Nigeria’s ex-minister Okonjo-Iweala is scrambling to save
her name from a $2 billion scandal
By Yomi Kazeem
One of Nigeria’s highest profile and best-regarded former
government ministers Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is caught up in a widening $2 billion
arms procurement scandal which has already led to the arrest of the former
national security adviser with former state governors, businessmen and the
governor of the central bank also roped in.
Okonjo-Iweala, a former World Bank vice president, who
was once in the running for the insititution’s presidency, had been at the
heart of the, now tainted, Goodluck Jonathan presidency in the powerful dual
role of minister of finance and coordinating minister of economy. She is one of
the few ex-members of Jonathan’s government with much credibility on the global
stage.
The former minister’s alleged involvement is centered
around the deployment of funds recovered as part of the looting by former
military dictator, Sani Abacha, in the 1990s. Adams Oshiomole, a serving
governor and known critic of Okonjo-Iweala has accused her of being fully aware
of inconsistencies regarding the alleged fraud particularly how the recovered
funds were spent. His allegations follow the logic that Okonjo-Iweala, having
served as a key member of the past administration must have been aware of the
large-scale corruption in security spending.
Having come under fire for her involvement in the
transfer of funds to the national security adviser with little oversight and
accountability, the former minister has sought to beat off a specific
allegation that she was involved in the illegal diversion of repatriated funds
of up to $322 million.
In a statement, Okonjo-Iweala revealed that even though
the recovered funds from Abacha’s loot were originally earmarked for development
projects, a decision was made by a committee headed by president Jonathan to
spend $322 million on security as Nigeria dealt with the rising of the deadly
Boko Haram insurgency in the country’s north east. According to Okonjo-Iweala’s
statement, the transfer was made with conditions to ensure accountability and
repayment. The former minister took to social media to share a copy of the
letter she claimed was sent to president Jonathan advising on the need for
accountability.
In response, Okonjo-Iweala has been heavily criticized by
civil society groups who suggest that regardless of the conditions under which
the money was transferred there was little or no accountability.
As minister of finance, Okonjo-Iweala was not a member of
the security council and so could not have been involved in decisions made on
procurement of arms and spending of security funds. There is no evidence to
suggest Okonjo-Iweala herself was responsible for misappropriation of funds but
most of the criticism raises questions on whether she could have done more to
prevent others doing so.
President Buhari, who hinged his campaign on a strong
anti-corruption stance, has already directed that those involved in the scandal
be prosecuted and the allegations around the spending of the repatriated funds
could damage Okonjo-Iweala’s reputation.
The arms fraud scandal is particularly sensitive for most
Nigerians who have been affected by the Boko Haram insurgency. In the last few
years, the terror inflicted by the militant sect has led to the death of
thousands with millions more displaced and forced to leave under dire
conditions in refugee camps. The lack of arms sabotaged the fight for most of
the last few years as several reports suggested that troops could not match the
firepower of Boko Haram. Despite Nigeria’s long and sad history with high level
corruption, the arms fraud scandal is one that is most directly linked to
significant and obvious human casualties.
Okonjo-Iweala’s stint with Jonathan’s administration was
her second time round serving in government. Former president Obasanjo
convinced her to leave the World Bank in 2003 to become minister of finance.
When Jonathan asked her to join his cabinet she agreed to do so only on the
condition she was given more control of the economy than under Obasanjo.
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