President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday said he had realised over time that government alone could not solve societal problems.
He said that was why his administration had resolved to be involving the private sector and civil society in critical areas of the country.
Jonathan spoke while inaugurating the Elumelu Nigeria Empowerment Fund at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He cited the example of the recent containment of the spread of Ebola in the country which he attributed to the buy-in of ordinary Nigerians.
While describing as unfortunate, attempts by some persons to play politics with the success story, Jonathan said no state governor or President should take glory for the feat.
He said, “I’m quite pleased with what is happening because I have realised over the period that government alone cannot solve human problems. Anything done by government, once you involve the private sector and the civil society there is always a difference.
“The most recent one is our ability to manage Ebola. People are trying to play politics with it which is quite unfortunate. But we had assistance from international donors, our development partners participated in terms of giving protective gear and various suggestions.
“The Federal Government did a lot of things in terms of logistics, moving people from one part of the country to the other, quarantining people within their residences and getting doctors or medical experts to follow up. We did not arest anybody, moving people from Port Harcourt to Lagos for treatment and so on. A number of things were done.
“But the key thing that made the government to succeed is the buy-in by the ordinary Nigerians. When government said we must be mindful of gatherings, of handshakes, we should not move corpses unnecessarily, even churches that I was afraid will resist because of the practice of Holy Communion having; 1,000 people sharing the same cup and so on, churches stopped that practice within that period.
“Even the saluting by shaking people across, all those were suspended by religious organisations within that period. Nigerians became mindful, friends stopped embracing themselves saying until we get out of Ebola.
“So it had the buy-in of the populace. Of course, that is why we succeeded so fast, otherwise we couldn’t have.
“There is no magic government would have used to solve that problem, no President or state governor will claim any credit. The credit should go to the ordinary Nigerians for the cooperation and buy-in.”