This thread is much ado about nothing! NOI has said nothing wrong. Her effort at ensuring that the Nigerian youth get the best deal is quite commendable.

blackborn7: [/b][b][/b][b][/b][b]

Oga, I hope all is well with you?

moscobabs: ok..we don hear but what is her impact in her society or community ..does she has any NGO or is she a philanthropist?
say whatever u like abt this

Mr. Man, she has NOI Poll. It is an NGO.

You sound like a relative of Boko Haram!

Tunsbobo: Forbes is a dumb company, they should be banned for putting iweala on the list again!

There are few Nigerian women who have risen to the height which Ngozi Okonjo Iweala attained in local and global financial circles. She has performed so creditably well that one begins to wonder what factors contribute to the making of such a great woman.

What does her background look like, her upbringing, her educational career and the environment which add up to the making of such a colossus in the financial world. She is a princess born into a family of well educated Nigerian Royals on June 13, 1954. She hails from Delta State of Nigeria. She spent the early years of her life living with her grand-parents while her parents studied abroad.

Upon the return of her parents she moved with them to Ibadan, South west of Nigeria where her parents worked with the then University College of Ibadan now University of Ibadan. She later attended the girl’s school in Enugu and add a long break due to the civil war in Nigeria. She completed her secondary education at St Anne’s College in Ibadan.
Okonjo-Iweala is an Igbo from Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State where her father Professor Chukuka Okonjo is the Obi (King) from the Umu Obi Obahai Royal family of Ogwashi-Uku.

Okonjo-Iweala was educated at Harvard University, graduated in 1977, earned her Ph.D. in regional economic development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1981. She is married to Ikemba Iweala from Umuahia, Abia State, and they have four children. The eldest, Onyinye Iweala received her Ph.D. in Experimental Pathology from Harvard University in 2008 and graduated Harvard Medical School in 2010.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a globally renowned Nigeria economist best known for her two terms as Finance Minister of Nigeria of its Managing Directors between october 2007 and july 2011.

She briefly held the position of Foreign Minister of Nigeria in 2006. In 2007, Okonjo-Iweala was considered as a possible replacement for former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, Subsequently, in 2012, she became one of three candidates in the race to replace World Bank President Robert Zoellick at the end of his term of office in June 2012.

Prior to her ministerial career in Nigeria, Okonjo-Iweala was vice-president and corporate secretary of the World bank Group She left it in 2003 after she was appointed to President Obasanjo’s cabinet as Finance Minister on 15 July 2003.
Following her role as Vice President in the World Bank the Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo asked her to be the Finance Minister of the country. The president was impressed with the brief on economic reforms he requested from her and asked her to serve as the Minister of Finance.

The position she held between 2003 and 2006,during this period she had a short stint as the Minister of foreign affairs. She left twice to serve as Finance Minister of Nigeria, under the dispensation of president Olusegun Obasanjo and president Goodluck Jonathan, came back in between the two presidents term in office to be the Managing Director of the World Bank Among Ngozi Iweala’s landslide achievements was In October 2005 when she led the Nigerian team that struck a deal with the Paris Club a group of bilateral creditors, to pay a portion of Nigeria’s external debt (US $12 billion) in return for an $18 billion debt write-off. Prior to the partial debt payment and write-off, Nigeria spent roughly US $1 billion every year on debt servicing, without making a dent in the principal owed.

She also introduced the practice of publishing each state’s monthly financial allocation from the federal government in the newspapers. This action went a long way in increasing transparency in governance. She was instrumental in helping Nigeria obtain its first ever sovereign credit rating (of BB minus) from Fitch and Standard & Poor’s.

Nigeria is considered to have defaulted on its sovereign debt in 1983 (debt rescheduling is considered a type of default by rating agencies). She resigned as Nigeria’s Foreign Minister on August 3, 2006 following her sudden removal as head of Nigeria’s Economic Team by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. She left that administration at the end of August 2006.
On October 4, 2007, World Bank President Robert Zoellick appointed her to the post of Managing Director, effective December 1, 2007. In 2011, Okonjo-Iweala was reappointed as Minister of Finance with the expanded portfolio of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy by President Goodluck Jonathan. She took a lot of heat, more-so than any other government official for the unpopular fuel subsidy removal policy by the Nigerian government which led to Occupy Nigeria protests in January 2012.
During her confirmation as a Minister, she stressed the need to reduce the country’s recurrent expenditure which is presently 74% of the National Budget and embark on capital projects which could improve the 14% unemployment rate in the country. In her role as the Coordinating Minister For the Economy and Minister of Finance, she has extensive influence/exercise to shape the direction of the Jonathan economic team and the transformation agenda.

In 2007, Okonjo-Iweala’s NGO, NOI Global Consulting, partnered with the Gallup Organisation to introduce an opinion poll, the NOI poll, into the Nigerian polity. Okonjo-Iweala also serves on the Advisory Board of Global Financial Integrityand on the Board of Directors of the World Resources Institute.

In 2011 Ngozi Okonjo Iweala was called back to Nigeria by President Goodluck Jonathan to head the economic team as Nigeria’s Finance minister. It was from this position that she contested the presidency of the World Bank. She received support for her ultimately unsuccessful campaign from a number of former World Bank employees and from publications including The Economist, Financial Times and Newsweek, which said “If competition follows normal process, Kim stands no chance [against Ngozi Okonjo Iweala].

http://mydailynewswatchng.com/2013/05/16/okonjo-iweala-a-colossus-in-global-finance/

Wetin NOI do now?

