Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s former minister of finance, in
an interview with Le Monde, speaks about her childhood, her activities
as a minister, the immediate past government of Goodluck Jonathan, the
fuel crisis and many others issues.
The Nigerian economist, who is 61 years old, served two governments
as minister of finance from 2003 to 2006, under Olusegun Obasanjo, then,
from 2011 to 2015, during the Jonathan presidency.
Between these two positions, Okonjo-Iweala was executive director of the World Bank.
She is now a senior advisor at Lazard and chairs the board of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization based in Geneva.
Below is the top 10 revelations from her interview.
1. “I have trouble seeing me as a world leader, while I appreciate
that gives me this way! But when I get up in the morning, I do not think
about it, I wonder how to solve the next problem. I grew up in a
village in southern Nigeria where I grew up to 8 and a half years by my
grandmother. My parents were scholarship students in Germany and did not
have enough money to take me with them. I learned real life, fetching
wood, water. At 5, I could cook.”
2. “This life has given me strength and a strong character. The other
experience from my childhood is the Biafran war (1967-1970). My parents
lost everything. I knew what it was to have nothing more.”
3. “There is no perfect country. Everyone has had success in some
areas. In terms of growth, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
estimated that it would be 3.4% worldwide in 2016, and 4% in sub-Saharan
Africa.”
4.
“Some economists are very concerned for Nigeria, which could greatly
suffer from the fall in oil prices. Others say the contrary, that its
economy is strong enough to turn the corner.”
5. “When I was finance minister the first time, the volatility of oil
prices, and therefore state resources, cost at least three points of
growth in the country. We then established a stabilization mechanism and
opened an account for the oil surplus. Who 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 has been able to tap into this fund. And
that, I am very proud.”
6. “When I returned to the department in 2011, he remained only 4
billion on this account while the price of oil was very high! I tried
again to put money aside. The President agreed, but the governors have
not accepted. I suffered a lot of attacks from them and now that the
country would really need this account, these same people accuse me of
not having saved!”
7. “If Nigeria had been more careful, he would not be here today. It
hurts me. We have the mechanism, we had the experience, but we were
prevented to act.”
8. “Of course, Nigeria has problems, but it will work out. This is
the first African economy, the consumer goods market is growing, as are
the non-oil sectors. Africa accounts for only 5.8% of foreign trade of
France and Nigeria 0.6%.”
9. “Nigeria subsidizes fuel. About $ 6.7 billion that it costs, we
found that 1.5 billion was fraudulent. One importer claimed that his
boat was waging its oil while at the other end of the world, according
to maritime classification society Lloyd’s Register Marine. I told
Jonathan that we would stop paying. What happened? They kidnapped my
mother 83 years. During the first three days, their only demand was my
resignation. I was supposed to go on television and announce my
resignation. This was one of the worst moments of my life. Can you
imagine what happens in your head if you have to be responsible for the
death of your mother? I will not go into details, but you must
understand that in a country like this, if the fight against corruption,
we must be prepared to pay a personal price. My father asked me not to
resign. The president asked me not to resign. At the end, everyone began
looking for him, and the kidnappers released.”
10.
“With the help of the World Bank and the British aid agency DFID, we
have developed an integrated payment system and a biometric register of
employees because we discovered that we were paying employees and ghost
pensioners. Everything was almost ready in 2006, when I left, but when I
came back in 2011, it was late! Finally, we did it. I know, this
technology is less sexy than arrest, but we have to block upstream
corruption. And if you master the technology you can control
corruption.”
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