Just before Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spoke to the press about the attack her detractors were throwing at her, I was busy thinking of the right reaction her media spokesman should have given in light of the accusation in one of the U.S diplomatic cables published by wikileaks.
Just before Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spoke to the press about the attack her detractors were throwing at her, I was busy thinking of the right reaction her media spokesman should have given in light of the accusation in one of the U.S diplomatic cables published by wikileaks.
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In a sane society, here is what Paul Nwabuikwu would have issued in his statement on behalf of Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
“The attention of the Honorable Minister of Finance has been drawn to a section of a US embassy cable leaked by wikileaks that suggested that Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala steered $50 million to his brother.
“The minister has asked the president to declassify all documents related to the debt payback program and to make them public for Nigerians to see. She has also invoked the Freedom of Information Act to release the part of those documents that are not classified.
“Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala believes in transparency and understands that Nigerians have the right to know. She will do everything in her power to get all the necessary information out to the public.
“In the meantime, she wants to assure the public that none of the accusations in the cable are true. Her brother did not in any way benefit from the debt payback of 2004.”
I was thinking along this direction. I was hoping that she would have set a good example for other government officials to follow. But she did not. Instead, she allowed her mouthpiece, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu to issue a press release that insulted the intelligence of right thinking Nigerians.
I won’t rehash here what Mr. Nwabuikwu said in his statement. I don’t want to add to his insult. It was easy for Paul Nwabuikwu to induce local media to prevent any bad coverage of his Madam, but as he has learned, it is impossible to buy up all of the media outside Nigeria.
Just when Nigerians were still licking Nwabuikwu’s insult, the Madam herself came in front of the press and did worse. She basically did the equivalent of pooping at the altar. The only problem is that the typical Nigerian cannot smell the poop and does not know where his altar is.
Ngozi defaulted into that standard line that she was under attack because of all the good things she was planning to bring to poor and suffering Nigerians. Good things like the removal of oil subsidies.
Well, Madam, if you read very well the package that came with your appointment as minister, it says that you will come under attack. You will be attacked by your real and imagined detractors and by those who love Nigeria, just like you. It comes with the territory. If you are not attacked, who should be attacked? Market women?
To be clear, I do not know who Nigeria’s minister for agriculture is. And I do not care.
I know Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. And I care about what Ngozi does and what Ngozi says. The feeling out there is that people like Ngozi are the only hope Nigeria has. Most Nigerians believe that if Ngozi fails, nobody else can rescue Nigeria.
Everywhere I go, I hear that if Ngozi fails, it is over for Nigeria. Now that’s the kind of minister that deserves our attention.
If it is true that Ngozi is our savior, it then means that Ngozi must be vigorously watched. Any person who can give you anything has the power to take everything away from you.
Nigerians must watch Ngozi and not worship her. You cannot hold accountable the people you worship. The dominant culture in Nigeria is to suck up to people at the top so that they will do you a favor by pulling you up. If you fail to do so, you are accused of the very opposite – trying to pull down the people at the top out of envy. There is a subculture of those who launch criticism just to be noticed and be invited to come and ‘chop.’ In all of these is the first tragedy of the Nigerian.
The second tragedy of the Nigerian is that “he does not know how much he needs to know before he knows how little he knows.” This is such a devastating flaw.
The Nigerian knows so little. And the little he knows blows his mind. The Nigerian, satisfied with his little knowledge, hardly gets to that epiphany- when he realizes that he knows so little.
In a way, I sympathize with the Nigerian for this ailment. Its root is in Nigerian’s fear of the unknown. Nigerians are afraid that things are as bad as they appear. They want to hold on to something. They want to believe in anything. They fear the truth because they cannot deal with the truth. So they default into denial.
It is a very sad situation. They do this even though many of them sing and dance to the tune that, “the truth will set you free.”
The third tragedy of the Nigerian is low expectations. Nigerians have been humiliated for so long that their expectations of those who were brought in to serve them are so low. The problem with low expectations is that it does not get a nation anywhere. Nigeria is so behind that we must set our standards higher than that of those ahead of us. But instead we make excuses for our public officials.
Setting higher standard must starts with people like Ngozi and not with those riffraff in government who do not understand a simple term like conflict of interest.
To begin to fix Nigeria, we have to begin by fixing people like Ngozi. Ngozi is troubled. To challenge Ngozi is not the same as to attack Ngozi. Nigerians have the right to ask Ngozi to explain actions she took in the course of her work on behalf of Nigerians. It is not an attack. It is not the same as asking her to explain the actions of her husband.
Even when Ngozi feels she is under attack, it does not follow that Nigeria is under attack too. Ngozi is not synonymous with Nigeria. Ngozi should get that psychology out of her head.
Oblivious to Nigerians, with this excuse of an attack, Ngozi has laid a grand foundation for her future resignation. Moving forward, she doesn’t have to do anything else. Nigerians will juice up the excuse for her. If she fails to deliver, nobody will notice because the air will be filled with excuses.
Ngozi should not just expect more attacks. She should start to treat Nigerians as intelligent people. She should cease being condescending when addressing issues of concern to the Nigerian people. Many Nigerians may not know where the World Bank really is and what the bank does, but some do know when someone with an exaggerated sense of importance starts to treat them like shit.
I do not know who Nigeria’s minister for agriculture is. And I do not care.
I know Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and I expect her not just to be above board but to prove it each and every day - and with a smile. Now that is transparency in action. And that is the alert Ngozi needs to take to bed today and every other day she stays in the service of the Nigerian people.
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