Energy

Okonjo-Iweala Recalls Nasty Experience with Vicious Fuel Subsidy Cabal (Video)

By Web News 1621

This isn’t the first time the idea of petrol subsidy removal would be mooted. The Jonathan administration under which the incumbent Director General of the World Trade Organization, WTO, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, served as Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy also had its fair share of mention in the saga. In fact, former President Jonathan said at that time severally that fuel subsidy was unsustainable and tried unsuccessfully to remove it.

In a video that went viral last week, Okonjo-Iweala is seen narrating how she spearheaded efforts to scrap payment of questionable subsidies and how beneficiaries viciously fought back, culminating in her mother’s kidnapping and demand for her resignation.

“My second example has to do with a very specific one in my country, the clean-up of the fuel scarcity regime in 2012 during my second stay as Finance Minister”, she narrates in the video.

“Nigeria has a physically challenging force of fuel regime, the country exports crude oil and imports fuel because their refineries are in a very bad shape and provides a subsidy for the refined oil as support.

“At the end of 2011, a total of N1.73tr, US $11b equivalent, was submitted as claims for subsidy by 143 marketers, who were importing the product.

“These numbers seemed horrendously large compared to what I had last when I was in government in 2006, which was close to $2b in subsidy.

“So, we decided to study these claims. We audited about $8.4b worth of claims and we found out $2.5b worth of fraud. That is, many of these marketers were trying to claim $2.5b fraudulently.

“With the full backing of the President and the Economic Team, we decided that we were not going to entertain these claims or to pay.

“The pressure from affected marketers was tremendous…not only to say we would not pay but also to say we would clean up the whole mechanism for the subsidy claims and put in place something more transparent, something clearer.

“This did not go down well with them. “When we insisted on our position of non-payment and implementation of the new verification regime, these, and well-connected interests, were angered, and came to blame me personally for this. “There were personal consequences. My 83-year-old mother, a retired professor of sociology, was kidnapped by four young men and held for five days.

“She was totally terrified. She asked them why she had been kidnapped and they told her ‘Because your daughter, the Finance Minister, refused to pay oil marketers their dues’.

“The kidnappers, negotiating with my brother, demanded my resignation, publicly; that I should go on television, publicly and announce my resignation and depart from the country as a condition for my mother’s release.

“Needless to say these were some of the worst days of my life. Imagine when you are in a position, you want your parents, all of whom are here with you today, and your relatives to be proud of you. You want to be a source of good for your family.

“You can imagine how I felt, sitting there and thinking, just because of trying to do something right. To implement a policy that was good for the country, to lead to the taking of my mother’s life. These were some of the worst days of my life.

Watch video

Vanguard/Simeon Ugbodovon

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Economy

WTO DG, Okonjo-Iweala Arrives Nigeria

By Web News 567

The Director General of the World Trade Organization, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has arrived Nigeria on a one week visit.

She arrived the country at about 12pm via Ethiopian airways.

The Director General was received on arrival by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade and Investment, Nasir Sani-Gwarzo.

She is to meet with the President, his Chief of staff as well as the Foreign affairs and finance ministers on Monday.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala will also hold talks with the presidential Task force on Covid19, the Central Bank Governor and captains of industry, during her stay.

FRCN Abuja

News Analysis

International Women Day: A Challenged World is an Alert World

By Web News 817

Every 8th of March each year marks International Women’s Day.

This year marks the 110th International Women’s Day, after the first official event which was held in 1911 Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. 

It was technically first celebrated in 1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York City as part of a protest over poor working conditions.

However, the United Nations made the day official in 1975, thus making it a global event.

 The day addresses issues such as human rights, gender inequalities, highlighting also the social, economic, cultural and political achievements and contributions made by women. 

The official theme for 2021 is “choose to challenge with the idea that a challenged world is an alert world”.

This shows that individually, women are all responsible for their own thoughts and actions which they can choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality.

Around the world, girls and women face unique challenges to participating in politics these challenges are personal, practical, economic, political and cultural.

Denying people the freedom to choose their path in life because of their gender will prevent them from fulfilling their full potential.

This limits women’s power by rendering them less able to help contribute to making the world around them a better place.

It is hardly surprising that many women struggle to embrace their unique feminine leadership strengths, thus leaving many incredibly accomplished and talented women struggling with imposter syndrome.

For Nigeria women to compete with international, there is need for them to speak out about their  experiences to call out gender discrimination.

For more women to top tables, will require valuing care-giving as highly as bread winning, embracing feminine leadership strengths, challenging themselves to own their value, daring to make the difference their difference makes.

They should challenge inequality, call out bias, question stereotypes, and encourage women to forge an inclusive world.

United States Vice President, kamala Harris said last November:

“dream with ambition. Lead with conviction. And see yourself in a way that others might not see you, simply because they’ve never seen it before.”

Nigeria is blessed with great women that had contributed their quota to national development, more talented and intelligent women are still available if given chance.

Kudos to President Muhammadu Buhari for selecting and supporting  Dr Ngozi Okonjo-iweala during her bid for the World Trade Organization’s, WTO, Director General post.

Okonjoiweala’s ascent to the WTO topnotch job is a culmination of series of opportunities to serve in other leadership positions such as when she was finance minister under former president, Olusegun Obasanjo.

Government at all levels in the country, public and private establishments need to create more enabling environment for women to thrive 

On their parts, women serving in various capacities in government, public and private establishments should see their positions as a call to duty and shun corrupt practices.

This will make them role models, and create room for other women to be entrusted with responsibilities in various capacities.

 Olukemi Akintunde