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Tag: Okonjo-Iweala

  • We can’t return to Egypt again, Tinubu tells PDP

    …. says Saraki sold APC mandate for pot of pottage

     

    Former Lagos state governor and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said that Nigerians must not allow the nation to return to part of destruction and retrogression which the People Democratic Party (PDP) led government subjected it to for 16 years but aim to move forward in building a nation that every citizen will be proud of.

    Tinubu who spoke at a National, consultative forum organised by the National Committee of Buhari Support Groups in Abuja accused the Atiku Campaign Organisation and the People Democratic Party of trying to blackmail the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Police with the accusation of plots to rig the 2019 elections because “they knew that they will not win”.

    Read Also:2019 poll: Why Buhari must continue, by Tinubu

    He also accused Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki of using the mandate of the APC to negotiate and give lifeline to the opposition, saying “he left the PDP, joined us, got elected, got our mandate, our majority and sold it for a pot of pottage. God is honest, Saraki is not”.

    The former Lagos state governor also recalled how the rigging machineries of the PDP almost denied him his re-election in 2003 when INEC published what he described as fake results of the governorship election in Lagos state on its website, saying it took the then Resident Electoral Commissioner’s courage to insist that what was published was not the real results for his election to be validated.

    He said: “Come February, we will re-elect Buhari. It is not easy to put together a National Committee, but we are in the same family. As free minded people, you are all free to be doing other things this morning, but you are here because you have the vision and the determination that Nigeria must continue the foundation and the progress of the future.

    “Working together to re-elect Buhari is a task that must be achieved. Why are they complaining? Buhari is too busy to exchange words with them because he is building foundation of a prosperous Nigeria that will magnify the economy and provide employment for everyone regardless of the status in the society.

    “A fervent man like him will not have time for the nonsense being thrown at him. I give you one message for them and there will be many such messages. Their candidate who is supposed to beat Buhari has been in our party and many other parties. He has more party members to build a house.

    “All you have to do is to go out there and tell him that a house built on cards will be collapsed with a single stroke of broom. He said they are reformed, but reformed what? Reformed PDP. No. Tell them as you go out that we accept the admission of guilty that they were vagabond before and now being reformed.

    “But they have not served enough probation. You can only be reformed if you are an ex-convict, a drug addict or a political prostitute. It is because Buhari has not temperament and no tolerance for corruption, he is vigorously ridding the nation of blemish and looting, a bad reputation.

    “I can see them celebrating the visa. What a shame? Yet you want to lead this country with the most vibrant economy in Africa? Why should we allow them?

    They ran this country from 1999 till 2015. They were planning for 60 years of doing nothing, lack of direction and concern for the citizens.

    “Are we still in this nation where visionary leadership is required? If yes, then they are not competent and not qualified to be leading Nigeria again and say they want to come back to government. If they left our schools in such dilapidated condition, left out hospitals without Medicare, they don’t deserve to come back.

    “They say we should not talk about their past anymore because they are ashamed of it, but we cannot go without talking about it because a nation has no history if there are no reference. If you give me an application for Employment which is the application of Atiku Abubakar, I must look at what you have done before, you experience.

    “We have to look at Halliburton and why they left Nigeria. Go and ask those questions. They spent 16 billion dollars of NEPA money and what they give us is darkness and when they knew that we were kicking them out, they shared the company through irregularities called privatization which I called personalization of the wealth of Nigeria.

    “We won’t allow that to happen again and I will recommend that we Campaign on that. We should find a way to technically dissolve those companies they shared among themselves. There is no way you can industrialize a nation without providing electricity.

    “So many industries in Kaduna, Ikeja and other parts of the country. What were they doing for 16 years? That is why we believe that President Buhari is the best person to lead us and got him elected in 2015.

    “They said he will die, but he did not die and is back hale and healthy and when they saw seriousness on his part, they now said he was cloned. That is because they know so much about forgery. I am glad he told them he is real. They exist to lie.

    “Take their new found Jehovah Witness, former President Obasanjo. After they disgraced the office of the President, fighting in public and abusing each other, telling us how they stole money and dancing naked in the market square, Obasanjo said he has spoken to God never to allow Atiku to become President.

    “Which God is he now talking to, to say Atiku should be President? I believe he is not telling the truth and not to the God we know. He is just talking to himself.

