The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Okonjo-Iweala

  • Okonjo-Iweala: we won’t forget Chibok girls

    Okonjo-Iweala: we won’t forget Chibok girls

    The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, promised yesterday that the Federal Government will not relent in its efforts to rescue the over 200 abducted schoolgirls by the Boko Haram sect.

    The minister spoke in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, at the launch of an oil palm plantation and the distribution of personal computer tablets to fresh students of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN).

    She said: “I want to start this occasion by telling that we should take one minute to recognise a group of young women for whom we are saddened and waiting: our young girls from Chibok. Can you start up for just one minute, please!

    “We promised that we would not forget them, and we will not. The reason I wanted to mention them is because when we speak about what happened to them, we feel sad. But when we enter this hall with all of you, with your energy, the president of your students’ union said your campaign of positivity. This is a wonderful thing to feel in this country. You have given me hope.”

  • We will not forget abducted girls – Okonjo-Iweala

    We will not forget abducted girls – Okonjo-Iweala

    The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Thursday promised that the Federal Government will not relent in its efforts to rescue the abducted schoolgirls.

    The minister said this in Ilorin, Kwara State, at the launch of oil palm plantation and distribution of personal computer tablets to fresh students of the University of Ilorin.

    She said, “I want to start this occasion by telling that we should take one minute to recognize a group of young women for whom we are saddened and waiting, our young girls from Chibok. Can you stand up for just one minute please?

    “We promised that we would not forget them and we will not. The reasons that I wanted to mention them is because when we speak about what happened to them we feel sad. But when we enter this hall with all you, with your energy, your president of the Student Union said your campaign of positivity. This is a wonderful thing to feel in this country and you have given me hope. “

    On the computer tablets she added: “The handing out of the PC. This links you to the world. Nigeria has one of the highest population of young people with mobile phone. We have the third fastest growing country for demand of mobile phones. We have 128 million mobile phone subscribers in this country.

    “Owning this tablet puts a great responsibility on you. Yes, it connects you to the world, but it should connect you to the world to improve your learning. Not to use the tablet for other activities that do not add value.

    “I want to urge you to consider the PC that you are receiving, the tablet, an instrument for growth and I know that with the quality of the students we have here today, this is what we are going to see.

    “The second is the launching of the palm plantation. This is wonderful feat. This would be used for learning, forestry, agriculture, even the beautification of the campus and above all to generate a steady income for the university.”

     

  • FG lacks confidence to find Chibok girls – Okonjo-Iweala

    FG lacks confidence to find Chibok girls – Okonjo-Iweala

    The federal government lacks the confidence to thump its chest and say categorically that it can find the abducted schoolgirls, the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said.

    Okonjo-Iweala said this while answering questions thrown at her by Katie Couric of Yahoo News.

    She said, “No one can answer that question. There is no one who can tell you with confidence. What we can tell you is that every single possible resource will be used to track these girls. You are dealing with people who are irrational.”

    When reminded that there is a tidal wave of criticism about the Nigerian government’s response to the kidnapping, the minister said “the government did not communicate what it was doing previously, because there was some element of reticence so as not to cause harm to the girls.

    “That should not have been the case, it should have been that there was communication so that the Nigerian public and the parents of these girls know that action is being taken,” she stated.

    Okonjo-Iweala continued: “President Goodluck Jonathan has openly pledged his commitment to do everything to rescue these girls, and the government has stepped up action. It has appealed to the international community for help and is accepting help from the United States, France, the United Kingdom and China and they are all coming in.

    “The government has stepped up the number of troops that are working there and is working with countries that have satellite imagery to do more.”

    When asked how trustworthy President Jonathan is and why the families seem to know where the girls are but the government does not, the minister dismissed what she called characterization as incorrect.

    “They searched in the Sambisa forest, they were not using aerial surveillance, they were not able to find the girls. This is a large area and it is not clear whether they (abducted girls) are still together in a group or whether they have been split up, and the whole idea is that nothing should be done to harm the girls. In the past, the country has used some aerial surveillance but you can’t do that because you don’t want to end up harming the girls.”

    On how the government plans to stop the sect, who want women to stop going to school and getting jobs, the finance minister said, “we are going to stop the extremists with a multi-prong approach. It is not a simple thing; there is the military angle, the insurgency angle, the political angle that has to be pursued and also there is the development angle where we have to give our young people hope and make sure that their school is not interfered with, that they feel more secure.”

