Should Okonjo Iweala Resign Now?

Should Okonjo-Iweala resign now because of the current reshufflement of ministers? To me I see it as a slap and a polite way of saying goodbye to the woman who has done so much for Nigeria? what is she going to do in external affairs? How relevant would she be there and is it related to her profession?

Should she stay or say good bye now that the ovation is loudest? Nairalanders , lets talk.

Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is to take over the Foreign Affairs Ministry from Ambassador Olu Adeniji. She will however, remain the chairperson of the Economic Management Team and would continue to carry out oversight responsibilities for the nation's external financial institutions and transactions.

Minister of State for Finance, Mrs. Nenadi Usman, was upgraded to Minister of Finance.
http://www.nigeriafirst.org/article_6074.shtml

In other words, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is no longer our Finance Minister. She is now in charge of foreign affairs. What are her responsibilities in this new position? Do they suit her? Is this a move to ease her out of politics? Why?

Loud ovation, from who? The debt relieve was as a result of begging. It is not something Nigeria deserved. How exactly a nation that is plagued with corruption, political assassinations, and massive scale ethnic oppression can think they deserved debt forgiveness is beyond me.

Well I guess, in her credit, Dear Mrs. Ngozi was able to remain on her knees long enough for the Paris club to feel pity for the poor girl. Good job, Ngozi! You are our National hero. Right?

Now, all we need is for Mrs. Ngozi to get back down on her knees and beg Obj to hold a sovereign national conference. At least then, we will be sure where the nation is going. Maybe appointing her as minister of internal affairs will do the trick!

mr afeni if you are not happy with ur country why not get another citizenship. what have you been able to achieve in your life. no matter how they did it nigeria has considerably reduced its debt, i think that is a remarkable achievement. this is something we thought was impossible. even if that is the only thing this administration has achieved they have done well. and if you dont know, you cant fully understand politics unless you are involved. mrs iweala has done very well and i think she should be our next president. if you dont have anything nice 2 say about ur country just shut the Bleep up.

mr afeni 2361 post, dont u have anything beta 2 do with ur time. by your comments of which disgust me i can tell you are a weakling all you do is whine about ur country. i am sure u are wiping white ass in new york.

19 years old no wonder you really sound immature.

I have been wondering about the switch since I heard it yesteday but I think that what the government is trying to leveeragew on is the clout she must have built over the years especially since her face and that of Dora Akunyili have become symbolic of the few graet things acknowledged by many as developmental.

She is my person anyday. In any case, she still has oversight functions in the mintry and her ;twin sister' minister of state for finance under her,Nenda Usman is now the minster of finance. She will make an impact one way or another. I dont think it took her by suprise,She is too strategic to the administration to be throwb around.

Same with Oby who will still be running the ministry of Solid Minerals even as education minister!

Okonjo-iweala has tried for this country and deserves commendation. I dont know how OBJ got this advice but this is surely a wrong move.

Abeg, my people, forgive my little baby, afeni. he can't think beyond his age and that is very understandable. He'll grow up someday.

I want to believe the switch is tactical, perhaps OBJ has some tough assignment for her again in the Foreign Ministry. It has to be with her consent I want to believe.

Like many of you, I was also surprised by Okonjo-Iweala's move to Foreign Affairs. Is it the
right move? Was she been eased out of the government gracefully or was it something she
really wanted to do?

Obasanjo's biggest achievement is his economic/financial reform, and Mrs Okonjo-Iweala has
been his ace - I doubt Obasanjo will make this switch without her input (of course it's possible).
Maybe she is overworked and tired and just needed to slow it down a bit, From what I know,
her family still lives in the US, she could/may resign if it turns out that the switch was a slap in
the face. Regardless, she has been a blessing to Nigeria.

whoever is advising baba has not realised the full weight of what he is going to put the country through as she is the main thrust in the so called FDI drive and even if she has oversight functions,we all know the saying" IF E NO BE PANADOL, E NO FIT BE LIKE PANADOL". I wonder where we are going to if round pegs in round holes are taken off and fixed into square holes{OBY EZEKWESILI}, GOD HELP US.

if i were mrs iweala i would prefer to quit rather than be used by those old politicians,because i felt she was really taken by surpprise. Imagine! 'na our oyoyo nne be dat oo' who has done a great job for niger

I ve not been current with the news lately.Why was Iweala reshuffled.Well i guess its something political-smells like a rat most likely she wants to be president and Baba doesn't like the idea and cos she seems to ve done a lot(thats what ppl say but i don't know about that or maybe some corruption foul play.JUST MAYBE,

Obj's intent for re-shuffling his cabinet is very unclear. Okonjo is an asset in the financial ministry and her redeployment sends a negative signal. However, if the decision was taken in the best interest of nigeria and nigerians, so be it. May be, she is being groomed for a top position come 2007. We never can tell.

An interesting comment from the same FT article Seun quoted above.

"Some government officials said they believed that Mr Obasanjo was stamping his authority on the economic team, many of whose members privately opposed his bid this year to amend the constitution to have a third term in office."

