Seun:

Transcript of part of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's Latest BBC Interview
Many people see you as the face of subsidy removal in Nigeria. Some even are accusing you of playing out the script of the world bank and IMF in advising the president to remove the the subsidy and subject Nigerians to hardship and suffering.  Are you comfortable with this?

Absolutely not, because it's absolutely false. First of all, I worked at the World Bank and I'm proud of it, because I learned a lot. The world bank and IMF have nothing to do with this decision whatsoever. This is an internal government decision and President Goodluck Jonathan has made it very clear. When I was going to come here, there were groups that came to me and said they did not want me to join government because they want President Goodluck Jonathan's government to fail.

So these same people are now seizing the opportunity to say that I'm the face of subsidy removal. It's absolutely wrong. [b]Remember that six months before I came, the governors had all pushed for subsidy removal.[/b] This subsidy removal has two decades of history. Almost every president from President Babangida to President Obasanjo has tried, to it's not Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. When I didn't know even what subsidy removal was, they were working on it.

But the report making the rounds is that you have threatened to resign if President Jonathan buckles under the pressure of opposition and rescinds the decision of subsidy.

Well I think that is absolutely laughable saying I threatened to resign. First of all, the emergency meeting about which this people cooked up this story, I was not even present. They said that the FEC held an emergency meeting on Wednesday during which they decided issues on the subsidy removal. I was not present because on that particular day I was with my family; I was ill, in Washington, suffering from bronchitis. I was not there, so  how could I even resign or say any such thing? So it is false.

And I want to tell you that because these people don't want me to be working in this country, because I stand for very clear things like principles against corruption, principles like we love Nigeria so we must do the best to get this country moving. [/b]They don't want me here, so this is a golden opportunity for them to try and hang it on my neck, but they will never succeed, because that's not what it is about.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16467452
[b]

oxford:

A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.
Max Lucado

rango2011:

She is a cia trained handler , scheming everyone to believe her subsidy fairy tale, the nigeria debt pay back scam wasn't enough for her profile, she decided to implement yet another heist and impoverish the nigerian people

Emmanuel Chijioke Ndubuis:

I believe that as an expert on economic matters she cannot deceive us [

rango2011:

@Emmanuel Chijioke Ndubuis: Are you kidding me, you believe the hype, western nations train you to believe some voodoeconomy and send their disciples to developing nations to further cause mayhem, all in the nae of fancy,pretty economic policies.its all about control, the west would never allow Africa to arise and take its place in the pride of nations

oxford:

A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.
Max Lucado

Seun:

What does that mean, especially in this context?

rango2011:

She is a cia trained handler , scheming everyone to believe her subsidy fairy tale, the nigeria debt pay back scam wasn't enough for her profile, she decided to implement yet another heist and impoverish the nigerian people

jmaine:

It's glaring  most of you fail to read, think and digest facts before posting . . .Her statement was very clear to those who don't wear glasses sagging with a bile full of unnecessary hate , dripping with profound foolishness . . .

demoise:

On a recent trip to West Africa, the newly appointed managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde ordered the governments of Nigeria, Guinea, Cameroon, Ghana and Chad to relinquish vital fuel subsidies. Much to the dismay of the population of these nations, the prices of fuel and transport have near tripled over night without notice, causing widespread violence on the streets of the Nigerian capital of Abuja and its economic center, Lagos. Much like the IMF induced riots in Indonesia during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, public discontent in Nigeria is channelled towards an incompetent and self-serving domestic elite, compliant to the interests of fraudulent foreign institutions.

Although Nigeria holds the most proven oil reserves in Africa behind Libya, it’s people are now expected to pay a fee closer to what the average American pays for the cost of fuel, an exorbitant sum in contrast to its regional neighbours. Alternatively, other oil producing nations such as Venezuela, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia offer their populations fuel for as little as $0.12 USD per gallon. While Lagos has one of Africa’s highest concentration of billionaires, the vast majority of the population struggle daily on less than $2.00 USD. Amid a staggering 47% youth unemployment rate and thousands of annual deaths related to preventable diseases, the IMF has pulled the rug out from under a nation where safe drinking water is a luxury to around 80% of it’s populace.  

