Why I Rejected Offer to serve In Buhari's Administration - Okonjo Iweala

The former Finance minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said she is unavailable to serve in the present administration if approaches were made to her by President Muhammadu Buhari. According to her, Nigeria boasts of competent people, who would offer their services when called upon, hence it was better to allow those managing Nigeria’s economy to do the best they could, Vanguard reports.

She added that there can be solutions to the present economic decline in the country. In her words: “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.”
Okonjo-Iweala regretted that the economic gains recorded in Africa started eroding a few years ago.

However, she noted that solving macroeconomic question was key to fixing the continent’s economic challenges, adding that having a firm control over the rate of inflation in addition to ensuring a stable exchange rate should be prioritised by African governments. She said: “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.” “Also, counseling people on accounting, bookkeeping and not falling apart is very important.”