Okonjo-Iweala: 2013, A Game Changer for Nigeria

The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said that 2013 is going to be a game changer and a turning point for the country.

The minister, who said this on the Christiane Amanpour current affairs programme, “Amanpour” monitored on CNN Tuesday, said that the President Goodluck Jonathan administration was going to produce results this year, even as she pointed out: “We are already producing results within the administration.” Okonjo-Iweala added: “On the economic side, I just want to say that macroeconomic stability has been restored. Now, nobody should minimise that. “Remember there were the lost two decades in Africa, in the 80s and 90s, where there was instability such that people could not focus on areas that could create jobs. “Now things are turning right because we had growth of 6.5 per cent last year and we are projecting the same number this year, compared to the average five per cent in other African countries.”

 The minister however admitted the growth figure was intangible and could not be felt by the average Nigerian seeking employment and grappling with the challenges of insecurity and other vices in the country. “But I just want to add that when you mention GDP growth in my country, people will immediately say you can’t eat growth because we have challenges of unemployment, we need to create more jobs; we also have challenges of inclusion and there are problems of inequality, all those are challenges we face,” she said. The finance minister also called for the cooperation of the international community so that Nigeria could overcome the rising spate of oil theft. Okonjo-Iweala, who put the volume of oil stolen from the country daily at 150,000 barrels, expressed disappointment over the loss of revenue to the nation.

According to her, “We are still a poor country, we cannot afford any leakage. Mexico and Nigeria have this problem but that of Mexico is much smaller. “But we also need international community to get involved. We have international people who buy this stolen oil and we need them to treat it as stolen crude just like you do with blood diamonds so that those people don’t have a market to sell the stolen oil.”

 Responding to a question on corruption, Okonjo-Iweala, who admitted that Nigeria does have a problem with corruption just like so many other countries, however noted that there are a lot of hardworking and honest Nigerians.

 “I don’t like the fact that when people mention Nigeria, the next thing they say is corruption. This is a country of 170 million people and 99.9 per cent of them are honest, hardworking citizens who just want to get on with their lives and they want a government that delivers for them. “We lack institutions, we lack processes. What President Jonathan has done is to call the judiciary, legislature and executive for the first time and say this is not about government but about all of us. The judicial process has to be strengthened,” she added.

Two Nigerians, Tokunboh Ishmael and Lai Yahaya, were yesterday named as Yale World Fellows. President of Yale University, Richard C. Levin “While Ishmael is an impact investment pioneer, Yahaya is an oil sector transparency advocate,” the President of Yale University, Richard C. Levin, said as he announced them as the 2013 Yale World Fellows. Ishmael is an investment professional with over 20 years’ experience spanning investment banking, private equity investing, technology and new business development. She is co-founder and Managing Director of Alitheia Capital, a fund management and investment firm based in Nigeria that channels private equity investments into businesses and broadens access to finance, energy and housing for SMEs and low-income households. Ishmael's previous roles include Country Partner for Aureos West Africa, and Mergers and Acquisition banker at Salomon Smith Barney. Ishmael is passionate about transforming lives through meaningful investments that drive job and wealth creation. Yahaya, a policy entrepreneur, is currently Team Leader of the Facility for Oil Sector Transparency and Reform (FOSTER), a donor-funded programme that supports government and civil society in a bid to push for greater transparency, accountability and reform in the Nigerian oil sector. Previously, he was a technical adviser on the Nigerian Presidential Taskforce on Power and worked on the Roadmap for Power Sector Reform. He is an ardent activist for probity, efficiency and best practice in government and the private sector. Ishmael and Yahaya are among 16 World Fellows selected this year, from a pool of about 2,500 applicants. This year's cohort brings the total number of Yale World Fellows since the programme's inception in 2002 to 238, representing 81 countries. The Yale World Fellows Programme is the university’s signature global leadership development initiative and a core element of Yale’s ongoing commitment to internationalisation. Each year, the university invites a group of exemplary mid-career professionals from a wide range of fields and countries for an intensive four-month period of academic enrichment and leadership training. Four previous Yale World Fellows hailed from Nigeria. They are: Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, Co-founder and Publishing Director, Cassava Republic Press; Hauwa Ibrahim, Research Associate and Visiting Lecturer, Harvard Divinity School; Ibidapo Oyewole, Technical Adviser, National Planning Commission; and Philomena Chinwe Uwandu, Legal Adviser to the Federal Government of Nigeria. “The Yale World Fellows Programme consistently attracts outstanding talent,” said World Fellows programme director Michael Cappello, professor of paediatrics at Yale School of Medicine. “The 16 individuals selected this year are each poised to become even more effective change-makers in their societies and around the world. This unique leadership training opportunity will no doubt inspire their many future contributions to the global community.” The mission of the Yale World Fellows Programme is to cultivate and empower a community of globally engaged leaders committed to positive change through cross-disciplinary dialogue and action. It has at its core three main goals: to provide advanced training to emerging leaders from diverse disciplines and countries, to link this network of world leaders to each other and to Yale, and to expand and deepen international understanding.