Economic crunch: What Okonjo-Iweala should have done?

Okonjo Iweala

Sir: There is nothing dialectically new in the present economic hardship the country is facing that we were not warned of. Actions must come with corresponding consequences, like Newton once postulated in his third Law of Motion that to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When we were warned, unlike the good Pharaoh, we ignored Joseph’s advice. Who then should we blame? The truth is that there was the issue of falling oil prices when Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala held sway as Minister of Finance as well as Coordinating Minister of the Economy. But how was she able to handle the economy in a professional manner? The difference has always been in the level of expertise and years of experience in economic management.
In the United States’ Federal Reserve Board, we can mention great persons like William M. Martin Jr. who served as chairman between 1951 and 1970, serving under five different political administrations, both Democrats and Republicans. Also, we have Allan Greenspan who was appointed chairman in 1987 and served under four different Presidents, including Bill Clinton, even though he himself was a Republican. Do you still wonder why we are called a Third World country?

To demonstrate her professionalism and excellence, Okonjo-Iweala warned us all on the need to save for the rainy day. She told us that the days ahead are indeed tough. Instead of saving, state governors blackmailed, lampooned, even politicised the whole matter, asking if it was her private money she was saving. The powerful Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) ably led by Rotimi Amaechi did not spare the poor woman. People like Raji Fashola went as far as the Supreme Court to force her to “share the money.” What could she have done in the light of these circumstances?
To make matters worse, no one was reasoning with her. The present leaders in the All Progressives Congress (APC) went on the international media in a well-coordinated propaganda effort inspired by the present Minister for information, Lai Muhammed, to blackmail the MIT-trained economist. In the heat of the economic crunch, what would Okonjo-Iweala have done? Therefore, we should direct our anger to the right channel and spare this great woman from further unnecessary condemnation.
Bade Adebolu,
Ado-Ekiti.