I no understand this tread. What is this guy saying? The World Economic Forum is on now, why will she not be in South Africa.

By CHUKWUMA SOLUDO


Although there is no single definition of fraud, the online definitions that come to mind as one reads Nasir el-Rufai’s book (The Accidental Public Servant) is “fraud as course of deception, an intentional concealment, omission, or perversion of truth”, or “an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual”. I know el-Rufai as a brilliant fellow and I certainly expected a definitive book. His stated objective was to “tell the story of my public service years…” but it turned out a very bad example of how to write a memoir. It is more of wild concoctions and commentaries on imagined events outside of his “public service years”. As I read parts of the book that relate to things that I should know about, I shook my head in disbelief. I could not believe that el-Rufai could descend so low. While I will surely correct many of his wrong narratives in my book, I thought I have a duty to make a preliminary response – for public records!


Contrary to his narrative, most of us in government knew that el-Rufai desperately wanted to succeed President Olusegun Obasanjo as president. He plotted and schemed, destroying anyone perceived to be potentially in his way. Obasanjo scorned him; the scheme through the PDP Reform Forum failed; and with the bid to replace Major General Muhammadu Buhari in Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) still a work in progress, it is understandable that the bitterness would find succor in a book to smear and destroy any known potential threat. The only good person in the whole book is el-Rufai, and perhaps also my dear sister, Oby Ezekwesili. For him, it is either that Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was power hungry or that “Charles was not grateful”. We understand his motives, but for him to also fabricate stories about Obasanjo, Atiku Abubakar, and Mallam Nuhu Ribadu the way he did (the three persons that literally made him tick in government) speaks volumes. What a very grateful person! My people have a proverb that when a foolish and disrespectful child utters abomination before his elders, he beats his chest that he has exhibited uncommon courage.


The book is grossly dishonest. It is amusing to read the purported conversations he had with President Obasanjo on the third term bid. One reads almost two or three pages as quotes from the conversation and most parts of the book are replete with similar long quotes of purported conversations (all in inverted commas). This tactic was deceptively employed to give the impression of authenticity to the claims of such conversations. Surely, it is impossible to report the proceedings of a meeting or conversation verbatim after the meeting. It would therefore mean either that he was tape-recording every private conversation he had with people or that he simply fabricated those long quotes. If he cannot produce the tape recordings of those conversations (which I believe he doesn’t have), he should be honest enough to admit that he made up those stories/quotes. It is too cheap of him to fabricate those quotes and seek to exploit the gullibility of the reading public to damage other people.


I was amused by el-Rufai’s disingenuous attempt to frame stories about the Economic Management Team, which he forced himself upon and probably destroyed. As pertains to me, he lied all the way in an attempt to concoct a mischievous narrative or plot. He calls Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala “Ngozi”. I call her “Madam”. He tells a fairy tale of how I was a student or protégé of Ngozi’s father. Sorry el-Rufai, the respected Prof. Okonjo had left University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) before I became a student, and our paths did not cross until the mid-1990s (while my Ph.D was in 1989). If you even called Ngozi on the phone, she would have confirmed to you that she never got any consulting contract for me at the World Bank or any multilateral institution as you claimed. If you cared for the facts, you would have known that I began to interact with Ngozi in late 1999, in the fourth month of my 18-month consulting assignment at the World Bank (an assignment to which I was nominated by three pan-African Institutions – ADB, UNECA, and AERC – for the project on “Can Africa Claim the 21st Century”). You don’t lie about matters that have records.


For your information el-Rufai, before I met anyone of you at the original Economic Management Team, I had (for a decade) lived in Ethiopia, United Kingdom, and United States of America (USA) and traveled to 45 other countries as an itinerant scholar and consultant; worked at the United Nations; been to Oxford, Cambridge and Warwick Universities; was a visiting professor at Swarthmore, USA; and consultant to 18 international organisations including the World Bank, IMF, OECD, EU, ADB, various UN agencies, etc. I have been consultant to different departments of the World Bank at different times, including being on the Chief Economist Advisory Council (CEAC) for the period 2005 - 2012 and no Nigerian had anything to do with any of them. I spent 19 months at the Brookings Institution, USA (January 1991 – July 1992; and three months in 1998) but according to el-Rufai, I went to Brookings after a consulting job at the World Bank (which would then mean ‘after 2000’?). According to el-Rufai, I became Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in “mid 2005” instead of May 2004. He manufactures both the facts as well as the comments.


By el-Rufai’s own account in the book, the approval to embark on the demolition of properties in Abuja was obtained on 30th August, 2003. I state (and challenge him to prove otherwise) that Ngozi was no longer staying at Bolingo Hotel by the time he started his demolition programme. How can you then fabricate a story that we met at her suite in Bolingo Hotel and also fabricate a purported quotation of what I told you, which among other things, referred to your demolition programme? I thought you were smart enough el-Rufai to at least lie consistently. Is this not fool proof that you made up all the quotations in the book?


