President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday said he was ready to play the patriotic role expected of him in Nigeria and at the international level.

Jonathan stated this during the 5th Presidential Prayer Breakfast in the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.

He said: “I have to thank Nigerians for the support for me within this period, I will continue to do my best as I’m gradually joining Gowon and Shonekan to serve our country in different capacity.

“I must commend Gowon, Shonekan ‎and some of our other leaders, for the eight years I have been as vice president and president, whenever we called upon them, wherever they are in this world, they will try to come. I have seen that they are extremely patriotic and they believe in this country.”

Jonathan added that if all Nigerian leaders could show that level of commitment and patriotism, Nigeria would get to the promised land.

Stressing that leadership was not all about giving directives, Jonathan said that ‎a successful leader must be ready to make sacrifice.

He said: “Everything about human life as an individual, a child, if you don’t make the required sacrifice you can’t go to where you want to go.

“If you don’t sacrifice your pleasure of course you will know where you’ll end. As parents we know the kind of sacrifice we make for our children to go to school, to feed. 

“To build a family you need sacrifice. So for those who have the privileges of leading at local, state and national levels, at all times we should be ready to make sacrifice for our nation to grow.”