their increased partnership and
solidarity. Our steady progress in weakening the
insurgency has certainly justified our
cooperation.
Fellow Nigerians, in my independence
anniversary address last year, I informed you
that we had taken cognizance of the suggestion
over the years by well-meaning Nigerians on
the need to focus attention on rebuilding and
strengthening the ligaments of our union. It was
in that regard that we announced the convening
of a National Dialogue on the future of our
beloved country.
We have successfully delivered on that promise
as we established the 2014 National Conference
headed by Justice Legbo Kutigi. After months
of deliberations, which did not come without its
challenges, the conference concluded its
assignment and has handed its Report to me.
I have made a firm commitment that we would
act on the recommendations of the conference.
This, I have started by setting up the Ministerial
Committee headed by the Honourable Attorney
General of the Federation to work outthe
modalities for implementing the Report. Every
promise I make, God willing, I will see to its
fulfilment. I assure you, we shall implement the
report.
One major lesson which the 2014 National
Conference has taught us as a country is that, a
multi-ethnic country like ours, must learn to
embrace painstaking dialogue until consensus
is established.
To me, the National Conference is the greatest
centenary gift to our country that we must
cherish and sustain. Fellow Nigerians, our 54
year-journey as a nation has not been easy.
There have been tough periods, but the
Nigerian spirit and the unflagging resilience of
our people have seen us through. We will
continue to march forward to greater heights.
We have been able to sustain a big, strong and
influential country with a robust economy. We
are currently in our sixteenth year of
uninterrupted democratic rule, daily improving
on the consolidation of our democratic process.
Our Administration has made a commitment to
ensure that we build and sustain a democratic
infrastructure anchored on free and fair
elections. International and local observers
have attested to the positive evolution of
electoral credibility and we cannot afford to
relent.
We will continue to ensure that the will of the
electorate prevails so that political leaders
would be reminded at all times that there is a
day of reckoning when they have to go back to
the people at the polls. Election days must not
be days of violence and death. We must remain
vigilant to ensure that our electoral process is
characterised by peace, security and
transparency.
I enjoin the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC), all security agencies,
politicians and the electorate to work
conscientiously and peacefully, together, to
consolidate on the gains of the recent elections.
Free and fair elections have come to stay;
nothing else will be acceptable to our people.
My dear countrymen and women, occasions
such as this present an opportunity to thank
God for our country and to report to you, on our
journey so far. Our power sector reform is on
course with the ultimate objective of generating
enough electricity to power our homes,
industries and businesses. We are making giant
strides in the Agricultural Sector which we are
re-positioning to diversify our economy. We
will continue to upgrade our infrastructure to
make life easier for all and create an enabling
environment for enterprise to flourish.
Over the last four years, the implementation of
the Nigerian Content Act in the Oil and Gas
Sector has ensured major increase in the
participation of indigenous Oil and Gas
companies in the industry. Several critical
infrastructure projects have been commissioned
and commenced. The level of indigenous asset
ownership has greatly increased and utilisation
of Nigerian-owned and built assets such as
marine vessels and rigs is being progressively
enforced.
There has been maximised local value addition
by encouraging the manufacture of equipment
components and parts within the country.
There has also been massive growth in
indigenous participation in the provision of
goods and services to the upstream sector from
10% to 60% within the last four years.
Today, following the rebasing of our economy,
every international monitoring and ratings
agency now acknowledges Nigeria as the
largest economy in Africa, with a Gross
Domestic Product of five hundred and ten
billion dollars ($510 billion) which also places
us as the 26th largest economy in the world.
This is progress.
Earlier in the year, we launched the Nigeria
Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) and the
National Enterprise Development Programme
(NEDEP) with the stated objective of fast
tracking inclusive growth, job creation,
enterprise development and industrialisation.
The success of these policies is already evident
in the increased value addition in the
agricultural and manufacturing sectors.
In line with our objective of encouraging the
production of made-in-Nigeria vehicles and
making Nigeria a regional hub for the
automobile industry, a number of foreign auto
manufacturers have established plants in
Nigeria, complementing the laudable efforts of
our local vehicle manufacturers who have also
demonstrated great innovation and
competitiveness.
We have also launched a special support
programme for Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises with an initial intervention fund of
two hundred and twenty billion naira (N220 b).
This is in addition to the Presidential Job
Creation Board which I inaugurated recently
with the charge to create three million jobs
annually.
In demonstration of our Administration's
commitment to addressing Nigeria's housing
deficit, we have commenced the new mortgage
re-finance programme with the establishment of
the Nigerian Mortgage Re-finance Company. It
is expected that, in addition to creating
additional housing units across the country, this
initiative also represents a huge job creation
opportunity.
