The
direction of Nigeria’s socio-political environment saddens my heart.
Politicians from all sides have decided to adopt a destructive political
system that is inimical to the progress of the country.
Hardly can one identify in our political system a genuine technocrat.
Among
the so-called politicians, it is very difficult to identify those
genuinely interested in Nigeria. Everyone seems concerned in what comes
to their pocket at the expense of the citizen. This is the reason when
people with genuine intentions are identified, they should be celebrated
and not crucified.Although, celebrating them has become a challenge in the country because destructive criticism, partisan politics and godfatherism are major challenges that have made it difficult for the dissemination of real facts about these set of people.
One
woman that has been destructively criticised in the system is Dr Ngozi
Okonjo Iweala. This courageous woman of substance, who stands for the
right values has been criticised by partisan politicians and political
godfathers who in one time or the other had to be stopped in their
conduct of sharp and corrupt practices.
When
the country was faced with huge challenges during her time as
Cordinating Minister of the economy in the last administration, Okonjo
Iweala positioned Nigeria by helping her build her capacity which
empowered the country to initiate appropriate fiscal and monetary
strategies which was used to contend with the crisis and the potential
risks.
As
a thoroughbred technocrat, she made sure that the government considered
sundry fiscal measures, including setting a target of increasing the
non-oil revenues at about N480 billion which was actualised within three years
as well as introducing tax reliefs for capital market operators to
mitigate the negative effect of the dwindling earnings from oil exports
on the macro economy. Her effort was not left unrecognised by the
international community as she kept bagging awards upon awards.
Partisan
politicians and godfathers, however, constantly created controversies
and problems, to make Nigerians doubt the credibility of genuine
technocrats like Okonjo Iweala so that she could be pressured to resign.
They tried to discourage her from national service with propaganda after another.
I
am yet to see some facts and evidence put forward against Okonjo
Iweala. All I see are people I call political desperados who will stop
at nothing until they see that they have destroyed the reputation of
this innocent woman.
If
you recall, you will remember what these political desperados did in
2012 just to discourage madam Okonjo from rendering her service to the
nation. She stopped them from raiding the treasurer through phantom
payment of subsidy.
So
what did they do? They kidnapped her mother Prof. Kamene Okonjo. The
82-year-old retired professor of sociology at the University of Nigeria
was then released six days after the kidnap.
This
was all in a bid to discourage madam Okonjo from her service to her
father land. One of the major demands of the kidnappers was that Madam
Okonjo should resign from her ministerial position but she did not
succumb.
Then
came the battle from state governors to forcibly share the Excess Crude
Account which was resisted by Okonjo Iweala who constantly call
attention to the need for Nigerians to save for the raining day.
If
not for her doggedness and fight against the pressure from state
governors, who knows whether the Excess Crude Account would have been
emptied by now.
Now
that Okonjo Iweala is out of government, why are some detractors still
after her? After all they promised Nigerians change, so they should go
ahead and implement their change without lying to Nigerians.
It
will interest you to know that while they keep propagating lies against
this woman of substance, Madam Okonjo-Iweala keeps bagging more awards.
She was recently named along with other 4 influential and powerful
women in the 2016 Power with Purpose award.
The
prestigious award recognises outstanding and influential women with
leadership focus who have helped in engineering recognisable change in
their community and the world. Madam Iweala keeps getting the awards as a
result of hard work while her critics are barely known beyond their criticism corners.
Uzoma Ngozi is an entrepreneur and a social commentator who resides in Lagos. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/
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