The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ezekwesili

  • Reps attack Ezekwesili over N1tr pay remark

    Reps attack Ezekwesili over N1tr pay remark

    The House of Representatives has described the comments of former Minister of Education and Solid Mineral Resources Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili as a “simplistic and escapist way of addressing a problem”.

    The lawmakers noted that being a former minister, she would have been more objective if she took time to tell Nigerians what the recurrent expenditure was during her tenure.

    The lawmakers also challenged the former World Bank executive to disclose what it cost taxpayers to maintain her and her aides for a year.

    The Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Victor Ogene, speaking with The Nation yesterday, regretted that the former Minister could not come up with simple calculation of what accrued to the National Assembly and the lawmakers in particular in the period under review.

    Ogene said the National Assembly, comprising 109 Senators, 360 Representatives and the bureaucracy, which is the National Assembly Commission, began to draw its N150b annual budget from the first line charge in 2010.

    According to him, the N150b was meant for legislators’ allowances, their aides, the civil servants, capital projects and allied institutions under the National Assembly, such as the Institute for Legislative Studies, among others.

    “Going by the fact that the entire National Assembly began to get N150b in 2010, it means that before then we could not have got up to that amount.

    “To now come up with a calculation that the lawmakers alone got over N1 trillion during the period, I think that person is jaundiced. What is the percentage of N150b in a budget of N4.9 trillion? she should tell Nigerians”.

    Besides, Ogene noted that the Legislature has always been championing reduction in the cost of governance, adding that the National Assembly set a precedence by cutting its recurrent expenditure which the Executive has failed to do.

    He said: “If we are truly talking about cutting cost of governance, it has to be across the three arms. If that is the case, how do you explain a fleet of 10 aircraft in the presidential fleet and how do you maintain them?

    “Again, how do you defend N2b spent on air tickets by a minister, and that is just one Minister, what about the rest despite the fact that there is a presidential fleet. Why do we need up to 40 Ministers in the first place?

    “The legislature and the judiciary have principal officers too and they have to travel as well; how many aircraft are they maintaining?”

    Ogene said as an institution, the legislature will not descend low to addressing issues raised by individuals such as Mrs. Ezekwesili but would look beyond that to her tenure as a minister and a public official.

    “She was part of several reform committees that ended up being reformed themselves. In view of this, the best way to go to equity is to go with clean hands.

    “It would, however, suffice for Ezekwesili to tell us what recurrent expenditure was during her tenure and what it cost Nigerian taxpayers to maintain her and her aides for a year,” he said.

    On Mrs. Ezekwesili’s suggestion that the federal legislature be reduced to unicameral, the deputy spokesman noted that the advice was in bad faith, adding: “I would rather say this is akin to cutting off one’s nose to spite the face.

    “It is more like removing a child from a private school and placing him in a school without teachers or necessary infrastructure. The legislature is the hallmark of democracy and the National Assembly is always ready and willing to do the best for the Nigerian people.

    “While they (executive) are shouting about cost-effective governance, we will not be blackmailed into accepting suggestions that tend to proffer solution for symptoms and not the actual cure.”

    House Spokesman Zakari Mohammed said if it was the wish of Nigerians, the lawmakers would have no problem with that.

    The chairman, House Committee on Finance, Abdulmumin Jibrin, referred The Nation to the findings of his Committee on remittances of the Federal Government share of internally generated revenue (IGR) by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) that have always been subjected to manipulations.

    He said: “We recovered N108b for government in six months, but the question is, where was the money going to before?

    “When you look at the IGR of the country, say 10 years back, that sub head always carries a total sum of about N300b to about N450b year after year as projections for that category.

    “But at the end of every year, when you go back and look at the performance of that sub head, we never had more than 5 per cent performance. So, even if the projection for a particular year is N100billion, we have never had not more than N2.5billion, and in most cases much lesser than 5 per cent?

    Leader of Opposition in the House , Femi Gbajabiamila, said simple mathematics must have failed the former Minister.

    According to him, Dr. Ezekwesili failed to comprehend the workings of the National Assembly before making her conclusion.

    He said: “I think we should be objective and not dramatic about this obviously sensitive matter. From my simple mathematics if you divide N1 trillion over an eight year period, you will get an average of a little over 100billion per year.

    “Now, this is for a whole and distinct arm of government and covers salaries of legislators, staff of both Houses, the National Assembly Commission, capital projects and over heads etc. When you compare this with the budget of just a single agency or Ministry which is not an arm of government, you begin to get a better understanding and a clear picture.