     

  • PwC to audit NNPC – Okonjo-Iweala

    PwC to audit NNPC – Okonjo-Iweala

    The Federal Government Thursday said it has appointed forensic auditors to investigate the activities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

    The disclosure was made by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who also revealed that accounting firm – PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has been appointed to carry out the exercise.

    She spoke during a debate at the 24the edition of the World Economic Forum for Africa with theme: “Forging inclusive growth, creating jobs.”

    Okonjo-Iweala said the exercise would be carried out within 16 weeks under the supervision of the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation.

    The suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had blown the whistle on a missing $20 billion, which he claimed was not remitted to the federation account by the NNPC.

    Following the controversy generated by the revelation, Okonjo-Iweala said the forensic audit would help unravel all mystery surrounding the missing fund.

    “On the issue of holding government to account, I don’t think Nigerians are laying back. We need that transparency and we welcome it. The (suspended) CBN Governor raised issues on unaccounted amount from the federation account and we at the ministry of finance have for two years been reconciling these figures with the NNPC to know what they are supposed to remit to the federation account.

    “Our feeling is that the only way is to have a forensic audit that would let Nigerians know the issue,” the minister said.

     

  • Okonjo-Iweala on why Nigeria rebased GDP

    Okonjo-Iweala on why Nigeria rebased GDP

    Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister of Finance, at the weekend said the essence of rebasing Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was to ascertain the actual size of its population.

    Okonjo-Iweala made this known at a workshop on: “A Reflection of Nigeria GDP Rebasing: Issues, Facts and Fiction” organised by Kukah Centre in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance in Abuja.

    She explained that knowledge of the country’s population would help to direct the country’s economic policies and how to manage it.

    “The reason we did the rebasing is to get the actual size of the economy; it was done purely to get the facts on the table.

    “When we saw the final number we were so afraid and we spent three months with our own experts to arrive at the number.

    “You know, when the Director of the Centre spoke, he talked about how much the number means to us as a country.

    “And, he spoke about the cynics, those who will say ‘na GDP we go chop’ and that brings me to the central point of what we want to make about the rebasing.

    “It was neither done for optimism nor for pessimism nor cynicism and I find it quite astonishing that people are commenting on this,” she said.

    Okonjo-Iweala, who is also the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, explained that rebasing of the GDP had allowed the country to examine the key sectors of the economy “and also to identify those sectors that are making progress and those not included in the GDP.”

    She said that the rebasing had also enabled the federal government to know that Nigeria’s economy was moving in the same direction like the economies of other parts of the world.

    She said that one of the major problems in Nigeria was that people found it difficult to accept facts, adding that accepting the facts was necessary to move the country forward.

    “When we have facts, let us accept them and move on. We should not write columns and commentaries on issues that are facts.

    “Some things in life are facts; it is a fact that for 24 years we did not know the size of Nigeria’s economy, because we did not do what every country is supposed to do in every five years and that is to rebase GDP,” she said.

    The minister called on all Nigerians to disregard the challenges in the country and device ways in which the country would move forward.

    She commended the Kukah Centre for organising the programme which provided opportunity for debate on issues affecting the people.

    “We cannot have enough; we need this kind of thoughtfulness, and we need thinking people to really put up institutions that will lead this country.

    “ I and the country look forward to more from your office and I will like to have more informed debate and if the Kukah Centre can help us on this, it will really be good,” she said.

  • Okonjo-Iweala, Dangote listed among world’s most influential people

    Okonjo-Iweala, Dangote listed among world’s most influential people

    The TIME magazine has named the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in the 2014 TIME 100, its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

    The Minister is listed in the “Leaders” category of the respected list, along with Chinese President Xi Jinping; United States Secretary of State, John Kerry; Russian President Vladmir Putin; Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, among others.

    Alhaji Alike Dangote; former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton; Chair of the US Federal Reserve Board, Janet Yellen and German ChancellorAngela Merkel were among those honoured in other categories of the award.

    In an accompanying profile, respected global activist and founder of ONE campaign, Bono paid tribute to the minister’s contribution to achieving the historic debt deal with the Paris Club and the fight against corruption.

    He also lauded her for her work as Finance Minister, stating that “she’s got one of the toughest jobs on the planet.”

    Bono said of Okonjo-Iweala, “Humour and joy spill out of her. She is “fiercely intelligent; everyone wants her to work with them. I couldn’t be prouder to work for her.”

    In her reaction, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala expressed her delight and humility at the honour, following so soon after the Rockefeller Leadership Award which she got recently.

