NIGERIA: Goodluck Jonathan sworn in as President at official start of his four year-term (RTV)

Record ID: 235264

  • Title: NIGERIA: Goodluck Jonathan sworn in as President at official start of his four year-term (RTV)
  • Date: 30th May 2011
  • Summary: CHILDREN PARADE
  • Embargoed: 14th June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria, Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4SEAVSJMU6VQESFSDDO9P539U
  • Story Text: Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan was sworn on Sunday (May 29) in front of heads of state from across Africa, foreign dignitaries, religious leaders and traditional rulers, gathered at Eagle Square, in the centre of Nigeria's capital Abuja.
    The official start of his four year-term was marked with a ceremony and a military parade.
    Jonathan pledged to create jobs and drive economic growth, voicing commitment to banking reforms, the privatisation of the domestic power sector and promising to develop infrastructure and agriculture in Africa's third biggest economy.
    He also vowed better management of the OPEC member's oil revenues, saying the creation of a sovereign wealth fund he signed into law on Friday would avoid "boom and bust" cycles.
    "Join me now as we begin the journey of transforming Nigeria, I will continue to fight for your future because I am one of you, I will continue to fight for improved medical care for all of our citizens, I will continue to fight for all citizens to have first class education, I will continue to fight for electricity to be available to all our citizens, I will continue to fight for an efficient and affordable public transport system for all our people, I will continue to fight for jobs to be created through productive enterprise/partnership, you've trusted me with your mandate, I will never never let you down," Johnathan said.
    Goodluck Johnathan, a former zoology student, won elections last month which, while far from perfect, were deemed to have reflected the will of the people in a nation that had known virtually nothing but military rule and rigged votes for the past half-century.
    But the polls also threw religious and ethnic fault lines into sharp relief. Jonathan, a Christian from the south, swept to victory in his home region while his rival, ex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, performed strongly in the mostly Muslim north.
    Hours after the swearing in ceremony a bomb blast rocked a bar near an army barracks in the north of the country around 8pm (1900GMT) killing several people.
    Hundreds of people were killed in riots and sectarian violence in northern towns after Jonathan's victory was announced, with homes, churches and mosques razed.
    Jonathan first came to power after the death of his predecessor, northerner Umaru Yar'Adua, last year.
    He emerged from the April polls with a credible mandate, having won 59 percent of the vote, but with his ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) chastened by a weaker parliamentary majority and the loss of several powerful state governorships.
    "We're very optimistic that it's going to be a new dawn for the people of Nigeria in terms of security, in terms of development, in terms of infrastructure, in terms of employment and in terms of sense of national unity and togetherness. We certainly believe that it shall be well for Nigeria, it shall be well for West Africa and it shall be well for the entire African continent and the black race,"said Umar Farouk, a guest at the inauguration.
    Buhari, one of the few living former heads of state absent from Sunday's ceremony, has challenged the result.
    Jonathan is the first president from the restive Niger Delta oil region, where expectations are also running high. He brokered an amnesty in 2009 which ended years of attacks on oil facilities, but thousands of former gunmen remain without jobs.
    Jonathan is serving what would have been the second term of late president Yar'Adua and there is an expectation in the north that at the next elections in four years, a northern candidate will take the ruling party ticket.
    But should Jonathan succeed with his reform plans, particularly privatising the power sector and ending chronic power shortages, popular opinion could again swing behind him.
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