    “I don’t think N100billion represents two per cent of our annual budget.

    “If part time legislation is the panacea or antidote or solution to our myriad of problems in this country, I am all for it but something tells me it is not tenable for now,” he said.

  • Lawmakers spent N1tr in eight years, says Ezekwesili

    Lawmakers spent N1tr in eight years, says Ezekwesili

    Former Minister of Education Mrs Oby Ezekwesili has again stirred a hornet’s nest. She expressed yesterday concern over the N1 trillion she alleged was spent by federal legislators in the last eight years.

    She said: “Since 2005, National Assembly members alone have been allocated N1trillion.

    Besides, she stressed, a research conducted in Britain identified Nigerian legislators as being the highest paid in the world.

    “N699b went to banks as interest on borrowed loans in 2012 alone; also, 82 per cent of Nigeria’s budgetary cost goes for recurrent expenditure,” she said.

    Mrs Ezekwesili spoke in Abuja while delivering a keynote address at a one-day dialogue session on the cost of governance in Nigeria jointly organised by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and the Federal Public Administration Reform Programme, United Kingdom (UK). She has been criticising the running of the economy, with Presidential aides challenging her to debate.

    The former Minister said the long military rule might have had a negative impact on governance in the country. She said one of the greatest mistakes of the Olusegun Obasanjo administration in which she served, was that Nigeria delved into democracy without necessarily doing away with the military mentality.

    “There is a drawback to the military; one major mistake of the government under which I served was that we simply got into democracy and did not spend reasonable time of removing the militaristic ethos and principles from the minds of every citizen, every leader and every institution,” she said.

    Ezekwesili demanded proactive engagement of the government by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and others and canvassed part-time legislation as a means of lowering the cost of governance.

    She said part-time legislature would ensure that the right people got into governance, adding: “Things will improve through part-time legislations. It will also filter the number of people who will go into the National Assembly.

    “You must have means of livelihood and you don’t need to depend on public funds. We need to learn more on the good and bad side of it. But we can’t rule out the possibility.

    “There should be effective demand by civil societies for the Steve Oronsaye report. You should demand for a mini national transparent dialogue because it touches on the heart of good governance”, she said.

    Mrs Ezekwesili, also advised the diversification of the economy, noting that over-dependence on oil is bound to drag the nation down in view of the alarming poverty level in the country despite its numerous natural and human resources.

    She said: “While other countries are moving forward, Nigeria is entrapped in something called oil, where $1.6 billion is lost to theft annually.

    “We must debate public policies as a nation because if we don’t debate public policies, we are going to make silly mistakes because we didn’t involve the stakeholders. So, policy debates must be encouraged.

    The former minister went on: “The culture of personalising policy dialogues must stop. When you have a problem, you don’t leave the problem and begin to chase other matters. I feel sorry for any person who is fairly okay in this nation and doesn’t care about the poor because there will be an implosion.

    “Whatever treatment that is given to the poor and vulnerable in the society must matter to everybody because except we have social inclusion in the society, we stand the danger of implosion and it has happened in other countries which ignored the vulnerabilities.

    “We have to arrest what will happen if we don’t address the level of poverty in Nigeria.”

    Executive Director of CISLAC Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani criticised what he called “the 10-plane size of the presidential fleet which allegedly gulps N9.08billion annually for maintenance”.

    He faulted what he called “the recent media report of our National Assembly members being the highest paid in the world and the size of the government cabinet at the executive level, including the retinue of superfluous aides and special assistants. “

     

  • Ezekwesili: there are N56m illiterates in Nigeria

    Ezekwesili: there are N56m illiterates in Nigeria

    Former Education Minister, Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili, has asid there are 56 million illeterates in Nigeria.

    The former minister noted that the level of illiteracy has also affected the standard of education in the country.

    She said Nigeria “accounts for 6 million of 36 million school girls that cannot access primary education worldwide. There are about 56 million illiterates in Nigeria. Primary school completion rate ranges between two per cent to 92 per cent, depending on the state”.

    Ezekwesili, a former Vice President of the World Bank (African Region) also described the issue of bureaucracy as a major hindrance to raising the standard of education in Nigeria.

    She spoke at the third Lagos Education Summit at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, with the theme: Qualitative Education in Lagos State: Raising the Standard.

