NIGERIA:2013 IN RETROSPECT

NEW IS THE YEAR,NEW ARE THE HOPES AND THE ASPIRATIONS,NEW IS THE RESOLUTION,NEW ARE THE SPIRITS AND FOREVER MY WARM WISHES ARE FOR DO HAVE YOURSELF A PROMISING AND FULFILLING NEW YEAR




President Jonathan on the World Stage

Since the inception of his administration, President Ebele Goodluck Jonathan has raised relevant and topical issues at the annual gatherings of the world’s Heads of State and Government at the General Assembly of the United Nations.

His statements which offer useful insights into his administration’s foreign policy in terms of vision, concerns and emphases have therefore been put together in a short collection entitled On the World Stage.
Published by the Office of the Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity) State House, Abuja, On the World Stage, is a 70-page collection of President Jonathan statement at 65th UN General Assembly in 2010 to 68th UN General Assembly in 2013.
It also highlights Nigeria’s unwavering commitment, under President Jonathan’s leadership, to global peace, security, stability, equity and sustainable development for all humanity.
The Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity), Reuben Abati in a Preface said that at the centre of the President’s message to the world is an impassioned call for a world populated by “ viable and capable states” where peace, political stability, progress and security of lives and property are guaranteed.
“While contributing diligently to the pursuit of global peace, through such key interventions as participation in international peace keeping operations, and President Jonathan’s frontline mediatory role in preventing or resolving conflicts in countries such as Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea Bisau, Mali, Sudan, South Sudan and Liberia, Nigeria’s presence is felt much more strongly in the international arena; its voices far more influential than hitherto,” Abati wrote.
The collection also captions President Jonathan call for democratization of the Security Council at the 68th Regular Session of the UN General Assembly in New York 2013.
“Mr. President, I believe that I express the concern of many about the slow pace of the effort and apparent lack of progress in the reform of the United Nations, especially the Security Council. We believe strongly, that the call for democratization worldwide should not be for the States only, but also, for International Organisations such as the UN. That is why we call for the democratization of the Security Council,” he said.

 
Social media
  


Social media received kudos for breaking the major news stories which dominated the media in the year 2013. For instance, major stories in 2013 including the controversial letter exchange between former president Olusegun Obasanjo and President Jonathan, bullet proof car scandal for Aviation Minister were broken by the New Media.
Worried by the growing influence of the social media, a bill which recommended a fiveyear jail term for anyone who speaks against the government on social media was presented in the National Assembly. The bill which had passed through the second reading was dropped by the Senate after consultations from stakeholders, following criticisms from the social media.