Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s former minister of
finance, in an interview with Le Monde, speaks about her
childhood, her activities as a minister, the immediate
past government of Goodluck Jonathan, the fuel crisis
and many others issues.
The Nigerian economist, who is 61 years old, served two
governments as minister of finance from 2003 to 2006,
under Olusegun Obasanjo, then, from 2011 to 2015,
during the Jonathan presidency.
Between these two positions, Okonjo-Iweala was
executive director of the World Bank.
She is now a senior advisor at Lazard and chairs the
board of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and
Immunization based in Geneva.

1. “I have trouble seeing me as a world leader, while I
appreciate that gives me this way! But when I get up in
the morning, I do not think about it, I wonder how to
solve the next problem. I grew up in a village in southern
Nigeria where I grew up to 8 and a half years by my
grandmother. My parents were scholarship students in
Germany and did not have enough money to take me
with them. I learned real life, fetching wood, water. At 5,
I could cook.”

2. “This life has given me strength and a strong
character. The other experience from my childhood is the
Biafran war (1967-1970). My parents lost everything. I
knew what it was to have nothing more.”

3. “There is no perfect country. Everyone has had
success in some areas. In terms of growth, the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that it
would be 3.4% worldwide in 2016, and 4% in sub-Saharan
Africa.”

4. “Some economists are very concerned for Nigeria,
which could greatly suffer from the fall in oil prices.
Others say the contrary, that its economy is strong
enough to turn the corner.”

5. “When I was finance minister the first time, the
volatility of oil prices, and therefore state resources, cost
at least three points of growth in the country. We then
established a stabilization mechanism and opened an
account for the oil surplus. Who posted up to 22 billion.
In 2008, when prices fell from 148 to $ 38 a barrel, no
one has heard of Nigeria because the country has been
able to tap into this fund. And that, I am very proud.”

6. “When I returned to the department in 2011, he
remained only 4 billion on this account while the price of
oil was very high! I tried again to put money aside. The
President agreed, but the governors have not accepted. I
suffered a lot of attacks from them and now that the
country would really need this account, these same
people accuse me of not having saved!”

7. “If Nigeria had been more careful, he would not be
here today. It hurts me. We have the mechanism, we had
the experience, but we were prevented to act.”
8. “Of course, Nigeria has problems, but it will work out.
This is the first African economy, the consumer goods
market is growing, as are the non-oil sectors. Africa
accounts for only 5.8% of foreign trade of France and
Nigeria 0.6%.”

9. “Nigeria subsidizes fuel. About $ 6.7 billion that it
costs, we found that 1.5 billion was fraudulent. One
importer claimed that his boat was waging its oil while at
the other end of the world, according to maritime
classification society Lloyd’s Register Marine. I told
Jonathan that we would stop paying. What happened?
They kidnapped my mother 83 years. During the first
three days, their only demand was my resignation. I was
supposed to go on television and announce my
resignation. This was one of the worst moments of my
life. Can you imagine what happens in your head if you
have to be responsible for the death of your mother? I
will not go into details, but you must understand that in
a country like this, if the fight against corruption, we
must be prepared to pay a personal price. My father
asked me not to resign. The president asked me not to
resign. At the end, everyone began looking for him, and
the kidnappers released.”

10. “With the help of the World Bank and the British aid
agency DFID, we have developed an integrated payment
system and a biometric register of employees because
we discovered that we were paying employees and ghost
pensioners. Everything was almost ready in 2006, when I
left, but when I came back in 2011, it was late! Finally,
we did it. I know, this technology is less sexy than arrest,
but we have to block upstream corruption. And if you
master the technology you can control corruption.”

source: https://www.naij.com/791226-top-10-shocking-revelations-okonjo-iweala-biafra-jonathan-fuel-crisis.html?source=index_shared

What should I say. Since she has alludet to the fact on ground matter should rest. the present ecconomic downturn is not a making of this govt. Every accusing finger should start retracting and join hands in moving this nation forward. Akpabio said same of how the rot and lack of tact by previous administrations brought us this far.