    We have sacrificed too much under the PDP and we cannot go back.

    “People must ask you why you belong to this support group. Tell them that you are members of a very committed rescue mission that started in 2015. I remember how things were. So, remind them of what happened because they can’t shut us up.

    “They had the best opportunity for prosperity, but they are now complaining. They were there for 16 years and never added one barrel capacity to the refineries in Nigeria. They didn’t even pay counterpart funding for our rail, electricity and we cannot industrialist a nation without the power source.

    “I stand before you as a very proud individual. When I introduced Independent power generation to fire the industries at Ikeja industrial estate, they killed it because there was bribe under the table.

    “Imagine what Buhari is doing today in rail and in feeding our children which creates opportunity for the farmers, it creates small scale business for those cooking the food and a lot of people involved are doing better and we are battling poverty with the best weapon which is education.

    “They are busy changing parties and that is why they are confused. Atiku is now PDP Aladdin. He is going to create 14 million jobs and I say how? They will turn Atlantic into fuel to crash the prices without the refineries working and the population is expanding and people must move around. He just talks of crashing the prices of fuel. They are lying again because a leopard cannot change its skin.

    “They had 16 billion of unprecedented resources and yet, they didn’t bring power to Nigeria. They invested that money in their personal industries. They bought turbines from General Electric and did it add one pipe line to bring gas to the plant.

    “They can say anything now about Buhari. I agree with Okonjo Iweala that it is difficult to fight corruption. The agents of destruction are there fighting us, but we will win with strong determination.

    “Don’t let them sweep things under the carpet that when we came in as a government, before then they had too much resources in their hands, but Buhari funded states to pay salaries. In that period, 27 states were unable to pay salaries as at May 2015. The states and local economy would have collapsed long time ago.

    “If PDP members truly love this country, those should humbly step aside and allow Buhari continue with the work of addressing the ills in our nation. However, since they seem to obstruct and remain focus as applicants, we say no job for them.

    “No matter what they say, don’t listen to them, don’t kind them. What they want is to continue to distract with the talk of rigging because they know that they are losing. They want to blackmail INEC and the police. I remember my own election for my second term.

    “On the website of INEC, they announced a funny result, but a woman of great character who was the State Resident Electoral Commissioner said no, the result she got from the field are the valid results and not the fake ones published and upheld our election. They know they cannot win.

    “That is why all the noise from either Saraki, a man who used our mandate to negotiate and give lifeline to the opposition. Leadership is about character. How can he now ask us to vote for PDP. he left the PDP, joined us, got elected, got our mandate, our majority and sold it for a lot of portage. God is honest, Saraki is not.

    “They talk about farmers and herders clashes. If they are honest, they should know that it also happened during their time, but they have no way of thinking; they have no capacity to convert tragedy into economic prosperity. We have the capacity in this country to do irrigation and utilize our water resources, to create pastures and ranches so that we can convert those miseries, that tragedy to opportunity for our people. Livestock is economy.

    “It is not about intellectual talent alone. There are so many unrewarded talents across the world. It is about character, determination, the love of a country and our commitment to nation building. That is what PDP is opposed to and APC is determined to continue as a progressive entity and the man to lead the nation on that part is President Buhari. Tell Nigerians that after Moses crossed the Red Sea, he is not going to return to Egypt.”

     

  • Global economy can reap $26tr fighting climate change, says Okonjo-Iweala

    Nigeria’s former Finance Minister and Co-Chair, Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday said fighting climate change could add $26 trillion to the global economy by 2030.

    Speaking at the 2018 Global Commission Report Launch at the United Nations Headquarters, the former minister said there was nothing to fear and everything to gain from combatting climate change.

    She said addressing climate change issues could generate more than 65 million new low-carbon jobs and avoid more than 700,000 premature deaths from air pollution.

    “We are at a unique ‘use it or lose it’ ” moment, she stated, pointing out that policy makers should take their feet off the brakes, send a clear signal that the new growth story is here and that it comes with exciting economic and market opportunities.

    “$26 trillion and a more sustainable planet are on offer if we act decisively now,” she said.

    Her statement formed part of the report by the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, a body made up of former heads of governments and business and financial experts.

