Okonjo-Iweala

Former Finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala yesterday urged opponents of non-interest Islamic banking in the country to dispassionately understand the idea, which she said is simply another form of banking that is functioning well in other countries.

Okonjo-Iweala, a managing director at World Bank and now minister-designate, spoke while fielding questions from senators at the Senate in Abuja during the confirmation hearing for ministerial nominees.

She said Islamic banking system is being adopted by many countries in the world and that it can function well along with other forms of banking that exist in Nigeria.

“On the issue of Islamic banking, I will say we should look at it without a lot of emotion. I think that as far as I understand it and again it is a question that posed to the Central Bank Governor who proposed it, to my opinion it is another form of banking, where instead of charging interest, the people who take loans from this system share in the profits of the bank,” she said.