Date Published: 07/07/11

Atiku blasts Aganga, hails Okonjo-Iweala

Atiku Abubakar

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has commended the former Managing Director of the World Bank, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for speaking truthfully about the true state of the nation’s economy and the pace of budget implementation in the country.

Atiku Abubakar particularly praised the former Managing Director of the World Bank who publicly told the Senate on Wednesday at the screening of ministerial nominees that the Federal Government’s current expenditure is almost 74 percent of the national budget, leaving virtually nothing for capital expenditure.

The former Vice President recalled that when he criticized the unwieldy recurrent expenditure of the 2011 budget at the expense of capital expenditure, the former Finance Minister, Olusegun Aganga publicly branded him ignorant.

According to Atiku, it is impossible to bring any development to the country and improve the living standard of the citizens when the recurrent expenditure incredibly overshoots the capital expenditure.

In his 11-paged reaction to the national budget structure during the campaign for the PDP presidential ticket in December 2010, this is what Atiku said: “Your recurrent budget is 107% of the total revenue. Put differently, your capital budget is One Trillion whereas your deficit or planned borrowing is N1.4Trillion, meaning that even with a zero capital budget, you plan to borrow about N400 billion to add to revenue to finance consumption… No one needs to be an economist to appreciate that this is a disaster.”

He recalled that the former Finance Minister, Aganga wrote a 40-page rebuttal to denounce his (Atiku’s) position that the budget was flawed in a language Atiku then described as “gutter and disrespectful.”

The former Vice President noted that, at this critical moment of national challenges for development, Nigeria needs courageous and honest professionals like Okonjo-Iweala, who can truthfully advise the President.

The former PDP presidential aspirant warned that leaders should not surround themselves with opportunists and sycophants who insulate them from reality.

Describing Okonjo-Iweala’s statement before the Senate as a vindication of his previous position on the budget, Atiku said the appointment of the former Managing Director of the World Bank is a clear message to Nigerians that the former Minister had no idea of what to do to with the economy.