The Media Adviser to Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s immediate past minister of finance, Paul C Nwabuikwu has said that Okonjo-Iweala did not indict the Jonathan administration for not saving enough as is being promoted by some media outlets.
According to a statement released by Nwabuikwu and emailed to journalists he stated that “some recent media reports have distorted comments made by former Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala regarding how lack of political will negatively impacted national savings over the past few years.”
The statement released by Nwabuikwu states that “Okonjo-Iweala did not indict the Jonathan administration in which she served.”
Rather, she was referring to what many Nigerians already know: the strong opposition by some governors to the Jonathan government’s efforts to save in the Excess Crude Account and the Sovereign Wealth Fund sabotaged this important national priority.
The governors’ criticism of Okonjo-Iweala’s many calls for the country to save for the rainy day are still fresh in the minds of Nigerians.
It will be recalled that this opposition culminated in the Governors taking the Jonathan government to the Supreme Court in furtherance of their position that the Federal Government had no right to “compel” them to save.
“We urge the media to always consult for clarification whenever the need arises,” Nwabuikwu said in the press release.
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