    “I am grateful to God for his blessings and I appreciate the privilege and honour of working for my country. I am thankful to my teams that worked hard to help me achieve. I appreciate the support and prayers of millions of Nigerians and friends around the world. This is vastly encouraging.”

     

  • Nigerians live worse than before, says Okonjo-Iweala

    Nigerians live worse than before, says Okonjo-Iweala

    With the new recalculation of Nigeria’s GDP, the Federal Government has warned Nigerians not to jubilate because what the rebasing figures have thrown up means Nigerians “live worse than before.”

    The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala sounded this note of caution yesterday in Abuja at the inauguration of the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) multi-disciplinary training centre.

    According to Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, “we live worse than before. Those who want to think that we just need large GDP to live well, is not true because, by this ratio, it doesn’t look so good.”

    The ratio she was referring to was the tax revenue to GDP ratio that is contained in the rebased figures of the GDP. Nigeria’s new GDP figures saw tax revenue to GDP ratio declined to about 12 per cent and four per cent for non-oil tax to revenue as against the pre-rebasing figures of 22 per cent for tax to GDP ratio and seven per cent for the non oil tax revenue to GDP ratio.

    She stated that “Nigeria is confronted with many constraints when attempting to increase tax revenues. We have just celebrated the fact that Nigeria has now become the largest economy in Africa with N80 trillion of GDP ($509.9bn), which makes us the 26th largest economy in the world and advances us on our goal to become one of the 20 largest economies in the world. But I want to tell you that there is one piece of the news that is not so cheering. With the increase in GDP, all our revenue ratios have been recalculated.”

    To the tax collectors, she directed that “for tax revenue to GDP, we now have to redouble our efforts to get back to the 20 per cent ratio at least that we were before and I want all of us to rise up to the challenge with the continuous improvement on the capacity of tax official through training in the modern method of auditing of companies.” Dr. Okonjo-Iweala then instructed the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) to increase Nigeria’s tax revenue to GDP ratio to 20 per cent. Earlier in his address, the Acting Chairman of the FIRS, Alhaji Kabir Mashi, disclosed that the training institute, which was built at a cost of N800m, would be upgraded to a full-fledged department to be headed by a director, and the training centre would be made available for taxpayer’s education.

     

  • Nigeria now largest economy in Africa, says Okonjo-Iweala

    Nigeria growing in an unequal manner – Finance Minister

    Nigeria is now the largest economy in Africa and the 26th largest economy in the World.

     This disclosure was made on Sunday in Abuja at a press briefing where the results of the rebasing exercise of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was unveiled.
    Speaking on the development, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala stated that with the recent exercise, “Nigeria’s estimated GDP in 2013 is N80.2 trillion or approximately $509.9 billion.”
    As a result, Nigeria she said “has moved to be the largest economy by GDP size in Africa and has moved to be the 26th largest economy in the world, it notched 10 points up. On a per capita basis, Nigeria is number 121 in the world so we have the total GDP size of $2,688 per capita now and moved up from 135.”
    Okonjo-Iweala however cautioned that “even though our GDP size is large in Africa and even to the world where we are number 26, if you divide it by the total number of our population we should not get carried away by the whole exercise.”
    “The share of GDP of some sectors are now quite important. Manufacturing moved from 2 per cent to 7 per cent which is significant and telecommunications moved from a very low number of 1 per cent to 3 per cent. Nollywood moved from zero per cent to 1.2 per cent now and it was not being included in the GDP that was earlier measured as well as a lot of telecommunications services. A whole lot of services in the formal and informal sectors were excluded from our GDP and these have now been brought in in terms of measurement.”
    This rise in services she said is not unusual for any economy and the fact that agriculture is now 22 per cent does not make it any less important. Agriculture she said is “still has a strong share of GDP and that is why we will maintain our focus.”
    What this means Okonjo-Iweala added “is that what Nigerians have been wishing for, that is a more diversified economy is showing up in these numbers, with better information we can see that the economy is more diversified than before.”
    She lamented that the share of oil and gas has dropped to about 15.9 per cent “but it is still an important sector of the economy as any sector with 10 per cent or more of the GDP is considered important to the economy but services is making a bigger mark.”
    Government,  the finance minister said “will need to continue to support diversification of the economy and push harder and we need to continue to support agriculture, manufacturing because we have seen how it has grown with policies.”
  • Immigration stampede: Govt to create more jobs

    Immigration stampede: Govt to create more jobs

    Federal Government has vowed to honour the memory of the dead Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) applicants by creating more jobs.

