Omo, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has had a rough week.
Omo, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has had a rough week. The former Minister of Finance has been called out by politicans left and right on her activities while minister. Adams Oshiomole (yes, the Adams Oshiomole who married that pretty young woman from Cape Verde not too long ago), Edo State Governor, put her on blast, stating that she spent N2.1 billion (about 10.5 million USD) from the country’s Excess Crude Account (ECA) without the approval of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee’ (which is made up of finance commissioners from all 36 states).
Okonjo Iweala has since refuted the claims, stating that all ECA spending was approved by President Johnathan at the time and were used for paying for petroleum subsidies for the Nigerian people. The FAAC itself has responded to Oshiomole’s claim, calling it “misleading and far from the fact”.
In response to the whole debacle, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala issued a statement today via her media aide questioning the dragging of her name; it reads:
We thank the Finance Commissioners for their clarification on the use of the Excess Crude Account (ECA) and for acknowledging that this is not an Okonjo-Iweala issue.
The statement clearly shows that Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) is a statutory body which is chaired by the Hon. Minister of State for Finance in which all the states are represented.
Payments made were used for paying for petroleum subsidies for the Nigerian people and were approved by Mr President.
Therefore there is no question of mismanaging any resources here.
For the avoidance of doubt, at no time did Dr. Okonjo-Iweala say that FAAC approved such expenditures. What she said was that all these expenditures were discussed at FAAC meetings attended by Finance Commissioners from the 36 states.
It is therefore clear that there was no misrepresentation by Dr. Okonjo-Iweala.
The question before us is: why is there such an excessive attempt to batter her name in an attempt to damage her reputation? It is clear as I said in my previous statement that the motive is malicious and very political and therefore will not succeed.If monies were used to pay for subsidies for the Nigerian people and duly approved, why is Okonjo-Iweala’s name being battered in this way?
This persecution should stop.Paul C Nwabuikwu
Media Adviser to Dr Okonjo-Iweala
