₦airaland Forum

Why I’m Under Attack – Okonjo-iweala

ABUJA—The Coordinating Minister of Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said yesterday that she came under attack by detractors who wanted to get at President Goodluck Jonathan and bring down his government.

Briefing the press on the on-going reform agenda of the federal government , in Abuja, she said that those behind the accusations of corruption against her had earlier tried to discourage her from joining Jonathan’s government but failed.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala who was accused of receiving a commission on the Nigerian debt deal with the Paris Club in 2005 and influencing $50 million contract for her brother while serving in the government of former president Olusegun Obasanjo told journalists that she expected more attacks ahead but that she won’t be deterred from pursuing the on-going reform agenda.

Her words: “With the launch of this aspect of transformation agenda (transparency), it is not a surprise that we see attacks. And as more aspects of the reform unfolds, we will see more and more attacks against my person and against members of the team.


Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
“The underlying motivation is for this administration not to succeed. Before I came people tried to block me from coming. They actually came to see me to tell me not to come. Because if I came there might be a chance for success.

“The people who are trying to do damage to my reputation, think that they can do that but I assure they cannot and they will never succeed. The more we move on with the reform, they will attack, plant stories and all that. This won’t stop. I am just alerting you.

It won’t stop because when you fight corruption, corruption fights back. So in the attempt to fight corruption, they will try to paint you like one of them”.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala said it was up to the media to cross check their facts before publishing, rather than copy falsehood from “disreputable websites that have now become sites of lies instead of sites of truth.”

When asked if Wikileaks was one of the websites she described as “disreputable”, the minister said “I did not mention wikileaks, but the wikileaks story about me is completely false. How can they say someone alleged that I gave something to JonJon? Anybody who knows me would know I have no brother called JonJon. I am not concerned about that because everybody knows whom I am. But you don’t just let these things go like that. You have to quickly refute them.”

The minister expressed resolve not to be distracted, saying “absolutely, there will be no turning back in terms of doing the work. They will not divert our attention in terms of focusing on the substance”.

According to her, “Nigeria and the 150 million Nigerians are larger than any one individual or of individuals in the country. I don’t understand that kind of psychology. It is not even just about the administration but about the 150 million Nigerians whose lives should be bettered. Some people don’t want that to happen. That is what I take exception to. That they are ready to sacrifice their fellow citizens who want to improve roads, water supply, power supply, create jobs”.

She said that the World Bank usually carry out due diligence on candidates before taking them on and that she would not have been allowed to return to the organization after serving under former president Olusegun Obasanjo, if she was corrupt.

Publication of allocations to states and LGs

In her pursuit of transparency, the minister said she has resumed the publication of detailed monthly allocations to all state governments and local governments to enable Nigerians know how much their governors and local government chairmen receive from the federation account.

“We started during the last administration (Obasanjo’s government) to publish this on a regular basis. When I came back, I found that for almost a year, the publication had stopped. Actually, before that, they were not regular anymore.

“One of the most popular questions that people kept asking me was what happened? Why isn’t the government publishing the allocation to the three tiers of government anymore? So we immediately went to work. I asked President Jonathan who gave his blessing for a quick re-launch of this aspect, since it is by popular demand.

“With the support of the Accountant-General’s Office we started the publication again which you saw last week. But more importantly we have now put together the allocation in the last 15 months into a book. We will load it on the website so that Nigerians can see what their states and local governments receive monthly. That is transparency in action”, she said.

According to the minister individual Nigerians and civil society organizations could now download the data and do independent analysis on the allocations.



2012 Budget



The minister said that work had started in earnest on Budget 2012 and that her team would meet the leadership of the National Assembly between this week and next week with a view to arriving at the fundamentals.

She said that her ministry officials and those of the Budget Office were already working round the clock to ensure that the budget was presented to the legislature between November and early December for an early passage by the National Assembly.

Dr. okonjo-Iweala, however, admitted that there were some difficulties with the implementation of the 2011 budget which required the executive consulting with the legislature on the need to re-allocate funds to some projects for which adequate provisions were not initially made.




VANGUARD NEWSPAPER

rip

ChinenyeN:
ak47mann, it's okay. I like prompting Onlytruth like that, as with EzeUche. Seems like he's learning to ignore me though. He has even given me the silent treatment once here on NL. . . but that was a different time; a serious time, before I became fond of prompting him.

ok cool

ChinenyeN:
Yes, there is no reason for me to hold this conversation with you anyway. You know next to nothing about the natives. So all you will spend your time doing is simply talking "fellow Igbo" yarns and trying to find ways to justify your continued presence in my fathers' land.

Chime Begs Enugu Workers!

Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State has begged striking workers in the state to return to work tomorrow, saying his government was the first to implement the N18,000 minimum wage in the South-East.
Chime, who spoke yesterday on the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) live radio phone-in programme, Ka Oha Malu, urged Enugu workers not to be deceived by those he called outsiders, who do not have their interest and that of the state at heart.

He added that the state had also paid arrears of salaries owed civil servants (for June and July), adding that Enugu pays N18,500 minimum wage and added N10,000 to the salaries of workers between Levels 1 and 6, while those above got N5,000 raise each.
The governor said, “We met with workers several times. We met with them on July 18; met again on July 21. We also met with NLC on August 21,” adding that he had no problems with his workers.
For those who phoned in to complain that they had not been paid the new wage at the local government level, Chime said he had ordered councils to pay the new wage rate, adding that he had made adequate arrangements for that and “they have no reason not to pay the new wage rate.”

