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Tag: Okonjo-Iweala

  • Why Subsidy account is empty – Okonjo-Iweala

    Why Subsidy account is empty – Okonjo-Iweala

    The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has explained why the subsidy account is empty.

    Addressing journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, the minister said her ministry had made the N161.6 billion supplementary budget for subsidy payments which had been approved by the National Assembly available to the Central Bank of Nigeria since December 31, 2012.

    However, the payments, according to her, are presently going through the CBN’s processes which include the conversion of the dollar equivalent from the foreign Excess Crude Account to the domestic Excess Crude Account and that will be concluded soon.

    The minister noted that the process of converting the money from dollar to naira doesn’t normally take long.

    “If there is already money in the domestic excess crude account to honour it they get it immediately. Sometimes you have to shift money from one account to the other,” she told journalists.

    She explained that if the money is in the dollar equivalent of the excess crude account, the government will have to shift it to the domestic and that means it has to be converted into naira by the central bank.

    “We have to authenticate the amount and this process normally takes five days and a week between the central bank and ministry of finance to accomplish. The central bank is very strict by trying to have all the documentation.”

    “The process is on, the money has been released and is being converted into naira by the central bank and I don’t think there is any issue with this.

    “Presently, the money has been credited to the account now by the Accountant General of the Federation. The conversion is being done and marketers who said they have not been able to access should go now to get their money. It is not something that takes some months,” she said.

    On payments to marketers, Okonjo-Iweala confirmed that payments totaling N94 billion have been verified for 23 marketers who will be paid in the next few days.

     

     

  • Subsidy fraudsters behind my mum’s kidnap, says Okonjo-Iweala

    Subsidy fraudsters behind my mum’s kidnap, says Okonjo-Iweala

    Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has disclosed why her mother was kidnapped.

    She told reporters yesterday that she “can’t give all the details because we don’t want to compromise on-going investigations”, but, according to her, her mother told investigators that the abductors said she was kidnapped because her daughter refused to pay subsidy cash and blocked payment to certain components of the SURE-P programme.

    Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said: “Apart from the emotional trauma of being violently taken away from her family and kept incommunicado for five days in a strange environment, a woman of 83 years was left without food and water for five days.”

    The Okonjo family, she said, “are thankful and give glory to God that she is alive today to tell the tale.”

    Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said the kidnappers “spent much of the time harassing the old woman. They told her that I must get on the radio and television and announce my resignation. When she asked why, they told her it was because I did not pay oil subsidy money; they also said I had blocked payment of money to certain components of the SURE-P programme.”

    These, she said, are not true. In the case of subsidy payments, she said, the government has been paying all marketers whose claims have been verified by the Aig-Imoukhuede Committee after going through the processes.

    But she remained defiant that claims that can not be verified or marketers still owing the government will not be paid.

    Said the minister: “For marketers whose transactions are proven to be fraudulent, the position of the Jonathan government is also clear; we cannot and we will not pay. We will not back down on this. We will continue to stand firm.” This is the right thing to do. And this, I believe, is what the Nigerian people want.

    With regards to the case of SURE-P, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said: “There is a totally different process that I have no control over.”

    The minister was grateful to members of the international community for their support, notably “the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mr David Cameron, who took the trouble to write a personal note to encourage me; the United States Embassy and government; the Secretary General of the United Nations and the entire UN family; the President of the World Bank and former Presidents of the World Bank; the Managing Director of the IMF; the Mo Ibrahim Foundation; Bono and the One Foundation; Heads of international agencies and dignitaries”.

    Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala thanked President Goodluck Jonathan and the First Lady who, she said “were absolutely wonderful and first rate in their support and encouragement to me and my family throughout this terrible ordeal”. “The President took a daily interest in the case and gave directives for appropriate action by the security agencies.”

    The security agencies she noted also did a good job. She said they were “very professional and enthusiastic in the discharge of their duties”. “I am hopeful that they will complete the job which they started so well.”

    However, the news conference was tempered by the death of the former governor of Kaduna State Mr Patrick Yakowa, and the former National Security Adviser, Gen Andrew Azazi, in an helicopter crash at the weekend.

    Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, said her heart “is heavy, with the news of the passing of my brothers, Governor Patrick Yakowa, General Andrew Aziza and the others who were on that last flight with them. “It is, indeed, a great tragedy. Our sympathy and prayers go to their families. We pray for divine comfort for them in this very difficult time.”

     

  • Okonjo: Security lapses led to my mum’s abduction – Son

    Okonjo: Security lapses led to my mum’s abduction – Son

    One of the children of the Okonjo family, Mr Onyema Okonjo, on Monday blamed security lapses for the kidnap of his mother, Prof. Kanenne Okonjo.

