April 21, 2011. Copyright 2011, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Goodluck Jonathan prepares to transform Nigeria's fortunes
By Joanna Griffin

LONDON, April 21, Graphic News:  This time no one can put it down to the sheer good fortune of being in the right place at the right time. Nigeria's Goodluck Jonathan (for some his name seemed to suggest he could not possibly have earned the top job) is to be sworn back in on May 29 after winning more than half the vote in the country's presidential elections.
 
After proving the sceptics wrong with a quietly effective campaign that used social media networks to persuade the young to vote in record numbers, Jonathan now has the mandate to match his mission to turn around the fortunes of Africa's most populous country. The fedora-wearing former zoology lecturer has made clear that this only stands a chance if all Nigerians realise they share a common destiny.
 
In his victory speech, Jonathan spoke of the election signalling a "renewal" for Nigeria, which has been fragmenting along regional and religious lines since a return to civilian rule in 1999. Despite the violence that yet again marred the polls, there are cautious hopes that the unassuming Dr Jonathan indeed signals a new era for the country famous for being the continent's great underachiever.
  
Born on November 20, 1957, to a family of canoe makers in Otueke in Bayelsa state, Jonathan gained a PhD in zoology and worked in environmental protection and education before switching to politics. He was governor of Bayelsa before becoming vice-president of Nigeria in May 2007. When the ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua went overseas for medical treatment, Jonathan took his place, a role he kept after Yar'Adua's death in May 2010. As a southerner and Christian, his ascendancy angered many in the ruling People's Democratic Party who insisted it should have been the turn of a president from the mainly Muslim north, according to tradition. 

In sweeping away the practice of rotating the presidency between the regions and by reforming the electoral body to deliver polls considered the cleanest in years, Jonathan has shown a calm determination to break with the past. Now he must find a way to turn billions of dollars in oil revenues into better living standards for the poorest Nigerians, as well as to modernise education, health and infrastructure. For this to happen, uniting Nigerians behind him cannot be left to chance.

He is married to Patience and the couple have two children.