Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, on Wednesday said she would no resign from office over the alleged refusal to comply strictly with Federal Government revenue projections in violation of the 2013 Appropriation Act.
This call was announced on Tuesday by Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, at the Nigerian Governors’ Forum meeting in Abuja.
Members of the Forum called Okonjo-Iweala to resign her appointment if she knew she would not be able to adhere strictly with the Appropriation Act 2013. They said the non-compliance with the revenue projections of the Federal Government 2013 Budget was also a direct breach of the provisions of the Appropriation Act, 2013.
Okonjo-Iweala, however, told Premium Times that compliance with the demands of the governors was not part of her immediate plans, as she was too busy working to ensure the economy served Nigerians better.
“That (resignation) doesn’t arise at all,” she said.
“You
know I’m not here to address those kinds of issues. I’m Minister of
Finance for the country. I’m working with President Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan, and I just do my job. I’m not here to address such issues.
From time to time, I call you (reporters) to share with you what is
happening in the economy. That’s what I am doing. So, I’m not answering
to that. And as you see me here, do I look any close to resignation? I de Kampe!
“Don’t
worry about that. You know we shouldn’t talk about political issues
here.What I want to tell you is that the economy must be managed to the
good of Nigerians. We are not going to be involved in any political
thing," she added.
Reviewing the economy of the country, Minister said the economy was doing not perfect but reasonably well, adding that the realities on the ground attest to that, with 2.5 million seasonal and full-time jobs created in the agricultural sector alone, involving nine commodity chains, including cassava, sorghum, oil palm, cotton, cocoa, dry and rainy season rice.
Okonjo-Iweala also said government was also doing well in the area of manufacturing, with ongoing specific investments in petrochemicals and fertilizer, to help create jobs. The community services scheme for the unskilled being run on the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) has created 178,000 jobs, in addition to over 2,000 beneficiaries under the Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS) for graduates and 19,000 jobs from the YOU-WIN programme, she reported to the correspondent.
She said the fuel subsidy payment regime had been audited and cleaned up, resulting in significant reduction in the amount being paid out to marketers from N2.3 trillion to about N950 billion, with the expectation that government would pay about N971 billion this year.
The fundamentals of the economy remained strong
In addition to these achievements, the minister said the fundamentals of the economy remained strong, with the country’s foreign reserves currently standing at about $46 billion, consisting of an Excess Crude Account (ECA) balance of over $5 billion, while inflation rate had remained at single digits at about 8.7 per cent and exchange rate relatively stable within a band of N155 and N160 to the dollar.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate, she said, was still at about 6.5 per cent in the first quarter, and 6.18 per cent in the second quarter, while fiscal deficit is about 1.85 per cent of GDP, indicating that government was maintaining prudent management of the economy.
The minister said the prudent management of the economy had generated sufficient confidence for investors, particularly among the governors, most of whom, she said, believed so much in the performance of the economy that they were floating bonds to help fund various development programmes in their domains.
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