Jonathan gave a speech "Recover All" in
Warri, Delta state, marking the 44th
anniversary of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor's
establishment of his ministry, as well as the
26th Jubilee Word Festival 2013 of Word of
Life Bible Church. He was accompanied by governors of Cross River, Delta, and Plateau
states Liyel Imoke, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan,
and Jonah Jang. Pastor Oritsejafor praised Jonathan for
being the first sitting President who went on
holy pilgrimage to Israel and signed a
bilateral agreement with the country. The Pastor also commended the National
Assembly for making a decision to extend
the state of emergency in the three north-
eastern states (Borno, Adamawa and Yobe).
He also noted that there has been a
significant improvement in the security situation in the area. However, the Pastor expressed his surprise
over Jonathan's recent statement that
there would be no compensation for the
victims of Boko Haram and asked President
Jonathan to explain the position of
government on the issue. Moreover, the Pastor called on Nigeria's leader to address
the issue of non-payment of pensions to
retirees. Responding, President Jonathan said he was
"ambiguous" with his previous statement
because he did not want to "send wrong
signals to the world". The very word
"compensation" is too vague, as
guaranteeing adequate compensation for insurgents' victims is impossible. The
Federal Government will assist the victims
to ensure "that they pick the bits and pieces
of their lives again," the President
maintained. Speaking on the issue of non-payment of
pensions to military retirees, the President
assured the lawmakers are working to
resolve the problem. He accounted for the work done by his
administration, stressing that the
Transformation Agenda project is in
progress. "I can assure you that tremendous work has
been done in the power sector and, by the
first quarter of next year, there will be
relatively stable supply of power in the
country," the President stated. "Nigeria,
being the largest black country in the world, will never experience power outages again." Commending the quality of the leadership
of Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor as the president
of the Christian Association of Nigeria
(CAN), Jonathan noted that the Pastor
"brought dynamism" into the office. The country might have gone into oblivion if
not for the church. Nigeria has been
sustained and held together by constant
daily and nightly prayers, Jonathan
further stated. Pastor Oritsejafor said he hopes the
ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union
of Universities (ASUU) would soon be dealt
with. Nigeria will be great again, he
optimistically said, but Nigerians should
first see themselves as Nigerians before anything else.
(Source: Daily Trust)
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