Although Nigeria produces 2.4 million barrels of crude oil a day intended for export use, the country struggles with generating sufficient electrical power and maintaining its infrastructure. Ironically enough, less than 6% of bank depositors own 88% of all bank deposits in Nigeria. Goldman Sachs employees line its domestic government, in addition to the former Vice President of the World Bank, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who is widely considered by many to be the de facto Prime Minister. Even after decades of producing lucrative oil exports, Nigeria has failed to maintain it’s own refineries, forcing it to illogically purchase oil imports from other nations. Society at large has not benefited from Nigeria’s natural riches, so it comes as no surprise that a severe level of distrust is held towards the government, who claims the fuel subsidy needs to be lifted in order to divert funds towards improving the quality of life within the country.

Like so many other nations, Nigerian people have suffered from a systematically reduced living standard after being subjected to the IMF’s Structural Adjustment Policies (SAP). Before a loan can be taken from the World Bank or IMF, a country must first follow strict economic policies, which include currency devaluation, lifting of trade tariffs, the removal of subsidies and detrimental budget cuts to critical public sector health and education services.

SAPs encourage borrower countries to focus on the production and export of domestic commodities and resources to increase foreign exchange, which can often be subject to dramatic fluctuations in value. Without the protection of price controls and an authentic currency rate, extreme inflation and poverty subsist to the point of civil unrest, as seen in a wide array of countries around the world (usually in former colonial protectorates). The people of Nigeria have been one of the world’s most vocal against IMF-induced austerity measures, student protests have been met with heavy handed repression since 1986 and several times since then, resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths. As a testament to the success of the loan, the average laborer in Nigeria earned 35% more in the 1970’s than he would of in 2012.

Working through the direct representation of Western Financial Institutions and the IMF in Nigeria’s Government, a new IMF conditionality calls for the creation of a Sovereign Wealth Fund. Olusegun Aganga, the former Nigerian Minister of Finance commented on how the SWF was hastily pushed through and enacted prior to the countries national elections. If huge savings are amassed from oil exports and austerity measures, one cannot realistically expect that these funds will be invested towards infrastructure development based on the current track record of the Nigerian Government. Further more, it is increasingly more likely that any proceeds from a SWF would be beneficial to Western institutions and markets, which initially demanded its creation. Nigerian philanthropist Bukar Usman prophetically writes “I have genuine fears that the SWF would serve us no better than other foreign-recommended "remedies" which we had implemented to our own detriment in the past or are being pushed to implement today.”

The abrupt simultaneous removal of fuel subsidies in several West African nations is a clear indication of who is really in charge of things in post-colonial Africa. The timing of its cushion-less implementation could not be any worse, Nigeria’s president Goodluck Jonathan recently declared a state of emergency after forty people were killed in a church bombing on Christmas day, an act allegedly committed by the Islamist separatist group, Boko Haram. The group advocates dividing the predominately Muslim northern states from the Christian southern states, a similar predicament to the recent division of Sudan.

As the United States African Command (AFRICOM) begins to gain a foothold into the continent with its troops officially present in Eritrea and Uganda in an effort to maintain security and remove other theocratic religious groups such as the Lord’s Resistance Army, the sectarian violence in Nigeria provides a convenient pretext for military intervention in the continuing resource war. For further insight into this theory, it is interesting to note that United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania conducted a series of African war game scenarios in preparation for the Pentagon’s expansion of AFRICOM under the Obama Administration.

In the presence of US State Department Officials, employees from The Rand Corporation and Israeli military personnel, a military exercise was undertaken which tested how AFRICOM would respond to a disintegrating Nigeria on the verge of collapse amidst civil war. The scenario envisioned rebel factions vying for control of the Niger Delta oil fields (the source of one of America’s top oil imports), which would potentially be secured by some 20,000 U.S. troops if a US-friendly coup failed to take place At a press conference at the House Armed Services Committee on March 13, 2008, AFRICOM Commander, General William Ward then went on to brazenly state the priority issue of America’s growing dependence on African oil would be furthered by AFRICOM operating under the principle theatre-goal of “combating terrorism”.

