Ah, the mysteries of Nigerian politics
Remember the Nigerian finance minister who was handed the foreign ministry portfolio in a cabinet shakeup announced in June? Well, she's resigned rather than accept what amounted to a demotion. I'd guess the pot of money sitting in government bank accounts just got too large and too tempting for those in other positions of power -- especially with a presidential election coming up next year.There is always the possibility that the resignation was the result of a clash of powerful and ambitious political leaders. Okonjo-Iweala and Obasanjo had clashed in the past (and Obasanjo compromised). That's the theme of the This Day article, quoted after the Guardian article below.
The Guardian (Lagos) reported on her resignation this way:
Okonjo-Iweala resigns
"FORTY-FOUR days after she was redeployed from the Finance Ministry to Foreign Affairs, former World Bank Vice President, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala yesterday quit the Olusegun Obasanjo cabinet.
"A Presidency press statement disclosed that she resigned to pursue 'pressing family matters'. It added that President Obasanjo thanked Mrs Okonjo-Iweala for her invaluable services to the nation.
"Okonjo-Iweala, who holds a doctorate degree in Regional Economics and Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, negotiated the cancellation of Nigeria's $30 billion debt to the Paris Club in April.
She was moved to the Foreign Affairs ministry by President Obasanjo on June 20, but was retained as the head of the government's Economic Team. The then Minister of State for Finance, Mrs. Nenadi Usman, was then moved up as Okonjo-Iweala's replacement.
"On Tuesday this week, while she was in London negotiating another debt pardon for Nigeria, Okonjo-Iweala was removed as the head of the economic team and replaced with the new finance minister...
"Applauded generally for her role in implementing President Obasanjo's economic and social reforms agenda, the mother of four led the work and the negotiations that resulted in an $18 billion or 60 per cent cancellation of Nigeria's $30 billion Paris Club debt, the second largest debt cancellation in the Paris Club's 50-year history.
"Rising from this, Nigeria exited the Paris Club in April, thereby bringing the country's external debt burden down from $35 to $5 billion. Okonjo-Iweala also spearheaded the drive to get Nigeria's first ever BB- Credit rating in January 2006 from international rating agencies Fitch and Standard & Poors, which placed Nigeria in the league of several emerging market countries like Brazil, Venezuela, Vietnam, Philippines and Turkey..."
This Day (Lagos) quoted extensively from Okonjo-Iweala's resignation letter and reported on the resignation this way:
Why Okonjo-Iweala Resigned
"Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday resigned from the cabinet of President Olusegun Obasanjo after a glorious and successful stint in government, but fuelling speculations that her decision may have been informed by clash of personalities... the immediate reason behind her resignation was how she was removed as the leader of the Economic Management Team while she was away in London...
"Okonjo-Iweala’s problem with the President was said to have begun after her redeployment to the Foreign Affairs Ministry and her subsequent reactions to it which she did not hide from the President.
"The official said 'though she had adjusted to her new role as the Foreign Affairs Minister, the fact that she initially expressed her reservations on her redeployment from the Finance Ministry was not lost on the President who did not also take it lightly'...
The New York Times reported the resignation this way:
Nigeria: Economy Czar Resigns
"One of Nigeria's best-known and reform-minded government ministers resigned after a cabinet shuffle left her stripped of most of the authority she had when she reshaped Nigeria’s economic policies.
"Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, left, a former World Bank vice president, was finance minister for three years and was instrumental in negotiating a deal to use the windfall Nigeria received from oil prices to build a $30 billion reserve account and pay off billions of dollars in foreign debt at a cut rate. She was recruited by President Olusegun Obasanjo to burnish Nigeria’s image, particularly with international financial institutions, and was the most powerful in a clique of officials charged with battling rampant corruption.
"Then in June she was appointed foreign minister, an ostensibly prestigious post largely unconnected to her economic training, though she retained the portfolio of shepherding the economy. That responsibility was transferred to another official this week. A government statement said Ms. Okonjo-Iweala was resigning to attend to 'pressing family issues.'”
posted by Ken Wedding @ 8:59 AM
1 Comments:
The BBC reported on this article from This Day, a Lagos newspaper, so I went to the original.
I'm always a bit suspicious of an official who announces that a great revelation will be coming. It seems that announcements like this are warnings to corrupt officials of police raids on their bank accounts. It will be interesting to see if names are named. The EFCC chairman bragged about 82 convictions and the return of $5 billion to government treasuries, but that's just over 1% of the money he claims has been pilfered by corrupt officials.
Interestingly, at the end of the article, the chairman is quoted as praising both Obasanjo and the recently-resigned Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, who was moved out of the top anti-corruption job in the cabinet. Perhaps this announcement is part of the political maneuvering for the upcoming presidential election.
Ribadu: We’ll Soon Release Names of Treasury Looters,
No room for corrupt politicians in 2007
"The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday said it would soon publish names of past and present leaders that had looted the nation’s treasury and stashed away the ill-gotten wealth in foreign accounts.
"Chairman of the EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who said this in Lagos at a lecture organised by the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC), explained that the disclosure would enhance the commission’s campaign against corrupt politicians who were waiting in the wings to take power in 2007.
“'Over $400 billion oil money has been stolen by bad leaders. We are going to trace the activities of past and present leaders and publish the names of those leaders who have laundered money, their accounts and the names of the banks where the money is being kept.
“'We will also close the account of those politicians who have laundered money and converted it for their political ambitions. This will stop bad people from coming into power', he threatened.
"He said the commission would monitor closely the use of revenue allocated to the three tiers of government to ensure that the money was not laundered.
"According to Ribadu, what most of the governors get from the Federation Account monthly is enough to develop their states but regretted that instead of applying the funds for the good of the public, they disappeared into private bank accounts.
"He said: 'There are a lot of cases of government officials who connived with banks to steal government money. This money is being converted and transferred to other countries.
"'Over 80 percent of Nigeria's money has gone to waste. This is a country with massive resources but people are suffering simply because we have poor management.'...
"Ribadu also spoke on the plight of the Niger Delta region and blamed it largely on the corrupt leadership from the area.
"According to him, 'If you go to the Niger Delta, you will see what community leaders are doing with the money. One of the governors of the Niger Delta that was arrested was discovered to have close to N50 billion in his foreign account'.
"Speaking on 'Combating Money Laundering in Emerging Economies: Nigeria as Case Study', Ribadu listed the challenges facing the commission to include attitudinal fixations and societal tolerance of corrupt conduct, insufficient commitment by all tiers of government, attempt to blackmail and politicise the work of EFCC, constitutional constraints and lack of cooperation by some countries in loot recovery.
"Ribadu, who commended the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, said the commission would not have recorded any success if the President had not given it his full support.
"He said: 'Nobody is 100 percent perfect but Obasanjo is above average. He has never asked us to leave anybody because they are his friends. We have arrested his close friends, governors, ministers, others but he has not asked us to leave anybody.
“'After Obasanjo, the next person we should celebrate in Nigeria is Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala. She has done wonderfully well for this country. When the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) came to Nigeria, they were surprised at what we have done in the country. If not for Okonjo Iweala, it would have been so impossible to get it in Nigeria.'”
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