CNPP scribe faults Jonathan on job creation

By Tony Edike

ENUGU—National Publicity Secretary of Conference of National Political Party, CNPP, Chief Osita Okechukwu, yesterday, described President Goodluck Jonathan’s new year speech as a patriotic one but disagreed with his promise on job creation.

Okechukwu told Vanguard, that unless the government invests substantially in the critical infrastructure, the desire to create employment for the teeming jobless Nigerians would be a mirage.

“The president’s speech is a patriotic speech, however, we don’t know how he can create employment without investing in critical infrastructure such as the coal deposit in Enugu, the mass bitumen deposit in Ondo, the Mambilla power plant and aggressive investment in the Railways.”

Okechukwu, who was governorship candidate of Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, in 2011 elections in Enugu State, said “if the president continues with the policy of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, that ‘government has no business in business’ and the party’s philosophy to share the money, then he cannot achieve the promises he made to Nigerians.”

Noting that the president was emphatic on employment generation, he said that Jonathan could not achieve any of the stated plans “if he leaves our excess foreign reserve to be poached by people like Dangote without investing in our critical infrastructure. This might turn out to be one of those empty promises; unless there is a huge investment in critical infrastructure, he cannot create any employment.”