Jonathan: I will rid Nigeria of polio in 2015

President Goodluck Jonathan says he has already eradicated polio in north-eastern Bauchi state, and his next target is to eradicate the disease in the entire country before the end of 2015.

Speaking in Bauchi, capital of the state, during his presidential election campaign rally, he said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had done a lot to continue the good works of late Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria’s only post-Independence prime minister who hailed from the state.

“We are in Bauchi, the seat of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, one of our greatest, revered leaders who has treated this country very well, appreciated form north to south, from west to east, because of the kind of leadership he gave. He never instigated anybody against anybody,” Jonathan said.

“When I came on board in 2011, we promised to eradicate polio from Bauchi state. By September 2013, we had eradicated it from Bauchi state. By God’s grace, we’ll eradicate polio from the country by the end of 2015. No amount of retrogressive force can pull us behind.

“We must develop our young men and women; we must educate them; we must empower them through agriculture;  we must empower them through micro scale and medium scale enterprises, so that they can no longer be used by those who are politicians; because when they are empowered and educated, nobody will want to use them in politics.”

He described Bauchi as a state with lots of potentials, promising that his government would work to even develop its people further.

“When you talk about agriculture, it has a potential for agriculture. All what we have to do is to make sure we build dam for them in addition to the current ones available,” he said.

“The young men and women of this state have a lot of resources, but we will still empower them and help the development of the state and the development of the country.

“The issue of oil – oil as a means of wealth for a country – is dwindling at the moment, so we’ll emphasise more on solid minerals. Bauchi state has a lot of solid minerals – zinc, lead and others – that we will work with your sons and daughters to exploit the maximum benefit for the people of Bauchi.

“All what you have to do is to work with us and our governorship candidate that will take over from Yuguda, work with him to make sure we can give you the dividends of democracy.

“Since PDP has been in power, we have done much and we will continue to do more. Some of the people that are instigating us, they cannot tell us exactly what they have done. So we will work with him so that we can continue to develop the people of Bauchi state.”