By John Ighodaro
CALABAR—Senior Special Assistant on Research, Documentation and Strategy to President Goodluck Jonathan, Mr. Oronto Douglas, has said that the president had proven that he had the capacity to make positive changes in the nation, despite his short stay in office.

He stated this as guest speaker at the Calabar Session of RISE National Youth Forum 2010 which held at the New Theatre Auditorium, University of Calabar, weekend.

At the lecture which had as theme, Co-operation for Operation, Mr. Douglas said when the president assumed office, he promised to reform the electoral system, tackle the Niger Delta question and electricity supply.

According to him, the president has made moves that indicate that he is able to make positive inroads into the attainment of these objectives.

“On the issue of electoral reform, the president chose Prof Attahiru Jega to head the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC, and as everyone knows, Prof. Jega is a man of integrity,” he said.

“For the president to make that bold move tells you that he is committed to a free and fair election and he is committed to putting in place an electoral system that will ensure that every vote counts and the peoples mandate is protected,” he said.

Douglas argued that the president not only got Jega to head INEC, but also went further to chose  men of integrity to be Jega’s lieutenants in the different states.

He also said that President Goodluck Jonathan had drawn a roadmap to the attainment of adequate power supply by making moves to provide the necessary infrastructure to achieve that goal.

On fuel supply, the senior special assistant said long lines at filling stations had even become a thing of the past since President Jonathan assumed office.

He also commended the president for pursuing the Amnesty Programme which his predecessor, late President Musa Yar’Adua, commenced.

Also speaking at the conference was the convener and team leader of RISE, Miss Toyosi Akerele, argued that it was high time the youth of this country took over the leadership of the country.

She said one of the ways to bring this to fruition was to educate the youth, get them employed and empower them.

Akerele encouraged youths not to wait to be employed but employ themselves and aim to become employers themselves.