    The event attracted several stakeholders in the education sector, including former Deputy Governor Adebisi Sosan, Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye ,and tutors-general in the state’s education districts, among others.

     

  • Ezekwesili snubbed Jonathan’s ministerial offer, says el-Rufai

    Ezekwesili snubbed Jonathan’s ministerial offer, says el-Rufai

    A  former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has dismissed claims that he and some other ‘yesterday’s men’ are criticising the Jonathan administration because they were not given appointments.

    He says that on the contrary, some of them were approached by the administration with ministerial offers which they declined.

    El-Rufai, who made the submissions in an interview with the current edition of METROPOLE Magazine published by a member of ThisDay Editorial Board, Mr. Waziri Adio, specifically picked on the Special Adviser to the President on Media, Dr.Reuben Abati and said: “So who is he referring to as yesterday’s men? Is it Oby that left the government and went to the World Bank and made a name for herself and came back and still has a decent job?

    “Before Segun Aganga was offered Minister of Finance, it was Oby that was offered. President Jonathan offered her the job and I am putting it out in the public for them to deny it. It was Oby that suggested Segun Aganga and another young man in Africa Development Bank.

    “And that was how Segun Aganga became finance minister when Jonathan became acting president. And after he was elected as president, they still followed Oby to South Africa to offer her the minister of power. Does that sound like yesterday’s men?

    “We chose not to be in this government. I can speak for myself and Oby. It’s not because of anything, but you can’t sit back and your country is being ruined by people and you don’t say anything. And when you say something, their response is to smear you. They expect that will work. We will speak next week and the week after and the week after, till they improve. We want them to improve because nobody wants to destroy them. We have been there before them and we know what it takes to get the job done. They should just do it. It’s not impossible.”

    Dismissing Abati’s claim as absolute nonsense, el-Rufai added: “There are two reasons why I haven’t responded to that. First for me when you write a sketch and you are too cowardly to mention my name I won’t respond. I don’t respond to cowards. That article was simply cowardly because if you want to say I allocated land to myself, wife and companies come out and say so, and we will meet in court. That is the same way the same Reuben Abati wrote about General Buhari and when his lawyers wrote to him he ran around town begging.

    “When I want to write about him, I will mention his name. Secondly, I don’t respond to staff. I respond to presidents. I will not respond to him. Others will respond to him and they have been responding. There is no reason responding to anyone who thinks that we are yesterday’s men because we are not running the show.”

    El-Rufai explained that he was not expelled from PDP. According to him, “I simply walked away. If I want to be in the scheme of things, does it not make sense to remain in PDP? Why would I leave PDP to join an opposition party in a country where opposition parties have never been able to unseat the ruling party? He should at least give me credit for having a brain.

    “I chose to leave PDP voluntarily because I can no longer live with the kind of characters and the thinking within PDP.”

    He challenged former President Olusegun Obasanjo in whose administration he served as minister to open up and tell his own story since he is denying the third term agenda.

    The author of the controversial book Accidental Public Servant said most of the problems facing the country today have their roots in the third term bid.

    He said: “I was in General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s government and we briefed Obasanjo for a whole month. Each ministry had one day to brief the incoming president. But when we were handing over to Yar’Adua, each minister had 30 minutes.

    “Tell me, how you can brief an incoming president on the activities of any ministry in 30 minutes? I think I was the only one that got close to one hour because apart from the FCT, there were the public service reforms and others that I handled. All this is part of the problem that we are still living with. So for me, Third Term was just an adventure that this country didn’t need and I do not have any doubt in my mind that we did the right thing.”

    On the allegation by Obasanjo’s supporters that he is vengeful because the former President did not hand over power to him, el-Rufai insisted he had never aspired to be President.

    He added “I am a permanent suspect, you know. The late Yar’Adua went after me because of that. I have stopped explaining myself or defending myself on that. I have written my book and those that say this is the reason should write their own book and prove that I wanted to be president at any time. I am not an aspirant and I am not a contestant for any office. I have said so and nobody believes me and people have gone after me, people are still going after me because of that.”

    He insisted that his account in the book was balanced and that many were surprised that he lasted that long in Obasanjo’s cabinet because he always argued with him. He, however, admitted, “He (Obasanjo) is very important to me and he gave me the opportunity to be in public service. I will always be grateful to him. But I can’t pretend that Obasanjo as president was perfect.”

