Former president Olusegun Obasanjo has
revealed why he appointed Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as Minister of Finance.
Obj, as fondly called, also
stated that Africa needs sound and proactive leaders.
He noted that the continent would
perform remarkably well in all sectors when the right people occupy majority
positions of authority.
The Owu-born high chief spoke
at a lecture at the AIG-Blavatnik school of he government, University of
Oxford, UK.
“Africa needs leadership and it
needs it now and all the time. Proactivity as an element of transformational
leadership emphasizes the need for governance to be led actively by a
discerning and quick thinking leadership,” he said.
“Again, I should reiterate my
experience shortly after I was elected. I engaged in what maybe called shuttle
diplomacy in governance instead of the going cap in hand for donor dictated
partnership terms that often saw our leaders accepting all manner of conditionalities.
“The lesson here is that,
proactive leadership was critical at the time in Nigeria’s history. I commenced
the campaign for debt relief early in my first term and got sympathetic
hearings, but not much action from political leaders of creditor countries.
“After my first term, I realized
that my talks at the highest political levels needed follow-up at the levels
below. So, I head-hunted Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala from the World Bank, appointing
her as Nigeria’s minister of finance.”
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