    Kanenne (82), is the mother of the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

    Onyema told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ogwashi-Uku, Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta that his mother was kidnapped on Sunday at her residence between 12 noon and 1 p.m. by 10 young men.

    “They came in two green Golf cars and it all happened very quickly.

    “I think there were definitely some lapses in terms of security. It is not what it should have been, the people that were supposed to have been here were not here.

    “This gave them the opportunity to do what they wanted to do, but at the end of the day; we really have to be prayerful.

    “I think it is really a sad reflection of where we are as a society,” Onyema, the sixth in the line of seven children of the Okonjos,  said

    He wondered why an octogenarian woman, a grand mother and great grand mother should be kidnapped.

    Onyema said that his father, Prof. Chukwuka Okonjo, the Obi of Ogwashi-Uku and Okonjo-Iweala were on their away to Ogwashi-Uku when the incident happened.

    When contacted, the Commissioner of Police in Delta, Mr Ikechukwu Aduba, said that this was not the time to trade blames.

    He, however, promised that any officer indicted would be punished.

    Aduba said that in every case of kidnapping, there was always an insider, adding that investigation was on to unravel the situation and free Kanenne unhurt.

    “We have been holding meetings with the governor and we have sent out our men to comb every nook and cranny and I am sure we will get her out unhurt,’’ Aduba said.

    NAN reports that there was a large number of security personnel at the residence of the Okonjos at the time of filling this report.

  • Okonjo-Iweala’s mother kidnapped

    Okonjo-Iweala’s mother kidnapped

    Mother of the Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo -Iweala was on Sunday abducted at the Ogwashi-Uku palace in Delta State.

    The 82 years old  octogenarian,  Professor Kanene  Okonjo who is the queen mother of Ogwashi-Uku  was abducted at about 1:47pm by a gang of armed men who seized her at  the palace gate and took her away to an unknown destination.
    The police have however  arrested a man who allegedly left the palace compound few minutes before she was kidnapped.
    The man was said to have informed the housemaid that he was in the palace to take the queen mother to somewhere in the town.
    It was gathered that the kidnappers numbering about 10 were lurking around the palace until the Minister’s mother and her maid came down to serve workers at the gate  drinks.
    Eye witness account said as soon as the woman came down from the main  building  towards the gate, the kidnappers also moved in from the gate, grabbed  and pushed her into a waiting Golf Volkswagen car.
    “The abductors when they walked into the compound were heavily armed.
    They were about ten. They bailed up the men fixing the interlocking tiles and asked them to lay face down. Immediately they saw her (the King’s wife who was coming towards the gate with her maid to serve the workers drinks, they bundled her into a waiting vehicle the Golf car while another car was parked outside”.
    One of them, bracing all odds, reportedly went upstairs to collect the woman’s handbag. The eyewitness said another maid who sighted the kidnapper upstairs hid herself in the Kitchen.
    On coming down from the upstairs, the kidnapper informed his gang members that there was no one else in the house before  they zoomed off.
    At the palace of Prof. Chukwuka  Okonjo yesterday, the atmosphere was  gloomy as many sympathizers and well wishers, including members of the  community’s vigilante group gathered discussing the development.

    When contacted, the State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Charles Muka confirmed the report

  • Okonjo-Iweala, Sanusi, Diezani: What essence?

    Okonjo-Iweala, Sanusi, Diezani: What essence?

    ‘History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamour of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.’
    ————Martin Luther King, Jr.

    In today’s Nigeria, the spirits of our ancestors are being troubled by agents of neo-colonialism that have espoused and inflicted painful policies on the people in the name of governance. Their jobs are being made easier because of the inept leadership that is epitomised by President Goodluck Jonathan. In the on-going dispensation, the most visible agents of neo-colonialism in the Nigerian system are Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and Mrs. Diezani Allison-Maduekwe. They are collaborators of disingenuous governance championed by President Jonathan through the Finance Ministry, Central Bank of Nigeria and the lucrative Ministry of Petroleum Resources respectively.

    Of recent, the conducts and utterances of the trio have insulted the sensibilities of Nigerians and even further damned the credibility of the current administration for lacking good sense of political economy. Sanusi Lamido, obviously the most loquacious among the world’s apex bank governors set the tone of malice against the struggling people of this country when he called for the sack of 50 per cent of civil servants in the federal civil service. In a contradictory argument quite unbefitting of a CBN governor, he averred in favour of fuel subsidy removal but in a bemused move canvassed for sanctioning of those indicted for stealing what he termed ‘subsidy’.