As at the last count, no less than 15 persons claimed to have recommended me as Chief Economic Adviser or Central Bank Governor. My simple response to all is: thank you! Thank you also el-Rufai if indeed you played the role I have just read from your book that you played in my appointment as Chief Economic Adviser. Of course, President Obasanjo is still alive and several of the actors are also alive. In my own memoir, I will detail how I joined President Obasanjo’s government. I have also heard fantastic claims of some people that they literally appointed me governor of CBN. In a recent chat with President Obasanjo, he for the umpteenth time insisted that nobody can ever claim to have advised him to appoint me as governor of CBN. He reminded me that even I did not know—which is a fact!


El-Rufai also conveniently forgot that he first met me in late 2000 when I came from the US to help the federal government prepare for the IMF Article IV consultations and also train senior staff of CBN, Ministry of Finance and National Planning on the macroeconomic and technical computations involved (paid for by USAID). el-Rufai chose to forget that he pleaded for my technical assistance to Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) as a consultant but I told him I was too busy with my international assignments. I rather offered to attend any of his privatisation committee meetings anytime I was in the country and to offer my services free of charge. He forgot that I wrote several technical notes to help him succeed, including being the sole author of the initial draft “Anti-trust and Competition Policy” – all free of charge!


El-Rufai seemed unhappy that I gave every credit of our achievement to President Obasanjo. Well, I am informed enough to know that in a presidential system of government, only the president is elected with the mandate to govern and every appointed person in the executive branch has a delegated responsibility to assist him. Only in Nigeria would you see a minister or appointed official write books to take credit for achievements in office. As governor of the central bank, I made it clear that I received every award or recognition on behalf of the president. I have no apologies for that.


Interestingly, el-Rufai tells the story of the great achievements of President Obasanjo in restoring the Abuja masterplan, using him as an assistant. I thank him for at least acknowledging that the idea to restore the masterplan was Obasanjo’s and that he drove it all the way. What he did not tell is the story of how el-Rufai’s vindictiveness almost ruined the exercise as well as the monumental fraud associated with it. This is for another day!


Of course, el-Rufai could not hide his opposition to the banking sector consolidation. Unfortunately as we say in my place, you cannot cover the moon with your palms. You may not like Soludo or Obasanjo, but in the last 27 years, there are two fundamental structural transformations of the Nigerian economy that have taken place – the telecommunications revolution, and the banking sector revolution (consolidation). Ours was not a mere reform, it was a revolution! Nigeria’s only transnational corporations were built in three years.

We put two Nigerian banks in the top 300 banks in the world and they remain there, and nine others in the top 1,000 (there was none before my tenure). The Nigerian private sector as we know it today (especially the new economy in oil and gas and emerging big businesses) largely owes its wealth to our revolution. The world acknowledges that without our foresight and courage, the Nigerian financial system and economy would have collapsed during the global financial crisis. We developed a robust, transparent and no-nonsense regulatory and supervisory regime before the global crisis, and left behind one of the strongest banking systems that was globally rated in the same league as those of Israel, India, China, and Russia. You chose to forget that we revoked the licenses of 14 banks in one day (unprecedented in our history), including banks owned by my friends. This is a story for another day!


The story of how we built the world’s fastest growing financial system and Nigeria’s largest transnational corporations in three years, rescued the entire system from collapse despite the unprecedented four shocks that buffeted the system during the global crisis, on course to fully restructure the few ailing banks before the end of 2009 with or without a penny from government; and designed the comprehensive roadmap for sustainability and growth (under FSS 2020) is told in my book. Our Financial System Strategy (FSS 2020) remains the roadmap till date. Sorry el-Rufai, there is little you can do about this record. Even with ten 234NEXT newspapers, and 20 other books, you cannot re-write history!


Since el-Rufai takes pleasure in reporting what ordinarily should be private conversations, let me also take the liberty to report that he admitted to me on April 28, 2013 that what he wrote about me were the “impressions” he was given. That for me summed it up. My advice el-Rufai, is that you don’t collect some hair dressing salon gossip, hearsay, ‘impressions’, and wild imaginations – all intentionally designed to damage others, and bind them into a book without crosschecking the facts. That is intellectual fraud!

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/nasir-el-rufai-s-book-as-intellectual-fraud-/146818/

kulo: shame on Minister ongozi and her tribalistic behaviours, she want to become an iron lady like other women in the world. keep on writing your opinion and expose all the bad eggs in the Nigerian Government. can you imagine 40 years old lady as Director-General PENCOM...No No No Ongozi please behave your self

DUMB COMMENT!

Cbn Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Dispels Rumour That Okonjo Iweala Is Pursuin

Some Diaspora Nigerians had a Media Chat with the Nigeria Economic Team here in Washington yesterday and the issue of allegations of ethnic agenda against Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala came up.

This is what Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had to say;

''I cant understand these people, I was the one who came to Washington DC and got in touch with Mustapher Chike-Obi who was in New York to come and head AMCON. I took it upon myself to search for him because when we were at Kings College he was one of the most brilliant chaps that school has ever produced and while at Goldman Sachs, he excelled. He is world class, so I decided to bring him back to use his wealth of experience in Investment Banking to serve his fatherland.

Ngozi has nothing to do with this.

On Kingsley Muoghalu who is one of my Deputies at CBN. I also went to London to poach him, the guy is good,he knows his onions, and I dont care which part of Nigeria he comes from.This was done even before Ngozi joined the government,so how can she be responsible for this''.