    The report urged governments to act in the next two to three years across the five economic sectors of energy, cities, food and land use, water and industry.

    UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, at the event  said greater ambition, urgency and action, were needed if greater climate-related crises were to be prevented

    Guterres said momentum for climate action was growing every day, with over 130 of the world’s most influential companies now committed to using only renewable energy.

    He said fossil fuel-dependent countries are looking to diversify, and over 250 investors with $28 trillion in managed assets signing on to the Climate Action 100+ initiative.

    Guterres said clean energy systems helped developing countries, where over one billion people still did not have access to electricity,” adding “it can help deliver access to energy to the one billion people who currently lack electricity”.

    Underlining the risks faced by the world, the UN chief said that climate change is “running faster than we are”.

    The UN chief regretted that women, the poorest and the most vulnerable, are hit first and worst by storms, floods, droughts, wildfires and rising seas.

    Guterres said the last 19 years included 18 of the warmest on record, adding that greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere continued to rise.

    According to him, there is still a significant gap between national commitments to lower emissions, and actual reductions.

    Lord Nicholas Stern, Economics and Government Professor at the London School of Economics, who also Co-Chairs the Global Commission, said “we know we are grossly underestimating the benefits of this new growth story.

    “And further, it becomes ever more clear that the risks of the damage from climate change are immense, and tipping points, irreversibilities, getting ever closer,” he stressed.

  • We gave lawmakers N17bn to pass 2015 budget —Okonjo-Iweala

    Former finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has revealed the blackmail and arm twisting that characterised budget passing by the National Assembly during the Goodluck Jonathan Administration.

    She cited an instance in 2015 when the National Assembly leadership forced the executive arm to part with N17 billion for the federal lawmakers to pass that year’s budget.

    That, she said, was at a time crude price had gone down drastically.

    The N17 billion alleged bribe, according to Okonjo-Iweala in her book Fighting Corruption is Dangerous:The Story Behind the Headlines, was besides the NASS N150 billion annual ‘standard’ budget.

    She described federal legislators as a tough political group to deal with.

    Her words: “The legislature was concerned largely about three things—the size of its own budget; the nature and the size of the capital budget, particularly investment projects; and the number and geographical location of the projects.

    “Senators and Representatives felt that their role as appropriators of the budget was not just to vet and approve budget parameters and oversee budget implementation, but also to shape the size and content of the budgets, including details of specific projects.”

    She said members of the NASS Finance and Appropriation even felt ”they had the right–indeed the duty–to get into the details of the budget formulation and preparation process all along the budget value chain.”

    The ex-minister said the NASS leadership, working through the various committees, “sought to add more to individual projects or create completely new, unappropriated major projects, thereby distorting the budget.”

    But she explained that “not all National Assembly members supported these unfortunate manipulations of the budget.”

    She added: “National Assembly members had negotiated large increases in the National Assembly budgets and would brook no discussions or challenges on the issue.

    “Their operational budget had ballooned to N150 billion or 16 per cent of the budget and almost 3.5 times the 2006 budget (in naira).”

    Okonjo-Iweala said when it was proposed that the lawmakers should give up some of their benefits in view of dwindling revenue in 2015, they bluntly refused to do so.

    “By the time we presented the budget on December 16, 2014, oil prices had fallen further to $58 per barrel.

    “We were prepared and we knew we had to trigger the additional expenditure and revenue measures in 2015 to make the budget work.

    “This would be tough, given that we had entered an election year,” she said.

     ”Indeed, legislators initially refused to accept any cuts to their regular N150 billion budget, despite dwindling revenues.

    “But eventually, they agreed to a 13 per cent cut against a backdrop of ministers accepting a voluntary 50 per cent cut to their basic salaries.

    “In a tough session with the National Assembly’s ad hoc committee on the budget (made up of chairs of the Finance Committee and Appropriation Committee of both chambers and other leaders of the National Assembly), an additional N20 billion was re-introduced as election expenses for National Assembly members.

    “We insisted the amount be dropped because it nullified the 13 per cent cut made to their statutory budget, but managed to reduce the N20 billion figure by only N3 billion to N17 billion.

    “This became the price to pay to have the 2015 budget passed.”

    Okonjo-Iweala was Jonathan’s finance minister from August 17, 2011 to May 29, 2015.