  • FG vs Ezekwesili

    FG vs Ezekwesili

    FORMER Minister of Education and immediate past vice-president of the World Bank, Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili, and the Federal Government have been exchanging words over the former’s serious allegation that the Yar’Adua regime and the present administration of President Goodluck Jonathan squandered $67billion left by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.

    Specifically, she alleged that $45billion in foreign reserves account and another $22billion in Excess Crude Account which were direct savings from increased earnings from oil handed over by Obasanjo in 2007 was squandered by Yar’Adua’s and Jonathan’s administrations. This, she claimed, had worsened poverty in the country.

    Jolted by Ezekwesili’s frightening revelation, the Federal Government fired back through its Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, who, rather than explain satisfactorily how the money was spent, challenged Ezekwesili to account for billions of naira allocated to her ministry when she was Minister of Education.

    Perhaps in order not to be left out, President Jonathan’s media aide on public affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, saw Ezekwesili not only as “grandstanding”, but also challenged her to state the source of her information to authenticate her claim. Noting that Ezekwesili had challenged the government to a debate on this issue, Dr Okupe, probably afraid of the consequence of such, said that Jonathan’s government “would not dignify her sweeping statements by joining her for a national debate that she asked for”. Like Maku, Dr Okupe did not address the issues raised by Mrs. Ezekwesili. Rather, he went on sermonising about things and events that were absolutely irrelevant to providing satisfactory answers to Ezekwesili’s damaging allegation.

    For obvious reasons, Nigerians would ask why the Federal Government should wait for this long before it accused Ezekwesili of embezzlement of her ministry’s fund as education minister. Why accuse her of embezzlement now after she had boldly accused the government of misappropriation of $67bn? In fact, the government’s counter-accusation – a miserable afterthought – is a perfect self- indictment on the part of a government that has for so long allowed someone who had “squandered” public funds to walk the streets free since she left office as education minister in 2007. The fact that Maku and Dr Okupe never addressed Ezekwesili’s weighty allegation, but instead indulged in fighting back with irrelevances and subtle threats, is a hallmark of corruption, to say the least.

    It is noteworthy, however, that, as Nigerians tend to believe Ezekwesili’s allegation and disbelieve the Federal Government’s tissue of lies, the House of Representatives, through its committee on finance as well as appropriation, has put its weight behind Nigerians by initiating a probe into the allegation by Ezekwesili. It is very unlikely that she would be that bold to have accused the government of squandering the nation’s resources without good reason, judging from her standing as former special adviser to the president on public procurement and former World Bank vice-president. She was in a position to know the status of the nation’s foreign reserves during Obasanjo’s administration and the time the foreign reserves were squandered.

    Truth is bitter and we do not expect the government to easily admit to Ezekwesili’s allegation. But the matter can be resolved through unbiased investigation, and certainly not by irrelevances and subtle threats by the Federal Government. The House of Representatives and the Senate should probe the matter and let Nigerians know the true state of affairs with regard to the foreign reserves and excess crude account.

  • Ezekwesili is grandstanding, says Jonathan

    Ezekwesili is grandstanding, says Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said former Education Minister, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, is grandstanding and reckless over her allegations that the Yar’Adua-Jonathan administration squandered $67 billion left behind by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration in foreign reserves.

    Quoting a report from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Jonathan said the former Vice-President of the World Bank “lied shamelessly by publishing false figures.”

    He challenged her to state her source of information to authenticate her claims.

    The President spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, who addressed reporters yesterday in Abuja.

    He said his government would not dignify her sweeping statements by joining her for a national debate that she asked for.

    Expressing disappointment, Okupe said a woman of Ezekwesili’s status must base her information on facts and figures.

    Said he: “You will not expect a person of that calibre to descend to the level of table rouser.

    “We find it surprising that after an extensive explanation by the Hon. Minister of Information whereby facts were stated regarding the weighty and sweeping statements made by Mrs. Oby Ezekewsili, rather than cite the sources and establish the credibility of her figures, has decided to divert attention from the issues she raised by calling for a national debate on issues that are not in contention.

    “Ordinarily, the call by Mrs. Ezekwesili for a National Debate with the Minister of Information ought to have been ignored and allowed to fall flat. However, we are compelled to respond in view of the penchant by some highly-placed Nigerians, who use government offices to build up reputations for themselves and then later turn on the same government to denigrate it, just to play to the gallery and incite the public through dissemination of false, unsubstantiated and malicious information.

