The sudden resignation of campaigning Nigerian minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala last week is a blow to the credibility of the government and places a question mark over future economic reforms, Nigerian economists and analysts say.
Former finance and foreign minister Okonjo-Iweala last year spearheaded reforms of the country’s finance and economic sectors and negotiated Africa’s biggest debt cancellation, worth $18-billion.
The former World Bank’s vice-president, who has a doctorate degree in regional economics and development, joined the Cabinet in July 2003 after President Olusegun Obasanjo was re-elected for another term.
Okonjo-Iweala quit last Thursday, 44 days after she was moved from the influential finance ministry to foreign affairs.
The 54-year-old clashed with the government last month after publicly claiming the Nigerian mission in Jamaica had illegally transferred $4,6-million to the International Seabed Authority — an allegation the government denied.
She was also removed as the chairperson of the government’s economic management team while on an official assignment in London last week.
Lagos economist Bolaji Odumesi said the nation was shocked by the news of the resignation and its implications for the reform programmes of the government.
”The minister has been the driving force of Obasanjo’s economic policies. She gave credibility to the administration because of her antecedent as an accomplished international banker and economic expert,” he said.
Under the former minister, transparency, probity, fiscal and budgetary discipline became the hallmark of government policies, he said. ”Inflation rate went down from a record high of 23,6% in October 2003 to 16,4% in May this year. Interest and lending rates are crashing while the naira has appreciated significantly against the dollar and British pound in the foreign-exchange market,” he said.
Odumesi said it was a ”big surprise to the nation” on June 20 when Obasanjo moved Okonjo-Iweala to the foreign beat. ”It’s like putting a round peg in a square hole. Dr Okonjo-Iweala has had a distinguished career in the finance ministry,” he said. ”Why change a winning team? Nigerians will not forgive the president for this indiscretion.”
Odumesi said it was Okonjo-Iweala, using her network of contacts in the international financial market, that got Nigeria unprecedented debt relief. ”It’s a regret that Mrs Debt Relief is quitting at this crucial period of the nation’s history,” he lamented.
Pat Utomi, prominent economist and professor of the Lagos Business School, said the former minister will be remembered more for her efforts in introducing the fiscal responsibility Bill to Parliament. ”This is a laudable effort aimed at building institutions that will endure,” he said.
He also lauded her for helping Nigeria to secure debt relief from the Paris Club when she was finance minister.
A government statement said Obasanjo had accepted the resignation of Okonjo-Iweala as minister, which had been prompted by a ”compelling need to take care of pressing family issues”.
In a letter accepting her resignation, Obasanjo expressed regret that ”the minister had to leave at this stage of our reform programme when various measures adopted by this administration were beginning to yield positive results”.
He added: ”You were able to utilise the vast network and experience of over 20 years at the World Bank to contribute to getting our nation the debt relief that had eluded us for so long … the administration will certainly miss you.”
Lagos lawyer Gani Fawehimi sees her differently, indicating that Okonjo-Iweala was not universally liked.
”Her resignation is good riddance to a bad anti-people economic specialist,” he said, describing her as ”an agent of the World Bank and IMF [International Monetary Fund]”. — Sapa-AFP