Patience Jonathan biography: Who is Goodluck Jonathan’s wife?
Patience Jonathan is a former First Lady of Nigeria and the wife of former President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan. The lady has also served as a permanent secretary in her native Bayelsa State. Here is her biography.
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Who is Goodluck Jonathan's wife? Here is all you need to know about Patience Jonathan.
Profile summary
- Patience Jonathan birthday: 25 October
- Birthplace: Port Harcourt
- Spouse: Goodluck Jonathan
- Children: Two
Patience Jonathan's background
Patience Faka Jonathan was born on 25 October in the respectable Christian family of Chief Lazarus Iwari-Oba in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.
Education
The former First Lady earned her school certificate in 1976 and passed the West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE) in the year 1980.
In 1989, she obtained the National Certificate of Education (NCE) in Mathematics and Biology from the Rivers State College of Arts and Science, Port Harcourt.
She then proceeded to the University of Port Harcourt and studied for a B.Ed in Biology and Psychology. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Port Harcourt.
Career
She began her career as a teacher at the Stella Maris College, Port Harcourt and Sports Institute Isake.
She then moved to the banking sector in 1997, and served as Marketing Manager of Imiete Community Bank, after which she established the first community bank in Port Harcourt called the Akpo Community Bank.
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Dame Patience Jonathan then returned to the classroom briefly as a teacher, and then she was transferred to the Bayelsa State Ministry of Education, where she served until 29 May 1999 when her husband became the Deputy Governor of the state.
On 12 July 2012, she was appointed as permanent secretary in Bayelsa state by Governor Henry Seriake Dickson. Her appointment as permanent secretary generated some controversy, given she had been away from the civil service for over a decade.
She served as the First Lady of Bayelsa State when her husband was governor between 2005 and 2007.
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Husband and children
Patience is married to former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan. It was at the Rivers State College of Arts and Science that she met Goodluck. Goodluck was one of her lecturers in the Department of Biological Sciences while Patience was part of the students reading for the Nigerian Certificate of Education (NCE) and the B.Ed. Degree.
The two got married in 1993. The couple has two children, a boy named Ariwera Adolphus Jonathan and a girl named Aruabi Jonathan.
Achievements
When the Nigerian Air Force commissioned its first fighter pilot and helicopter pilot respectively, the former first lady was credited for the feat for demanding the enrollment of females.
She is also credited for founding many philanthropic and women empowerment programs, one of which is the A-Aruere Reachout Foundation (AARF), which she set up to improve the status and earning capacity of Nigerian women and the youth.
She received the Beyond The Tears International Humanitarian Award New York, USA, for her role in the global fight against HIV/AIDS (2008); the African Goodwill Ambassador Award (Los Angeles, USA, 2008) and was the recipient of the Wind of Change Award from the South/South Women’s Organization.
Patience Jonathan hotel
Patience Jonathan owns the Aridolf Resort Wellness and Spa, which is located in the heart of Bayelsa state capital – Yenagoa. The hotel is reportedly worth over N10 Billion.
In April 2020, Hospitality360 Africa reported that the former first lady had struck a deal to release her 200-bed hotel located in Abuja as COVID-19 isolation and treatment centre.
As reported, the hotel is under interim forfeiture secured by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission at the court on April 30, 2018.
Patience struck a deal with First Lady Aisha Buhari, which led to the release of the hotel, under litigation, for use by the government during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
A highly-placed source revealed,
“Since the dispute over the property is still in court, the First Lady opted to seek the consent of Mrs Patience Jonathan on the temporary use of the seized hotel. This mutual understanding has removed all legal hurdles. After the country has overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, the hotel will be handed over to the Federal Ministry of Health, which will in turn revert back to the EFCC. Those involved are the Future Assured Programme, the Ministry of Health, the EFCC and ex-First Lady Mrs Patience Jonathan. All existing agreements are without prejudice to the final decision of the court on the property, which the First Lady said is owned by a separate entity, Aurora Foundation.”
A source quoted Mrs Jonathan as saying,
“This is the time we must all come together, irrespective of political differences to assist this nation to fight the pandemic. It is a time to shun politics. I will do everything to help this great country that has also given me the opportunity to serve.”
What is Patience Jonathan net worth?
Although her net worth is unknown, Celebrity Net Worth reports that her husband has a net worth of $10 million.
Source: Getty Images
Patience Jonathan quotes
Here are some of the most famous and funniest quotes by the former First lady.
- My husband and Sambo is a good people.
- The President was once a child and the Senators were once a children.
- My fellow widows.
- A good mother takes care of his children.
- The people sitting before you were once a children.
- Yes we are all happy for the effort,, it is not easy to carry second in an International competition like this one, (addressing press men after Female Under-19 FIFA World Cup).
- The bombers who born them? Wasn’t it not a woman? They were once a children now a adult now they are bombing women and children making some children a widow.
Patience Jonathan is a former First Lady of Nigeria and the wife of former Governor of Bayelsa State and also former President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan. She is a well-read lady with a lot of achievements to be proud of.
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