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Goodluck Jonathan - PDP Presidential Election candidate

Party

(PDP)

Background

Goodluck Jonathan was born in Otuoke, a part of what is now Bayelsa State, to a family of canoe makers. He is a Christian, and he comes from the Ijaw ethnic group. Young Jonathan began his primary education at St Stephen's Primary School (now State School, Otuoke) and later moved to St Michael's Primary School, Oloibiri, where he completed his elementary education in 1969, at the age of 12. In 1973, while in form three, he was appointed class prefect and Secretary of the Food Committee, an administrative body of hostel masters and senior students. He occupied that position up to form five. As the prime prefect of Masterson House, he became Chairman, Committee of Prefects.
In 1975, he obtained his West African School Certificate from the famous Mater Dei High School, Imiringi. Afterward, Goodluck Jonathan worked as a Preventive Officer with the Department of Customs and Excise. In 1977, he secured admission into the Department of Zoology, a pioneer student of the newly established University of Port Harcourt. He bagged a Bachelor of Science degree in 1981, graduating with a Second Class Honours (Upper Division). He then went on to obtain an M.Sc. in Hydro-Biology and Fisheries Biology in 1985. In 1995, he earned a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Port Harcourt.
At the end of the NYSC programme in 1982, he took up appointment as a classroom teacher in the Rivers State Civil Service Commission where he rose to Science Inspector of Education in the Ministry of Education.
Jonathan and his wife Patience have two children. He ventured into politics in 1998.

Past Records

As a corps member, Goodluck served as a classroom teacher at Iresi, a community in Oyo State, now in Osun State.
In 1982, he took up appointment as a classroom teacher in the Rivers State Civil Service Commission where he rose to Science Inspector of Education in the Ministry of Education.
In November 1983, he left the mainstream civil service for the Rivers State College of Education, Port Harcourt, to be a lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences until 1993.
With the creation of the Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission, OMPADEC, in October 1992, Dr Jonathan was appointed Assistant Director, Ecology, in March 1993 in the Directorate of Environmental Protection and Pollution Control.
He contested as the running mate to the party's gubernatorial flag-bearer, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. The duo emerged triumphant at the polls in the 1999 governorship election. They were sworn in on May 29, 1999.
On 9 December 2005, Jonathan, who was Deputy Governor at the time, was sworn in as Governor of Bayelsa State upon the impeachment of the current Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha by the Bayelsa State Assembly after being charged with money laundering in the United Kingdom.
In September 2006, Jonathan was marred by the indictment of his wife by the nation's anti-crime agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), for crimes related to money laundering.
In 2007 he was selected to be the vice presidential running mate of the PDP's presidential candidate, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua. He and Yar'Adua were elected in April and inaugurated on May 29, 2007
As Vice-President, Jonathan was instrumental in negotiating an agreement with many of the major militant groups in the Niger Delta, who were mostly his fellow Ijaws, to lay down their weapons and stop fighting as part of a government amnesty.
On 9 February 2010, a motion from the Nigerian Senate confirmed the powers to Goodluck Johnathan to act as President of the federation because President Yar'Adua went for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia in November 2009.
On 10 February 2010, during his first day as acting president, Jonathan announced a minor cabinet reshuffle.
On 2 August 2010 Jonathan launched his 'Roadmap for Power Sector Reform�.[17] Its primary goal was to achieve stable electricity in Nigeria.
On 11 October 2011, President Jonathan launched the Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YOUWIN) Initiative which he stated was an innovative business plan competition that harnesses the creative energies of young people between the ages of 18 and 35.
In 2011, President Jonathan launched the Transformation Agenda. The Transformation Agenda is based on a summary of how the Federal Government hopes to deliver projects, programmes, and key priority policies, from 2011 to 2015 coordinated by the National Planning Commission (NPC).
On 11 September 2013, President Jonathan sacked the creator and coordinator of the Transformation Agenda, Shamsudeen Usman, the Minister of National Planning. He was sacked along with eight other cabinet ministers amid a rift in the People's Democratic Party (PDP).
In 2011 Goodluck Jonathan's government facilitated the transfer of payment of $1.1bn to a fake company set up by a controversial former Petroleum Minister under Sani Abacha's corrupt regime, Dan Etete.[1]

References

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