NIGERIA: World Bank managing director, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala screened by Nigeria's Senate for a possible position in cabinet

Record ID: 234632

  • Title: NIGERIA: World Bank managing director, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala screened by Nigeria's Senate for a possible position in cabinet
  • Date: 7th July 2011
  • Summary: ABUJA, NIGERIA (JULY 06, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MEMBERS OF SENATE IN THE CHAMBER NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA, WORLD BANK MANAGING DIRECTOR ARRIVING IN SENATE FOR SCREENING DAVID MARK, SENATE PRESIDENT SEATED MEMBERS OF THE SENATE WATCHING (SOUNDBITE) (English) NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, WORLD BANK SAYING: "Right now, I think we need to work very hard because the budget that we have is such that recurrent expenditure is almost 74 percent of the budget and therefore there is not as much left for capital so we need to work hard to put in place, to continue to put in place fiscal policies that will enable us to tackle the various challenges in the economy while at the same time living within our means." AUDIENCE LISTENING TO THE ADDRESS IN THE SENATE CHAMBER (SOUNDBITE) (English) NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, WORLD BANK SAYING: "And I think the main problem in the economy has to do with creating jobs. We have unemployment rate of about 14-16 percent but very large under employment and the issue is how to make the economy grow in a way that it will create jobs. So those fiscal policies have to be supportive of the sectors that are going to be job creating." SENATORS WATCHING OKONJO-IWEALA TAKING A BOW MORE OF THE AUDIENCE OKONO-IWEALA LEAVING THE CHAMBER
  • Embargoed: 22nd July 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria, Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAE99LU8UPTNKUN1MEUA67QAA5A
  • Story Text: World Bank managing director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala appeared before Nigeria's Senate on Wednesday (June 06) to be screened by lawmakers for a possible position in President Goodluck Jonathan's new administration.
    Government sources have said Okonjo-Iweala, a respected former finance minister who helped negotiate debt relief in 2005, could return to her old position but with additional broad powers over economic management.
    The World Bank managing director laid out her vision for the Nigerian economy pledging she would create jobs and ensure the country "lives within its means" if approved as a cabinet minister.
    The high cost of government spending has been a major concern for economists and investors in sub-Saharan Africa's second-biggest economy. Recurrent expenditure accounts for well over half of government spending despite poor public services.
    "Right now, I think we need to work very hard because the budget that we have is such that recurrent expenditure is almost 74 percent of the budget and therefore there is not as much left for capital so we need to work hard to put in place, to continue to put in place fiscal policies that will enable us to tackle the various challenges in the economy while at the same time living within our means," Okonjo-Iweala said.
    She moved on to cover Nigeria's unemployment challenges.
    "And I think the main problem in the economy has to do with creating jobs. We have unemployment rate of about 14-16 percent but very large under employment and the issue is how to make the economy grow in a way that it will create jobs. So those fiscal policies have to be supportive of the sectors that are going to be job creating," she said.
    Okonjo-Iweala also said she was concerned that Africa's biggest oil and gas producer was seeing its foreign reserves fall despite high oil prices, although she said that was partly due to a policy of supporting the naira currency, a stance she would not seek to reverse in the immediate term.
    The inclusion of Okonjo-Iweala in the cabinet could lend more weight to president Jonathan's reform ambitions.
    She was praised as finance minister for fighting corruption and negotiating the cancellation of nearly two-thirds of Nigeria's 30 billion US dollar Paris Club debt. The Paris Club is an informal group of financial officials from 19 of some of the world's biggest economies, which provides financial services such as debt restructuring to countries where other means have failed. Nigeria became the first country to fully pay off its debt in 2006 through this method.
    But despite her popularity, Okonjo-Iweala was suddenly reassigned by then-President Olusegun Obasanjo to foreign minister in 2006, a move that was never properly explained.
    She was appointed to the World Bank, where she had previously worked for more than two decades, in October 2007.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register