Is this punishment or a promotion or a precursor to higher office for her? I suspect its a precursor to electoral office but only time will tell.

well i think in a country due to such as great sense of humour god us we nigerians at one point everyone is proclaimed to be an expert! hmmmm !

i think for some nigerians to say we dnt  deserve debt relief is a joke!! u think u no but u dnt. oh corruption oh this or that! if that is how yall gona implicate or indict nigeria well u need to consider the crime carried out by de west day by day! latest is britsih airways 419 price fixing hmm

we nigeria never appreciate what we have ! u can always picture that from that "ghana must go" boy afeni! de question is bro afeni what are u goin to do to make an impact towards developin nigeria ! if u havnt gt any afeni shall i say shup ut bro! all shall i say a loser then!

if yall talkin about reshuffle ! oh obasanjo this oh that i think Prime minister Tony blair does that all de time ! in nigeria everyone is quick to run their mouth.

now the difference here is our fake monkey leaders lack vision! that is why u might say corruption is always at prominence

I need ya'll to school me on something. i hope u dont think i'm dumb but i always hear minister minister minister. what exactly does a minister do can females be ministers ?? and how do they apply for that job ??

Omoge,

Ministers are appointed executives who work with the president. They are in charge of their respective ministries. How to apply and if a woman can? The answer to the latter is yes: you are prefectly qualified. Mode of application? Send your application, covering letter and CV to Atiku , he will nominate and probably appoint you to replace some of his sacked Aides.

Okonjo-Iweala absent from ministers’ inauguration


http://www.punchng.com/main/article02

one of her aides said the minister had an important assignment to attend to.

“She (Okonjo-Iweala) had a scheduled assignment to handle. Besides, it is not compulsory that all serving ministers must be present when new ones are taking their oath of office. So there is nothing unusual about her not being present,” the aide said.

“You know that the minister (Okonjo-Iweala) was, as at Wednesday, one of the key kitchen cabinet members. It is likely that she stayed away from the ceremony as a way of showing her displeasure over her redeployment”.

People please pardon me, but I've always loved to hate the OBJ administration. But Okonjo-iweala has done a lot (many people have tried to make me believe that, so I just follow the crowd, with my heart in my mouth) .

All I can do now is to wish her all the best she can get in her new role. She should be happy though, she still have a strong link?? to the finance ministry. I can just imagine the squabble between her and Mrs Usman, when the chips are down, and someone has got to assert her powers in the Finance Ministry - when the time comes. I hate women fights, but I think OBJ enjoys it.

superman i really appreciate ur contribution. you are a broad minded individual. i hope people like you assume responsibility of representing nigeria in the future. MUCH LOVE TO ALL MY PROUD NIGERIANS, WE WILL GET THERE. WE CAN'T BE DOWN FOREVER.

she should not leave as it will expose her to the fifth column. already there is some talk of money paid illegally to a foreign company and some people in central bank over their assistance in getting debt relief.

politics is a dirty game anywhere in the world. we couldn,t have gotten a debt releif by playing safe .

My sixth sense on this Okonjo's reshuffling is that maybe she is the one Obj wants to groom for President or Vice,most likely Vice.
For those who don't know, she was surprised at the reshuffling. Obj only informed her a few minutes before the public announcement and she was shocked.

I personally think she may be the one Obasanjo can trust to continue the reforms he blieves so much in. So why not position her to become President or start with Vice President and then President.

With South East and South South asking for a shot at the presidency, OBJ may want to pick his man for Presidency from the SS and insist on Ngozi from the SE (actually SS because she is from Delta State but married to an Abia or is it Imo state man) becomes Vice President and Head of the Economic Team. In this way in the next dispension she can move up to President ,after having run the Economic Team as Vice President.

Just my postulations but I would love to see somebody like Ngozi and Dora Akinyuli holding high influencial positions in Nigeria. They have guts and what it takes to make a difference.

On the other hand, Obj may just be on a vendetta mission. Maybe Ngozi did not support his Third term, maybe the whisperings for her to go for President is uncomfortable to him, maybe there has been some corruption, maybe the performance is lower than paid for (she earns about $20000 a month or there abouts) or maybe Baba Obj is just plain confused 

Lets watch and see how things unfold.
Nigeria is fun. Wonderful movie, action-packed thriller, comedy,soap opera and sitcom all roll into one.
You can't ask for more from a country 

Hi guys, let's not jam our heads over nothing.

The Finance Mama (Mrs Okonjo- Iweala) is still alive, we need to conclude only when she has made a comment on the issue of her new position.

SHE HAS REALLY DONE A GOOD AND GREAT JOB IN OUR COUNTRY, SHE DESERVES A BREAK!

[font=Lucida Sans Unicode][/font]teena

with all she`s done wioth the finance sector her being the foreign minister isnt a bad idea cos she can then bring in more foreign investors to the country,cos she`ll be able to sale the countr and she knows about it all ,i feel she is the best person for the job

Okonjo- iweala has done creditably well, 
If you've not been been in Nigeria within the last year, u have no justification to rant and pant any criticisms on obj or Okonjo-Iweala.   

@funloving

its impossible to have a president from the south - south and the vice from the south - east, unless you want to distabilize the entire west african sub - region.

azorjiu:

Omoge,

Ministers are appointed executives who work with the president. They are in charge of their respective ministries. How to apply and if a woman can? The answer to the latter is yes: you are prefectly qualified. Mode of application? Send your application, covering letter and CV to Atiku  , he will nominate and probably appoint you to replace some of his sacked Aides.

LMAO !!!!!!!! thanks for explaining.

Honestly this looks to me like manouvering in a game of chess. Edgar cayce would have a hard time deciphering what lies behind the dingy screen of the president's mind. Empirically, you could say since next year is an election year her movement to the less fancied foreign ministry is not pedestrian.Obasanjo has a game plan. what that game plan exactly is,only time will tell.