States Governors made it impossible for the President Goodluck Jonathan administration to save when Nigeria earned megabucks from the sale of crude oil.
This position was taken by Nigeria’s two-time Minister of Finance and Coordinator of the Economic Team, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in a statement on Friday that sought to clarify and earlier one on Thursday.
In the statement on Thursday, Okonjo-Iweala had said lack of political will made it impossible for the Jonathan administration to save unlike what transpired during the regime of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
During the Obasanjo regime, about $22 billion was saved from the excess receipt from the sale of crude oil.
However, Okonjo-Iweala said the position was not an indictment of Jonathan as a person but the situation that surrounded the inability of the government to save.
She said it was the State Governors that made it impossible for the administration to save.
One of the steps taken by the State Governors at the time, Okonjo-Iweala reminded Nigerians in her Friday statement, was going to the Supreme Court to stop Jonathan from saving the excess realised from the sale of oil into the Sovereign Wealth Fund.
In the statement, signed by her media aide, Paul Nwabuikwu, Okonjo-Iweala said a former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, had a correct perspective to the issue and informed Nigerians as such.
The statement reads in full: “Some recent media reports have distorted comments made by former Finance Minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala regarding how lack of political will negatively impacted national savings over the past few years.
“Contrary to the slant given by these loud headlines, Dr Okonjo-Iweala did not indict the Jonathan administration in which she served.
“Rather, she was referring to what many Nigerians already know: the strong opposition by some governors to the Jonathan government’s efforts to save in the Excess Crude Account and the Sovereign Wealth Fund sabotaged this important national priority.
“The governors’ criticism of Dr Okonjo-Iweala’s many calls for the country to save for the rainy day are still fresh in the minds of Nigerians.
“It will be recalled that this opposition culminated in the Governors taking the Jonathan government to the Supreme Court in furtherance of their position that the Federal Government had no right to “compel” them to save.
“Several knowledgeable persons including former Anambra State Governor, Mr Peter Obi have confirmed these facts.
“So the issue of Okonjo-Iweala indicting the Jonathan administration over this very public issue simply does not arise.
“We urge the media to always consult for clarification whenever the need arises.”
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