Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said Monday that Nigeria could be on her way to joining the newly advanced economies called BRIC, made up of Brazil, Russia, India and China.

In a joint interview conducted for her and South African Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) yesterday, Okonjo-Iweala opined that Nigeria has all the fundamentals to be one of the BRIC nations.

“And I think that I always have this one saying that 'if you are not in Nigeria - and with all due respect and support to my colleague Pravin - you are not in Africa' because our fundamentals, that we are the largest country in terms of population, we are growing at a very respectable rate of 7 per cent and better for the past couple of years, and we have got not only the natural resource base but also the human resource base to be able to do better,” she said.

According to her, Nigeria is tackling several constraints that are holding her economy and industries back, like power.

“When we solve those problems, we are going to be in the low double digits and that will parachute Nigeria into the BRICS,” the minister said.

Prodded further by the interviewer, Ed Butler, on the representative role South Africa seems to be playing for Africa in every sphere, sports inclusive, Okonjo-Iweala said the way she feels is that the world needs to look towards the dynamics of what's happening with growth and development on the continent and not towards the statics of the past.

“And when you look towards dynamics, I think that we need more African countries at the table, and therefore that's why I think that Nigeria very soon merits a place alongside South Africa at these gatherings,” she said.

The minister stressed that having one African country on BRIC is good, adding that South Africa and Nigeria have very good relations.
She pointed out that a lot of investment in Nigeria comes from South Africa but mentioned that despite these, competition still exists.

“And I feel that as Nigeria's economy, the structural factors are cleared up and we compete, we should be at that table too. Yes, so our aspiration is to be at that table and I know we will be,” Okonjo-Iweala re-emphasised.
On the analysis by Jim O'Neill of Goldman Sachs, who coined the BRIC term and later talked about the "Next 11" beyond Brazil, China, Russia and India, Okonjo-Iweala accepted that Nigeria fits into this study.

She said: “… Nigeria comes into those. It is estimated that by 2050, Nigeria may have the third-largest population in the world. It's for all these reasons that my president, President Jonathan is at the moment really focusing on a programme that transforms the economy so we can remove those structural factors that are holding us back.”
On how this could be achieved, she said that 53 per cent of the last World Bank poll said the biggest problem of Nigeria is power and access to finance.

“So we have to address these problems square on. So these analyses make clear that Nigeria will make it provided it deals with these issues and that's why we are focusing on dealing with those structural issues,” she said adding that a clear problem Nigeria is looking at is that of job creation and growth in non-oil sector which, according to her, would “really help us parachute into those ranks”.

On the effect of global financial crises on Nigeria, Okonjo-Iweala said this affects Nigeria in the sense that 60 per cent of the demand for the country’s product come from Europe and the United States at the moment even though attempts are being made to diversify markets.

She disclosed that what happens in the affected parts of the world is of a direct consequence to Nigeria when it translates through volatility in the prices of the commodities and products that Nigeria exports, volatility in currencies and stock market.

“At the time of the last crisis, we had a great impact on our stock market as people flew, there was a flight to safety and a flight to cover positions that were exposed in Europe and lot of people withdrew their money from the stock market, and all that kind of volatility is really not helpful to us,” she said.

Both Okonjo-Iweala and Gordhan agreed that Africa does not need bailout with Gordhan stressing that it is the developing countries that are bailing the developed part of the world out at this point in time.
Okonjo-Iweala emphasised that the developed countries could look at some of the lessons that come from the work that the developing countries have done or doing, and ask the question, “why are these economies now rebounding and sustaining growth?”

“It's because many of our economies, even in Africa, have gone through some of the challenges that the developed world is now going through. We have learned lessons. We have learned how to manage our economies in order to produce and promote sustained growth now,” she said.

According to her, after two or three decades of lost growth, Africa had learnt which policies make for good policies.

According to her, “We have learned to keep our debt at a sustainable level and to be consistent in terms of the way we manage our macro economy, and I think there are a few lessons there from the financial sector and from macro that could be offered.”


http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/nigeria-fit-to-join-bric-nations-says-okonjo-iweala/104939/

It will now become BRICN. Ok, let's wait and see.

Typical Bretton Institution babe; more interested in achieving good paper statistics than actually improving the living standard of the populace.

^^^^
What do you want her to do? Pls tell me, Govs & Local govts collect their monthly allocation, only to LOOT the funds & head to Dubai to buy properties. National Assembly members does not want to cut the salary, as all sensible nations even in your so called BRENTWOOD, have trimmed down salaries & cost of running govts. EFCC have the records of all the looters, face them, not her. Jonathan refuse to declare his ASSETS, why? cos he is LOOTING the treasury. Ngozi, can only do her bit, that's it.

TRUTHTELA:


On how this could be achieved, she said that 53 per cent of the last World Bank poll said the biggest problem of Nigeria is power and access to finance.


http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/nigeria-fit-to-join-bric-nations-says-okonjo-iweala/104939/

Miraculously; NOBODY MENTIONED CORRUPTION TO LIL' NGOZI!

When you hear them spew lies and misinformation at this rate, you already know what the deal is. Its going to be a rough GEJ Presidency, because they'd clearly rather ignore the serious issues in the hopes that everyone else is as foo*lish as them and nobody will notice.

LOL, ppl are developing their countries, madam ngozi planning on taking them to the 'BRINC'

Nigerians and megalomania. Which one be BRICN again 
Why not some REAL BRICK and mortar infrastructure on the ground.   

This are people our gofment fought so hard to get? Una welldone o. solider go solider come Barrack still remains.

I just wonder what will remain when everyone of em must have looted to their satisfaction?

Na mouth dem dey use join BRIS

TRUTHTELA:

“When we solve those problems, we are going to be in the low double digits and that will parachute Nigeria into the BRICS,” the minister said.

Even if speaking figuratively how does one parachute into anything? And what does the S stand for in BRICS? A typo maybe?

Kingoflag correctly noted that the minister didn't mention corruption as one of the major obstacles in our country's march to greatness. This is this indicative of how this issue is being treated -we sweep it under the carpet and expect it to go away.

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa,

Theyve all enjoyed economic development and industrialisation for decades now and Okonjo-Iweala thinks we can join with the high level of corruption in GEJ's govt and his weasel like approach to everything. I use to be a. Iweala fan but my admiration is fast fading!

Bawss1:

Even if speaking figuratively how does one parachute into anything? And what does the S stand for in BRICS? A typo maybe?

Tor. me to I wonder o, I thought parachute is meant to bring someone down safely from the sky The 'S' is suppose to be SouthAfrica. Some people add that to 'BRIC' because they feel SouthAfrica's economy is doing very well and deserves to be among the emerging economies of the world.

Okonjo reminds me of Kalu Idika under IBB,so IMFish& World bankish in their economic solutions,fixated on a model,see no other way& ignore local realities.See how she ignored d chief cankerworm to our growth as a nation,CORRUPTION and emphasising on access to funds,funds that will b misappropriated.Her fixation on fuel subsidy removal which frm all barometers will further drive down real production,enriching d few& further impoverishing d majority,tells me that this woman that GEJ takes to b a mini god,will lead us to an economic crisis akin to d days of SAP