The POLITICIAN 1000

BY PAUL OKADE Jr
Many Nigerians are wondering what Nigeria would
look like at the end of the Presidency of His Excellency
President Goodluck Jonathan. Prior to the
emergence of democratic governance in Nigeria in
1999 very few Nigerians believed that Nigeria could
ever recover from the nearly two decades of military
miss rule. But nearly 14 years after the democratic
renaissance that swept across the national landscape,
it has become clear to all that the Federal Republic of
Nigeria is truly on the path to the proverbial “political
utopia”.
With the emergence and triumphant rise of the
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and many other
political parties all claiming their stake in the political
quagmire of the nation, the practice of democratic
governance with a multi-party expression has become
the norm. With recent gubernatorial elections in Edo
and Ondo states respectively being flagged as the freest
and fairest electoral bouts of recent times, it is also
fair to say that the sanitisation of the electoral process
by the Goodluck Jonathan administration is yielding
fruits.
The recent onslaught of the “Boko Haram” menace
across the federation has failed to dampen the optimism
of the average Nigerian, and their resolve to
forge ahead as a united and free nation stands firm.
So what does the future hold for our beloved nation?
What can we expect in the last 2 years of the Goodluck
Jonathan administration? Firstly we can expect to
see the completion of several major federal highways
which connect the country. Already we can see expedited
work on the Lagos-Ibadan express way, a major
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highway which has plagued users for generations. Its
completion will open up that axis, create tens of thousands
of new jobs and cause an exponential growth in
the real estate value of the area.
Such a major highway which serves millions of commuters
weekly should have been completed long ago.
The proximity of Ibadan to Lagos is economically
strategic and the completion of this all too important
expressway would ease the immense pressure which
has been exerted on the Lagos real estate market and
help to stabilize prices. It is indeed an open secret that
the price of Land and housing in Lagos is ridiculously
high and even “blind Bartemaeus” can see that the city
is heading for a major bust in their housing bubble.
Ibadan, a great city filled with hospitable and highly
welcoming people will experience a housing boom
as a result of this great initiative by the Goodluck
Jonathan administration, and we will also see many
world class hotels, resorts, housing estates, recreation
centres, schools, corporate offices and hospitals
spring up along this expressway. The high taxation in
Lagos state will further fuel the exodus of Lagosians
to Ibadan and its environs, and we will see the emergence
of a new corporate cluster in the area, as major
corporations seek to escape the growing cost of being
domiciled in lagos.
Many other federal highways are also being worked
on and these highways will open up many of our
coasts and boost the local as well as the national
economy.