Sam Nda-Isaiah is someone that all of us would like to respect
\nparticularly since the publisher of Leadership newspaper has declared his
\nintention to run for President under the banner of the All Progessives
\nCongress (APC). But reading the article of May 26, 2014 in which he
\nlaunched an unwarranted attack on the Coordinating Minister of the Economy
\nand Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in continuation of the
\ncampaign of certain people to pitch the military against the minister
\nmakes one very sad. It is sad because the article shows a fundamental lack
\nof understanding of how the country\u2019s economy works.<\/p>\n
The campaign to knock the heads of the military and the ministry together
\nwill fail because the Federal Ministry of Finance is working
\ncollaboratively with the military authorities to ensure adequate funding
\nfor security in the fight against insurgency.<\/p>\n
The Minister\u2019s explanation of the status of the defence budget is already
\nin the public domain. Security is a key priority of the Jonathan
\nadministration and this is reflected in the fact that almost 20% of the
\nfederal budget is dedicated to it. Between January and April this year, a
\ntotal of N130 billion, including salaries, was released to the defence
\nsector.<\/p>\n
In his article, Mr Nda-Isiah wonders if Dr Okonjo-Iweala wants Nigerians
\nto clap for her for giving information on how much the military received
\nin the first four months of the year. No she doesn\u2019t. Providing timely and
\nrelevant information on public expenditure is a priority of the Finance
\nMinistry under her leadership and she does not need any cheers for doing
\nher job.<\/p>\n
Someone who wants to run for president like Mr Nda-Isiah should not reduce
\nthe debate about the management of the country\u2019s resources and finances to
\nthe pedestrian level of \u201cOkonjo-Iweala does not want to release money\u201d. Mr
\nNda-Isiah should know that Okonjo-Iweala is not popular in certain circles
\nin Abuja because she does not dish out money for people to share. She has
\nnever done so and she never will. Being an effective Finance Minister
\nanywhere is not a popularity contest because doing the right things is
\nbound to make some people unhappy. And the Minister does not mind doing so
\nas long as the interest of the majority of honest, hardworking Nigerians
\nis served and protected.<\/p>\n
For the sake of clarity, the Federal Ministry of Finance manages only
\nthose resources that come to it as revenue from major sources:<\/p>\n
1. Petroleum resources through NNPC<\/p>\n
2. Oil and non-oil taxes through the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)<\/p>\n
3. Customs duties through the Nigeria Customs Service<\/p>\n
4. IGR from certain MDAs<\/p>\n
5. Whatever NASS appropriates as domestic borrowing<\/p>\n
It is with these revenues that FMF can attend to the budget as
\nappropriated. It is the job of the Minister to manage these resources in a
\nprudent, strategic and sustainable manner to ensure that national
\npriorities are achieved. She cannot manufacture any money outside these
\nsources to make the unnamed friends of Mr Nda-Isiah who are complaining
\nthat \u201cthings are dry\u201d happy. How does the Finance Minister personally
\nbenefit from not releasing money?<\/p>\n
Mr Nda-Isiah needs to appreciate the fact that the interest of the narrow
\nband of elites whose interest he seems to be championing is not
\nnecessarily the interest of the entire country. The budget is helping to
\nfinance an improving network of federal roads; revived railways; the
\nfoundation of a mortgage industry; new power and aviation infrastructure
\nand many other important programmes and projects for the country. These
\nare the real priorities of the vast majority of Nigerians which the
\nJonathan administration is working hard to meet, in spite of challenges.<\/p>\n
Paul C Nwabuikwu<\/p>\n
Special Adviser to the Coordinating Minister and Minister of Fin\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sam Nda-Isaiah is someone that all of us would like to respect particularly since the publisher of Leadership newspaper has declared his intention to run for President under the banner…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions","category-rejoinders-editorials"],"yoast_head":"\n