    While he received severe flaks for such impolitic statements, forcing him to swallow his verbatim reported words, denying them by saying that he was quoted out of contest, his misguided fellow and coordinating minister of the economy came out in public to fester the sore of Sanusi’s mischief by supporting this unnecessary and infamous policy vitriolic.

    At a recently press conference in Abuja, Okonjo-Iweala was reportedly quoted to have said: “We had this hue and cry about misquoting of Lamido and people almost called for his head, but you have to understand that when you talk about reducing cost of governance, you are ultimately talking about human beings.” She further added: “The same public that is crying about cost of governance will remind you that one civil servant is catering for five other Nigerians when you really want to reduce the cost of governance….Let me tell you, the targets of this fiscal tightening are human beings; they are the ones that must be eliminated to prune down the costs. The cost of personnel in the budget is 32 per cent and that is huge.”

    On the periphery, Okonjo-Iweala might seem to be making sense but upon rigorous scrutiny, it is discovered that what she has done, like her cohorts in the CBN and the Petroleum ministry, was to rationalize their clique’s greed and policy tyranny by saying that Sanusi’s call was made for the good of the nation. But we all know that nothing is more despicable than actions that appear on the surface to be respectable and praiseworthy but were in actual fact underlined by greed and other ulterior motives. Perhaps, the likes of Okonjo-Iweala and her friends in the corridors of power must realise that what is called governance is the judicious exercise of power and decision-making for a nation and that the well-being of the country depends on the choices made by the people granted this authority. If the policies of the Ministry of Finance, Petroleum Ministry and the CBN under the trio are not ones that can benefit the mass of the Nigerian people, then, what is their essence in the government of the country? It is opportune to remind the trio what they already know but are trying to hide, that Nigeria’s trillions and $44billion public debts have been shared by just 17,500 top public officers and political parasites. A better analysis on this claim will be done in this space by yours sincerely in the ensuing weeks ahead.

    This is why the trio with their satanic official views must be told in unequivocal terms that people like them in public office whether directly or indirectly undermine among others, Nigeria’s national security, overall safety and Nigerians confidence and trust in their government. It is an open secret that virtually those that are in the corridors of power engage in money laundering, official extortion, embezzlement, collection of kickbacks and bribes. They utilise public office for private advantage.

    The focus on these three public figures in this column today is informed by the observation of Martin Luther King, Jr. where he said: ‘History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamour of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.’ It will be bad for yours sincerely to contribute to the evolving leadership and entrapped policy tragedies under President Jonathan by maintaining an undignified silence with some too trusting, or better put compromised citizens of this country. After all, a philosopher once said; we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.

    That is why one is saying through this medium that whatever successes might have been recorded by Okonjo-Iweala, Lamido Sanusi and Diezani in the private sector have been rubbished by their complicity in the looting of the nation’s till under this current dispensation. Were the trio still to be in the World Bank, First Bank or Chevron International respectively, would the looting under the guise of fuel subsidy going on in the country, under their supervision, have been condoned? Could they say in all honesty that they have positively impacted on the Nigerian nation with their oppressively drab and provokingly stagnant managerial styles? Will the World Bank have condoned a budget situation where the recurrent will be higher than capital expenditures that Iweala sits atop? Will their subordinates in former places of work be proud of their double standards and policy affronts on Nigerians? Could the trio in all conscience be bold to affirm that more jobs have been created under this regime to necessitate their calls for sack of public workers?

    Thomas Paine once said that: “It is the responsibility of the patriot to protect his country from its government.”The demand to make at this juncture is to ask genuine patriots and groups to come out and demand for the sack of Okonjo-Iweala, Sanusi Lamido and Diezani from this administration for failing to be good ambassadors of good governance. Indeed, the trio are advocates of governance by mischief and deceit. For their boss, Jonathan’s sack, let us all wait till 2015 when we should all refuse to cast our votes for him.

  • I didn’t support mass sack in civil service – Okonjo-Iweala

    I didn’t support mass sack in civil service – Okonjo-Iweala

    The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said she is not in support of mass sack in the civil service.

    A statement from the ministry signed by her Senior Adviser on Media, Paul Nwabuikwu, said the minister had told those canvassing for an increase in the capital budget and a “concomitant” reduction in recurrent expenditure to realise that the largest component of recurrent expenditure is personnel costs including salaries and wages.

    “Because the largest component of the nation’s recurrent expenditure is made up of personnel cost like salaries and wages, government is careful about the issue because behind those figures are human beings and families whom you cannot just throw away without considering the implications,” the minister said.

    She explained that because of this fundamental issue, the government’s immediate strategy has focused on fighting waste and the ghost worker syndrome through mechanisms like biometrics.

