Dr (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
the lady who was redeployed from the World Bank in Washington DC, United
States in 2003 to be our finance minister scored a bull’s-eye a few
weeks ago when she resigned from Obasanjo’s cabinet. By that action
alone, she has proved to be more civilised than most public
office-holders in Nigeria today. We know of several ministers in the
current administration who have been humiliated by the president and
continue to be humiliated by him, but just for the sake of being
addressed as a minister, and for what usually goes with such
appointments, many of them have stayed put. A minister was once hit (and
slapped) by the president; another one was asked to “kneel down” for
some perceived malfeasance, but neither of them resigned. We even know
of serving governors who prostrate before the president. Nigeria has for
president a Baba who sometimes thinks he is a village headmaster, or
perhaps a village chief. And since he understands the nature of the
inveterate greed among many of those who work with him, he has continued
to taunt them with all sorts of humiliation, and they have received
everything with heads bowed as long as they continue to remain
ministers. Many have denied their manhood (and even womanhood) just to
retain the title.
But Okonjo-Iweala showed class a few weeks ago. She did not wait to be
disgraced like others. She saw the humiliation coming. First, she was
relieved of her appointment as finance minister. She was replaced by the
minister of state, Esther Nenadi Usman, who has had a rich experience in
public service over the past 15 years and who as minister of state
boldly drew the attention of the nation to the bad manners of some
governors who visited the foreign exchange black market whenever they
collect their federal allocations. Usman, her successor, had been
well-schooled for the job, but that was not what was at issue as far as
the former finance minister was concerned.
Her deal with Obasanjo was to leave her job at the World Bank and come
over to manage the nation’s exchequer and economy. If that changed for
any reason, then she would have no business remaining in the government.
Being a foreign affairs minister would actually be a big job and many
Nigerians would delightfully sacrifice their parents and children to be
so appointed. But for her, that did not even begin to wash. To get her
to remain, the president hoodwinked her by telling her -- and the world
-- that she would continue to be the head of the Economic Team and
would, as foreign affairs minister, be in charge of foreign direct
investments (FDI) into Nigeria. That sounded cognate enough with her
original brief, and her main reason for leaving her dollar job for
Nigeria. But like everything with President Obasanjo, it was a deceit to
enable him buy time.
When she got to her new ministry, she found several incongruities.
First, she attempted to sack one of the directors who had outlived his
usefulness and should have long gone (but kept in place and protected by
the president), but she was blocked. She didn’t understand why some
people should be treated differently. She probably was not told that the
law works differently for different people in Obasanjo’s Nigeria. But
she trudged on.
The last straw, as we all remember, was when the president suddenly
removed her as the head of the Economic Team without the courtesy of
even informing her. She was then in far-away London. On her return the
following day, she walked straight to the president and tendered her
letter of resignation. The president felt bad, not because she resigned
but because he would have loved to be the one doing the sacking and not
she sacking him. You know Baba loves sacking people just for kicks. The
president was deprived the joy of sacking her and making headlines for
himself. I hear that Okonjo-Iweala did not even inform her friends in
the kitchen cabinet – Nasir el-Rufa’i, Nuhu Ribadu and Oby Ezekwesili --
so that she would not be begged again to “reconsider” it. Several times
in the past, she had been talked into rescinding her threats to resign.
By resigning on principle, she has proved to the world that she is
indeed the very serious lady many think she is. But her resignation
alone will not be enough. There are rumours currently making the rounds
about the “payment of commissions” received after defraying the nation’s
debts, the misappropriation of appropriated budgets, the stealing of
excess crude funds, sundry misspending and even outright theft. Several
Nigerians think she tried her best and one of the reasons why she was
removed from the finance ministry was that she “was blocking the free
flow of water”.
It will be in her enlightened self-interest to start giving an
indication of what transpired during her tenure as Obasanjo’s second
finance minister. That’s the only way she can ever hope for inculpation
when the shit hits the fan. If she waits till Obasanjo leaves power
before she starts talking, people will ask why she didn’t talk all
along. If she allows that to happen, she would have lost her good name
and, at such a time, not even the World Bank, her employers, would want
to deal with her with a long pole!