He said road maintenance hadn’t commenced because his men were waiting for the rains to subside. He said his government was making concerted efforts to attract foreign investors in his employment drive.
Some of these investors, he said, “are already in the state” adding that Shoprite would open a store within the state’s ultra-modern shopping mall within a week.



THE SUN

^^^^

AM IMPRESSED

gidson12:
i thought there re no kidnappings in those areas

alj_harem:
haba ak47mann na lie be that one

1. where u in northern Nigeria back then

2. did u have a house u wanted to sell and they told u that

3. KNOWING YOU, HOW MUCH DID U CALL your HOUSE 10 million or so

haba we are not that bad.

. not me but someone that had the experience is my friend and am not a lair bro,you see, i don't make up stories like some people do in this forum or trying to sound important i have learned my lesson never invest outside my region why thou, even in my home town nnewi go and ask how much a plot of land is going there, and the value is even going up and up my grand papa lands alone if i sell am i can buy properties in UK or america with no stress if i want. So why invest in a place i might lose everything in one day? but i believe one day things will change in Nigeria for the good,

They should by now give up on igbos and is right time i remember doing 2003 riot in northern Nigeria that time any igbo person that want to sell their property they will tell you in your face that they are not buying that u should carry your house back to east,u no Nigerians got short memories they quickly to forget especially when it comes to SE.Now what did that tells you they are never happy with you remember that,

some said cos rice and beans is cheaper in the north that why igbos went their and settled, you see what[b] poverty/dumb dumb[/b]/ is doing to the people of the northern nigeria?

wonder what these tribalist are doing in this forum

that's a bold move from Nigeria,

^^
i wonderoooo

PAN Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has restated its demand for the creation of more states in the southeast, arguing that it was necessary to correct the structural imbalance in the country.
At a press conference in Lagos during the week to showcase activities lined up for this year’s Igbo Day celebration which comes up on September 29 at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, the Lagos State chapter of the group noted that attempts by the present administration to right the wrongs done to the Igbo nation would be incomplete without the creation of one or more states to put it at par with other geo-political zones in the country.

Chairman, Media and Publicity Committee of the 2011 Igbo Day Celebration, Prince Chidi Nwafor, said: “We recognise Mr. President’s effort in righting the many wrongs meted out to this great resourceful people called Ndigbo and this is why we call on him to facilitate the correction of the greatly fractured imbalance of Nigeria by motivating the creation of the nationally accepted but long awaited one or two states from the southeast geopolitical zone before Nigeria thinks of more states from the six geopolitical zones.”

The group also decried the spate of insecurity and violence in the nation, urging all aggrieved parties to embrace dialogue rather than destroy the country.

Nwafor said Ndigbo cannot keep quiet while the security and peace of the nation is threatened on a daily basis, noting that Nigeria cannot move forward if its leaders continue to be distracted.

“Violence benefits no one; it is counter-productive and only breeds its kind – violence. We call on all Nigerians to please eschew violence and embrace dialogue, for in violence, we hate and destroy, but in dialogue, we love and unite.

“Consequently, we hereby express our deep concern with the recent bombing of the United Nations office in Abuja and the many that had occurred before then, and sincerely condole with the worldwide humanitarian organisation and the families of those who lost dear ones.”

“Indeed, we are really worried whether those who are engaged in this unholy termination of precious and sacred lives are Nigerians. This is because Nigerians respect and love life and would do everything to protect it. So, what is the problem now? We plead with fellow Nigerians to return to our cherished peaceful way and resolve our differences, if any, peacefully and amicably,” he said.





GUARDIAN

Am just me:
At least nobody from Ekiti will grow up tomorrow and tell us, 'I had no shoes, '

i spoke to my girl friend she from owerri and she was in aba yesterday to visit her friend i was on the phone with her she was just screaming abt the state of ABA is very bad she was telling me that abia state need to hang their governors from orji uzo kalu to the present one she say the roads are disgusting that she going back to owerri the next day i think abia state should wake up MANNNN!!!

iwonbaoko1:
i have a picture of your father. wanna see?

COCKROACH

soon we will put people like you in concentration camp for experiment, for drug testing brain disease how about that using u people like guinea pigs

this is what ekiti NL that live in abroad should be doing not bashing igbos up and down

na waooo middle belt are in deep trouble how come there old friends is killing them like these

iwonbaoko1:
@ ak7mann
you diss me i face your mother and father one time buy burukutu for them

MOTHER AND FATHER am even good at it bring it on then.

emmke:
haha. igbo as lords indeed. We have igbo tenants for starters. They are mostly into stuffs like mama put, abacha and uba sellers, welders, provision store owners etc. O yeah thats what u call "living as lords" lol. And for the record u hardly find people from my state in your states, except on fg assignment-why would anyone in his/her right senses leave the middle belt for the south, especially the south east-crazy if u ask me. Lol

o boy i dont wont to leave in the north either, SE is better and cleaner and more peaceful with booming economy too, from what am seeing in jos slaughtering babies and all that thanks keep your north none of my families leaves in north and they got plazas and hotels all over Abuja and Lagos and SE.

iwonbaoko1:
what does this have to do with being YIBBO?. they evict non-yibbo and you are still asking eri mo seleke!!!

you want me to start with you again you no me i will diss you and the worst thing is that my mouth is too too dangerous am warning you the last time go and drink BRUKUTU and sleep

ojir is dumb a.s.s governor i don't no why abians didn't turn the place up side down like there sister IMO state did doing the last election the guy makes me angry bad leader bad governor abians could have riot the whole place b4 he knows it federal govt will call him and beg him to Go,