Nigeria's Jonathan to visit White House

US President Barack Obama will welcome Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan to the White House on June 8, officials said Saturday.

Obama "looks forward to consulting with President Jonathan on the latest regional and global developments, and deepening our strong bilateral partnership," his spokesman said in a statement.

The Nigerian presidency said Jonathan, who will leave Nigeria on Monday, would also take part in the United Nations high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS and the launch of a project aimed at eliminating HIV mother-to-child transmission with former US president Bill Clinton. He would return to Nigeria on Friday.

Nigeria is currently one of the nine non-permanent members of the UN Security Council and Jonathan was also expected to take part in one of the Security Council sessions that may decide on a second term for the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the statement said.

It said 12 foreign leaders, mostly from Africa, had confirmed their participation at the HIV/AIDS summit.

Jonathan was sworn in last weekend for a four-your term as leader of Africa's most populous country and a major supplier of crude to the US.

The Nigerian leader's visit comes amid renewed tension in his country, after a series of blasts rocked Nigeria following his swearing-in, killing 18 people.

A southern Christian, Jonathan defeated ex-military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim from the north, in a April 16 poll that led to an explosion of rioting in Nigeria which killed more than 800 people.

In early May Obama commended Nigeria's elections, where he said the majority of ballots were cast free from intimidation, signalling a strong future for democracy, but he slammed the post-poll unrest as "deplorable."

Violence, he said, "has no place in a democratic society, and it is the responsibility of all Nigerians to reject it."

Jonathan's visit this week comes a day before Obama welcomes another west African leader, Gabon's Ali Bongo, to the White House to discuss strategic regional and bilateral topics.

The administration meanwhile this week announced an initiative to engage Africa with a visit by First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Malia and Sasha to South Africa and Botswana later in the month.

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Lobbyists in overdrive over Jonathan’s next cabinet

According to Section 147 of the Constitution, the Nigerian president has the right to choose his ministers and form a cabinet. However, a convoluted selection system which panders to governors and party strongmen ensures that it is a right that Goodluck Jonathan cannot freely exercise.

Although there is a clamour for a lean Federal Executive Council largely made up of technocrats, as Theophilus Danjuma noted at the valedictory session of the Presidential Advisory Committee Wednesday, there is little hope of this happening.

The president himself said that: “Your suggestion for a smaller cabinet is excellent and I agree with you, but this cannot be achieved without constitutional amendment.” The constitution stipulates that each state in the country must produce a minister.

But that is only part of the problem. There are other critical factors that make it almost impossible for the president to ensure that most of these 36 or so people are vibrant minds with proven skills, rather than political jobbers.

Already there are indications that, contrary to reports that the president will be choosing ministers based solely on their proven competence and qualifications, the cabinet will as usual be made up largely of politicians and their cronies.

Any hope that things will be different this time around was complicated by the letter the Peoples Democratic Party’s acting chairman, Mohammed Bello Haliru sent to state councils of the party asking them to “nominate ten eminently qualified persons to occupy executive positions”.

NEXT learnt that the process has since been hijacked by the governors in states where the incumbent is from the ruling party. In many instances where the governors failed re-election or have completed their tenures, they have chosen to put their names on top of the list.

In Ondo, Yobe, Anambra and Oyo states, the party is enmeshed in crisis over the list. A founding member of the party in Oyo, Wole Oyelese, said Mr Jonathan should “disregard any list of nominees that might have been sent by the governor (Adebayo Alao-Akala) for ministerial and other positions, as it has been done without consultation with any other leader who doesn’t see eye to eye with him.”

Mohammed Abdulsalami Ohiare, a member of the president’s campaign council told newsmen that Mr Jonathan is unhappy with the way governors unilaterally took over the compiling of the lists. He said the president may actually dump their nominations into the waste basket.

Jonathan begins seven-day retreat

President Goodluck Jonathan will today begin a seven-day working retreat at the Obudu Mountain Resort in Cross River State.
The retreat, besides enabling him to take a rest after about two months of travelling round the country canvassing for votes in the just concluded presidential election, is aimed at strategising for the beginning of his new administration come May 29.
A statement issued by his media aide, Mr Ima Niboro said the President would be accompanied by some senior government officials and aides.

Jonathan to use private sector to drive economy, gets business community endorsement

President Goodluck Jonathan said on Tuesday that he would use the private sector and Nigerians in the Diaspora to drive the nation’s economy in the next four years if given the mandate during Saturday presidential election.

Jonathan who spoke at a special breakfast meeting and endorsement by the business community, at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, also gave his commitment to ending rice importation in the next four years.

He said “Any leader who wants to build this country must use people. I will use you and our sons and daughters in the Diaspora to develop this country so that the whole world will be proud of us.”

The President also maintained that he will focus on key sectors of the economy; such as road, rail transportation, stable power supply, job creation, education agriculture and security noted no investor would venture into Nigeria if the security of lives and property are not guaranteed