On Monday, December 27, 2010, President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan Monday gave his administration a passing grade for his efforts so far.

Jonathan said he is gratified that this Christmas, Nigerians could boast of progress in some sectors, unlike what happened last year.

He wrote a message entitled: “Tangible reasons to wish you a Merry Christmas this year” on his Facebook page yesterday.

The President said many Nigerians were glad  that there was no fuel scarcity this Christmas unlike previous years, adding: “Note that this did not happen by accident but is a deliberate effort by this administration to ease the pains of Nigerians at this time of the year.”

In the aviation sector, he said, the country could boast of four airlines (Arik, Continental, Delta and United), with direct flights from the United States (US) while the country could only boast of one last year.

This Christmas, Jonathan said, Nigerians could boast of five functional international airports.

He said: “These new international airports made it easier to airlift Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu (please pray for his recovery) instead of risking his life further by driving him to a farther airport. This Christmas Nigerians can boast of a Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria which we did not have last Christmas.”

The President’s statement reads: “My dear Facebook friends and fellow Nigerians, this Christmas, I planned earlier in the year to go beyond the usual practise of just wishing Nigerians a Happy Christmas. I desired to go beyond wishes and do something tangible that will touch the life of the average Nigerian such that when I wish you a Merry Christmas there will be substance behind my greeting. It is for this reason that I spent the last six months as your President working as hard as I could to have something to report back to you at the end of the year as a reason for your good cheer this Yuletide season.

“In the manufacturing sector, Nigerians can celebrate the reopening of three textile mills in Kaduna that had previously been closed including the United Nigeria Textile Mills Ltd.; which has reopened as a result of accessing funds from the N200 billion textile industry bailout funds leading to the re engagement of 2000 workers that were laid off when the company went out of business. These workers will have a pay cheque this Christmas where they had none last Christmas.

“In the education sector, this Christmas, Nigerians can celebrate an allocation of almost N1 trillion (N933 billion) in the proposed budget for 2011 to a sector which had less than a third of that amount (N249.08 billion) allocated to it last Christmas. In addition, Nigeria can celebrate this Christmas the addition of one new Federal University in each of the six geo-political zones for which work has already begun. The six new federal universities did not exist last year.”

Jonathan added: “In the arena of foreign affairs, Nigeria can celebrate recent successes in diplomacy in the handling of the arms seizure from Iran , containing the crisis in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire and our pro-democratic efforts in  Niger Republic . Last Christmas there was a degree of uncertainty in Nigeria and our diplomatic efforts suffered with the Abdulmutallab incident.”

“In the area of human rights, Nigerians have seen improvements. While there was tension in some parts of the North last Christmas, this Christmas those tensions have eased. Last Christmas there were 27 soldiers serving a life sentence for an incidence that some claimed was not their fault but this Christmas they have been released and will spend Christmas with their families. Last Christmas several exiles such as Nuhu Ribadu and Nasir El Rufai etc spent Christmas away from their friends and families, but this Christmas they have the liberty to be with their friends and families in Nigeria plus there are NO Nigerian political exiles outside Nigeria this Christmas.

“Last Christmas the Southeast and some pockets in other areas where affected by the scourge of kidnappers, this Christmas those kidnappers have been largely routed and normalcy has returned to the affected areas for the most part. So all in all when we count our blessing we can see that we have a lot to be thankful to God for this Christmas.”