    She had served in the same capacity in the Obasanjo government.

    The Federal Government proposed to spend N4.454 trillion that year.

  • I did not call Amaechi, Fashola scavengers: Okonjo-Iweala

    Former Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has slammed those she termed “mischief-makers” for “putting words” in her mouth, saying she described former governors Rotimi Amaechi and Raji Fashola, now ministers, as scavengers.

    Okonjo-Iweala, who was also a former minister of finance during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, was reacting to reports trending on the social media where she allegedly said ‘yesterday’s scavengers are today’s saints’.

    The two-time Minister of Finance was said to have stated this in her book: ‘Fighting Corruption is Dangerous’.

    However, Okonjo-Iweala, who was also the Coordinating Minister of the Economy during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, said those were not her words.

    Okonjo-Iweala said: “At no point in my book, ‘Fighting Corruption is Dangerous’, did I say ‘yesterday’s scavengers are today’s saints’.

    “While I appreciate all the reviews and discourse the book is generating at home and abroad; mischief-makers who wish to add their comments should get their own copy of the book so that they can make intelligent contributions, rather than putting words in my mouth”.

    In the trending social media report, Okonjo-Iweala allegedly talked about the challenges she faced while trying to make the Nigerian Government save during the season of oil boom.

    The alleged report is reproduced below:

    “Rotimi Amaechi as Chairman of Nigeria governors Forum took Jonathan government for trying to save for raining season including Fashola and most APC members, today they are the ones shouting that the PDP did not save, hypocrites and liars.

    “We then established a stabilisation mechanism and opened an account for the oil surplus, which posted up to $22 billion.

    “In 2008, when prices fell from 148 to $ 38 a barrel, no one has heard of Nigeria because the country was able to tap into this fund. And that, I am very proud [of].

    “When I returned to the department in 2011, there remained only $4 billion on this account (because part of the money saved was used to fund the amnesty programme for Niger Delta Militants embarked upon by the Yar’Adua government) while the price of oil was very high!

    “I tried again to put money aside. The PRESIDENT agreed, but the GOVERNORS did not accept.

    “I suffered a lot of attacks from them (and they took us to the court up to the supreme court) and now that the country would really need this account, these same people accuse me of not having saved!

    “If Nigeria had been more careful, we would not be here today. It hurts me. We have the mechanism, we had the experience, but we were prevented to act.

    “Unfortunately, the same scavengers of yesterday are the saints of today.”

    According to Okonjo-Iweala, who is now Senior Advisor Lazard Ltd, Board Chair Gavi; Board Member AfricanRiskCapacity, the said report is the handiwork of mischief-makers.

    Okonjo-Iweala urged the mischief-makers who wish to add their comments to get their own copy of the book so that they could make intelligent contributions, rather than putting words in her mouth.

  • Reps summon Okonjo-Iweala, Maina, Malami, others over pension scam

    Reps summon Okonjo-Iweala, Maina, Malami, others over pension scam

    THE House of Representatives has given former Minister of Finance  Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala four working days to appear before its committee investigating pension reform.

    Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele was also expected to appear before the lawmakers for explanations on the alleged stealing of the funds.

    The Anayo Nnebe-led ad hoc  committee investigating the activities of the Presidential Task Force on Pensions Reforms from 2010 to the time of its dissolution and any other successor agency said no representation would be allowed.

    Nnebe said those invited must appear in person.

    Also to appear are former Chairman of the defunct Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms Abdulraheed Maina, former members of the Task Force, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha, Head of Service of the Federation Winifred Eyo-Ita, former Head of Service, Stephen Orosanye and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami.

    Others are Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ibrahim Idris, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and relevant stakeholders in the pension sector.

    At the opening of the public hearing yesterday, Nnebe said the physical appearance of those summoned was purely on an account of accountability and thoroughness, adding that the  committee would not entertain any representation.

    He said: “The issue is very simple. We have heard from PTAD and the Legislative Watch. Former minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iwela, all the member of the defunct Presidential committee, EFCC, ICPC, Attorney-General, Governor of Central Bank, the IGP, and all the relevant stakeholders are invited by this committee.

    “On Monday, March 12, 2018, we expect that in the next adjournment, all stakeholders would be here.”

