If Truely I Hate The North, Will I Build 10 Universities For Them? - Pres. Jonathan

While speaking at PDP campaign rally in Sokoto on Monday, President Goodluck Jonathan denied neglecting the northern part of Nigeria, saying that people claiming that he dislikes the region are nothing but liars.

In defence of his love for the region, President Jonathan listed out the achiements of his administration both in agriculture and education.

“When I came on board as president, I established 14 new universities, four were built in the South while 10 were built in the North, yet they keep telling you I hate the North. If truly I hate the North and I do not want the children from the North to be like me, will I take such action?” 

“Federal Government has no business with basic primary education because they are functions of the state government, but I took it upon myself to build Almajiri schools here because we realised there is a higher percentage of children out of school in the North than in the South. So we intervened massively. Is that hating the North"

Speaking further, he said; “In the area of agriculture, tell me of any government that has supported the North with several agricultural equipment and with billions in cash loans. Is that hating the North? If I don’t like the North, will they benefit up to 70 per cent of agricultural reforms we are doing?”

“Those who say I do not like the North were also presidents in the past, but what did they do for the North? How many schools or universities did they build in the North and what did they do to ameliorate the problems in the agricultural sector?”