    “Rather than substantiate her claims, Mrs. Ezekwesili chooses conveniently to grandstand, claiming that she will remain silent until ‘a responsible response’ is given to her demand on accountability. A more rational approach would have been for her, being the Accuser or Agent Provocateur to assume the responsibility of providing the facts to back her claims.”

    Explaining the activities of government, Okupe said: “Money is not spent unless it is budgeted for. Can you call that squandering?”

    According to him, the money spent on running the government is what the CBN remits to the federation, which is then shared by the three tiers of government i.e. Federal, State and Local Government.

    “The corresponding allocation to the Federal Government, based on the approved benchmark, is then dispensed by the Federal Government and the MDAs according to the items specified and approved by the National Assembly in the budget of that year.

    “The unspent balance plus income from other income from exports other than oil constitute the nation’s foreign reserve, a portion of which is kept as the excess crude oil reserve.

    “The latter is shared periodically by the three tiers of government.”

    Quoting a report from the CBN, Okupe said: “It is factually incorrect to say that the reserves of the government were dipped into or misapplied. It is important to note that the Federal Government does not dip its hands into the external reserves. External reserves are available for use in settling both public and private sector foreign currency obligations of Nigeria. Whenever a ministry or agency of government needs to incur approved expenditures in foreign currency (e.g. payment of goods and services, settlement of external debt etc.) it must provide the naira equivalent to the CBN before the bank sells the required foreign currency. The same applies to the private sector.”

  • Maku lectures Ezekwesili on brickbats

    Maku lectures Ezekwesili on brickbats

    A few days ago, a former World Bank vice president (African Region) and also onetime Education minister, Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili, knowingly decided to step on the tail of an adder. While delivering the convocation lecture of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), she blamed the late Umaru Yar’Adua government and the present Dr Goodluck Jonathan administration for squandering about $67 billion or N10.619 trillion left in the national coffers by the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo presidency. She was truly unsparing in her assessment of the two administrations’ financial prudence. Said she: “They squandered the significant sum of $45billion in foreign reserve account and another $22billion in Excess Crude Account, being direct savings from increased earnings from oil that the Obasanjo administration handed over to the successor government in 2007… Six years after the administration I served handed over such humongous national wealth to another one, most Nigerians, but especially the poor, continue to suffer the effects of failing public health and education systems as well as decrepit infrastructure and battered institutions.”

    Not one to leave bad enough alone, Ezekwesili continued even more forcefully: “One cannot but ask what exactly does this level of brazen misappropriation of public resources symbolise? Where did all that money go? Where is the accountability for the use of these resources and the additional several hundred million dollars realised from oil sale by the two administrations that have governed our nation in the last five years? How were these resources applied or more appropriately misapplied? Tragic choices.”

    Well, the adder struck back almost instantaneously on Sunday through a press conference addressed by the Information minister, Mr labaran Maku, who was flanked by the Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe; Economic Adviser, Prof. Nwanze Okedigbo; and Special Adviser on Performance Monitoring, Prof. Sylvester Monye. (By the way, the revenge mission would have been more colourfully undertaken by Dr Okupe directly, with or without assistance, for that is his forte). But since the position of chief traducer was conceded to Maku, how did he perform? According to the minister, “The statement by the former World Bank vice president that the governments of Presidents Musa Yar’adua and Goodluck Jonathan have squandered $67 billion (including $45 billion in foreign reserve and $22 billion in the Excess Crude Account) left by the Obasanjo Administration at the end of May 2007 is factually incorrect.” And he continued: “At the end of May 2007, Nigeria’s gross reserves stood at $43.13 billion – comprising the CBN’s external reserves of $31.5 billion, $9.43 billion in the Excess Crude Account, and $2.18 billion in the Federal Government’s savings. These figures can be independently verified from the CBN’s records. The figure of $67 billion alleged in her statement is therefore clearly fictitious.”

    But this was as far as civility would carry the vengeful quartet. Soon they would soar to incredible level of cynical dismissiveness. Said the clearly incensed Maku: “We also found Mrs. Ezekwesili’s interrogation of the educational system somewhat disingenuous and borderline hypocritical. During her tenure as Minister of Education between 2006 and 2007, she collected total sum of N352.3 billion from direct budgetary releases. In addition, she received about N65.8 billion under the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Fund, and over N40 billion from the Education Trust Fund (ETF) during her time as Minister of Education. In view of these humongous allocations, few legitimate questions arise. What did she do with all these allocations? What impact did it have on the education sector? One wonders if our educational system would have been better today if these allocations were properly applied.” Oh, so, it must be tit for tat. Ezekwesili had questioned what the Yar’Adua and Jonathan governments did with the ‘humongous’ foreign reserve left by Obasanjo; and in turn Maku and his men are now questioning what the former Education minister did with the ‘humongous’ allocation to the education sector under her watch.

