Pukkah:

I agree with you.

What Nigerians should be clamouring for is for such questions to be put to ALL Ministers and adopted by ALL states' Houses of Assembly to their Commissioners. The answers should also be followed through.

Nigeria is grossly under her potentials and I don't think a revolution can happen to change things. If a conventional revolution is near impossible why not try an intellectual revolution to see if things would change?

For now, I don't think people should focus on the delivery of the questions, the character of the questioners and other trivialities. What we should focus on is the substance (making this a culture) and not the form (whether the questioners were hostile or not).

enigmang:

She said she already had the answers there with her; that means she must have had the questions sincee.... It would have been much more fun to see her answer those questions openly and lets hear the response from the members of the committee : This at least will make both parties sit-up. because right now with a written response.. Its only NOI that will do homework, I wish the members where also put on the spot

manny4life:

I like the fact they're throwing good questions at her but what you expressed was exactly my thought. Apparently the lawmakers hadn't done their homework, so they dismissed her because they knew if an exchange ensued, they won't be a match for her. So they intelligently asked her to provide it in writing, who's deceiving who? Well, I trust Aunty NOI, she won't disappoint us, however, if I were her, I would delay my response for another two weeks. Kindly send them a nice letter stating for good reasons I need more time.

karl max: i dont exchange words with dullard and riff raff keep foam from the mouth i hope u would continue when the minister lectures ur fellow dullards in 2 weeks time.like she did to sanusi and other illitrates like u running around foaming from the mouth during the phartom 50billion dollars nnpc missing fund. Ur illitracy and that of the reps would be exposed again.

peleson: They should reduce the salary and allowances they take/loot. They take almost 20% of the budget and I don't see what important they are

agbameta:

All of a sudden, it's not about her faking sickness it's because of fear?

lol @ sending letter saying I need more time. You people don't even hide your incompetency, crooked state of mind and corrupt mentality no more..

Pukkah:
Oh yes! They're too expensive to maintain! Yet one of the 50 questions to Iweala is the very high recurrent expenditure of the country.
But Nigerians are not also showing enough interest in the matter. They should be embarassed with inscriptions on shirts, BBM DPs, etc.
If the Presidency cannot persuade them or the RMFAC and they're not ready to willingly reduce it, then the fight should go to the people.
I also suggest that Iweala in her response to the 50 questions should mention their huge salaries as one of the reasons for the high recurrent expenditure and tell them to show readiness for a cut in the interest of the country.

manny4life:

What are you smoking? Who said her sickness was fake? Where you not the one shouting that the Reps did right by sending her away? Whether she faked it or not, bottom line, WAS SHE READY TO ANSWER THEM OR NOT? Answer your own question before you begin ranting.

Lol @ incompetency, like I said, if I were her, I would delay it... You don't like it, GO AND JUMP OFF. There's no Nigerian law stated that I have to complete a task within allotted time period, I've had people who did it to me and I've done it to people including my boss, as well as people who have done it to others, it's not incompetence, it's simply completing it ON MY OWN TIME... THE REPS DON'T LIKE IT, THEY SHOULD JUMP OFF AS WELL.

fijiano202: am sorry to say this but u are insensitive to genuine sensibilities,no senator would propose a salary cut but now questions on how the reduce the recurrent expenditure has been forwarded to the Finance Minister,Wait let her answer the questions before suggesting any action,if her first agenda is a salary cut for the Senators then we start from there

agbameta:


She was sick and at the same time ready to answer grueling 50 detailed questions with detailed answers and even with her sickness, she still managed to get in a fight. She was sick alright. What supper woman in deed. lol.



Incompetence is not against the law, but it gets you fired...

And the reps are not jumping anywhere obviously, they check that egotistical and over pampered woman and put her in her place. The people of Nigeria pay her salary and not the other way around.. She runs are corrupt and borrow borrow ministry and not the NASS.

fijiano202: am sorry to say this but u are insensitive to genuine sensibilities,no senator would propose a salary cut but now questions on how the reduce the recurrent expenditure has been forwarded to the Finance Minister,Wait let her answer the questions before suggesting any action,if her first agenda is a salary cut for the Senators then we start from there

manny4life:
9% from last years budget was for the house and judiciary including judges lumped into "statutory allocation", this is money they automatically allot themselves which can't be challenged. How's a nation supposed to thrive on such enormous amount going to less than 0.0001% of the population?

fijiano202: you are right but that is where the role of the Finance Minister comes Alive,The question-What are you doing to reduce the reccurent Expenditure ? is a make or break question its a golden platform to suggest a paycut or allows cut in the budget for 9 percent going to the house and judiciary

fijiano202: Wait let her answer the questions before suggesting any action,if her first agenda is a salary cut for the Senators then we start from there

fijiano202: To the People who thinks the Rep are incompetent i can proud and loudly broadcast that i dont care how brilliant the finance minister is but Okonjo-Iheala cant stand to answer just 20 of those questions without running away.Any Educated Person can understand that those questions are sophisticate and well constructed question which will require a Well detailed Answers with figures to support it,Giving her some period to answer it is a well thought-out step

Pukkah:
We should wait for her answers to get to the House of Reps BEFORE making suggestions? Eh?

manny4life:
This isn't about educated or intelligence, even a good CFO knows some key indicators in their company, they may not know everything, but like I said, he/she knows key numbers. You do not expect her to be walking memory, she may well answer the questions without providing the numbers, heck, she may already have them, but alluding that she will run away is sorta absurd. It's simple as saying "I will provide that information in writing". After all, it's not all questions that required numbers, anyway, she will do well to write in her answers and then go for the challenge hearing.

fijiano202: have you ever seen or Heard of a CFO of an organisation facing the board members or Commitee with what she/her knows offhand without well documented details,figures and references

fijiano202: Firstly am anxiously waiting for Answer for Questions 12,20,21,22,23,24,26,27,28,31,32,34,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,47,48,49,50 Secondy [s] Unuane1 and ngwakwe Pls try to change ur orientation,pls use ur brains and think like concern citizens [/s]

Passing Shot: Very well-articulated, well-thought and above all beneficial questions to the nation. They deserve clear, unambiguous answers to absolve this government of any complicity in the running of our affairs.

