The following was contributed by ASFL local coordinator Olufemi Ogunjobi

President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration ends May 29. It is a day that commemorates the restoration of democracy in Nigeria. Also, the day marks the day for the change of power from the present administration to the newly-elected government officers.

Nigeria’s President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan will on that day hand-over as the Grand Commander, Federal Republic of Nigeria to General Mohammadu Buhari, a former military head of state, after six years of democratic rule.
In 2010, the then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan took over the mantle of leadership from the 58-year old President, Umar’ Musa Yaradua, who died in office after a long illness. Yaradua’s election in 2007 marked the first transfer of power from one civilian president to another since the nation got her independence in 1960. He (Yaradua) came into power promising a long list of reforms, including tackling corruption and reforming the inadequate power sector and flawed electoral system. He made progress in banking reforms, but analysts say he made the most progress in the oil-rich Niger Delta, by offering an amnesty to rebels.
Mr. Jonathan came into power with lots of promises too for the Nigerian people. He tagged them “Transformation Agenda’’. By and large, he kicked off as the President of Nigeria. His administration was not without successes, but with many lapses.

First, it was the removal of Fuel Subsidy. While Nigerians were celebrating the New Year on January 1, 2012, the Federal Government announced the removal of government subsidy on fuel. After the announcement, the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) shot from N65 (naira) to N141 (naira). The development sparked nationwide protests, with rallies held simultaneously in several parts of the country. Labour Unions declared nationwide strike. However, two weeks after, the Federal Government rather than a reversal to the old N65 per litre price, announced a new price of N97 per litre. Few weeks to the just concluded general elections, the Federal Government slashed it by N10 and it became N87.

 
President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration made remarkable achievement in the Agricultural sector. Farmers and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector have hailed the efforts of his administration in blocking leakages in farmers’ access to fertilizers and provision of information to farmers by making available handsets to farmers across the country. According to several industry observers, farmers now get their fertilizers directly, without a middle man and, in some cases, free of charge.
The menace of Boko Haram  can never be forgotten in the history of Nigeria, especially during Mr Jonathan’s regime. The Islamic fundamentalist sect has been responsible for the death of scores in the North eastern region of the country. Although the sect’s insurgency began before Jonathan became President, the sect spread its tentacles and intensified its terrorist activities under his administration, causing the Federal Government’s declaration of State of Emergency in the troubled states. The sect’s activities have since then crippled the economic activities in those states.

 
Isn’t a dead child better than missing a child? as the Nigerian proverb says. The abduction of the over 200 school girls of Government Secondary School, Chibok leaves a permanent stain on President’s Jonathan’s administration. The April 14, 2014 abduction of the Borno-schoolgirls was widely seen as a major challenge to his administration, and attracted several interventions from the international communities. But, one year after, the girls are yet to be rescued from the Sambisa forest. The parents still hope that their children will return home someday. How soon? No one knows.

 
As a recent college graduate, President Jonathan’s administration gave me extra months in the university. Under his administration, all didn’t go well with the education sector. In 2013, virtually all the levels of Nigeria’s education sector, from basic to higher, witnessed one strike or the other.

 
Opening gate for what could be described as the flood of strikes that year was a seven-day warning strike by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) declared in April, over issues of non-migration of members at the lower cadres on 2015 Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure (CONTISS); release of white paper on the visitation panel to federal polytechnics; non- commencement of needs assessment of Nigerian polytechnics; worrisome state of state-owned polytechnics; and continued appointment of unqualified persons as rectors by some state governments.

 
The alleged refusal of government to accede its request made the body to declare total strike on April 29, which lingered till 2014.
On July, 1, 2013, the Academic staff Union of Universities, ASUU, called out its members from their duty posts over the non-implementation of some key clauses in its memorandum of understanding that government entered into with the lecturers in 2009.
The industrial action by the university lecturers kept the students idle for more than five months until it was suspended after the intervention of the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, even as virtually all universities remained closed until the next year.

 
Apart from the case of incessant strikes, there were other minuses in the nation’s education sector which in one way or the other may have affected the fortunes in the sector in a bad manner. One of such incidences was the killing of about 40 students in their sleep in September in Yobe state as suspected members of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram opened fire on the dormitories of the state’s College of Agriculture. The incident followed a spate of similar attacks by the insurgent, who have become notorious for attacks on schools and universities, which it regards as a symbol of Western culture; the system it abhors with passion.

 
Also on June 12, 2013, students of ´the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State trooped to the streets to protest increment in transport fare and the protest went bloody as one of them was allegedly gunned down by men of the Nigerian Police. The development attracted the attention of the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, which mobilized its members but on their way to UYO, their vehicle was involved in a ghastly auto crash which claimed five lives including the union’s Senate President, Donald Onukaugu.

 
It must also be noted that one of the major developments that shaped the education sector in Nigeria during President Jonathan’s administration was the establishment of 14 new universities across the country.

 
Mr. Jonathan has been described as a democratic hero by some Nigerians and the global community for conceding defeat to General Buhari since his refusal might have have ignited national violence.

 
But, with these records, will Nigerians ever miss him?