Nigeria is becoming such an interesting place that anything anyone does, must have an ethnic colouration or a hidden ethnic agenda.People do not understand what diversity means, says Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

Responding, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said that of all those appointments they are accusing her of influencing, only two was approved during her tenure as Finance Minister,others have either been appointed or has the process of their approval endorsed by the government before she joined this government. And on those two that were approved, the process were handled by the respective Permanent Secretaries on the order of the President.

On the sacking of the NEMA spokesperson who was used to start all this, she said she has no hand in that.That there are standing civil service rules every civil servant must abide with and you dont work for government and at the same time using your position to attack the same government openly when there are available channels to address your misgivings. According to her, Shuaibu's superiors simply followed laid down rules, a comment that former Minister of Finance and presently Nigeria's Executive Director at the World Bank, Mansur Mukthar agreed with.

http://www.naijapundit.com/news/cbn-governor-sanusi-lamido-sanusi-dispels-rumour-that-okonjo-iweala-is-pursuing-ethnic-agenda

Some Diaspora Nigerians had a Media Chat with the Nigeria Economic Team here in Washington yesterday and the issue of allegations of ethnic agenda against Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala came up.

This is what Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had to say;

''I cant understand these people, I was the one who came to Washington DC and got in touch with Mustapher Chike-Obi who was in New York to come and head AMCON. I took it upon myself to search for him because when we were at Kings College he was one of the most brilliant chaps that school has ever produced and while at Goldman Sachs, he excelled. He is world class, so I decided to bring him back to use his wealth of experience in Investment Banking to serve his fatherland.

Ngozi has nothing to do with this.

On Kingsley Muoghalu who is one of my Deputies at CBN. I also went to London to poach him, the guy is good,he knows his onions, and I dont care which part of Nigeria he comes from.This was done even before Ngozi joined the government,so how can she be responsible for this''.

Nigeria is becoming such an interesting place that anything anyone does, must have an ethnic colouration or a hidden ethnic agenda.People do not understand what diversity means, says Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

Responding, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said that of all those appointments they are accusing her of influencing, only two was approved during her tenure as Finance Minister,others have either been appointed or has the process of their approval endorsed by the government before she joined this government. And on those two that were approved, the process were handled by the respective Permanent Secretaries on the order of the President.

On the sacking of the NEMA spokesperson who was used to start all this, she said she has no hand in that.That there are standing civil service rules every civil servant must abide with and you dont work for government and at the same time using your position to attack the same government openly when there are available channels to address your misgivings. According to her, Shuaibu's superiors simply followed laid down rules, a comment that former Minister of Finance and presently Nigeria's Executive Director at the World Bank, Mansur Mukthar agreed with.

http://www.naijapundit.com/news/cbn-governor-sanusi-lamido-sanusi-dispels-rumour-that-okonjo-iweala-is-pursuing-ethnic-agenda

Last Thursday, the Adhoc Committee on the Review of the Constitution of the House of Representatives, submitted its report on the Peoples Public Sessions conducted by the committee to let the Nigerian people determine what aspects of the constitution they would wanted amended.


One notable outcome of the public sessions was the overwhelming vote by the people not to include clauses in the constitution to rotate the Office of the President between the north and the south, and among the six geo-political zones in the country. The people also voted in large numbers to fill the Office of the President purely on the basis of merit.


Given the plurality of opinion for entrenching a culture of meritocracy as a basis for occupying the highest office in the land, I often wonder why the same cannot be said for much lesser offices in the country. This question is necessary in the face of continued agitations by one section of the country or the other for the occupation of certain offices the second the last chief executive steps down.
A case in point is the swirling controversy over the recruitment process for the appointment of a substantive executive chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). Some sympathisers of the acting executive chairman of FIRS Kabir Mashi, as well others who would prefer that political considerations and not merit be used to determine the selection of a new head for FIRS, have been at loggerheads with the finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.


Indeed, the storm raised over the appoint of a substantive head for FIRS has even led to the institution of a law suit by one Max Ogar, an Abuja-based lawyer. Ogar, on behalf of his clients, is asking the court to declare the process of selecting a new chairman for FIRS as initiated by Okonjo-Iweala illegal.


He is contending that it is the exclusive preserve of the president to make such appointments and has anchored his argument on Section 3(2)(a) of Federal Inland Revenue Act, which vests the president with the authority to appoint any person of his choice to the office. He observed that the president had, in the last two years, appointed chief executives for scores of ministries, departments and agencies, including critical ones like the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Nigerian Ports Authority and Independent National Electoral Commission, without advertisements and interviews. He further averred that the FIRS’ executive chairman’s position has always been filled by persons appointed by the president, subject to confirmation by the Senate.


To give fillip to Ogar’s suit, special interests from primarily the northern section of the country have also accused Okonjo-Iweala of only appointing people from either the south-east or south-south zone to agencies supervised by her ministry (they can’t seem to make up their minds which zones she comes from or favours).


To buttress their point, they have cited the Sovereign Wealth Fund, Debt Management Office, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, Investment and Securities Tribunal, Securities and Exchange Commission and even the Nigerian Stock Exchange, a private sector institution, as being headed by people from only the south-east.


