Ochereome Nnanna
14 July 2005
opinion
I found President Olusegun Obasanjo's media chat last weekend on the NTA an interesting spectacle. I particularly liked the team that featured, made up of President Obasanjo, Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Bello Masari. Obasanjo had obviously come on television to celebrate the recent promise by the Paris Club of creditors to write off Nigeria's debt totalling about $20 billion.
During the course of that programme, one was able to sift out some of the intrigues that had gone into this unprecedented venture. The President had given the minister an opportunity to say for herself the experiences that government officers had to go through. One of the things she said, which I found dampening, was that she had offered to throw in the towel when she could no longer bear the psychological anguish her fellow technocrats working for the debtors were subjecting her to. "Even those who would normally not talk to you", she added, took to grilling her. In fact, she had dropped the telephone after a round of baseless questions and called Obasanjo to tell him: "I cannot continue this way!". I have a few comments to make on this brief revelation.
I start by congratulating the President and the entire economic team for their achievement.
President Obasanjo's decision to secure the services of Okonjo-Iweala from the Vice Presidency of the World Bank to serve as his foremost economic manager was acknowledged by us and many Nigerians as a wise one. Also, the much criticised remunerational package paid in foreign currency (the highest in the history of public service in Nigeria) has been justified.
It needed a highly-placed operative of the international financial system like Okonjo-Iweala to engage meaningfully with the agents of the Paris Club. Only like those in the economic team, with the full support of President Obasanjo, could make the positive changes that appear to be taking place. Politicians are not in a position to successfully implement the type of reform that faces this nation.
However, we hope that the lessons of the debt relief negotiations will be learnt by Okonjo-Iweala and in fact the rest of us. The President put it right when he said that a debtor cannot afford to be arrogant. A poor man's pride has severe limitations. Nigeria is an impoverished country. Anybody called upon to work to salvage our situation in this globalised economic era will have to be patient, thick-skinned and persistent without necessarily dropping his or her personal dignity or that of the country. A thick skin is something our icon of a finance minister seems to lack. Offering to leave the job when the going became tough was, for me, a major show of weakness. It could have resulted in an avoidable disaster.
I don't think it is very nice or correct for a person to drop the phone in anger or frustration when discussing an issue that concerns the lives of millions of Nigerians both here and generations to come. Luckily, the President, who is more experienced in the war of nerves, asked her to get back on the phone and conclude the discussion. And as she picked the phone, it was the very moment that the good news was broken. Success had come at last! As the good songbook puts it:
"To him that overcometh, a crown of life shall be".
There is always some light at the end of every tunnel, unless it is something else but a tunnel. Let us leave the luxury of tantrum-throwing to growing babies. It could ruin the very important work we are given to do. And let us come down from our high horse.
The phrase: "even those who would normally not talk to youâ-oe" is a bit tiresome. One of the great things going for Dr. Okonjo-Iweala's public perception is that in spite of her high position, powerful portfolio, international clout and sound academic achievement, she still wears ankara (local Nigerian cotton print) and favours a market woman's style of headgear. Any hint at snobbery tears it all!
When you accept to become a public officer, anybody can talk to you and about you. If you don't like it, go into your house and sleep, and no one is likely to notice! Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is an undeniable national asset, but she could do with some emotional staying power.
Terror cows of PH
NIGERIANS read with horror that a French airliner carrying hundreds of people ran into a herd of cows at the Port Harcourt International Airport, our third most important airport. Some of the bovine creatures grazing in a nearby pasture had strayed into the runway tarmac at the moment the plane touched down, resulting in the crushing of some of them! We were told that the airport had no perimeter fencing. What about the air traffic controllers? Why did they not notice the cows before they got as far as the tarmac? What about the airport security staff?
If cows can stroll unto an airport tarmac in Nigeria thus endangering flights and the lives of hundreds of people, you can envisage a situation where terrorists decide to target this country!
Can you imagine what the whole world would have thought of Nigeria if that plane had caught fire and exploded? Only a strip of metal on the runway brought down a Concorde French airliner years ago, culminating in the phasing out of the world's foremost luxury and supersonic jetliner.
Cows on an airport runway, for goodness sake! Strictly a story fit for the notorious Rotten.Com website!
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