We have recorded notable success in the social
sector. Nigeria has been globally acknowledged
for reducing extreme hunger by more than half,
with the Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) formally presenting the country with an
award for achieving the Millennium
Development Goal on Hunger three years ahead
of the 2015 target date set for the Millennium
Development Goals.
This progress is as a result of the deliberate
policy of government to increase capacity in
our agricultural sector of which the first step
was to address and eliminate the graft in our
fertilizer procurement system and ensure that
the product gets directly to the farmer. We are
expanding our irrigation infrastructure to ensure
that our farmers have sufficient water supply for
dry season farming.
A benefit of these combined actions is that our
national food import bill has declined from 1.1
trillion naira (6.9 billion dollars) in 2009 to
684.7 billion naira (4.35 billion dollars) by
December 2013, and continues to decline.
Modern hybrid schools are being provided for
less privileged children across the country,
resulting in significant increase in the national
school enrolment figure.
In order to further enhance access to education
at the tertiary level, fourteen new Federal
Universities have been established; and, to
encourage persons of exceptional abilities, our
Administration has also introduced a
Presidential Scholarship Scheme based strictly
on excellence and merit.
On infrastructure, we are building roads,
bridges, and new rail lines to make it easier to
traverse Nigeria and increase the integration of
our people and our ability to do business with
each other. In this regard, we have commenced
the process of building the Second Niger
Bridge. The Loko-Oweto Bridge over River
Benue in Nasarawa and Benue States, will
significantly reduce travel time by road
between Northern and Southern Nigeria. The
on-going dredging of the River Niger up to
Baro in Niger State is opening up large parts of
the Nigerian hinterland to maritime activity.
The Zungeru and Mambilla Hydro-electric
power projects are on course, and the
Kashimbilla dam which we started a few years
ago, is nearing completion. The successful
privatisation of our power sector will in the
long run enhance industrial growth. Policies
such as this and others have raised Nigeria to
the enviable status of being the number one
recipient of Foreign Direct Investment in Africa
in the past year.
The result of this infrastructure drive is that two
and a half million jobs have been created over
the past two years. This is a record, which we are
committed to improve upon to continue to
provide jobs for our youth.
An unprecedented number of Airports across the
country, are not only being reconstructed at the
same time, but being re-equipped and
reassessed with emphasis on maintaining global
standards
Fellow Nigerians, the goals we set to achieve
for our country involve expanding the frontiers
of economic freedom. Let us therefore unite
with one heart and one mind. All our people
must have access to the good things of life. All
our people must be empowered to pursue the
gift of life with happiness. This is our country;
we must build it for our common posterity.
As we move into an election year, desperate
moves to overheat the polity are becoming a
regular occurrence. Our political leaders in
particular must know that the contest for power
should not translate to the destruction of the
polity.The contest for the leadership of our
country must yield good governance, and not
ungovernable spaces. The love of country
should rank higher than our individual
ambitions.
We must remain committed to a united and
indivisible Nigeria within democratic
parameters. The protection of individual rights,
liberty, equality before the law, freedom of
thought, and a progressive pursuit of a sound
economy must be our goal.
I cannot end this address without commenting
on the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) which
was sadly brought into our country recently.
My directives to the Federal Ministry of Health
saw the ministry leading the charge in
curtailing the spread of this deadly scourge and
managing its impact. This is how it should be:
swift, effective and comprehensive action in
defence of citizens.
It must be pointed out that the Ebola battle is
still raging elsewhere in our sub-region. I
therefore enjoin all our citizens to continue to
adhere strictly to all the guidelines that have
been given by our health officials to keep Ebola
out of our country.
I appreciate and welcome the spirit of
collaboration, unity and partnership with which
we confronted the threat of the Ebola Virus
Disease. I thank all Nigerians for working
together to prevent what could have become a
major epidemic. I particularly thank the
medical personnel, some of whom made the
ultimate sacrifice.
This is the spirit which we must demonstrate at
all times as we face up to our challenges as a
nation: one people, united by a common
resolve, in the pursuit of one common national
interest.
As we look forward to another year in our
national life, I am more than confident that our
tomorrow will be better than our yesterday and
today. Nigeria has got the human and material
resources to excel and we shall lead the way in
that journey to our manifest destiny.
Fellow countrymen, brothers and sisters, in all
our plans, and in all our words and our actions,
we must stand together in love and unity, as one
people under God.
We are one people from the womb of one
Nigeria. We are brothers and sisters. We are one
family. We are Nigerians. God bless the Federal
Republic of Nigeria.

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