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External debts now $34b, says Okonjo-Iweala
From Abiodun Fagbemi, Ilorin
THE Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday put the nation's external debts at $34 billion as she justified the various economic reforms of President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration.
At the first Kwara State economic summit held in Ilorin, Okonjo-Iweala condemned past governments for allegedly borrowing heavily, resulting in the nation's current huge foreign debts.
The minister said the economic reforms under President Obasanjo have created an investment-friendly environment for both local and foreign investors.
Okonjo-Iweala said: "We borrowed heavily around 1980s, many states borrowed and were the worse culprits. But the Federal Government being the guarantor too had its own contributions.
"Therefore, our present foreign debt is $34 billion. The states are contributing 25 per cent in servicing the debts while the Federal Government is contributing 75 per cent towards the payment of the debts."
The minister, who identified economic and productivity decline, high poverty rate, low investors confidence, institutional decay, poor economic management, wide spread corruption and external debts as some of the problems inherited by the Obasanjo administration, said the government had solved the greater part of the problems.
Predicting a brighter economic future if the states and other major stakeholders in Nigeria embraced the on-going economic reforms, the minister expressed regret over the decline in per capita income, which according to her fell dramatically from $800 in the 1980s to $300 now.
"One of the most serious problems we have in Nigeria is the problem of spending all our proceeds when the price of oil rises and if it falls, we can hardly pay salaries again.
"No country can develop with such a system. We all experience this simple economic logic at our various homes and that is why we are preparing to solve the problem," the minister said.
Speaking on value orientation as an important factor in economic growth and employment generation, the minister criticised Nigerians for allegedly not asking probing questions on the sudden economic growth of certain individuals in the country.
For Okonjo-Iweala, proper implementation of the budget is another area in which the government under Obasanjo has succeeded. "We have done good things to ensure that money goes to the right place.
"Already, plans have been perfected to ensure that auditing of oil proceeds since 2002 and June next year are done so that Nigerians can know how much oil we got, how much money realised from it and what we used the money for," she said.
Besides, the minister said the publication of the monthly allocations to states would continue, as an apparent way for proper monitoring of how such money is used.
Under the privatisation policies of the government, the minister who said 29 enterprises had so far been privatised, hoped that the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) would join the league next year.
Predicting massive reforms of the civil service, Okonjo-Iweala regretted the shortage of skilled manpower in most of the federal ministries.
"People are not being looked after the way they should. Today 70 per cent of the staff of Finance Ministry are between levels 01 to 06. Only 13 per cent are graduates. How do we then manage the Finance Ministry effectively with the downward pyramid structure we have? We need to do a reform," she said.
Although many concerned citizens may have given up hope on the feasibility of the completion of Ilorin/Ibadan Road under the present regime, the minister said money had been approved for the project in next year's budget. She noted that a mere 13 per cent work had been carried out on the road.
While urging Nigerians to prepare for greater rewards in subsequent years after the ongoing economic reforms, she listed some of such rewards as;
- preparedness of some Nigerians in the Diaspora to build a power plant that would be independent of the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) worth $86 million in Abia State;
- establishment of a $20 million dairy project in Otta, Ogun State; and
- setting up of a $12 million leather factory in Kano State by some Italian investors.
Speaking at the event, Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki said one of the tripods of his government remained readiness to open the state for productive investments towards job creation.
His words: "All these we have tried to codify into an agenda for development, which contains measurable targets and processes in the core sectors, and the resource portfolio that is required to realise these set goals.
"This is the State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies (SEEDS) for Kwara State. This economic summit is not intended to climax this process of consultation and mobilisation, but to also underscore the significance of ownership and partnership in pursuing the agenda for development in our state."
The governor, who underlined the vast mineral resources in the state, underscored the huge amount of money the government spends yearly on importation.
"We spent billions of naira in importing food from other countries of the world despite our enormous resources in agriculture lands and waters and highly conducive climate that can support almost every conceivable crops not to talk of our huge human resources.
"The figures for 2002 shows that Nigeria spent $12 million in importing milk alone, $250 million on sugar and $60 million on rice," he said.
According to Saraki, if the state would break the vicious cycle of poverty and under-development, it must strengthen its agricultural sector.
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