Former Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has ruled the possibility of her ever serving in the incumbent administration of President Muhammadu Buhar
Okonjo-Iweala, who had served as finance minister under President Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan administrations, said it was better to allow those managing Nigeria’s economy to do the best they could.
She spoke while participating in an Aljazeera programme: The Stream,
When asked of her availability to serve the present administration if overtures were made to her by President Muhammadu Buhari, she said that Nigeria boasts of competent people, who would offer their services when called upon.
The former minister said it is regrettable that the economic gains recorded in Africa have started eroding a few years ago.
In her opinion, the solution must be to address the macroeconomic question, saying that having a firm control over the rate of inflation in addition to ensuring a stable exchange rate should be prioritised by African governments.
According to her, One of the things you learn as you get wiser is to talk less as you grow older. I have spent my time contributing to the country. It will be better to live those managing the economy to do what they know how to do. There can be solutions. Ex Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala “I am not a typical politician.
“I went in as a technocrat. I think on the continent we have seen a period when the economy was doing well, in the last two years we have been experiencing challenges. We need to focus on the basics which are macro-economics. You must get the fundamentals like having a stable exchange rate and having inflation under control. “I served my country for seven years and it was a great honour. The second time was very tough but it is still an honour. I am not the only person who is a repository of knowledge. There are other people who can equally try their hands in running the economy.
“I will advise young people not to wait for employment. They should create jobs to employ six people or more. During my time in government, we had a programme called You Win designed to support young entrepreneurs. The whole idea was to have a business plan competition.
“The idea was that they should create jobs. And each, created 9-10 jobs. The World Bank did an evaluation of it and found it good. I do believe that the government should come in. We started a peer to peer mentoring. Now, one of the things I want to say is that creating employment is not only about struggles, it is about managing success.”
On how how corruption was tackled at her time in government, she said: “It was a very tough fight, I must thank my team, you don’t do it alone, I had the support of an economic team in the Ministry of Finance. It was tough because at the end of the day you need to have some principles.”
