Panic has descended on the staff of the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has threatened a showdown if the 2014 Medium Term Expenditure Framework report prepared by the development institution is published.
Panic has descended on the staff of the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has threatened a showdown if the 2014 Medium Term Expenditure Framework report prepared by the development institution is published.
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It would be recalled that while addressing reporters at the presidential villa in Abuja after the presentation of the 15-year strategic partnership on debt management between the UK and Nigeria on January 10, the Minister commented on the 50 questions on the state of the economy given to her to answer by the Committee on Finance of the House of Representatives and gushed with excitement over the role the DFID has been playing in the country.
But the Committee promptly responded on January 11 through a press statement signed by its Clerk, Farouk Mustapha, rubbishing the Minister’s delight about the DFID partnership with Nigeria.
“The DFID whose collaboration with Nigeria she is so enthusiastic about has published a report on the 2014 Medium Term Expenditure Framework,” part of the statement said. We strongly recommend that the Honourable Minister enrich her knowledge with that report.”
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The Committee then went on to challenge the DFID to publish the report “for the good of this country.”
Sources at the DFID said the department was on the verge of releasing the report to the public when word came from the Minister that it should never be allowed to see the light of day. She was alleged to have made threats which did not seem to restrain some people in that institution.
This development is said to have created serious tension in DFID, causing some of the staff to panic over a possible backlash from the embattled Minister. It remains to be seen if the department will succumb to the Minister’s threats or operate, instead, in the interest of the Nigerian people.
This is not the first time Okonjo-Iweala will be threatening to take action against individuals and institutions. A few months ago she pressed for, and ensured the sacking of Yushau Shuaib, spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency. Mr. Shuaib has since filed a lawsuit against the minister over his unlawful sack.
The Minister is also on record as threatening an Associated Press reporter in Abuja over a report she considered unfavourable. Similarly, as a ChannelsTV reporter who presented a balanced video of her encounter at the House of Representatives was promptly placed on suspension after the station owners were threatened by the minister.
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