    Dr. Okonjo-Iweala also explained that implementing the Steve Oronsaye-led committee report on Civil Service Reforms which recommended that agencies performing the same functions be merged will have some effect on the capital-recurrent ratio, but perhaps not as much as many Nigerians would like in the short term.

     

  • Nigeria to borrow $7.9b, says Okonjo-Iweala

    Nigeria to borrow $7.9b, says Okonjo-Iweala

    • External debt now $6.2b

    • Domestic stands at N6.3t

    The Federal Government is to add $7.9billion to its foreign debt stock between now and 2014, the Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said.

    Okonjo-Iweala, who appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Loans, Aids and Debts yesterday, revealed that the country would be borrowing externally at an average of $3billion yearly, describing the loans as concessional ones.

    With this development, Nigeria’s external debts would stand at $14.1billion in about two years from now.

    While affirming that the country would continue to borrow at a reduced level, she stressed that people should forget about borrowing from the country’s foreign reserve.

    She said Nigeria’s current external debt stands at $6.2billion, while domestic borrowing, as at the end of September, stood at N6.3 trillion.

    On the oil benchmark for the 2013 budget, Okonjo-Iweala cautioned against politicising the issue.

    She said: “I do not want to enter into discussion on the benchmark, but I do want to urge the honorable members to please bear with us because benchmark price is really something that is based on professional and technical work.

    “It is not really a political matter, it is a technical issue and it is underpinned by a module like in many other countries. And I would really want to say that in Nigeria, we should not politicise the issue of benchmark.

    “We should be professional and technical about it. In countries like Chile, for instance, they even have a committee of experts that determine their benchmark.

    “Maybe at one stage, Nigeria may have to move in that direction, having a committee of experts that everybody trusts. It is whatever that committee produces that nobody argues about because they know it is based on technical work.

    “So, I really want to urge you, I understand what you are trying to say, I think we are putting in place a plan to manage our debt and our fiscal deficit. It is a responsible plan, one seen as strong for the economy, but I think we should avoid situations that can create more uncertainties with the issue of benchmark.

    Okonjo-Iweala explained that External Reserves to nations are regarded as savings that cannot be borrowed from, stressing that every country has to save this reserve.

    “The lower you run the reserve the more the Naira will depreciate, so we must maintain a level of reserve and we believe that for our economy, we should push it to $50billion and $10billion of Excess Crude Account because of the uncertainties in the world,” she added.

    Besides, she said the current debt profile put at 28.87 per cent of the country’s debt-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is sustainable.

    When the Committee questioned the rationale behind the aggressive borrowing after the country had taken the pains to exit its earlier debt burden, the Minister noted that though it was a tortuous process for the country to exit the Paris and London clubs of creditors, the country must continue to borrow.

    She said, the various loans to be taken by the federal and state governments would be target- driven, adding, that the infrastructure and other needs of the country are substantial, and would gulp between $10billion to $14billion, equivalent of more than N1.5 trillion a year for the next three years.

    “If we take that from our budget, it means the totality if our capital budget. What I want us to understand is that we are not alone in this as needs are increasing daily.

    “This is why nations, sometimes try to mix the budgetary resources they have with some borrowings that are productive. And that is what we need to focus on- keep the borrowing limited and whatever is borrowed must yield result,” she stated.

  • Okonjo-Iweala, Soludo, Toure for Southeast summit

    Okonjo-Iweala, Soludo, Toure for Southeast summit

    Preparations for the Southeast Economic Summit have reached advanced stage as over 90 per cent of the resource persons have confirmed their participation.

    Top on the list is the former Managing Director of the World Bank, Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who will deliver the keynote address at the event and Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, who will chair the grand finale of the summit.

    A statement by the Secretary of the summit, Mr. Amaechi Agboeze, also indicated that the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Nigeria/UNDP Resident Representative, Mr Daouda Toure, has also confirmed his participation and will deliver a Good will Message from the United Nations in Nigeria at the event.

    A Director in the World Bank Country Office in Nigeria, Dr. Michael Wong, will give a Lead Paper on the South East Investment Climate Report during the Infrastructure Forum at the Summit.

    An aspect of the Summit, according to the statement, is the Infrastructure Forum being packaged by the PPP Resource Centre under the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission in the Presidency, Abuja.

    The Forum is a Special Session dedicated to finding solutions to the orchestrated problems of infrastructure in the Southeast.

    It will feature a Lead Paper by the Executive Director of the Resource Centre, Chidi Izuwah, who will speak on ‘Delivering world class infrastructure to drive inclusive growth in agriculture & industry through an effective sub-national PPP Frame works: Lessons from other emerging economies.’

