The Federal Government, yesterday, reacted to comments by
the former Minister of Education, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, alleging that the
governments of presidents Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan, squandered
$67 billion in foreign reserve, describing the allegation as “outlandish and
clearly fictitious”.
Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku who addressed a
press conference in response to some of the allegations raised by the former
Vice President (African Region) of the World Bank said the damning verdict
passed on the education sector by Mrs Ezekwesili was a self-indictment as she
presided over the sector without making any positive impact on it.
The Information Minister who was flanked by the Senior
Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe; Economic Adviser, Prof.
Nwanze Okedigbo and Special Adviser on Performance Monitoring, Prof. Sylvester
Monye, said Ezekwesili’s allegations were curious in the light of the fact that
she had been part of governance in the past as the Vice President of World
Bank.
According to Mr Maku, Ezekwesili’s criticism of the
education sector amounts to hypocrisy as she was part of the sector and
contributed to its sorry state because despite receiving N458.1billion between
2006 and 2007 for the sector, there is nothing to see in terms of achievements.
The Minister said: “If she says education has not worked it
means she is saying she did not work”.
He accused the former Education minister of betraying a surprisingly limited
understanding of government finances in her comments at Nsukka.
He noted: “These statements are even more curious in the
light of the fact that she has held senior positions in government, and more
recently, a position as a Vice President of the World Bank. However, rather
than speculate about her motives, we would focus on the facts.
All I demand is accountability -Ezekwesili
Responding to Maku’s attack Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili
challenged officials of the Federal Government to a public debate.
On allegations that she mismanaged funds meant for the
education sector during her 10 months as Education Minister, Mrs Ezekwesili
said: “I Challenge them to a public debate of facts regarding 2007 Excess Crude
Account (ECA) and foreign reserve and last five and half years oil revenue.”
Also writing on twitter yesterday in messages prefaced with
the declaration, “Nothing but Accountability,” Ezekwesili said: “In 2007, the
incoming Administration was handed $45Billion in Foreign Reserve plus
$22Billion.
Nothing but accountability: Let Mr. Maku go further. As a
citizen all I want to know is the Mathematics of the ECA and the Foreign
Reserve. Nothing but accountability: I demanded accountability and that’s all a
citizen asks of government. I will not stop asking for accountability.
N458.1bn Education
Ministry fund
“The statement by the former World Bank Vice President that
the governments of Presidents Musa Yar’adua and Goodluck Jonathan have
squandered $67 billion in reserves (including $45 billion in external reserves
and $22 billion in the Excess Crude Account) left by the Obasanjo
Administration at the end of May 2007 is factually incorrect. At the end of May
2007, Nigeria’s gross reserves stood at $43.13 billion – comprising the CBN’s
external reserves of $31.5 billion, $9.43 billion in the Excess Crude Account,
and $2.18 billion in the Federal Government’s savings. These figures can be
independently verified from the CBN’s records. The figure of $67 billion
alleged in her statement is therefore clearly fictitious.
“However, since President Obasanjo left office, the reserves
have experienced fluctuations, rising from $43.13 billion in May 2007, peaking
at $62 billion in September 2008 during the Yar’Adua/Jonathan Administration
when oil prices peaked at $147 per barrel, and falling subsequently to a low of
$31.7 in September 2011. This fall in reserves was a result of the vicissitudes
of the global financial crisis which caused CBN interventions in the currency
market to defend the value of the naira. The Excess Crude savings, a component
of the reserves, was also used to stimulate the economy at the height of the
global financial crisis to the tune of about $1 billion (or 0.5 per cent of our
2009 GDP). As a result, Nigeria is one of the few countries in the world that
did not seek assistance from international financial institutions. It should be
noted that the fiscal stimulus used to shore up the economy during that period
was shared by all three-tiers of government, including commitments of about
$5.5 billion made under the Obasanjo Administration for power projects.
“On the use of reserves, it is fallacious to say that the
nation’s external reserves were dipped into or misapplied by the Federal
Government. It is important to note that the Federal Government cannot dip its
hands into external reserves. Like in other countries, the management of
external reserves is one of the statutory mandates of the Central Bank of
Nigeria (CBN).
External Reserve under CBN
“Section 2 sub-section (c) of the CBN Act (2007) states that
the Bank shall ‘maintain external reserves to safeguard the international value
of the legal tender currency’ – in other words, to defend the value of the
naira. No President since the democratic dispensation has contravened this Act.
