Ex-VP lauds Iweala’s over comments on Nigerian economy

Ex-VP lauds Iweala’s over comments on Nigerian economy

A former Nigeria’s Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has commended the former Managing Director of the World Bank, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for speaking truthfully about the true state of the nation’s economy and the pace of budget implementation in the country.

Atiku Abubakar particularly praised the former Managing Director of the World Bank who publicly told the Senate on Wednesday at the screening of ministerial nominees that the Federal Government’s current expenditure was almost 74 per cent of the national budget, leaving virtually nothing for capital expenditure.

The former Vice President recalled that when he criticized the unwieldy recurrent expenditure of the 2011 budget at the expense of capital expenditure, the former Finance Minister, Olusegun Aganga publicly branded him ignorant.

According to Atiku, “it is impossible to bring any development to the country and improve the living standard of the citizens when the recurrent expenditure incredibly overshoots the capital expenditure.”

In his 11-paged reaction to the national budget structure during the campaign for the PDP presidential ticket in December 2010, Atiku said: “Your recurrent budget is 107% of the total revenue. Put differently, your capital budget is One Trillion whereas your deficit or planned borrowing is 1.4 trillion Naira, meaning that even with a zero capital budget, you plan to borrow about 400 billion Naira to add to revenue to finance consumption… No one needs to be an economist to appreciate that this is a disaster.”

He recalled that the former Finance Minister, Aganga wrote a 40-page rebuttal to denounce his (Atiku’s) position that the budget was flawed in a language Atiku then described as “gutter and disrespectful.”

The former Vice President noted that at this critical moment of national challenges for development, Nigeria needed courageous and honest professionals like Okonjo-Iweala, who can truthfully advise the President.

The former PDP presidential aspirant warned that leaders should not surround themselves with opportunists and sycophants who insulate them from reality.

Describing Okonjo-Iweala’s statement before the Senate as a vindication of his previous position on the budget, Atiku said the appointment of the former Managing Director of the World Bank was a clear message to Nigerians that the former Minister had no idea of what to do to the economy.

Williams/Shakira