With the report that Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had been appointed
Minister of finance and coordinator national economic management team, Emancipate Nigerian NOW and a lot of
people rejoiced because it was widely held that the newly elected President Dr.
Goodluck Ebele Azekwe Johnathan had gone for a very competent finance expert to
lead the financial affairs of the county. Yes at last, a technocrat instead of
a politician in Dr Okonjo-Iweala is after all a managing director of the World
Bank and an Ivy League of the prestigious one and only Harvard
University, she has a Ph.D in Regional Economics and Development from MIT with
lots and lots of honorary doctorate degrees from various universities across
the earth. Little would we begin to
understand why OBJ fired her.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister of
Finance and the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, and also the self
appointed financial messiah on Nigerian Economy, is a viaduct between Nigeria
and World Bank and the IMF. This raises the doubt that, though her policies
look original, they may be an attempt to fashion the economy in line with the
principles of the western world to help alleviate there economic difficulties
by creating a dependant Nation in Nigeria for there market because a self
sufficient Nigerian is not good for the development of IMF/western nation
economy. Also her anti people and suffering induce policies of removal of oil
subsidy, the devaluation of the naira, the privatization of government corporations
and many of the anti people, poverty induce policies of the current
administration resemble those ideas international financial organizations such
as the IMF/World bank and Paris club always attempt to sell to Third World
countries. This thinking is bordered on the present situation in government in
which all memoranda that border on the economy is routed to the presidency
through the Economic Management Team, headed by Madam Okonjo, making it
near-impossible for other ministers to directly raise issues about their
ministry with our elected President Jonathan. They have to discuss their memoranda’s
with the Coordinating Minister, who decides whether they are creditable of
being presented at the Federal Executive Council FEC meetings which occur on
weekly bases. At those meetings, she actually sets the tone of discussions,
with the President elect in attendance, because she has the task of explaining
the relevance of projects to the overall objective of the economy with the
exceptions of the Ministers of Petroleum, Aviation, and the Attorney-General of
the Federation. In addition to her burden is the 2012 budget, which takes Nigeria to the
defining moment. It is also very clear that the federal government’s
fiscal plan of withdrawing fuel subsidy is not the idea of President Goodluck
Jonathan. Under the proposed and now implemented 2012 budget, there will be no
provision for oil subsidy. Further implications include the privatization
of the power sector, devaluation of the naira, the creation of the Sovereign
Wealth Fund, and the surgical control of government spending. Our dear elected President
Goodluck Ebele Azikwe Jonathan does not seem to think outside this agenda and
especially the removal of subsidy on oil, a bitter pill, to the ears of
Nigerians which could lead to disaster especially during this time of boko
haram insecurity around us presently. The claim that the major advantages of
the subsidy removal is that it would make available funds for the provision of
infrastructure, job creation, among others of which only time will prove wrong. Emancipate
Nigerian NOW hopes it would not be too late to redress these mistakes after
its failure.
What madam Okonjo does not realize is
that the removal of fuel subsidy will put more burdens on Nigerians on the long
term because the same Nigerian government on the long run is insincere and very
corrupt and will take away everything and Nigerian masses will lose with those
in power abdicating responsibilities and concentrating on profit making and
siphoning the monies made for themselves and there families alone. She does not
realize that the real question will arise as to what will happens after her
tenure as appointed saviour and messiah of Nigerian Economy? What she has
failed to realize is that the short term effect of the cost of basic
commodities increase will discourage production and, of course, when there is
no production, workers will be laid off and we will start to import thereby
depending on the same western countries that have the edge who then dictate the
long term effects. Madam Okonjo knows fully well that the western countries are doing this to
protect their interest alone, in the future, to stabilize and find markets for
there product to help there economy at our expense. It is not new that they do not
care about Nigeria
or Nigerians.
We already have gone through this
process before during Babangida’s interlude in
1986 and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) introduced SAP Structural
Adjustment program which the government went on to embrace. The policies surrounded
deregulation, subsidy removal and privatization. Now, some government agencies
have been privatized and they have not been able to work properly with the
exception of telecommunication which is an absolute need lacking in the country
then and of cause a profit oriented organization funded from the same corrupt
leaders with stolen monies from Nigerians. So once the subsidy is removed,
there will be inflation, the cost of production, transportation and even the
budget will increase. Then, people will demand more goods and since we do not
have it, we will be forced to import and as long as there are demands on the
foreign exchange reserve, we will be forced to devalue our currency. It is a
known fact that western countries have found it rather very convenient to hide
behind World Bank and IMF to refuse developing countries some economic
independence. Political independence without economic independence is simply
another form for economic colonialism and it is believed in international arena
that Nigerian economic independence will spell doom for the economies of Europe
and America and this is why Nigerian political leaders must be careful with
whatever or whoever comes out of the World Bank and IMF like our Madam Okonjo,
a Nigerian and a victim of western manipulation blinded by there ideal and
ideas
The bitter pill Madam Okonjo and our
Elected President are forcing us to swallow is that by removing subsidy, government hopes
to save over N1 trillion which will be channeled into the provision of
infrastructure but forget that the Nigeria budget is overloaded with corruption
and corrupt implementation processes of which Madam Okonjo is not equip or
experienced to counter. The truth is that our corrupt political leaders will
find a way to frustrate her IMF based policies thus rendering it very useless
thus creating the aforementioned problems which the same IMF is aware will
surface.
Someone knowledgeable in Nigerian
issues should please educate our Ivy league Madam Okonjo also on the issue of
the Sovereign Wealth Fund, does she not know this is not the first time the notion
of putting aside some money has come up. The last one was called excess crude
account and we all know what happened to that account, rather Madam Okonjo what
we need is to strengthen other sectors of our economy such as agriculture and
services, build capacities, promote manufacturing, create jobs and strengthen
our financial sector to encourage small and medium scale developments in
Nigerian, also our Madam must be made aware that to do all these we really need
to spend and not save, something that eludes ivy league institutions economic
theory teachings.
The reality that Nigeria will be
ushered into a turbulent 2012 is in play with a swarming population of
unemployed youths in a country where already, majority of the citizens survive
on less than three US dollars a day (N465) and where most parts of the land is
in dire need of basic services such as access to portable water, stable
electricity, good roads, efficient healthcare and functional schools worthy of
such description, is it then fuel subsidy removal that madam Okonjo is
proposing that will bring these employments or basic social amenities in a
short time, to these youths and Nigerians at large, of cause not. These are
just theories that might work on paper in an Ivy league institution, but
without palliative measures already in place first and foremost, this policy
will not work and is bound to fail. In short her policies cannot succeed rather
Madam Okonjo needs to look inwards and develop an economic policy or policies
and models that are tailor-made for Nigerians, by Nigerians and Nigeria’s own
needs, and not an IMF Policy that has failed in other countries.
Emancipate
Nigerian NOW ask madam
Okonjo where her IMP/World Bank policy has worked.
Emancipate
Nigerian NOW ponders
now if Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is really suitable to be the Minister of finance
and coordinator national economic management team in Nigeria today.
Emancipate
Nigerian NOW ask why
should a poor man that can barely afford to feed himself or pay his rent be
asked to save? And what is he saving
for?
Emancipate Nigerian NOW
speculates if Dr Okonjo-Iweala really understands Nigeria and ask if she is in touch with Nigerians or with
the Nigerian situation.
Emancipate
Nigeria
NOW concludes that
only time will justify the failure already envisioned from the IMF policies by
an IMF stooge.
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