Other uses of the reserves are to settle both public and private sector foreign
currency (e.g. payment of goods and services, settlement of external debt, etc)
it must provide the naira equivalent to the CBN before the Bank sells the
required foreign currency. As a former World Bank Vice-President for Africa,
surely, Mrs. Ezekwesili must have known this.
“We also found Mrs. Ezekwesili’s interrogation of the
educational system somewhat disingenuous and borderline hypocritical. During
her tenure as Minister of Education between 2006 and 2007, she collected total
sum of N352.3 billion from direct budgetary releases. In addition, she received
about N65.8 billion under the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Fund,
and over N40 billion from the Education Trust Fund (ETF) during her time as
Minister of Education.
“In view of these humongous allocations, few legitimate
questions arise. What did she do with all these allocations? What impact did it
have on the education sector? One wonders if our educational system would have
been better today if these allocations were properly applied.
“No one disputes that Nigeria still faces challenges, most
of which were built up over a long time. But we need to acknowledge the
significant achievements of this administration in the aftermath of difficult
but necessary macro-economic and structural reforms being implemented in the
country.
“This administration has restored macro-economic stability
against the backdrop of global economic uncertainty, slow growth in the United
States and high unemployment and unsustainable debt in Europe. In the first
three quarters of 2012, Nigeria’s economy grew by about 6.4 per cent and is set
to continue at a similar pace in 2013 according to independent forecasts. We
have reduced our fiscal deficit to only 2.17 per cent of GDP in the 2013
budget, while rebalancing our spending in favour of capital expenditure. These
achievements have already received strong endorsement from international rating
agencies. At a time when many advanced and emerging markets are being
downgraded, Fitch and S&P have upgraded our sovereign credit ratings. The
inclusion of Nigeria’s sovereign bonds in the emerging market bond indices of
JP Morgan and Barclays also testifies to the growing confidence of the
international investment community in our economy.
“We have also focused our attention on removing the
bureaucratic and structural bottlenecks in the economy to enable the private
sector create more jobs for our youths. In the power sector, most Nigerians
will attest to improvements in power supply even as the 10 new power plants
being built by this Administration are yet to fully come on stream. There have
also been improvements in rail services; for example, the Lagos—Kano rail line
is now fully operational and serving Nigerians for the first time in over 20
years. There have been significant improvements in road development; aviation –
in particular refurbished terminals; and agriculture, where new jobs are being
created every day. Serious work is ongoing to improve our ports and lower the
cost of doing business and the cost of consumption in Nigeria. The government
has further launched a number of initiatives targeted at creating jobs for our
youth, including support for entrepreneurship through the YouWin Programme;
work for the unskilled through the Community Services programme of the Subsidy
Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme; and support for unemployed graduates
through the Graduate Internship Programme.
“This administration is squarely focused on promoting a
stable, non-inflationary, and inclusive economic environment for Nigeria to
ensure that Nigerians can live better and more fulfilled lives”, Maku said.
Responding to a question on why the Federal Government
waited for the former minister’s outburst before charging her for the alleged misappropriation of
$458.1b, Maku said: “The essence of the
briefing is not to prosecute her but to debunk her claim that Federal
Government had squandered N10. 6 trillion. It is wiser that people of
Ezekwesili’s calibre become more conscious than to behave like strangers in
what they ought to know better in the way they condemn things after they have
left office.”
On the recent threat by MEND that they are going to bring
the country down on the account of Henry Okah’s conviction in South
Africa, Maku said since the MEND
leader was not convicted in Nigeria, it
will be very shocking if any Nigerian or group of Nigerians will take such
actions against their own country.
“What we expect at this time is that all Nigerians should
show higher level of commitment and patriotism to Nigeria. We can’t live in a
nation where we abandon the law.
What I expect at this moment is that our citizens should
understand that this nation offers the best of opportunity to live better lives
and that anything you do against your country is not a plus.
We call on all those making the threat to commit themselves
to the laws of the land and allow the peace that have rained in the nations
over the couple of years since amnesty programme started not to be bridged.
He charged all Nigerians to condemn terrorism and vandalism,
saying “that this is the time to unite Nigeria.”
Source: Vanguard
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