    The Director-General of the Governors’ Forum, Asishana B. Okauru, will speak on Southeast Peer Review Mechanism Report on regional infrastructure: challenges and opportunities.

  • 2013 budget: ‘$75 oil benchmark positive’

    2013 budget: ‘$75 oil benchmark positive’

    • Rep to Okonjo-Iweala: Abide by $80 benchmark or resign

    Africa Global Research Standard Chartered Bank has said the $75 oil benchmark on which the Federal Government hinged the 2013 budget, is adequate to protect Nigeria from being vulnerable if oil prices fall.

    It however said there are gaps in the daily oil output the Appropriation is premised, given the fact that investment in the sector is not even, or growing.

    The claim that Nigeria is producing at an all-time high of 2.53mn bpd does not inspire confidence, the bank, said.

    The desk made its verdict known in a confidential analysis made available to the government by Razia Khan, Regional Head of Research, Africa Global Research, Standard Chartered Bank, London,

    The observations of the desk have been made available to key government officials.

    A copy of the brief obtained yesterday, reads in part: “The adoption of a $75/bbl benchmark assumption is still relatively positive. Of greater concern is the suggestion that there might be an attempt by the House to raise this to $80/bbl.

    “In our view, given global risks, and Nigeria’s on-going fiscal and export dependency on a single commodity, the priority for Nigeria has got to be increasing its rate of saving.

    “Were oil prices to fall, Nigeria would currently be left very vulnerable, with no sound mechanism for being able to smooth spending, let alone provide a counter-cyclical boost to the economy,” she said, adding that the Sovereign Wealth Fund, while encouraging, is not yet sizeable enough to create a sound buffer against external shocks.

    “It cannot be assumed either that the debt markets currently comfortably open to Nigeria, would be unaffected by any fall in the oil price. There is therefore a need for much more fiscal conservatism, and the signals from the House are a considerable concern,” she stated.

    The brief also faulted the oil production figures put forward by the Federal Government in the face of dwindling investment in the sector.

    Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been advised to resign if she finds it impossible to comply with the provisions of the Appropriation Act, 2013 when passed into law.

    The arrow head of the House joint committee that examined the 2013-2915 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Startegy Paper (FSP), Dr. Abdulmumin Jubrin, said Okonjo-Iweala should resign if it would be impossible for her to relate with the $80 benchmark, given by the House of Representatives, stressing that the 2013 budget would be anchored on the $80 bench mark, as stated by the Speaker.

    “The Minister of Finance would have to resign her position If she can not comply with the provisions of the Appropriation Act because that would amount to breaking the law. By the time the budget is passed, it becomes law that everybody must comply with,” he stressed.

    “We are talking from the point of law because our position on the issue of benchmark would be backed by the law and if it would be unacceptable to her, it would be better she resigns rather than break the law,” he added.

  • Nigeria will learn from other countries on floods – Okonjo-Iweala

    Nigeria will learn from other countries on floods – Okonjo-Iweala

    The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said that Nigeria would learn from other countries in tackling problems of floods and other disasters in the country.

    Okonjo-Iweala made this known on Friday in Tokyo, while fielding questions from Journalists at the ongoing Annual Meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

    “The question is how do we prevent such flooding and other natural occurrences in future and these are some of the lessons we are going to learn from other countries.

    “As you are aware, Japan has suffered Tsunami, Earth quake and flooding, so they have actually made this Annual Meeting something about disaster management and reduction, by focusing on these issues in some topics or themes at the meeting.

    “And so we are learning a lot as a delegation about what to do and how to do what is necessary in terms of damage control, how to respond to future disaster occurrences and we think these lessons from Japan will be useful when we get back and try to solve our problems,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Okonjo-Iweala as saying to journalists.

    The minister said that the plight of Nigerians was made known at a discussion on “ Climate change and Sustainable Development,’’ adding that government would continue to ensure that proactive measures are put in place to tackle such a situation now and in future.

    “It was a very good session because I was able to share with the international community the fact that Nigeria is undergoing a terrible and devastating flood.

    “As at the last count, 27 out of 36 states are flooded in one way or the other, we have lost 200 lives and about 40 people are still missing and a lot of people have been displaced.

    “I was able to share with international audience what the government is doing to help those affected by the flood,’’ she said.

    According to her, the government has set aside N17.6 billion plus about N1 billion already spent by the National Emergency Agency (NEMA) and the National Refugees commission to ameliorate the situation.

    She noted that the World Bank had been assisting NEMA with technical assistance to evaluate the level of destruction to property.