Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan () (born 20 November 1957) is a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to former military head of state General Muhammadu Buhari and was the first incumbent president in Nigerian history to lose re-election.
He was named Azikiwe by his grandmother in honor of Nigeria’s first President Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. Previously, Jonathan served as the vice president of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010 under the administration of Umaru Musa Yar'Adua; and in oil-rich Bayelsa State as governor from 2005 to 2007, and deputy governor from 1999 to 2005. In 2015, Jonathan became the first Nigerian president to concede election defeat. It allowed the transfer of power to the opposition party in Africa's biggest democracy—a country that had hitherto experienced vote-rigging and violence.
Jonathan was born on 20 November 1957 in Ogbia to a Christian Ijaw family of canoe makers, in Otuoke, Bayelsa State. His father, Lawrence Ebele Jonathan, was a canoe maker and his mother, Eunice Ayi Ebele Jonathan, was a retired farmer. Their middle name Ebele or Ebelechukwu is of Igbo origin of the Igbo people. He attended a Christian primary and secondary school. Jonathan received a bachelor's degree in zoology (second-class honours), a master's degree in hydrobiology and fisheries biology; and a doctorate in zoology from the University of Port Harcourt. During his time in the university, he taught at Rivers State College of Education from 1983 to 1993.
Before entering into politics in 1998, Jonathan worked as an education inspector, a lecturer and an environmental-protection officer. His political career began when he became involved with the nascent People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the late 1990s.
Jonathan entered into politics when General Sani Abacha, who ruled as military head of state of Nigeria from 1993 to 1998, died in office. In the 1999 Bayelsa State gubernatorial election, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha ran for governor under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party and chose Jonathan as his running mate. Alamieyeseigha won the election and became the first civilian governor of Bayelsa State in May 1999. They were reelected in 2003.
On 29 May 1999, Jonathan was sworn in as deputy governor of Bayelsa alongside Diepreye Alamieyeseigha who came in as the governor of the state on the platform of PDP. Jonathan served as Deputy Governor until December 2005. On 9 December 2005, Jonathan, who was the deputy governor at the time, was sworn in as the governor of Bayelsa State upon the removal of governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly after being charged with money laundering in the United Kingdom.
As Vice President, Jonathan took a very low profile. While recognising the constitutional limits of the Vice President's office, he participated in cabinet meetings and, by statute, was a member of the National Security Council, the National Defence Council, the Federal Executive Council and chairman of the National Economic Council.
Jonathan was named Acting President of Nigeria on 9 February 2010, following a controversial doctrine of necessity from the Senate of Nigeria due to President Yar'Adua's trip to Saudi Arabia in November 2009 for medical treatment. On 10 February 2010, his first day as acting president, Jonathan announced a minor cabinet reshuffle.
In accordance with the order of succession in the Nigerian constitution, following President Yar'Adua's death on 5 May 2010, Jonathan, as Acting President, was sworn in as the substantive president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on 6 May 2010. On 18 May 2010, the National Assembly approved Jonathan's nomination of Kaduna State Governor Namadi Sambo, to replace him as vice president. For the general election in 2011, Jonathan and Vice President Sambo attended political events and travelled the country to campaign for the nation's highest office.
On 29 May 2011, he was sworn in as the President of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, becoming Nigeria's 14th Head of State. He gave his inauguration address where he declared his government was to focus on a Transformation Agenda and promised to continue implementing the seven-point agenda policy framework of President Yar'Adua. He cited anti-corruption, power and electoral reforms as focuses of his administration. He stated that he came to office under "very sad and unusual circumstances".
Under Jonathan's administration, Nigeria rebased its gross domestic product for the first time in over a decade, becoming the largest economy in Africa by overtaking South Africa and Egypt. The Jonathan administration accrued over US$454 billion while in office from oil revenue. Jonathan previously served as an assistant director at the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development commission between 1993 and 1998.
The Jonathan administration oversaw the construction of new railways in the country, including the Abuja-Kaduna railway, and conceptualized high-speed rail projects. It also managed the construction and beautification of several federal roads, including the Lagos-Benin Expressway, Abuja-Lokoja Expressway, Enugu-Abakiliki Expressway, Onitsha-Owerri Highway, and most parts of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway. His administration also oversaw the construction of the second Niger Bridge between Onitsha and Asaba, which helped relieve the pressure on the old 1965 Niger Bridge, as well as the construction of airports across the country. The Akanu Ibiam Airport in Enugu was upgraded to an international airport, directly connecting the South-East region to the outside world for the first time since independence.
On 2 August 2010, Jonathan launched his 'Roadmap for Power Sector Reform'. Its primary goal was to achieve stable electricity supply in Nigeria. The Power Holding Company of Nigeria, which acted as the nation's electricity provider, was broken up into 15 firms, with Nigeria handing over control of state electricity assets to 15 private bidding companies. The Nigerian government contracted for the services of CPCS Transcom, a Canada-based consulting firm specialising in transportation and energy infrastructure projects, to act as the transaction adviser for the handover of state electricity assets.
Historically, the Nigerian power sector has been plagued by blackouts, mainly due to poor maintenance, theft, and a lack of government oversight rooted in corruption. Economists estimate that power outages have cost Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy, billions of dollars in imported diesel for generators and lost output. In a study conducted by the World Bank, a lack of access to financing and electricity were cited as Nigeria's main obstacles to development, surpassing corruption.
Jonathan suspended Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria after a series of public investigations and raising the alarm on the US$20 billion NNPC scandal in a leaked letter which revealed that the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation failed to account for US$48.9 billion of government oil revenue to the central bank – the NNPC has a history of financial irregularities and oversees the corrupt petroleum industry in Nigeria. Sanusi would go on to reveal the extent of financial recklessness that Nigeria lost a billion dollars a month to diversion of public funds under the Jonathan administration, with oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke diverting $6 billion (₦1.2 trillion) from the Nigerian treasury.
In addition, Jonathan was alleged to have personally ordered over ₦3 trillion ($15 billion) from the Central Bank of Nigeria to support his election and other self-serving projects under the guise of an intervention fund for national security. Charles Soludo, a professor of economics and former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, equated Jonathan's financial recklessness to that of former Ugandan president Idi Amin. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, an economist and former Finance Minister of Nigeria, pegged Jonathan's administration as the main cause of Nigeria's economic woes in a lecture at George Washington University, although she later denied it.