Instructively, they left out other agencies not headed by people of south-east origin such as the Offices of the Accountant and Auditor-Generals of the Federation, Nigerian Customs Service, National Insurance Commission, Budget Office of the Federation, and even the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation and Bureau of Public Enterprises, among a host of other economic or financial system government agencies not under the supervision of the finance ministry. Nor were they willing to acknowledge that the heads of DMO and SEC were put in place by Okonjo-Iweala’s predecessors while that of AMCON was headhunted primarily by the CBN.


They also accused the external consultant, Phillips Consulting, which has been contracted to undertake the recruitment search for the head of FIRS, of working to a predetermined conclusion to favour the dictates of the minister. But they completely miss the point.


The results of the Peoples Public Sessions conducted by the House of Representatives rejecting the inclusion of provisions to rotate the Office of the President in favour of electing a president purely on merit, notwithstanding, goes to prove our preference for speaking from both sides of the mouth. When it gets down to brass tacks, we often sink back to our primordial sentiments. And that, quite frankly, has been the bane of leadership in this country.


If it is widely accepted that the last chief executive of FIRS Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru, who stepped down a year ago, did a wonderful job and performed meritoriously during her stewardship at the agency, why should we be afraid of looking for someone in the same mold to consolidate on her performance and elevate taxation policies and inclusion in the country.


It should also be noted that Okonjo-Iweala would not have sought the services of Phillips Consulting without the president’s approval. Section 142 of the constitution also allows the president to “in his discretion, assign to the vice-president or any minister of the Government of the Federation responsibility for any business of the Government of the Federation, including the administration of any department of government.”


Moreover, it is high time we jettisoned the quota system, federal character or political considerations in determining who should occupy certain critical agencies of government. These should include even behemoths such as NNPC and its subsidiaries as well as NPA. That they are cesspits of corruption and are poorly managed, primarily stems from the calibre of people appointed to run them. These are revenue-generating agencies that are not just unaccountable to the people but even the government that set them up.


The more important question to ponder is if a certain section of the country is afraid to compete? The north needs to do away with its entitlement mindset and become competitive like the rest of the country. The north, more than any other section, has been afraid of and the most resistant to reforms of any kind because change rids the system of cronyism and over-dependency on patronage. If it suffers from a deficit of professionals who cannot compete with their counterparts in the south, then its leadership must begin to invest more in education, training and healthcare to develop its human capital resources and empower its people to commanding heights by dint of hard work and merit.


However, I do not believe that the north cannot present the right professionals for available jobs. I am certain that like all parts of the country, the north boasts highly educated and eminently qualified technocrats. Unfortunately, they are hardly ever pushed forward by the northern establishment to take up positions that place them at par with their southern counterparts. The well-educated people of the north are constantly seen as threats and considered polarising by the powers that be from that part of the country. The establishment is afraid that these northern intellectuals will challenge the status quo and turn the downtrodden (better known as the Almajaris) from which they derive their support and power base against them.


Well, it is left to the north to decide what it wants. It needs to do some soul searching and tell itself some home truth. This mindset of “its our turn to eat” through quotas is no longer good enough. For its sake and the rest of the country, it must seek for and fight for a system that throws up only the best. And this must be applicable to the north, south, east and west.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/instituting-a-culture-of-meritocracy/145562/

For several weeks now, there has been an orchestrated media campaign against the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala by groups and individuals who claim that they are fighting for their ethnic groups but who are actually fighting for their own very selfish interest.

The main part of the campaign is the claim that the minister is pursuing an Igbo agenda because she has appointed many Igbos as heads of agencies under her ministry. To support this false thesis, they cite as examples the following South Easterners in such positions:
• Mustapha Chike-Obi: DG, AMCON
• Arunma Oteh: DG, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
• Abraham Nwankwo: DG, Debt Management Office
• Osita Onyema, DG: Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE)

What is curious about the false charges is that all these persons and others who have also been cited were already in office by the time Okonjo-Iweala returned as Minister in September 2011! In fact one of them had been in office for almost five years before she came back. In other words she is being accused of appointing people who were appointed before her! This ridiculous accusation proves one thing: the people making such accusations against this hardworking nationalist are mischievous, ignorant or more likely both.

As part of this ungodly campaign, these elements also cite the appointment of Uche Orji as MD of the Nigerian Investment Authority late last year as more evidence of their discredited Igbo agenda. But these claims, like the other one, crash like a pack of cards when it is subjected to scrutiny. It is nothing but a big fat lie! Mr. Orji was adjudged the best following an international recruitment exercise conducted by KPMG, a respected global consulting agency. A titan of the Nigerian private sector, Mr. Fola Adeola was Chair of the Nominations Committee which also had distinguished Nigerians from all the geo-political zones. To suggest that these distinguished personalities did not do their jobs or that they were unduly influenced is highly unfair and highly disrespectful. Those making these claims are doing a great disservice to their country with their campaign of lies and innuendoes.

Now the campaigners are widening their net of lies. They are now fishing everywhere to find names of Igbos that they will claim were influenced by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. They are ready to do anything, spend any amount to tarnish her reputation as a patriot. To them the truth does not matter as long as they achieve their evil objectives.

The question that we must ask is: why are these people so afraid of excellence? Why are they so much against giving a chance for brilliant and qualified young Nigerians from ALL parts of the country and the diaspora to contribute their quota to national development? Why do they want to draw Nigeria back?