    The Speaker Yakubu Dogara, who was represented by the Chief Whip of the House, Pally Iriase, said: “The subject of this investigation has had a checkered history and has become very controversial. I understand that the Senate is also conducting investigations on the subject.

    “As a bicameral legislature, our constituents have inundated us with complaints that gave rise to the resolution of the House. Where possible, you should compare notes with the Senate while maintaining the independence of your investigations.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • IMF, World Bank obsolete, says Okonjo-Iweala

    IMF, World Bank obsolete, says Okonjo-Iweala

    Nigeria’s two-time Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,  yesterday said the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were no longer ‘fit for purpose’.

    Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, on the theme: Who can lead a Multipolar world?, she called on the Bretton Woods institutions to adapt to the new world and prepare for the realities of the future.

    She said: “Coming on to the economic institution, I think if we didn’t have them, the global institutions will need to invent them; we still need those institutions, but the problem is that now they are not fit for purpose.

    “They are not following the changes that are  happening faster. One, on the different economic shares, two, one the fast move of knowledge and technolog; the fact that the world and the workplace is changing very fast.

    “We need a global covenant system that would help  developing countries also adapt faster. So it is anomalous not only in terms of the leadership  of the institution, but also in terms of the shares of different countries in these institutions.

    “You cannot have a situation where smaller European countries have a greater share in, say, the World Bank or the IMF than China or India.”

    The former vice-president of the World Bank was joined by the Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore, Kishore Mahbubani,.

    Mahbubani, who spoke before Okonjo-Iweala, called on the United Nations (UN) to evolve and change its structure, which was built 70 years ago.

    He said: “The West believes it can continue to dominate. My favourite example, Ngozi, hope you don’t mind me saying this, is that the Europeans believe that the head of the IMF must be European, and the head of the World Bank must be American. Excuse me, those rules were made in 1945, in a different world.

    “You still haven’t had a single Asian or African run these places, clearly these rules are out of date…and that is the core of the problem we face.

    “The composition of the UN Security Council: One of the most provocative things I say is that the United Kingdom (UK) and France are only member of the Security Council only because they won World War II in 1945. Surely it is time for UK and France to make way for India, or Brazil or Nigeria.”

    When it was her turn to speak, Okonjo-Iweala said: “Just to follow up on what Kishore just talked about. If you look at the fact, in terms of contribution to economic growth, emerging countries are contributing more than 50 per cent to global growth.

    “President Xi said it, China alone is contributing 30 percent. The global south is playing a very important role already, the frustration is that these role is not being recognised.

    “There has been evolution of systems to move us from a system of the G-7 to G-20, but even the G-20 leaves out significant important countries. We need a global covenant system that recognises the contribution of developing countries in a much more robust way.”

    She said the systems needed to be adjusted, so that countries could feel an ownership of these institutions. She also said the institutions themselves needed to be adjusted to recognise that knowledge is moving really very fast.

  • Shettima urges probe of Chibok school fund

    Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, on Tuesday called for detailed investigation into what happened to the N500 million reportedly released for the reconstruction of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan released the money to the community shortly after the abduction of Chibok school girls.

    The former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had flown to Chibok to inaugurate the N500 million rebuilding project under the Safe School Initiative programme.

    Two years on, the project is yet to be completed, while students of the school remain at home.

    Shettima told residents of Chibok that the state government would pressurise the Federal Government to uncover those who have diverted the money.

    The governor lamented that several individuals and groups have turned the misfortune of Boko Haram victims into a money making venture.

     

  • Okonjo-Iweala: I wasn’t aware of suit on ‘missing’ N30b

    Okonjo-Iweala: I wasn’t aware of suit on ‘missing’ N30b

    •Ex-minister engages lawyers to appeal case

    Former Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has engaged lawyers to help her dismiss a Federal High Court’s judgment delivered in Lagos, ordering her to give details of the alleged missing N30 trillion.

    A statement from her media aide, Paul Nwabuikwu, said it was “curious that the first time Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is being made aware of a matter filed against her in court is in news reports reporting the delivery of judgment”.

    Nwabuikwu added that she has “instructed her lawyers to take steps to set aside the judgment as it affects her”.

    According to the former finance minister’s aide, “by the date the said papers were purportedly served, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was no longer a public officer and could, therefore, not be the subject of a request for production of any documents or information under the Freedom of Information Act.”

