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Nigeria is not broke – Okonjo-Iweala

By on April 18, 2015

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said the country is not broke despite the cash crunch currently being experienced.

She said that with the financial assets the President Goodluck Jonathan administration had been able to build over the years, the nation’s cash flow would improve over time.

In an interview with CNN’s Richard Quest, Okonjo-Iweala said, “Under this administration, we began the work of truly diversifying the economy and the proof of that is that much of the growth in this past few years that has come to the country has come not from the oil sector but actually from non-oil sectors like agriculture, telecommunications, manufacturing and the creative industries.

“The fact that oil prices fell by 50 per cent makes it very difficult in terms of cash flow, but Nigeria is asset rich and that is why when people say the country is broke, I say no. In economic terms, with the kind of assets we have, we should be able to realise some of them to improve our cash flow but it is true that this will be a very difficult year because of the cash crunch.

“However, we need to see this drop in oil prices as an opportunity. I gave a talk on Nigeria beyond oil. I really think with the growth of the country based on non-oil sectors, we ought to see the fall in oil prices as an opportunity to further the diversification that has started under this administration.”

 

[Punch]

20 Comments

  1. Proud Yoruba

    April 18, 2015 at 3:09 pm

    This woman opens her mouth, and Harvard and MIT want to take their degrees back. It is like she is permanently brain-damaged. First she takes credit for OBJ’s administrations successes in agriculture, telecom, creative industries, and claims things that she did not do. Then she doesn’t make any sense. You are broke if you have to borrow to pay your bills stupid woman!

    • onuigbo

      April 18, 2015 at 5:04 pm

      Is it what they taught you about economics in Yoruba universities? I wish it will be possible to allow the Yorubas to have their own country and run it for at least 10 years. We know that Ibadan is ghost of its 1960s self. The writer maybe, was not born then.

      • Proud Yoruba

        April 18, 2015 at 7:19 pm

        What did they teach me in Yoruba Universities? Do you know that University of Ibadan was the first African university equivalent to the University of London. It is the most prestigious university in Nigeria if not Africa. It was opened by Queen Elizabeth II. Do you know the luminaries that have come from it? You think you can compare any university in the SE to it? Your Chinua Achebe went there, not that he is a luminary!

        Shut your moth bro, your betters are talking!

        Yorubas will not have our own country, because unlike you we are willing to be part of Nigeria and make it work. You don’t think we can keep developing faster than all the other regions, think again. But we stay and you keep holding us back.

        Go back to your region and develop it and stop being Yoruba slaves.

      • SouthSouthBlood

        April 19, 2015 at 3:32 pm

        @onuigbo, you are a disgrace to your race to have supported this waste of a woman who calls her an economist. Anunpam!

        • BADE

          April 20, 2015 at 12:57 pm

          SouthSouthBlood You are very correct people like him cause much embarrassment to the race. Yorubas have a saying for people like them: “Eru kan ni muni bugba eru” meaning “One slave is what gives a bad name to two hundred slaves”

      • BADE

        April 20, 2015 at 12:54 pm

        onuigbo Please spear him for he knows not what he is saying. I am Yoruba from Oyo state. You will notice he could not demonstrate his Yorubaness by simply mentioning his name. This will tell you is not a proud one as he claimed. My friend the minister has tried irrespective of what the APC wants us to believe.

        • Proud Yoruba

          April 20, 2015 at 3:42 pm

          Your friend?! No ibo is your friend, they hate you with a passion! Soon you’ll learn. Talk to your elders at home, ask them about ibos and come back then to comment.

      • Gooding will

        December 4, 2015 at 7:56 am

        Why are you people fooling yourselves about to separate the country,if you ibo go to where you think will be better there is no problem but you do not think what is behind it.Why can’t your so call bad leader ask their children to be in front for this agitation innocent now are dieing while their own children are in big schools or in abroad schooling but you poor children are using to face problems.You need to think or to know that they are using this to collect money from the federal government that is while they are asking to have meeting with the federal government with Buhari for settlement this the highest level of 419 think very well.

    • Cyril

      April 20, 2015 at 12:29 pm

      You are the stupid one. When you work as a team won’t you be proud of your team and personalise the credit? See how ignorant you are

      • Proud Yoruba

        April 20, 2015 at 3:51 pm

        WTF?!

    • BADE

      April 20, 2015 at 12:51 pm

      I am Yoruba from Oyo state. We are trained to be cultured and not insult our elders. Your language towards the minister is very unprintable and rude. For crying out loud she is old, if not older, enough to be your mother or grandmother/ Can you talk to your mother or your grand mother like that?
      Soon you are one of those who will claim Ayo Fayose is uncultered, please how different are you from him now with the way you talk?

      • Proud Yoruba

        April 20, 2015 at 3:40 pm

        NOI is a thief, we do not respect thieves in Yoruba land, period.

    • Adebola

      April 20, 2015 at 1:04 pm

      Please what is the relevance of your post with the candid opinion of the minister? You mentioned education. Let me quickly reply you. Please have you ever come by an MIT or Harvard graduate that is as dumb as you are? In case you forgot or your ignorance didn’t spare you, these are perhaps the two greatest Universities in the world. This is why you notice that most of them work, after graduation, at IMF and World Bank. Which school did you attend? I will not be surprised to know you finished from Iree Poly!

      • Proud Yoruba

        April 20, 2015 at 3:39 pm

        You will be surprised what schools I went to. Anyway, Harvard and MIT want their degrees back from NOI. This woman did not go to any school, she talks like an illiterate like Mama Peace!

    • Emannuel

      April 20, 2015 at 1:25 pm

      I’m disppointed in you. You call yourself Proud Youruba and you insult. you need help, because you lack manners and respect for elders. You need to change for your own sake. Madam Iweala, has gone that far for her good manners and respect. Learn to respect others…..

      • Proud Yoruba

        April 20, 2015 at 3:36 pm

        Thieves don’t deserve any respect! Everybody knows that except ibos.

  2. Adebola

    April 20, 2015 at 1:05 pm

    This is a brilliant opinion from a brilliant woman. A woman of virtue and pride. Keep up the good work. Those that are for you are more than those against u

  3. Emannuel

    April 20, 2015 at 1:19 pm

    Madam Iweala has always stand out and her policies on the economy, has been a buffer when we face the unknown. Well done ma.

  4. sandra

    April 20, 2015 at 1:21 pm

    DR Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is brillant,brave,wise,she brings new ideas always ,there is always a ferocious backlash designed to ruin her reputations,

  5. Annabel

    April 21, 2015 at 5:02 pm

    This woman is truly awesome. The world still needs you and people like you Ma. Keep the fire burning!!!