It is very clear that they are working for themselves not for Nigeria. Nigerians want the best for their country. They are clearly working against the interests of this country. But they will not be different from the many others who tried but failed to pull the wool over the eyes of Nigerians.

The good news is that Nigerians can see through their cheap antics. They know what Okonjo-Iweala stands for. They know that she is working for the good of Nigeria as a whole. They know she has the courage of her convictions. They know she loves Nigeria. That is why these conscienceless people will fail so that Nigeria can rise…

She performed excellently well.

As far as I am concerned, this woman performed very well in the interview. God bless her.

Nigeria is blessed to have such an intelligent woman. Bad belle people, u can go and ...

The interview went well and the minister answered all the questions from Amanpour satisfactorily.

Great woman. I can't wait to see her display great intelligence.

Great woman. I can't wait to see her display great intelligence.

Merit is needed in this nation.

I want to start by saying that Yushau Shuaib is not speaking for me as a Northerner. People like him who are fast earning a reputation as hit men who blackmail for the right price are not my advocates. I will never support his campaign to blackmail Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala so that she will abandon her reform of the decadent economic system. The progressive new North we are fighting for is different from the discredited old order that Shuaib and his fellow travellers are trying to prop up. Of course this campaign is bound to fail because as everyone knows, this woman is a tough nut to crack. The orchestrated campaign to smear her with the ethnic tar will fail just like all campaigns against her previous efforts to cancel Nigeria’s external debts and save money for future generations through the Excess Crude Account failed woefully.

As a proud Northerner who believes that no part of the country has a monopoly of brilliance and high performance, I am embarrassed that people like Shuaib are making a case which gives the impression that the North has nothing to offer. It is even worse that the foundation for this campaign is falsehood. It is quite clear that this campaign cannot stand because as the great Uthman Dan Fodio said “Conscience is an open wound; only Truth can heal it”. As someone who has observed over time the passion of the Finance Minister for a better Nigeria and the hard work as well as personal risk she continues to bear (it was only last December that her mum, a retired Professor in her eighties was kidnapped)

These allegations of filling top government positions with her fellow Igbo are the latest weapon of blackmail against Okonjo-Iweala by those afraid of the massive cleanup of pension funds administration, the ports operations and especially the fuel subsidy regime through which barons have looted the treasury in the past. Whipping up primordial sentiments to smear reformist public servants is a favourite tactic of reactionary elements whose interest it is to derail or delay the momentum of reform in order divert attention from their misdeeds. This rabble-rousing article by someone who cannot justify by meritorious acclaim the public position he presently occupies is part of the on-going subterranean plot to destabilise and cripple the Jonathan administration by hitting what is generally mistaken as its soft underbelly. But they will fail because Nigeria will outlive their lies.

Yushau Shuaib’s awfully illogical and factually manipulated opinion “Still on Okonjo-Iweala’s controversial appointments” lacked the objectivity and attention to available evidence needed to hit the mark. It was high on intoxicating ethnic jingoism but suffered a huge credibility deficiency. The question is: How many appointments have Mrs Okonjo-Iweala made since her return to the Finance Ministry in September 2011? So far, only one recruitment process has been concluded under her watch – for the headship of the Sovereign Wealth Fund. And she had no control over the process that produced the brilliant young Nigerian who emerged after a very transparent contest. The position was duly advertised in reputable local and international publications. Mr Uche Orji was adjudged the best following an internationally competitive recruitment exercise conducted by KPMG, a respected global consulting agency. The Nominations Committee which ensured that the recruitment process met the best international parameters was headed by Mr Fola Adeola, one of the most respected pillars of the Nigerian private sector and included distinguished professionals from all the geo-political zones. Mr Orji’s credentials for getting the job are beyond reproach and nobody has faulted his appointment. If Yushau Shuaib is insinuating that KPMG is an Igbo enclave or was compromised in the recommendation of Mr Orji, a first class investment banker with an astute resume and a former CEO of a European subsidiary of JP Morgan, then we are dealing here with more than just crass ignorance.

The question that must be asked is: Was the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua promoting Northern hegemony when he appointed Malam Tanimu Yakubu, Dr Omar Mukhtar, Dr Usman Shamsudeen and Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as Economic Adviser, Finance Minister, National Planning Minister and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria respectively? Igbos, Yorubas and other ethnic groups did not question Yar’Adua’s judgment then because these men were qualified for the positions and nobody accused Yar’adua of arewanisation policy. What is the lesson here? The best can come from any part of Nigeria. Inciting one ethnic group against another has led to tragic consequences in the past but fortunately the Nigerian public is fast losing its appetite for lies and deceitful propaganda. It is highly dishonest to keep silent when situation favours you and begin a campaign of lies

If Yushau Shuaib had capacity for factual double check or wasn’t in such a mad rush to blackmail the Finance minister, he would have noticed that save for the Sovereign Wealth Fund CEO who came in through KPMG, Ms Arunma Oteh, the Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr Mustapha Chike-Obi, Managing Director of Asset Management Company and Dr Abraham Nwankwo, Director General of Debt Management Office were in office before Okonjo-Iweala’s return. So how can she be blamed for appointing Igbos who were already appointed before she returned as Finance Minister? Mr Oscar Onyeama is Director General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, a privately-owned enterprise with no Government input whatsoever. This hatchet job by this discredited writer demonstrates how desperate her traducers will go to invent facts in support of their calumnious campaign.