    The statement noted that the attention of Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala and her team “has been drawn to media reports regarding a court judgment alleged to have been entered against the Federal Government of Nigeria and Okonjo-Iweala in respect of an action by the Socio-Economic Rights Agenda (SERAP) pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act”.

    It added that Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala “was never served with any court processes in relation to the said matter, and as a result, she has not read the judgment and would therefore defer any comments on the matter.”

    The high court had ordered the Federal Government and Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala to provide information relating to N30 trillion allegedly unaccounted for.

    The case, Nwabuikwu said, was instituted in February 2015, but was not served until July 2015 after Dr. Okonjo-Iweala had already ceased to be the minister of Finance.”

    The court processes, the ex-minister’s aide said, “must have been served on others because the attention of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was never drawn to the matter in which she appears to have been sued personally. She, therefore, did not engage any lawyer to act for her in the matter.”

    The statement added: “The decision of SERAP to anchor its case on a baseless and unsubstantiated allegation by a former Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN), Governor Prof. Charles Soludo that N30 trillion – about seven times the total annual budget during the Jonathan administration – is missing confirms SERAP’s dubious motives and its role as a tool for politically-motivated actors.”

     

     

  • Court orders Okonjo-Iweala, Fed Govt to account for ‘missing N30tr’

    Court orders Okonjo-Iweala, Fed Govt to account for ‘missing N30tr’

    A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos  has ordered former Minister of Finance Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government to provide information on how  N30 trillion was spent.

    The cash represents some accruable income to the Federal Government during the last four years of the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Justice Ibrahim Buba gave the order while delivering judgment in a Freedom of Information suit brought by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) against the defendants.

    SERAP’s suit followed revelations by a former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo, that at least N30 trillion “has either been stolen or unaccounted for, or grossly mismanaged over the last few years under the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s watch”.

    A statement issued yesterday by SERAP’s Deputy Director, Olukayode Majekodunmi, stated that while delivering judgment in the matter, Justice Buba said: “Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government have no legally justifiable reason for refusing to provide SERAP with the information requested for.

    “The court has gone through the application and agrees that SERAP’s application has merits and the argument is not opposed. SERAP’s application is granted as prayed.”

    He agreed with the arguments by the SERAP deputy director that Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government “should have either supplied the information requested by SERAP or communicate her denial within seven days of receipt of the letter from SERAP if she considers that the request should be denied”.

    The judgment by Justice Buba added that “preliminary objection by Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government is misconceived; the court upholds the arguments by SERAP for the reasons stated herein”.

    SERAP commenced the proceeding by way of an originating summons dated February 23, 2015 and filed February 25, 2015.

    The respondents filed a Memorandum of Conditional Appearance, a Notice of Preliminary Objection and written address – all undated but filed on September 29, 2015.

    The preliminary objection was filed on the following grounds that SERAP did not obtain the mandatory leave of the Federal High Court to issue and serve the originating summons and other processes outside Lagos State; that there is no mandatory endorsement on the originating summons that it is to be served on Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government in Abuja and outside jurisdiction of this court.

    The judge said: “The only issue for determination is whether Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government should be heard on their preliminary objection considering the totality of the circumstances of this case.

    “The suit filed on February 25, 2015 was served on Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government on July 3, 2015 and took about three months for the respondents to come up with technical response to the simple request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2011.”

    Justice Buba further noted:  “Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala and the Federal Government have therefore been caught by Order 29 of the Rules of this court, which requires that an application shall be made within 21 days after service on the defendants of the originating summons.”

  • Okonjo-Iweala’s satanic verse

    Okonjo-Iweala’s satanic verse

    In a national broadcast to mark the forgiveness of Nigeria’s debt by the Paris Club in 2005, former President Olusegun Obasanjo made some remarks, which I have since held on to. In closing the broadcast, he said: “How about the future? We must learn from the past. We must all show collective responsibility to prevent a return to the past. We must all commit ourselves to protecting, rather than squandering the future of our children. We must all agree not to remove the solid blocks on which our nation stands by accumulating debts that we cannot pay. May God never let us go through this painful path again’’.

