saying former president, Goodluck Jonathan
lacked the political will to save
– She says she was quoted out of context
– She blamed governors who opposed the
president’s desire to save
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has back-tracked on her
earlier stamen blaming former president
Goodluck Jonathan for the present
predicament the country was going through.
The former minister of finance was quoted
as saying there was no political will during
the administration of Jonathan to save but
this was successfully done when Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was President.
Okonjo-Iweala said: “We tried it in Nigeria, we
put in an oil price based fiscal rule in 2004
and it worked very well.
“We saved $22 billion because the political
will to do it was there. And when the
2008 /2009 crisis came, we were able to draw
on those savings precisely to issue about a
5% of GDP fiscal stimulus to the economy and
we never had to come to the bank or the fund.
“This time around and this is the key now, you
need not only need to have the instrument but
you also need the political will. In my second
time as a finance minister, from 2011 to 2015,
we had the instrument, we had the means, we
had done it before, but zero political will.
“So we were not able to save when we should
have. That is why you find that Nigeria is now
in the situation it is in. Along with so many
other countries.”
Paul Nwabuikwu who is the media adviser to
the former minister said her statement was
distorted by the media.
“Contrary to the slant given by these loud
headlines, Dr Okonjo-Iweala did not indict the
Jonathan administration in which she served.
“Rather, she was referring to what many
Nigerians already know: the strong opposition
by some governors to the Jonathan
government’s efforts to save in the Excess
Crude Account and the Sovereign Wealth Fund
sabotaged this important national priority.
“The governors’ criticism of Dr Okonjo-
Iweala’s many calls for the country to save for
the rainy day are still fresh in the minds of
Nigerians
“It will be recalled that this opposition
culminated in the Governors taking the
Jonathan government to the Supreme Court in
furtherance of their position that the Federal
Government had no right to “compel” them to
save.
“Several knowledgeable persons including
former Anambra State Governor, Mr Peter Obi
have confirmed these facts.
“So, the issue of Okonjo-Iweala indicting the
Jonathan administration over this very public
issue simply does not arise.
“‘We urge the media to always consult for
clarification whenever the need arises.”
The former minister had last month said that
although those who steal must be made to
pay for their deeds, the best way to fight
corruption in the country is by employing
technology and building institutions .
She said: “We have to fight corruption in two
ways; one is by punishing those who steal,
and making sure they pay for what they do.
“But we also must plug all the holes by
building institutions and systems that
prevent corruption in the first place.
“If you have a financial system for running
your financial accounts that is not
computerised, that is not technologically
based, you’re still transferring cash, as we
were doing in my country up until 2003,
2004, then you’re opening up the place to a
lot of people leaking.”
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