You threatened me with a good time
Goodluck Jonathan is finally explaining himself after 11 long years
Good morning, Big Brains. Goodluck Jonathan is moving like that ex that doesn’t understand the “no contact” concept. Why is this man suddenly back in our faces with the explanation we could have used 11 years ago? Anywoo, let’s get into it.
- Margaret
Word count: ~ 1, 000
Reading time ~ 5 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition:
Goodluck Jonathan is finally explaining himself after 11 long years
Drugs are getting more expensive, and you can kinda put the blame on Tinubu
The Big Deal
Goodluck Jonathan is finally explaining himself after 11 long years
Former President Goodluck Jonathan threatened us with a good time in 2014 when he proposed a National Conference where Nigerians from every part of the country would get a chance to determine its future. At the time, this sounded like a historic win for democracy because 500 people who had not been “politically influenced” gathered in the same room and presented well-thought-out solutions to the country’s problems.
At the end of the conference, these 500 delegates gave Jonathan a 10,335-page report with at least 600 solutions to different problems affecting Nigeria. In return, Jonathan promised to review the report and implement the ones that make sense.
Well, that never happened until Jonathan’s term ended. Eleven years after the promise and fail, the former President has finally explained why the 2014 National Conference report ended up gathering dust instead of making history as many thought it would.
He explained that the political reality before the 2015 elections made it impossible to implement the recommendations. His party, the PDP, was already struggling, and enforcing those major reforms wasn’t exactly on the menu when he was fighting for re-election.
He also admitted he never expected the conference to happen in the first place because people initially thought he was trying to use it for political manipulation.
The short answer, according to Jonathan, is that the report was a classic case of “right idea, wrong timing.” He hopes that one day, another administration will wipe the dust off the recommendations and implement them. There’s a high chance that’s never going to happen because instead of revisiting this report to see what can be taken out of it, President Tinubu is trying to recreate his own version of the National Conference in 2025.
Why is this a big deal?
Tinubu first shared his plans to recreate the conference in October 2024. But you know your president and his fascination with giving old ideas “renewed” twists — he decided to make the recreated idea a youth-focused conference.
The delegates will be young Nigerians from all parts of the country who, at the end of the 30-day conference, will devise solutions to the country’s issues.
Before you trash or pass on Tinubu’s idea, let’s talk money. Organizing a National Conference isn’t cheap. Back in 2014, Nigeria reportedly spent at least ₦3.5 billion on Jonathan’s version. This was an insane amount of money to spend on a failed idea, so why are we about to rinse and repeat when we already have a 10,335-page document with at least 600 solutions just sitting there?
This idea of renewing old ideas and throwing more money into it isn’t new to President T. Till today, we (and even the minister in charge) still don’t know the difference between his Renewed Hope Agenda Housing Scheme and Buhari’s National Housing Programme.
Revisiting an existing report sounds like the cheaper and saner option—especially when the country’s finances are in the ICU. The same government asking Nigerians to endure hardship should probably not be splurging on a brand-new conference that might just end up being another expensive brainstorming session with no real impact.
At the very least, giving the 2014 report another look would mean the billions of naira spent and the time of 500 Nigerians weren’t wasted. Trashing it would be the equivalent of setting fire to public funds…again. And in a country where snakes and monkeys swallow money like it’s nothing, it would be nice if we could, for once, make use of something we’ve already paid for.
Drugs are getting more expensive, and you can kinda put the blame on Tinubu
Nothing ages well these days in Nigeria, especially not a Tinubu promise. In June 2024, the president declared that Nigerians would soon enjoy cheaper medicines. His government enacted an executive order to remove tariffs, excise duties, and VAT on pharmaceutical equipment and raw materials. It sounded like good news until it didn’t anymore.
Eight months later, drug prices have become higher than they were before Tinubu took office. Hypertensive medications that cost ₦2,500 last year now go for over ₦5,000. Amlodipine, a medicine for blood pressure patients, has also doubled in price. Even malaria treatments like Coartem have gone from ₦1,200 to ₦6,000. Nigerians are now paying insane prices for the most needed medicines even though the president promised a reduction.
If you’re thinking, “What happened to Tinubu’s big promise?” Well, the implementation plan must have gotten lost in someone’s email because despite developing a framework back in October 2024, Customs officials claim they haven’t received a copy of the executive order, so they can’t do much about the tariff.
The Ministry of Health isn’t offering any answers either. The special assistant to the minister says he has no update, and the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain is still “harmonizing” documents.
You’d think this isn’t the same country that has implemented multiple tariff hikes in 2025 alone. There are chances that these tariff hikes would make the cost of living even higher than it already is, leaving more Nigerians incapable of affording some of the drugs they could easily buy before T-Pain’s era.
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This Week’s Big Question
“If you could say anything to President Tinubu today, what would you say?”
Ada’s response - “Keep being the boy bad that you are. I’ve left Nigeria for you.”
You can also share your response here, and if it’s as interesting as Ada’s, we’ll feature it in the next edition.
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