    The statement ended with a prayer, which I know that many of  us would have said amen to. Even with that amen, are we sure that our country is not reeling under another debt overhang today? I will draw heavily from the text of Obasanjo’s broadcast in writing this article. It is over 11 years since the Obasanjo administration got us the $18 billion debt relief. Obasanjo left office in 2007 and since his exit, we have had two other administrations – the late Yar’Adua’s and the Jonathan’s. The late President Umoru Yar’Adua, as we all know did not have the time to attend to affairs of state because of his health, so he may not have gone on a borrowing spree that will harm the country.

    But the same cannot be said of his successor, former President Goodluck Jonathan, who was in office for almost six years before his loss in the last election to President Muhammadu Buhari. A key figure in the Obasanjo and Jonathan administrations was Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the renowned economist, who left the World Bank to serve her country. Okonjo-Iweala played a key role in the negotiations that led to the writing off of our debt. And Obasanjo acknowledged her role in his broadcast by describing her as ‘’a woman of indomitable character and courage’’.

    If I know Obasanjo well, he will not think twice today before withdrawing that accolade. Why? It is the same Okonjo-Iweala that should have led the campaign for savings in the wake of the debt relief in which she played a central role that did otherwise under Jonathan. In the opening of the June 30, 2005 broadcast, Obasanjo enjoined us to savour the cheery news of the debt forgiveness ‘’and draw bitter lessons from the profligacy of the past’’. Did Okonjo-Iweala, the architect of the debt relief, draw such lessons? The answer is no. Speaking on ‘’Inequality, growth and resilience’’ at the George Washington University in the United States (US) last Thursday, she said our country is in dire straits today because her boss, Jonathan, lacked the political will to save!

    Under Obasanjo, she said the nation saved $22 billion, which came in handy during the 2008/2009 global meltdown. Obasanjo, she said, was able to save because he had the political will to do so. ‘’This time around, and this is key now, you need not only to have the instrument but you need the political will. In my second time as finance minister, from 2011 to 2015, we had the instrument, we had the means, we had done it before, but zero political will. So, we were not able to save when we should have. That is why you find that Nigeria is now in the situation it is in, along with so many other countries”, Okonjo-Iweala said.

    In one word, Jonathan failed the nation when we needed his leadership most. It is not that the money was not there; the money was there because oil was selling like hot cake then – between $120 and $140 per barrel – and there were no problems whatsoever with production. It was Okonjo-Iweala’s duty to ensure that we saved for the rainy day because life goes up and down like a yo-yo. The oil that was selling for $140 per barrel when she was in government is today hovering between $38 and $40 per barrel. If I were Okonjo-Iweala, I will cover my face in shame. She should not be seen or heard talking at all because it was her duty to get the then president to save for the rainy day.

    She was a super-minister – the minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy – all roled into one. What was she coordinating if she could not get Jonathan to do what was expected of him? To reduce what happened then to Jonathan’s lack of political will shows that she did not appreciate the enormity of her responsibility as a super-minister. The issue is Okonjo-Iweala should admit that she failed as finance minister. Their administration, as she noted in her US lecture, put us in the mess we are in today because of its ineptitude. She worsened her case by trying to explain it away later that governors were the problem. Were the governors our president or Jonathan? Why didn’t governors stop Obasanjo from saving when he was president?

    I return to the Obasanjo broadcast again because what Okonjo-Iweala did relates to what he warned the nation against 11 years ago. ‘’We can identify bad governance, abuse of office and power, criminal corruption, mismanagement and waste, misplaced priorities, fiscal indiscipline, weak control…These all took place in this country, before our very eyes, and at times in active complicity with many of us…We often forget that stolen and wasted funds were money meant for growth and development especially education, health, roads, water, electricity and other social services’’.

    Okonjo-Iweala saw evil being perpetrated against her country and she kept quiet instead of raising an alarm. Of what benefit is her statement today that we could not save for the rainy day because of our former president’s lack of political will? Her statement cannot remedy the situation; so she should keep what she knows to herself and not add to our problems. She and her cohort have done their worse. I just hope that we will not be infected by the Okonjo-Iweala disease of keeping quiet when we should speak out when things are going wrong.

    As Obasanjo said in his broadcast:  “We pray to God that we get beyond this debilitation and develop a collective conscience that is anchored on transparency, accountability, probity, value-for-money and due process’’. For Nigeria, may it yet be morning on creation day.