It is a no brainer that the motivating factor for this mischievous campaign against the Finance Minister is the fear in some quarters that the acting Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service may not be confirmed. The recruitment of discredited and unscrupulous civil society hatchet men to lead Mr Kabiru Marshi’s campaign falls into a predictable pattern of subterfuge which many Nigerians can see through. It is unfortunate that against global best practices some people still see the FIRS as a lucrative honey pot for the sustenance of ethnic cronyism, hence an appointee must be of same ethnic stock as they. Many Northerners are holding top positions in the public and private sectors strictly on merit and without blackmailing the approving authority. The impression must be erased that we Northerners are gullible and cannot consider a matter as serious as public office appointment dispassionately.

Yushau Shuaib and co-travellers will be disappointed that their campaign to smear the Finance Minister is headed for the rocks. Mrs Okonjo-Iweala is admired and respected by many Nigerians including Northern elites and ordinary people because they appreciate her genuine love and hard work for a better Nigeria. The notion that she is a tribalist or anti-North will never sell. In all matters, please let us respect facts. Appointing a substantive FIRS chairman must follow due process and only the most qualified will get the position. It is an insult on the dignity and personal integrity of Nigerians, North or South, East or West, that the only way someone can be appointed into high public office is by affirmative action, by by-passing a competitive and rigorous selection process. It is sickening and defeatist for those promoting Mr Marshi’s FIRS candidacy to resort to blackmailing the Finance Minister. If a Northerner eventually gets appointed FIRS Chairman, the unfortunate and unintended impression would have been created by Yushau Shuaib’s inglorious commentary that he or she did not merit the position but rather it was a negotiated ethno-regional geo-power trade off. That would indeed be most regrettable. There is no future in Nigeria for factually-challenged and ethnically aggravating diatribes like those on which the Yushau Shuaibs of this country built their careers. They must stop peddling rumours to destroy the name of a hardworking woman who has done so much to reform the bad habits of a wayward but ambitious economic giant.

*Sani is a legal practitioner and public commentator based in Kaduna

http://247ureports.com/yushau-shuaibs-campaign-against-a-better-nigeria-by-james-sani/

Re: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala And The Controversial Appointments,By Olusola Daniel
Having spotted, on several sites, an article by one Yushau A. Shuaib in which the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is accused of facilitating controversial appointments in favour of her Igbo fellows, I was alarmed by this tale by moonlight gone viral. Somehow the thesis of the article did not quite fit. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has earned a solid reputation for her fight for a better Nigeria, her passion for a united Nigeria where fairness and equity reign. How could she, as our elders say, learn how to use her left hand in her old age? It just didn’t sound right. Still, I decided to study Shuaib’s piece to see if he had any basis for making such a wild allegation.

At the end of the exercise, it was obvious that the writer, in pursuit of an unholy agenda, was on a carefully planned mission to paint this icon of integrity in bad light; thus tarnishing her sterling image among Nigerians and the international community. The evidence he presented in support of the allegations he made was flawed, his logic was distorted and his conclusion very very malicious. In other words, Mr Shuaib was telling big fat lies against an innocent woman. So, having followed the activities of Madam Finance Minister, as an observer of political events, I thought I might as well offer some thoughts to set the facts right

First of all, although Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala appears to hold a very powerful position in President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet, as the writer posits, we also must not ignore the fact that she doesn’t call the shots when it comes to federal appointments. Her influence, as great as it is, is very limited when it comes to matters of public appointments. Apart from the fact that she cannot intrude into areas that are not directly connected with her job responsibilities, she would be acutely aware of the grave consequences that might be engendered by her whimsical interference in such matters. Having built a global reputation for integrity and performance, she – more than anyone – would be conscious of the damage that tribalism or any form of nepotism can do, not only to her credibility but also to national cohesion – an ideal that she is known to stand for

In fact, most of the appointments cited in Mr Shuaib’s article appeared to have been made before Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala resumed office as Coordinating Minister for the Economy. This shows that his write up was nothing but a cheap hatchet job designed to achieve satanic objectives with lies. Thank God Nigerians are too smart to be fooled by such antics.

As much as we have the responsibility of keeping our leaders in check, we must be careful to do so dispassionately, without any form of prejudice. Criticisms are more effective when they are based on facts and devoid of ulterior motive. I am afraid to submit that Mr Shuaib’s piece does not pass that litmus test

*Olusola Daniel is a social critic, political observer and an advocate for community development. He writes from Lagos, Nigeria

http://newsdiaryonline.com/re-ngozi-okonjo-iweala-and-the-controversial-appointmentsby-olusola-daniel/

Madam NOi has spoken well!

dederocs: Okonjo Iweala is an opportuinist,overhyped fat bitch

There is need to examine your head for virus! How can you come on this forum and insult such a great woman?

caustical:

Did I hear U say Okonjo iweala.....that idi.ot that is dragging GEJ and Nigeria into world bank and IMF the loan Nigeria will be paying in the next 30 years

You simply don't know what you are saying!

cap28: no one outside nigeria gives a sh.it about this world bank lap dog, thats why the western press cut her out of the picture.

the bi.tch needs to get back to what she is good at - collaborating with our enemies to loot nigeria's resources.

You will need to have a brain surgery carried out on you! You lack respect for icons and elders!