    Hardball is not in a position to determine what Dr. Wale Babalakin did or didn’t do with former Delta State governor, Chief James Onanafe (the same Onanafe) Ibori, for the case is still in court. But it is interesting that when he had disagreement with the government on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway concession, it was time for the government to take him to the EFCC showers. Had Ezekwesili considered the delicate temperament of the Jonathan government, especially its bilious intolerance of dissent, she would have measured her criticism of its profligacy. Now that she is even challenging Maku and other government champions to a public debate, a gauntlet the voluble duo will not take up, let her beware of the acrid smell of vengeance wafting in the air as the empire strikes back.

     

     

  • Ezekwesili, Omeri: youths must be change agents

    Ezekwesili, Omeri: youths must be change agents

    •NOA inaugurates campaign at UNICAL

    The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has inaugurated its “Do the Right Thing: Campus Focus” initiative at the University of Calabar (UNICAL).

    Speakers at the event included former World Bank Vice-President Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili; the Managing Director of The Guardian, Mr. Emeka Eluem-Izeze; NOA Director-General Mike Omeri; Minister of Culture and Tourism Edem Duke and a Professor of Political Strategy, Femi Odekunle.

    Others are Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba; a Professor of Law at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Abubakar Ladan; Senior Special Assistant to the President on Students’ Matters Jude Imagwe and rights activist Ene Ede.

    Omeri regretted that wrong values have been entrenched in tertiary institutions.

    He said the “Do the Right Thing” campaign in campuses was conceived to facilitate a return the core values of the nation.

    Omeri said the campaign would be championed by UNICAL’s Department of Theatre and Media Studies.

    Duke called for a revival of societal values. He described students as the building blocks of the nation’s future, who cannot afford to fail in the responsibility of championing national transformation.

    Duke said: “You must commit yourselves to the values that every great nation holds dear, so that effortlessly, this nation will transform to the nation of our dreams.”

    UNICAL Vice-Chancellor Prof. James Epoke urged students to be good examples and campaign against dishonesty, violence and laziness among youths.

    Dr. Ezekwesili urged students to tailor their skills and educational attainments towards national transformation, rather than job acquisition.

    She described corruption as the bane of national transformation in most countries.

    Mrs. Ezekwesili said it is a symptom of poor governance, which reduces the capacity of a people to attain their full potentials.

    She urged youths to fight the malaise and reposition the nation’s future. Mrs. Ezekwesili encouraged youths to take up the challenge of refocusing the economy from being crude oil-based to human capital-based to save the economy from collapse.

  • Oby Ezekwesili joins Bharti Airtel board

    Oby Ezekwesili joins Bharti Airtel board

    Former Education Minister  Mrs Obiageli Katryn Ezekwesili has joined the board of Bharti Airtel. In a statement, the company, said she was bringing her wealth of experience to the board.

    Mrs Ezekwesili is a former World Bank Vice President for Africa and a world-renowned expert on economic reforms and economic governance.

    She also served as director of the Harvard-Nigeria Economic Strategy Programme in Boston and Abuja.

    Mrs Ezekwkesili holds a master’s in International Law from the University of Lagos, a master’s in Public Policy and Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She is also a chartered accountant.

    At the World Bank, Mrs Ezekwesili, according to the statement, was responsible for operations in 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and supervised a lending portfolio of over $40 billion.

    The Nation gathered that the change in the Bharti Airtel board affected its subsidiary, Bharti Infratel.

    The change was effected because of the proposed Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Bharti Infratel, which is one of the leading providers of passive telecom infrastructure in India.

    Bharti Infratel deploys, owns and manages telecom towers and communication structures, for various mobile operators across 18 states of India. It is the industry’s pioneer in adopting green energy initiatives across its tower network.

    Bharti Infratel also has a footprint of over 33,000 towers and holds a 42 per cent stake in Indus Towers Limited – a Joint Venture between Bharti Infratel, Vodafone & Idea Cellular.