At an AFRICOM Conference held at Fort McNair on February 18, 2008, Vice Admiral Robert T. Moeller openly declared the guiding principle of AFRICOM was to protect “the free flow of natural resources from Africa to the global market”, before citing China’s increasing presence in the region as challenging to American interests. After the unwarranted snatch-and-grab regime change conducted in Libya, nurturing economic destabilization, civil unrest and sectarian conflict in Nigeria is an ultimately tangible effort to secure Africa’s second largest oil reserves. During the pillage of Libya, its SFW accounts worth over 1.2 billion USD were frozen and essentially absorbed by Franco-Anglo-American powers; it would realistic to assume that much the same would occur if Nigeria failed to comply with Western interests. While agents of foreign capital have already infiltrated its government, there is little doubt that Nigeria will become a new front in the War on Terror.

Nile Bowie is a freelance writer and photojournalist; he's regularly contributed to Tony Cartalucci's Land Destroyer Report and Alex Jones' Infowars.

Global Research Articles by Nile Bowie


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Welcome to the planet of Conspiracy theories. People like you still think Osama Bin Laden and Tupac are living in Cuba with Fidel Castro. No disrespect meant  

Anybaba:

Ngozi, you are the bomb ! More grease to your elbow as we tackle sleaze in the land. As for the idiots running amok on the streets in the name of protest against stoppage of corruption called fuel subsidy, shame of all of you !!!! SHAME, SHAME, SHAME !!!!!!!

rango2011:

They shall never succed , never, if gej wants to support western imperialism, he shld be impeached without delay

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sholatech:

Did I read that Ngozi is THE BOMB blowing up Nigeria?
She never won my heart. Under OBJ, she reeled out palliative measures that evaporated into thin air and yet she couldn't stop corruption.
She is an Urban and Regional Geography Practioner who has experience in World Bank economic matters and should not surprise you she doesn't have full grasp of Nigerian Economic system considering our deviating behavioural economics.
We have higher corruption figures amongst our political class that could be stopped and recoup bigger savings than outright removal of subsidies-but they all are not bold to stop the affluent fat cat politicians.
Under Sanusi's watchful eyes and so-called anti-corruption crusader, average of 1.7trn naira evaporates through our banks annually in form of money laundering.
They can't curb the politicians' excessive luxuries and graft, but can box the poor masses into a tight corner.

rango2011:

‎​Venezuela Minister of Petroleum address to former Nigeria0n Minister of Information(Dora Akunyili) 2 years ago :In Venezuela,
since 1999, we’ve never had a raise in fuel price.
We only pay $1.02 to fill the tank. What I pay for with N12,000 here (Nigeria), in Venezuela I’ll pay N400. What is happening is simple. Our President
(Hugo Chavez) decided one day to control the industry, because it belongs to the Venezuelans.If you don’t control the industry, your development will be in the hands of the foreigners.
You have to have your own country. The oil is your country’s. Sorry I am telling you this. I am giving you the experience of Venezuela.We have 12 refineries in the United States,18,000 gas stations in the West Coast. All we are doing is in the hands of the Venezuelans.” The envoy said, “Before 1999, we had three or
four foreign companies working with us. That time they were taking 80 per cent, and giving us 20. Now, we have 90 per cent, and giving them 10.
But now, we have 22 countries working with us in that condition. It is the Venezuelan condition. You know why? It is because 60 per cent of the income goes to social programmes.That’s why we have 22,000 medical doctors assisting the people in the community. The people don’t go to the hospital; doctors go to
their houses. This is because the money is
handled by the Venezuelans.Hw come Nigeria that has more technical manpower than Venezuela, with 150 million people, and very intellectual people all around,not been able to get it right? The question is: If you are not handling your resources, how are you going to handle the country?
“So, it is important that Nigeria takes control of her resources. We have no illiterate people. We have over 17 new universities totally free.I graduated from the university without paying one cent, and take three meals every day. We want the
resources of the Nigerian people for the Nigerians.It is enough! It is enough, Minister. pls rebroadcast www.facebook.com/one.million.nigerians
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rango2011:

@LeoMax, stick to the thread, this is an online print on demand store, not a large departmental store where you go buy mass produced shirts for $5 or $10, I don't hv the freaking capital to sell #occupynigeria tees at $10,so pls I'm fulfilling a need for nigerians in diaspora and friends of nigeria all over the world to identify with the movement by shoppin online to purchase the tees,if u want some cheap Bottom $10 tee go and buy it at the salvation army,jeez stick to the thread.

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