Nigerians took to Twitter to trend the name of a previous Nigerian president today. Perhaps it is as a result of the fact that today marks ten years since the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua passed away, people on Twitter also took the opportunity to commend Yar’Adua’s then Vice-President and the man who eventually succeeded him as president after his demise, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan was born on November 20, 1957. He served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, becoming the first incumbent president to concede electoral defeat. Prior to that, he served as Vice President of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010 and as Governor of Bayelsa State from 2005 to 2007.
In the four years that the Goodluck Jonathan administration was been in power, there were definitely flaws as much as there were successes and giant leaps.
He is surely remembered for opening up of Nigeria to the global business community and placing the country as Africa’s number one destination of foreign investors. In the first six months of 2014, a total of US$9.70 billion or N1.51 trillion flowed into the national economy as foreign direct investments (FDI).
In the academic sector, he established nine federal universities across the country in states which previously had no federal degree awarding institution.
However, a major achievement he would be remembered for is one that this present pandemic stirs up. This involved arresting the outbreak of the deadly and highly contagious Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in record time, though it unfortunately claimed some lives at the onset.
This Twitter user compares his handling of the outbreak to the present administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Other users also came on board to express why Jonathan was by far the most outstanding Nigerian leader for them.
However, not everyone was a cheerleader at the party. These users have an opposite view from the ones above.
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