President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday pledged to boost the first lady’s office at all levels of government if he is re-elected.

Dr. Jonathan spoke in Ibadan as he took his campaign to the Southwest.

He also campaigned in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. He is billed for Osogbo, the Osun State capital and Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital today. He will visit Akure, the Ondo State capital tomorrow.

In Ibadan, the President visited the Olubadan, the traditional ruler of the biggest city in West Africa, Oba Odulana Odugade, who made two requests – a dry seaport for the city and upgrading of the Ibadan airport to international status.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate Teslim Folarin was presented the party’s flag by PDP National Chairman Adamu Mu’azu.

Folarin told the supporters at the rally that top on the minds of Oyo State citizens is the creation of another state.

Other party leaders in the zone were at the rally at the Mapo Hall.

Dr. Jonathan spoke on why he would encourage First Lady’s position at the local government level.

“We must encourage women. We are in the Southwest, which is an area that has produced so many great women. I’m sure more than 50 per cent female professors in this country come from the Southwest. Some parties have said they would scrap the office of the First Lady, office of the governor’s wife, and office of the local government chairman’s wife; they are going to ban Army Officers Wives Association, Naval Officers’ Wives Association, and Police Officers’ Wives Association etc. I can tell you that these offices are helping to mobilise our women. These offices encourage all Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). The money they spend does not come from government budget. They run NGOs. Nigeria has a lot of philanthropists who want to spend on good causes. They use some of these funds to help our women.

I know that in the Southwest, you have trained your daughters in the best universities in the world. You cannot train your daughter in Cambridge, Oxford University and others and expect them to be mere baby factories.”

The President promised to create about two million jobs yearly for the four-year tenure to open up opportunities for youths to apply their skills and competencies.

He said: “We in the PDP believe that you are the leaders of tomorrow. We are creating future leaders… That is why most of our governors are in their 40s. We believe you Nigerian students will take Nigeria to the moon. We will also work hard to create jobs for you… We will make sure we provide not less than two million jobs every year. We know that about two million Nigerian youths enter the Nigerian labour market yearly after they leave school. Though we have some arrears, we believe that if we start creating two million jobs every year, unemployment will be drastically reduced within a period of five years. We don’t just promise. What we are saying is what we are doing.  We are redefining education. We are going to increase the number of tertiary institutions. This government has built more tertiary institutions than any other government. For instance, we established 14 new universities.  Twelve of them are conventional universities while two are for police training and maritime professional training… I believe that without education, we cannot change people. I am here today because I have education. That is why I believe that every Nigerian child should have the Goodluck opportunity… I will not build prisons for you. I will build schools for you.

“And we are not just establishing tertiary institutions, we are improving quality.”