    Speaking at the inaugural Housing Stakeholders’ Implementation Summit in Abuja yesterday, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said: “The best way to honour the memory of youths, who died at the Immigration recruitment, is for us to create more jobs.

    “There is a lot of distress in the country and people are questioning whether the government has created the 1.6 million jobs it claimed to have created last year. The answer is, it has, according to the information from the National Office of Statistics. However, the problem is we have 1.8 million entrants into the job market every year. So, job creation has not caught up with the number of people entering the job market.”

    She noted that government is caught between “creating 1.6 million jobs vs. 1.8 million needed per year. So there is a 200,000 job deficit per year. In addition, we have a pool accumulated over time, of unemployed people amounting to 5.3 million and a pool of under-employed people (those working but the job is not full time) of 13.6 million. So Nigeria has a difficult unemployment challenge accumulated over the years.”

    Dr. Okonjo-Iweala said she hoped the first target of creating jobs for new entrants of 1.8 million was almost in sight, adding: “Once we reach that on a steady level, we can focus on creating more for the unemployed and under-employed pool.”

    She said the summit had given the government “the opportunity to stand true to the memories of those who died seeking Immigration jobs.”

     

    The minister urged stakeholders at the summit to keep to their pledge “to jump start the programme with at least 10,000 new house owners or mortgage beneficiaries by the end of the year. With the ratio of five direct and 2.5 indirect jobs created per house, this should enable us create at least 75,000 jobs as a start.”

    Well-functioning housing markets, she said, enabled savings, wealth creation and entrepreneurial development, “as a result, housing can address two interrelated policy priorities of poverty reduction and economic growth through enterprise development.”

    According to Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, “we need to work harder and faster to create more jobs for our youths. We are focusing on housing because this sector can increase the number of jobs in addition to growing the economy. This sector will create jobs for builders, carpenters, plumbers, managers, interior decorators… so many jobs.”

    She identified two parallel working groups mandated to analyse and deliver on the two major constraints identified as mitigating against harnessing the full potential of the sector.

    These are the Housing Finance group, chaired by the Ministry of Finance and includes partners: CBN, PMIs, World Bank, IFC, commercial banks, NAICOM, etc.; and land and land titling issues, mandated to review extant land regulations and registration processes to determine how best to ensure a more transparent and simplified access to land and C of O s.

  • 10,000 Nigerians to own houses in 2014, says Okonjo-Iweala

    10,000 Nigerians to own houses in 2014, says Okonjo-Iweala

    The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Monday said 10,000 Nigerians would own houses in 2014 through the Nigerian Mortgage Refinancing Company (NMRC).

    Okonjo-Iweala stated this at a Stakeholders Housing Summit in Abuja.

    She said that the government had already received funds for the programme from the World Bank and additional 25 million dollars (about N4.1 billion) for micro financing and mass housing initiative.

    She said the 25 million dollars would be utilised for the mass housing initiative and to help persons at the bottom of the society to repair their old houses.

    She assured that the NMRC would begin operations at the end of June, 2014.

    Okonjo-Iweala said that money would be pushed into the system if state governors would be ready to release Certificates of Ownership of Lands.

    The minister said that the summit would come up with the criteria for accessing the mortgage loans.

    She described the progarmme as “a very important milestone” of the Federal Government in its effort to provide affordable housing for all Nigerians.

    Okonjo-Iweala said that government would ensure that the project was realisable.

    “We are here to ensure that at the end of this year, so many Nigerians will say that as a result of this initiative, they have been able to buy a piece of land to construct their houses.

    “ I am hoping that at the end of this occasion, we would have launched an initiative where 10,000 Nigerians who do not have houses today will have access to housing,’’ she stressed.

    Okonjo-Iweala also said that the new mortgage system would be an avenue to create jobs for young Nigerians.

    “We have not yet created enough jobs to meet the number of entrants in the labour market each year; it is not that we are not creating jobs, but the issue is that we still have a gap of about 200,000 jobs.

    “ We have to work harder to meet that gap because also accumulated over the years is a pool of about 5.3 million unemployed Nigerians.

    “ You do not only have to deal with the pool entering into the market, but also the number that has been there without jobs,’’ she said.

    The minister said effective housing sector would have significant multiplier effects that could create mass employment in the construction and building industry and related industries.

    In her speech, Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs Akon Eyakenyi, expressed optimism that governors in the 14 pilot states of the project would strive to enhance operations of their mortgage companies.

    Eyakenyi assured that the ministry would continue to collaborate with all stakeholders to provide enabling policies, strategies and plans for the realisation of the housing initiative.