Goodluck Jonathan Foundation (GJF)

Introduction: Building on a Legacy of Impactful Transformation

Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s remarkable political career culminated in a five-year tenure as President of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. Through his broad based Transformation Agenda, his administration vigorously pursued political, economic and social policies and programmes that were tailored to rebuild Nigeria and expand opportunities for increased production, employment, decent existence, peace, security and fulfillment for all Nigerians. The Transformation Agenda further expanded the democratic space in Nigeria fostering broad-based popular activism by social groups and civil society associations. The government’s enactment of the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) furthered freedom of the press, investigative journalism and media pluralism. Election management and administration were greatly professionalized leading to non-interference in election outcomes. In the economic sphere the Transformation Agenda recorded signal and far-reaching achievements in the area of agriculture, creative industries, small and medium scale enterprises and industrial development. In agriculture, through new strategies and policies including the establishment of the e-wallet system and the Growth Enhancement Scheme (GES) that enabled farmers access to inputs like fertilizer and seeds less onerous and exploitative; the creation for the first time in Nigeria of a data base of millions of farmers and the revival and funding of dry season farming in ten northern states, agricultural production expanded exponentially. All of these actions gave agriculture a new lease of life, reduced Nigeria’s food import bill, created millions of jobs and re-focused attention on agriculture as a business sector as never before. In addition, the foundation was laid for the further diversification of the economy through investments in the creative industries, focus on the expansion of small and medium scale enterprises with the National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP) and industrial development through the National Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP). Other notable, far-reaching policy reforms were witnessed in the areas of power generation, ownership and management and in public investment to rebuild critical public infrastructure- rail, roads, airports and waterways. Opportunities for social mobility and access to higher education were expanded through the establishment of new federal universities. A statistical self-assessment led to the rebasing of Nigeria’s economy elevating it into the globally acknowledged largest economy in Africa and the 26th largest in the world. Nonetheless, levels of poverty and unemployment remained vexingly high and impacted adversely on human security in the country. The security situation was aggravated by the insurgency in North East Nigeria and the campaign against Boko Haram. The unprecedented joint military action with Niger, Cameroon and Chad as well as the far reaching security sector reforms and the effective re-equipment of the armed forces aided the success of the ongoing containment of the insurgency.

Contents

• Introduction Building on a Legacy of Impactful Transformation
• Vision
• Mission
• Values
• Consolidating Peace and Stability
• Strengthening Democratic Practice Through Electoral Processes
• Promoting Transformational Change
• Approaches
• References

The establishment of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation, GJF, is based on critical reflections on key challenges which the transformation agenda sought to address; challenges that are not uniquely Nigerian but which leaders across Africa grapple with in various forms. Namely, how best to ensure that the impressive economic growth witnessed across Africa over the past decade and a half can be more manufacturing/value-added based, more diverse, more inclusive and are able to lift more Africans/Nigerians out of poverty going forward. How public discontent about the way government and politics, including polling, is practiced can be addressed and the ensuing pressure, positively harnessed for greater citizen participation in governance and voice in shaping democratic evolution, and how democratic institutions can be made more deeply socially and culturally grounded and more vigorous and effective are other issues that need to be tackled. The central role of political leadership in ensuring sustained progress in nation-building and democratic consolidation was exemplified by the manner in which President Goodluck Jonathan conceded victory to General Muhammadu Buhari, even while vote tallying was still underway. Having been a champion for peaceful politicking throughout his political career, he stood out as a statesman for keeping his promise not to put his ambitions or that of his political party above the peace and progress of Nigeria.

Vision

A dynamic continent where democratic and effective governments and empowered citizens deploy Africa’s extraordinary and diverse human and natural resources for the common good and shared prosperity.

Mission

To promote democracy, peace and transformational change in Africa.

Values

Independence, Fairness, Inclusiveness, Rule of Law

Consolidating Peace and Stability

The development and grounding of sustainable African democracies require the self-conscious identification and application of the principles underlying historical political ideas and practices of broad inclusion, multiple levels and institutions of participation, multiple layers of consultation, consensus building and common agreement and their application in the contemporary Africa. Conventional Western style approaches to democracy and peace building have produced neither sustainable peace nor sustainable democracy in Africa. This is because of the assumptions that the principal challenges to democratization in Africa are structural and intellectual, and that proper ‘education’, including the transmission of democratic values, and new institutions will provide a solid basis for a society’s peaceful, democratic transformation. These have proven inoperative. Yet, successful ‘peace making’ and ‘peace building’ has been achieved through home-grown actions and protocols (at the regional level via ECOWAS, SADCC, EAC etc., as well as continent-wide via the AU) borne out of recognition that security, peace, security and stability is essential for sustained democracy, economic growth and development.

As part of this initiative GJF would:

1) Support, document, promote and share emerging African best practices and lessons in conflict containment and resolution, peacemaking, and stabilization.

2) Promote and deepen broad-based public discourse, dialogue and understanding about the causes of conflicts and instability across the region, with a view to broaden the acceptance of consensus based and inclusive democratic practices.

Particular consideration would be focused on youth engagement, social equity, gender equality and the protection of minority rights, which are essential and fundamental to building true democracy and to ensuring sustainable peace and development across Africa.

3) Enable informed citizen participation in governance through public education on the role of citizens in shaping democratic policies and practices.

This would include leveraging and deploying the power of a renewed media which is potentially one of the most powerful tools for empowering Africans. This renewed media must be ideologically self-conscious, self-respecting, non-self denigratory, non-pathological, non-divisive and critically affirmative in its promotional activities. It is the institution that must be used to address issues of apathy, exclusion and diversity and to promote social cohesion and robust citizen participation in governance.

Strengthening Democratic Practice Through Electoral Processes

Democratic governance and practices across Africa will be assured when frontline government institutions are strong, effective and independent from political interference. In this regard, at this stage of nation building across Africa, strengthening electoral processes, is crucial in grounding peaceful democratic traditions. Under this initiative, the GJF would: 1) Champion innovations and sharing of best practice on electoral, constitutional and political reforms that make election management and administration more independent, competent and effective 2) Promote the creation of mechanisms and systems for transparent and fair funding of political parties and electoral campaigns. 3) Promote peaceful transfer of political power via peaceful electioneering, as well as early warning systems for mitigating election related violence, 4) Create positive electoral behavior and practice of elections and outcomes as games that require the spirit of sportsmanship.

Promoting Transformational Change

Africa’s positive economic growth and the resilience of its economies despite declining commodity prices, has been driven by Africans’ entrepreneurial energies and their governments’ effective focus on investing in infrastructure development, promoting productivity in key growth sectors (e.g. agriculture) and instituting stronger fiscal and financial management practices. However much more remains to be done to achieve inclusive transformational growth spurred by diversified and industrialized economies that fully exploit the continents vast natural endowments and its agile and motivated human resources to create dependable and reproducible prosperity. This area of focus will promote transformational change by supporting initiatives that:

1) Support youth and women entrepreneurship

2) Accelerate industrialization

3) Support intra-Africa trade.

Approaches

1) Convene signature dialogues, meetings, and conferences

2) Build Knowledge, research, lessons, experiences and emerging best practices, share and facilitate uptake to policy and practice

3) Build a brain trust to provide technical assistance in areas of focus

4) Facilitate the establishment of a funding mechanism to support peace-building efforts

5) Forge strategic partnerships with key stakeholders to extend reach and broaden impact