L
LequteMan
Guest
According to Henry Boyo, an economist and industrialist, Okonjo-Iweala, former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, has damaged the Nigerian economy.
Speaking about Okonjo-Iweala's two tenures in an interview published by The News, Henry said Nigerians were bamboozled by the razzmatazz of this lady president from the world Bank.
He said the expectation of extraordinary or excellent performance from Okonjo Iweala ab initio was totally misplaced in the sense that the failure of her first term in office was promoted as success.
Excerpts:
"In the first place, no country pays every debt it owes when its people are suffering. In addition, there was evidence that we had paid the initial debt owed several times over and yet we were told to pay 12 billion dollars to be able to get a reprieve of God knows what, at a time when poverty in the country was deepening. A Finance Minister in any country is generally judged on the basis of certain indices. For example, what was the level of inflation when the Finance Minister came in, and what is the level of inflation when she is leaving? What was the level of consumption spending when the Finance Minister came in, and what is the level of consumption spending when she left? What is the level of capital accumulation in terms of fiscal discipline, directing more resources towards capital formation and infrastructure?
"Did consumption expenditure (recurrent expenditure) continue to exceed capital expenditure such that recurrent expenditure constantly edged around 70 percent while capital expenditure was 30 percent? You cannot cover failure forever. Those were indices of failure. What about the exchange rate at the time the Minister came and the exchange rate when she left and what level of employment did the Minister meet? We should also consider her policies about generating more employment. In all these critical indices, Okonjo Iweala failed. So, with such failure, it was totally baffling for anyone to consider her return based on good performance in the first instance.
"You find also that the same debt that she said she cleared, is what we are again almost back into. In addition to that, debt is being aquired at rates which even a standard six person as Minister of Finance should not accept. Why would you borrow to fund government activities at 12 to 15 per cent? How could you be Minister of Finance at a time that your President is going to China as President Jonathan did about 18 months ago or so to borrow $1.5billion from the Chinese for transport and other infrastructural development, and simultaneously on the same trip to China, your Central Bank Governor on the trip was asked, “what are you doing in China,” and he said he was looking for ways to invest the CBN’s foreign reserves. How could you have a Finance Minister and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy who cannot put the two together? How could you have a Finance Minister who, during the fuel subsidy upheaval of early 2012, did not know the level of rot in the subsidy business? She is not just the Finance Minister, but also the coordinating Minister of the Economy!
When Sanusi Lamido Sanusi came up and said people were submitting papers which were being stamped, approved and money paid, who paid it? Why didn’t the Finance Minister and the Coordinating Minister show any interest in that. Why must it deserve attention only when it became a crisis issue. Would you be satisfied and congratulate a Finance Minister when you suddenly find that apart from the huge disparity between capital expenditure and recurrent expenditure, the Minister has been sitting on a process that allows the payment of well over a trillion Naira on fuel subsidy, using over 20-25 per cent of our annual budget on fuel subsidy.
"Her performance now is in no way different from her performance in her first coming, but the razzmatazz, glitz and hype around this IMF President candidate straightened us out, and in the end, she opened the roads for our foreign exchange to be carried away. Because the IMF conditionalities that were attached to the writing off of those debts at that time included opening our gates for free flow of our foreign exchange earnings. That was why suddenly bureaux de change were being officially licensed all over the place and then Central Bank started formally allocating dollars to bureaux de change.
Speaking about Okonjo-Iweala's two tenures in an interview published by The News, Henry said Nigerians were bamboozled by the razzmatazz of this lady president from the world Bank.
He said the expectation of extraordinary or excellent performance from Okonjo Iweala ab initio was totally misplaced in the sense that the failure of her first term in office was promoted as success.
Excerpts:
"In the first place, no country pays every debt it owes when its people are suffering. In addition, there was evidence that we had paid the initial debt owed several times over and yet we were told to pay 12 billion dollars to be able to get a reprieve of God knows what, at a time when poverty in the country was deepening. A Finance Minister in any country is generally judged on the basis of certain indices. For example, what was the level of inflation when the Finance Minister came in, and what is the level of inflation when she is leaving? What was the level of consumption spending when the Finance Minister came in, and what is the level of consumption spending when she left? What is the level of capital accumulation in terms of fiscal discipline, directing more resources towards capital formation and infrastructure?
"Did consumption expenditure (recurrent expenditure) continue to exceed capital expenditure such that recurrent expenditure constantly edged around 70 percent while capital expenditure was 30 percent? You cannot cover failure forever. Those were indices of failure. What about the exchange rate at the time the Minister came and the exchange rate when she left and what level of employment did the Minister meet? We should also consider her policies about generating more employment. In all these critical indices, Okonjo Iweala failed. So, with such failure, it was totally baffling for anyone to consider her return based on good performance in the first instance.
"You find also that the same debt that she said she cleared, is what we are again almost back into. In addition to that, debt is being aquired at rates which even a standard six person as Minister of Finance should not accept. Why would you borrow to fund government activities at 12 to 15 per cent? How could you be Minister of Finance at a time that your President is going to China as President Jonathan did about 18 months ago or so to borrow $1.5billion from the Chinese for transport and other infrastructural development, and simultaneously on the same trip to China, your Central Bank Governor on the trip was asked, “what are you doing in China,” and he said he was looking for ways to invest the CBN’s foreign reserves. How could you have a Finance Minister and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy who cannot put the two together? How could you have a Finance Minister who, during the fuel subsidy upheaval of early 2012, did not know the level of rot in the subsidy business? She is not just the Finance Minister, but also the coordinating Minister of the Economy!
When Sanusi Lamido Sanusi came up and said people were submitting papers which were being stamped, approved and money paid, who paid it? Why didn’t the Finance Minister and the Coordinating Minister show any interest in that. Why must it deserve attention only when it became a crisis issue. Would you be satisfied and congratulate a Finance Minister when you suddenly find that apart from the huge disparity between capital expenditure and recurrent expenditure, the Minister has been sitting on a process that allows the payment of well over a trillion Naira on fuel subsidy, using over 20-25 per cent of our annual budget on fuel subsidy.
"Her performance now is in no way different from her performance in her first coming, but the razzmatazz, glitz and hype around this IMF President candidate straightened us out, and in the end, she opened the roads for our foreign exchange to be carried away. Because the IMF conditionalities that were attached to the writing off of those debts at that time included opening our gates for free flow of our foreign exchange earnings. That was why suddenly bureaux de change were being officially licensed all over the place and then Central Bank started formally allocating dollars to bureaux de change.
