LAGOS—FORMER Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala yesterday said it was better to
allow those managing Nigeria’s economy to do
the best they could, noting that there could be
solutions to the present economic decline in the
country.
She also noted that she would not be available to
serve the present administration if overtures
were made to her by President Muhammadu
Buhari, noting that Nigeria boasts of competent
people, who would offer their services when
called upon.

Okonjo-Iweala, who said this while participating
in an Aljazeera programme: The Stream,
regretted that the economic gains recorded in
Africa started eroding a few years ago, noting
that solving macroeconomic question was key to
fixing the continent’s economic challenges.
She specifically said that having a firm control
over the rate of inflation in addition to ensuring a
stable exchange rate should be prioritised by
African governments.
She said: ‘’ One of the things you learn as you get
wiser is to talk less as you grow older. I have
spent my time contributing to the country. It will
be better to live those managing the economy to
do what they know how to do. There can be
solutions.

“I am not a typical politician. I went in
as a technocrat. I think on the continent we have seen a period when the economy was doing well, in the
last two years we have been experiencing challenges.

We need to focus on the basics which are macro-economics. You must get the fundamentals like
having a stable exchange rate and having inflation
under control.

“I served my country for seven years and it was a
great honour. The second time was very tough
but it is still an honour. I am not the only person
who is a repository of knowledge. There are other
people who can equally try their hands in running
the economy.
“I will advise young people not to wait for
employment. They should create jobs to employ
six people or more. During my time in
government, we had a programme called You
Win designed to support young entrepreneurs.
The whole idea was to have a business plan
competition.

“The idea was that they should create jobs. And
each, created 9-10 jobs. The World Bank did an
evaluation of it and found it good. I do believe
that the government should come in. We started
a peer to peer mentoring. Now, one of the things
I want to say is that creating employment is not
only about struggles, it is about managing
success.”
Also, counseling people on accounting,
bookkeeping and not falling apart is very
important.”
Responding to a question on how the anti-
corruption war was fought during her time in
government, she said: “It was a very tough fight, I
must thank my team, you don’t do it alone, I had
the support of an economic team in the Ministry
of Finance. It was tough because at the end of the
day you need to have some principles.”

On her roles as a Finance Minister, Okonjo-
Iweala said: ‘’The average life span of a Finance
Minister is two year in a country. No one likes a
Finance Minister because it is the business of
saying no. It is very difficult and challenging. It
was interesting for me. I wish I had seen myself
as wielding power. All I saw was the job because I
was seeing myself working for the country.”