We strongly believe that Jonathan is the best – ANAP

Lagos – The Nigerian community in the U.S., under the auspices of the Association of Nigerian American Professionals (ANAP), has endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term bid.

This is contained in a statement by ANAP National Chairman, Dr Iheanacho Orabuchi.

It said that Jonathan was the best candidate owing to the strong leadership qualities he possessed.

“We strongly believe that President Jonathan is the best candidate for Nigeria at this time and he has been tested and has the leadership qualities to lead Nigeria to the next level.

“A case in point, is Jonathan’s recent leadership in curbing Ebola that prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare Nigeria “Ebola free’’, the statement said.

It said that the country could not afford to elect an inexperienced and undemocratic individual, who lacked democratic principles to direct the affairs of Nigeria.

The statement said that in spite of sabotage, the president’s transformational agenda and Vision 2020 had truly transformed the country’s economy.

“Various international rating agencies have rated the Nigeria’s economic outlook from stable to positive and this was possible because Jonathan has the vision and the people capable of executing his programmes with fidelity.

“Under his administration, Nigeria’s GDP grew consistently to register a record growth since last quarter of 2010.

“While placing the country to be the fourth fastest growing economy in the world in 2011, based on the improvement of economic indices of Nigeria, Fitch Rating Agency revised Nigeria’s economic outlook to stable.

“Also, the Standard and Poor’s, a rating agency, generously revised “Nigeria’s ratings from stable to positive.

“Recently, Jim O’Neill, a former Chairman, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, a consulting firm, said that Nigeria will be among the list of the 15 largest economies by 2050,’’ it said.

According to the statement, other noticeable reforms and policies have yielded results that warrant Nigerians to take a second look on Nigeria as an investment heaven.

It said that the signing into law of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Bill 2010 had increased local content in the sector.

“The President’s policies have elevated the country and we are proud of his achievements,’’ it said.

The statement said that over 2, 000 Nigerians had benefitted from the Youth Enterprise with innovation in Nigeria (YOUWIN) initiative launched few years ago.

The statement said that another giant gain of Jonathan’s administration was the vision that led to power sector deregulation and privatisation.

It said that in future, sufficient and uninterrupted power supply would be achieved as the president’s policies continued to address and rectify the poor state of the country’s power transmission network.

“The implementation of the power sector reforms are being religiously and efficiently carried out under the leadership of the president to achieve sufficiency in power supply.

According to the statement, this will spur sustainable industrialisation. (NAN).