Coordinating Minister for the Economy and
Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
has provided a detailed 102-page documented
response to the 50 questions posed by the
House of Representatives Committee on
Finance on the state of the economy.
The minister, in a statement issued by her
Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu,
said the document provides, in extensive detail,
including tables and graphs, answers to the
committee's well-publicised questions.
Each of the members of the finance committee
were said to have received the document on
Wednesday evening.
In her response, Okonjo-Iweala stressed that in
spite of the many challenges which government
had acknowledged, the Nigerian economy is
showing real and measurable progress in many
areas, adding, "This can be seen in the fact that
more jobs are being created; roads, rail and
other infrastructure are being improved; the
country is saving for the future and planning
better for the present."
According to her, "The Jonathan administration,
contrary to the impression given by some
critics, is making an impact in the areas that,
according to credible opinion polls, Nigerians are
most passionate about.
"For instance, on job creation which is a central
focus of the administration, a total of 1.6 million
jobs were created last year, according to the
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of which
250,000 were seasonal jobs created in dry
season farming in 10 northern states.
"In manufacturing, the Onne Oil and Gas Free
zone created an estimated 30,000 direct and
indirect jobs. The government special
intervention programme YouWin supported
young entrepreneurs, creating over 18,000 jobs.
The SURE-P Community Services programme
has also created 120,000 job opportunities."
The statement added that Okonjo-Iweala also
pointed to the improvement in federal
highways, which she said had been confirmed
by many Nigerians who travelled during the
Christmas and New Year holidays.
"Key highways which have witnessed significant
progress include Kano-Maiduguri Road, the
Abuja-Lokoja Road, the Apapa-Oshodi Road, the
Onitsha-Enugu-Port-Harcourt Road and the
Benin-Ore-Shagamu Road. Preliminary work has
commenced on Lagos-Ibadan road and the
Second Niger Bridge.
"The Railway Modernization Programme
involving the construction of standard gauge
lines is underway. The 1,124 km Western line
linking Lagos and Kano is now functional, while
work on the Eastern line linking Port Harcourt to
Maiduguri is about 36 per cent complete.
"The Abuja-Kaduna Standard Gauge line has
attained 68 per cent completion, and the Itakpe-
Ajaokuta-Warri Line which is presently 77 per
cent completed, will be completed next year.
"The annual passenger traffic on our railways
has increased steadily, rising from 1 million in
2011 to 5 million in 2013," the minister's
spokesman said.
One of the issues Okonjo-Iweala dealt with was
the charge made by the Chairman of the
Finance Committee, Hon. Abdulmumin Jubrin, in
the media that the country is racking up debts
under her watch as finance minister.
On this issue, the statement said Okonjo-Iweala
dismissed the allegation, stating there was no
substance to the charge.
"In fact, the opposite is true. Right from her
Senate confirmation hearing in 2011, the
minister had identified rising debt as a major
challenge, which the country needs to confront.
"Under the leadership of President Jonathan and
working with the Debt Management Office and
the Budget Office of the Federation, the minister
followed through with a robust approach which
includes progressive reduction of borrowing,
quick settlement of due debts and the
retirement of N75 billion of maturing bonds via a
Sinking Fund dedicated to paying off substantial
bonds.
"These measures have produced clear results as
shown in the reduction of borrowing from N852
billion in 2011 to N571.9 billion this year," the
minister was said to have explained in her
document to the House committee.
Nwabuikwu further pointed out that the minister
drew the attention of the committee to the fact
that many of the 50 questions had been
adequately answered at various fora, including
meetings and open hearings organised by the
House committee.
"The minister's detailed response in spite of this,
is a reflection of her well known high regard for
the National Assembly as an institution," he
added.
Also, in her preamble to the 100-page response
to the committee, the minister informed the
committee that most of the responses to the 50
questions were already in the public domain and
had been extensively debated by the
government, journalists, civil society
organization and the private sector.
She said: "We would have thought that
honorable members of this committee, which
focuses on our nation's finances, would have
been adequately informed on these topics."
She further informed the committee that a lot of
the questions were repetitive in several
instances, and in some cases, were directly
contradictory, adding, "It is therefore unclear if
the House committee has a coherent policy
agenda for our nation's development, or
whether these questions are simply meant to
stir confusion and detract us from the
Transformation Agenda of the current
administration."
Okonjo-Iweala also accused the committee of
personalising most of the questions by focusing
on her instead of focusing on the economy,
saying, "This is disappointing and trivialises
important discussions needed for Nigeria's
development. In our responses, we choose to do
otherwise. We focus instead on policy issues and
provide empirical data to support our
discussions where necessary."
For the reasons above, the minister said: "We
believe such protracted exchanges are a
distraction to the executive and ultimately a
disservice to Nigerians.
"We would recommend more measured and
civil exchanges in the future, which are
informative for Nigerians and also enable the
executive to focus on its goal of implementing
programmes and projects across our nation."
In spite of these concerns, Okonjo-Iweala
concluded the preamble by stating that she was
pleased to provide the responses to the various
questions and hoped that they will be
informative for the committee members and for
all Nigerians.
Last December, the finance committee had
presented the 50 questions to the minister and
asked her to respond to them during a public
hearing.
However, she had informed the committee that
she was unwell and would not be able to
address the issues raised in the posers given to
her by the committee.
But her response did not go down well with
Jubrin who then asked her to go with the
questions and return in two weeks time with the
answers.
At this juncture, Okonjo-Iweala's changed her
mind and insisted on attempting to address the
question on that day with the assistance of her
aides who were present at the public hearing.
But this again was rejected by Jubrin and
degenerated into a heated altercation between
her and the committee chairman.
Ever since then, the House and the committee
had made it clear that they would not consider
the 2014 Appropriation Bill until the minister
responds to the questions.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Airtel Nigeria.
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