Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala should reject ministerial position – By Emeka Chiakwelu

Posted by admin Articles, Columnists, Emeka Chiakwelu, NNP Columnists Monday, June 27th, 2011

By Emeka Chiakwelu, NNP, June 27, 2011 – The government of President Jonathan is in the process of appointing cabinet
ministers. Many of the old faces are busy clamoring for one position or
another, but Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in particular is being persuaded and
wooed to come back based on merit and history of achievement. The former
minister of finance and the present managing director of World Bank – Dr.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala needs no introduction for she is the golden
appointment that will enhance the presidential cabinet. Her presence in
president’s cabinet will bring a comfort level, credibility and dignity
that the country needs in the financial world and globalized economy.

When Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is referred as an international financial
superstar that is not an overstatement, neither is it pandering or
sycophancy. Her fame in Nigeria and beyond is based on concrete
achievement and verifiable merit. Her superior educational qualification
and training she obtained from prestigious Harvard University and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is not only what made her an
outstanding intellectual and a model citizen of Nigeria; but in addition
she has a compelling track record as a technocrat and problem solving
over-achiever.

The hard work she put on securing the 18 percent debt write-off and
Nigeria’s settlement of debts from both Paris and London Clubs of Creditors
speaks for itself. Many of us disagreed not with the final exit from the
debt but with methodological process and procedure employed by the
creditors to arrive at the said debt. For in the final analysis the
payment of the big sum of money to these international institutions that
used nail crushing interest rates and arrears to arrive at the large debt
that Nigeria owned may not be conducive for a country that has
overwhelming poverty in her midst.

That notwithstanding, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala did her job by making the
best of the moment and saved Nigeria from further higher debt and the
mortgaging of the country’s financial standing and the financial future of
our posterity. She was given a job to do and she did it excellently. And
for that Nigerians are grateful to her.

According to the reverberating news on pages of newspaper, her coming back
as minister of finance is almost a done deal except that the issues of
dollar/naira compensation package and depth of assignment portfolio are
receiving finishing touches, therefore holding back the announcement of
her appointment.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is a woman of intellectual substance and prudence, and
she is not likely to solicit an advice from anybody outside her circle of
relation and sphere of influence. Okonjo-Iweala should say no to this
appointment because her second coming maybe her stumbling block. The
manner she departed from the last position she held was not comforting and
in way it was not ceremonial. She came to former President Obsanjo’s
administration as a finance minister. Later she was transferred to foreign
ministry and that was the position she held before she resigned in a
foreign land as she was conducting diplomatic business for Nigeria.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala because of her straight forwardness and transparency of
conducting the affairs of her ministerial positions has acquired friends
and foes. The later that are in high places with considerable power in
media have not give up in throwing her good in the mud. This time around
they will not wait for her to make any mistake before they will find her
guilty in the pages of newspapers.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has both fame and fortune. Did she need the headache of
cabinet minister?

A good name is a treasure and once it is compromised, it will be difficult
to be reclaimed and re-cultivate. The implication is that the global
respect she has worked her to earn and garnish will dissipate in the wind.
But this is her decision to be made.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala can still serve her fatherland not just only by holding
a cabinet minister position but by also becoming an adviser to President
Jonathan; as she was to Obasanjo’s administration before she was appointed
a minister, on the matters of finance and economics. Even in that capacity
she can accomplish a lot without having detractors and professional critic
to question any policy advise she gives to the president in private.

Emeka Chiakwelu, Principal policy Strategist at Afripol.
Africa Political & Economic Strategic Center (AFRIPOL) is foremost a
public policy center whose fundamental objective is to broaden the
parameters of public policy debates in Africa. To advocate, promote and
encourage free enterprise, democracy, sustainable green environment, human
rights, conflict resolutions, transparency and probity in Africa.
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