The immediate past Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said on Friday that her comments on lack of political will to save for the rainy day during the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan were misconstued for an indictment on the administration.
Okonjo-Iweala was the finance minister for the country through out the four years of Jonathan’s administration.
She said in a statement issued by her Media Adviser, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu, that the truth that was glaring to perceptible Nigerian was that while the Jonathan administration was willing to save for Nigerians, the plan was opposed by the state governors at the time.
The statement reads,, “Some recent media reports have distorted comments made by former Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala regarding how lack of political will negatively impacted national savings over the past few years.“Contrary to the slant, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala did not indict the Jonathan administration in which she served.
“Rather, she was referring to what many Nigerians already know: the strong opposition by some governors to the Jonathan government’s efforts to save in the Excess Crude Account and the Sovereign Wealth Fund sabotaged this important national priority.
“The governors’ criticism of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s many calls for the country to save for the rainy day are still fresh in the minds of Nigerians.
“It will be recalled that this opposition culminated in the Governors taking the Jonathan government to the Supreme Court in furtherance of their position that the Federal Government had no right to ‘compel’ them to save.
“So the issue of Okonjo-Iweala indicting the Jonathan administration over this very public issue simply does not arise.”