Some of my favourites:

Why should our internal debts continue to represent more than two-thirds of Nigeria’s external debt profile, when the cost of servicing domestic debts is ridiculously far more expensive than servicing external debts? Why should government continue to borrow internally when in
so doing results in insufficient funds, skyrockets the cost of borrowing and above all, crowds out the real sector from the money market? Shouldn’t the high cost of domestic borrowing override whatever are the assumed benefits? Since both London Interbank Offer Rates (LIBOR) and the US Treasury Bonds rates offer far better interest rates for sovereign borrowings, why have we continued not to take advantage of cheaper interest rates?

Over to you NOI/GEJ.

Why do you always prefer a lower benchmark which leaves government with wider deficits and your attitude of no qualms with domestic borrowings at excessively high interest rates to balance deficit as against our position of increasing benchmark to reduce deficit which consequently reduces domestic borrowing, that frees up funds for the real sector of the economy, thereby bringing down the interest rate, increased private sector investments and creating jobs?

Kingspin: 50 questions indeed. Who even set it. Am just laughing are they not lawmakers of Federal Republic of Nigeria. I belt you they cnt stand the Minster. If the meeting had went on..the lawmakers response to any answer by the Minister would have been Yes Yes and Yes. Economic intelligent must count. I tell u they would run out of ideas and questions. Aboki's and their cow brains self. Set of people who were force to attend elementary school even till date. Pls inform me of any aboki in office that is intelligently doing well in Nigeria climate. Outline the word intelligent not looters. I laf in china.

manny4life:
This one happens to be an easy one, she could have easily defended this one very well. There's a reason why Nigerian govt borrows internally at the expense of the govt but anyway, let's await her answer... No speculation.

Passing Shot:
Some of my favourites:

Why should our internal debts continue to represent more than two-thirds of Nigeria’s external debt profile, when the cost of servicing domestic debts is ridiculously far more expensive than servicing external debts? Why should government continue to borrow internally when in
so doing results in insufficient funds, skyrockets the cost of borrowing and above all, crowds out the real sector from the money market? Shouldn’t the high cost of domestic borrowing override whatever are the assumed benefits? Since both London Interbank Offer Rates (LIBOR) and the US Treasury Bonds rates offer far better interest rates for sovereign borrowings, why have we continued not to take advantage of cheaper interest rates?

4 Play:

I find this interesting as it implies that external debt is superior to internal debt, that is to say, that it is better that the Nigerian Govt owes money denominated in foreign currency to foreign creditors than owe money denominated in Naira to domestic creditors.

The pitfalls of external debts should be obvious. It was external debt that birthed SAP and culminated in the erosion of living standards in the 80s which is unprecedented in the country's history. The main problem with external debt is the exchange rate risk as follows:

Supposing you borrow $10bn in 2007, assuming an exchange rate of N100 to $1, giving a debt of N1 trillion when converted to Naira. If exchange rates move against you, say it now takes N160 to buy $1, you suddenly have a debt of 1.6 trillion Naira. Many underestimate how exchange rates can deteriorate quickly. In the 70s to the 80s and I stand to be corrected, we went from 60 Kobo to $1 to in excess 2 Naira to $1 pretty rapidly, that would amount to a multiplication of the debt burden by more than a factor of 3. The funny thing is that the bigger your external debt burden, the quicker the deterioration in exchange rates because money has to leave the country to service the debt. Imagine what that does to the inflation rate and the living standards of Nigerians as much of what we consume is imported. High inflation brings about high interest rates which dampens the supply of credit to the private sector. The negative spiral is relentless and we have witnessed it before.

The high interest rates the Govt pays when it borrows in Naira is supposed to compensate for the higher rate of inflation in Nigeria but the flip side of high inflation is that the real value of Naira denominated debt is eroded over time than if the debt is denominated in a foreign currency. Remember that in the bond market, if the Govt borrows 100bn Naira for a term of 10 years at yields of 14% per year, it will merely pay the yield per year and redeem or pay back the 100bn Naira at expiration of the 10 year period. 100bn Naira in 2007 and at an inflation rate of 9% per year will mean that in the 10th year, the Govt will pay back the equivalent of 39bn Naira in 2017. In contrast to US dollars which erodes value at a slower rate, the redemption of Naira debt will be a lot cheaper than dollar debt.

So, it's actually likely that from issuance to maturity, an internal bond denominated in Naira is cheaper for the Nigerian Govt than an external bond denominated in US dollars for instance. Almost all sovereign debt crisis occurs in countries borrowing in currencies that they do not control - Greece, Portugal, Spain, Zimbabwe, Ireland, e.t.c.

External debt is good in the short term but incredibly dangerous in the long term. The talk about borrowing in Naira crowding out local borrowers assumes that there is strong domestic private sector demand. If there is such strong demand, then the economy is doing well and it undercuts the opposition's argument.

Listening to and reading policy debates in Nigeria, it's almost like the 80s never happened. Those who refuse to learn from history are bound to repeat it.