Nigeria yet to participate in any revolution – Jonathan

NEWS:

BY OLALEKAN ADETAYO  

                                     PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN

President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday regretted that the country had not participated in any of the revolutions that had so far placed some nations ahead of others.

He said even the idea of the Green Revolution, which was toyed with by the country, only existed on paper.

Jonathan spoke during the inauguration of Presidential Committee on Broadband Strategy saddled with the responsibility of designing a road map for the nation.

The 14-member committee has the former Executive Vice-Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, and former chief executive official, Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Jim Ovia, as co-chairmen.

The President said the nation was lagging behind in the international scene because of its non-participation in the various revolutions, adding that it could not afford to again shun the ongoing Information Communication Technology revolution.

He said, “As at the time we talked about industrial revolution, this part of the world never participated.

“We talked about Green Revolution, we tried it but it was on the pages of paper. There was no revolution witnessed in this country. The real technological revolution, we never participated.

“That is why people always say that if you look at our DICON (Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria) that started at the same time as Brazil, Brazil is building aircraft and we are still managing furniture. So, technological revolution, we have not participated. We are now talking about ICT revolution.

“It is only ICT that can take any nation to the level of advanced nations and, at least, we should work hard to join this revolution.”

Jonathan also attributed the decision of his administration to separate the Ministry of Communication Technology from the traditional Ministry of Information Communication to what he called “the political gossips” that characterised the media.

He said, “When we came up with the idea of separating the Ministry of Communication Technology from the traditional Ministry of Information, we believed that the concept of information is bogging down that ministry. The Minister of Information is always harassed when people are abusing the President.

“We believed that communication technology is a key to economic development and we should remove that from the political gossips that adorned our media, that was why we separated it and looked for somebody that we believed probably had no voter’s card as at that time to head the ministry so that communication technology will be insulated from the routine activities of the traditional activities of the Minister of Information. I am happy that this is happening today.”