A former Minister of Finance, Dr.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has made some revelations in her new book titled,
“Fighting Corruption is Dangerous – The Story Behind the Headlines”
She recounted that former
President, Goodluck Jonathan indeed showed concern and made spirited effort to
rescue the schoolgirls abducted in Chibok in 2014.
In parts published by Thisday,
Okonjo-Iweala said Jonathan called her on the phone while she was in Mexico
City on April 15, 2014, a day after the schoolgirls’ abduction, confirming to
her that Boko Haram had indeed kidnapped a large number of girls.
“When the President came to the
phone, he sounded tired. It was easy to sense the fatigue in his voice. I told
him what I had heard in Mexico and the reaction of the participants.
“The President confirmed that the
kidnapping had happened, that they were still trying to determine with the
state authorities exactly what happened, and that the total number of girls
taken was still not known.”
She quoted Jonathan as saying,
“CME, we must get those girls out alive. I don’t care what they say about me.
But I don’t want those girls dead. We must get them back alive.”
The former World Bank managing
director also revealed a graphic encounter between her and an aggressive
South-West governor (still serving) who pounced on her at a National Executive
Council meeting.
She related in the book that it
took the intervention of the then Vice President, Namadi Sambo, who rescued her
from the hands of the south-western governor (who was in the major opposition
party at that time; now the ruling party), who pounced on her and was verbally
aggressive at the NEC meeting.
The finance expert also narrated
the challenges and frustration she experienced over the resistance by some
governors and other powerful elements to saving for the rainy day even as her
efforts were fully supported by both ex-Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and
Jonathan.
She stated that it was only by
sheer force of the will that Obasanjo was able to protect the savings in the
Excess Crude Account from the governors.
Okonjo-Iweala noted in the book,
that she was reluctant to attend the NEC meetings because of the animosity
towards her by some governors who saw her as the obstacle to sharing funds in
the ECA and saddle their states with ill-advised loans which would have been
difficult to pay.
Okonjo-Iweala also disclosed how
a certain aide of Jonathan almost ‘bounced’ her and the then newly elected
International Monetary Fund Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, who was on an
official visit to Nigeria, out of the Presidential Villa.
She accused the aide of making an
attempt, which she frustrated, to use his influence to further an agenda that
was inimical to the country’s interest. It was for that reason the aide tried
to ‘bounce’ her and Lagarde out of the Villa.
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