I'll not resign – Okonjo-Iweala

The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has ruled out resigning from government based on the performance of the economy.

Addressing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday  on the state of the economy, Okonjo-Iweala said she is the minister of finance for the country and works for President Goodluck Jonathan.

Asked if she would consider the call by some governors for her to resign Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said “I will not involve myself in political issues with the state governors, we are here to manage the economy for the good of the nation and what we are doing here is based on facts on the ground. I am minister for the economy, am working for president Goodluck Jonathan and am answerable to him. Do I look like someone who is preparing to resign? I am not resigning, I dey kampe. I have a very committed and dedicated team and so I am not going to respond to such issues.”

Speaking about the state of the economy, Okonjo-Iweala said Nigeria’s economy “is doing reasonably well but not is perfect and the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan wants to focus on concrete achievements.

Evidence that the economy is sound she said can seen from the fact that nine state governments have expressed interest to float bond from the Nigerian capital market.

She noted that if the economy was unhealthy the state governments would not have had the confidence to float the bonds. According to her, “you cannot float bonds in a bad economy.”

Okonjo-Iweala commended the nine state governors who have indicated interest in floating the bonds for the confidence they have in the economy by floating the bonds. She then called on Nigerians “to have confidence in ourselves.”

However, she called on the citizens and legislatures of the states to monitor what the proceeds of the bonds are used for noting that they should not leaving the monitoring to the federal government and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alone.

With regards to other aspects of the economy, the finance minister said the government has the resources to manage the economy and does not need outside assistance to manage the economy.

In addition, Okonjo-Iweala said Nigeria’s macro-economic fundamentals are strong with $46 billion in the foreign reserve and of this amount, $5.1 billion is in the excess crude account.

However she cautioned that the $5.1 billion in the excess crude account will be drawn down today after payment has been made from it to oil marketers whose payments she said has been due.

The economy saved a lot of money with the measures put in place to pay oil marketers as a fall out of the subsidy row in 2012. These measures include avoiding conflicts of interest, and the introduction of checks and balances.

The minister said that N2.2 trillion was paid to oil marketers in 2011 but after the measures were instituted and a forensic audit carried out, N971 billion was paid in 2012 and there are wrong indications that about N950 billion will be paid to marketers in 2013.

Also inflation and exchange rate fundamentals she noted have remained stable with GDP growth better than six per cent thus making Nigeria “one of the fastest growing economies worldwide.”

As part of the soundness of the economy, the minister of finance disclosed that the September salaries of civil servants was paid yesterday. And still on payments to federal workers, Okonjo-Iweala said over $2 billion has so far been realized from the sale of the Generation Companies and Distribution Companies (Gencos and Discos) to investors and part of this proceeds will be used to pay off staff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

The finance minister when asked on what the 2014 budget will look like said prudence will guide next year’s budget execution. According to her, Nigeria has to prepare itself and plan, yes the price of oil in high now but with the recent discoveries of shale oil and arctic oil Nigeria need to be prudent with its spending. She however assured that the economy will grow if the both the executive and legislature work together towards removing bottle necks.

Already she said the nation’s current account is in surplus, as such prudent management of the economy is required.