For the 3rd time within the pace of 18 months, Former Finance Minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala is bagging another appointment at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) all in a concurrent manner after leaving the Nigerian government last year. NG spent 2 very successful tenures with 2 different Nigerian governments that left us better on each occasion than when she took it over. That for me is no coincidence.
NG upon her emergence as minister, fought very hard for Nigeria with the Paris Club to get our $18bn debt not refinanced or rescheduled but cancelled! That was a giant stride! In the history of finance in Nigeria, she helped build the electronic financial management platform-the Government Integrated Financial Management and Information System (GIFMIS), including the Treasury Single Account (TSA)and the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) which the country uses today. She started the publication of all allocations from FAAC to JAAC in the national dailies. She improved Nigeria’s macroeconomic management by setting a reference benchmark oil price and set it such that every crude sold above that benchmarked price was moved to an excess crude account. She left some $30bn in foreign reserves and some $502bn GDP ahead of South Africa. For me, every achievement stated here is a fight against wastage and corruption!
NG saw this economic recession coming as far back as 2012. Excess crude, foreign reserves etc. were all the critical plans she was making to forestall this inevitable occurrence. Every manager right from Joseph’s administrative days in Egypt saves the excess of the rainy days for the hard times. With such a focused frugal spending model, foreseen recession like Joseph and NG saw, with a wise leadership, should not only make us have enough to consume during recession but also export! We all saw the way Germany continued to fare during the last global recession. It is only here that we see economic recession 4 years away and still suffer it.
In an environment like ours, vital information from such a tested expert sounds like balderdash. I have special respect for professionals that can see trends 4, 5, 6 years ahead within their profession and do something about it like NG did. Rather than us looking closely into the matter, approach the problem headlong with a way to proffering solutions, all we do is allege worthwhile women like her of misappropriation along ethno-political lines like a serving governor did to her quite recently without facts. Rather than ignoring leprosy for the treatment of mild dry skin like the governor, the western world quickly took her woman back. They don’t have time to check time.
I insist that with NG’s plan and a serious president, Nigeria would have walked out of this recession unscratched but frugality disappeared from our dictionary after the money accumulated. I pray that word is back now.
NG upon her emergence as minister, fought very hard for Nigeria with the Paris Club to get our $18bn debt not refinanced or rescheduled but cancelled! That was a giant stride! In the history of finance in Nigeria, she helped build the electronic financial management platform-the Government Integrated Financial Management and Information System (GIFMIS), including the Treasury Single Account (TSA)and the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) which the country uses today. She started the publication of all allocations from FAAC to JAAC in the national dailies. She improved Nigeria’s macroeconomic management by setting a reference benchmark oil price and set it such that every crude sold above that benchmarked price was moved to an excess crude account. She left some $30bn in foreign reserves and some $502bn GDP ahead of South Africa. For me, every achievement stated here is a fight against wastage and corruption!
NG saw this economic recession coming as far back as 2012. Excess crude, foreign reserves etc. were all the critical plans she was making to forestall this inevitable occurrence. Every manager right from Joseph’s administrative days in Egypt saves the excess of the rainy days for the hard times. With such a focused frugal spending model, foreseen recession like Joseph and NG saw, with a wise leadership, should not only make us have enough to consume during recession but also export! We all saw the way Germany continued to fare during the last global recession. It is only here that we see economic recession 4 years away and still suffer it.
In an environment like ours, vital information from such a tested expert sounds like balderdash. I have special respect for professionals that can see trends 4, 5, 6 years ahead within their profession and do something about it like NG did. Rather than us looking closely into the matter, approach the problem headlong with a way to proffering solutions, all we do is allege worthwhile women like her of misappropriation along ethno-political lines like a serving governor did to her quite recently without facts. Rather than ignoring leprosy for the treatment of mild dry skin like the governor, the western world quickly took her woman back. They don’t have time to check time.
I insist that with NG’s plan and a serious president, Nigeria would have walked out of this recession unscratched but frugality disappeared from our dictionary after the money accumulated. I pray that word is back now.
NG is one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World as stated by Forbes Magazine. I think it is high time Nigeria begins to take these Ibo amazons seriously for national leadership when real achievements are so dearly desired. They seem to lead well and they could be quite unbribeable. Dora for reference!
Rather than joining us in our baseless allegations, the western world is chasing her own lady with jobs. NG, even after assuring us all on Aljazeera that she will not be coming back, won’t stop getting new jobs without leaving the previous ones. The space she left has been unfillable. It has been like telling WAEC literature students to come and wear Wole Soyinka’s shoes. You just have to pray that their ship will not capsize.
In conclusion this government needs tested experts who know the waters to take over this system, liberate us from these economic policy somersaults and tell her “pho-ne” speaking government officials to please park well!
Rather than joining us in our baseless allegations, the western world is chasing her own lady with jobs. NG, even after assuring us all on Aljazeera that she will not be coming back, won’t stop getting new jobs without leaving the previous ones. The space she left has been unfillable. It has been like telling WAEC literature students to come and wear Wole Soyinka’s shoes. You just have to pray that their ship will not capsize.
In conclusion this government needs tested experts who know the waters to take over this system, liberate us from these economic policy somersaults and tell her “pho-ne” speaking government officials to please park well!
No comments:
Post a Comment