Former president Goodluck Jonathan has said making appointments based on friendship rather than ability to perform is dragging Nigeria backwards.

He said this a the palace of the Emir of Bauchi during a one-day visit to the state on Tuesday.

“In Nigeria, we have this tradition where some people feel that some Ministries are big and juicy and must be given to a special person or that you have to know someone before you give him a responsibility role or put him somewhere. It is not like that with me, it is not my way of doing things,” he said.

Jonathan was reacting to comments earlier made by Governor Bala Mohammed of the state that the former president had made him FCT minister without knowing much about him or sharing any ethnic link with him.

The former president was in the state to commission a project and a road named after him