It took a while but the video is finally here! :-) For those who haven't seen this video, please watch and cringe. The Lagos State Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) Mr Obafaiye Shem can't tell his organisation's web address. And when he eventually gave the web address, he gave the wrong one. Watch...


http://lindaikeji..com/2013/03/my-oga-at-top-video-is-finally-here-hehe.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=my-oga-at-the-top-video-is-finally-here-hehe

At the University of Pennsylvania, the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance Minster of Nigeria, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala will be conferred with an honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Pennsylvania on Monday, May 13, 2013.

Other recipients of honorary degree are Kwame Anthony Appiah, Michelle Bachelet, Ursula M. Burns, , Samuel H. Preston, Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Lonnie G. Thompson and James Edward West.

Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice President of the United States will deliver the address at the institution’s commencement.
“We are thrilled to welcome Vice President Biden and all of our honourees to campus on May 13,” said Andrea Mitchell, Penn trustee and chair of the Trustee Honorary Degrees Committee.

“They represent the highest level of achievement in diverse disciplines, having excelled in leadership and public service, scholarship, business and innovation. I know their life stories will inspire our graduates and their families and friends, as well as those of us in the wider University community.”

• Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is Nigeria’s coordinating minister for the economy and minister of finance and a renowned development economist and economic reformer. Okonjo-Iweala is responsible for managing the finances of Africa’s most populous nation and one of the world’s fastest growing economies. She’s a former managing director of the World Bank where she had oversight responsibility for the bank’s $81 billion operational portfolio in Africa, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia. She also spearheaded initiatives to assist low-income countries during the food crisis and later the financial crisis, and she chaired the raising of $49.3 billion in grants and low-interest credit for the world’s poorest nations.

Okonjo-Iweala will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws.

Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 47th vice president of the United States is a former U.S. senator who chaired or was a ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee for 17 years. He’s widely recognized for his work on criminal-justice legislation, including his part in drafting the landmark 1994 Crime Bill and authoring the Violence Against Women Act.

As the chairman or ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden also played a pivotal role in shaping U.S. foreign policy, working on legislation related to terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, post-Cold War Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Biden will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws.

http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/news/vice-president-biden-speak-penn-s-257th-commencement

At the University of Pennsylvania, the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance Minster of Nigeria, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala will be conferred with an honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Pennsylvania on Monday, May 13, 2013.
Other recipients of honorary degree are Kwame Anthony Appiah, Michelle Bachelet, Ursula M. Burns, , Samuel H. Preston, Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Lonnie G. Thompson and James Edward West.
Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice President of the United States will deliver the address at the institution’s commencement.
“We are thrilled to welcome Vice President Biden and all of our honourees to campus on May 13,” said Andrea Mitchell, Penn trustee and chair of the Trustee Honorary Degrees Committee.
“They represent the highest level of achievement in diverse disciplines, having excelled in leadership and public service, scholarship, business and innovation. I know their life stories will inspire our graduates and their families and friends, as well as those of us in the wider University community.”
• Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is Nigeria’s coordinating minister for the economy and minister of finance and a renowned development economist and economic reformer. Okonjo-Iweala is responsible for managing the finances of Africa’s most populous nation and one of the world’s fastest growing economies. She’s a former managing director of the World Bank where she had oversight responsibility for the bank’s $81 billion operational portfolio in Africa, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia. She also spearheaded initiatives to assist low-income countries during the food crisis and later the financial crisis, and she chaired the raising of $49.3 billion in grants and low-interest credit for the world’s poorest nations.
Okonjo-Iweala will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws.
Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 47th vice president of the United States is a former U.S. senator who chaired or was a ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee for 17 years. He’s widely recognized for his work on criminal-justice legislation, including his part in drafting the landmark 1994 Crime Bill and authoring the Violence Against Women Act. As the chairman or ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden also played a pivotal role in shaping U.S. foreign policy, working on legislation related to terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, post-Cold War Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Biden will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws.

http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/news/vice-president-biden-speak-penn-s-257th-commencement

Gov. Yiguda has spoken well.

Okonjo-Iweala dismisses allegations on FIRS top job

Category: News Published on Wednesday, 27 February 2013 04:53 Written by Idris Ahmed
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The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday dismissed allegations that she is manipulating the position of chairmanship of the Federal Inland Revenue Service to favour her candidate.
Her Special Assistant on media, Paul Nwabuiku, told Daily Trust that those making the allegations are faceless and should not be taken serious.
“Anybody that knows my boss will know there is no way she can have a candidate. It is about transparency and accountability. Those baseless accusations reflect the character of those making them. There is not truth about it,” Nwabuiku said.
The allegation is that the minister had cleared the ways for her preferred candidate to become the next chairman of the FIRS, thereby flouting the due process and federal character in terms of employment as enshrined in the constitution.
The chairmanship position for the FIRS became vacant in April, 2012, when the tenure of Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru ended after eight years as chairman.
Kabiru Mashi has been acting since then.
Federal Government had advertised the position and over 30,000 applicants were said to be received, but only six candidates were shortlisted for interview and one of them was alleged to be a graduate of Chemistry.

http://173.193.92.173-static.reverse.softlayer.com/~trust/index.php/news-news/51442-okonjo-iweala-dismisses-allegations-on-firs-top-job