- Abati, a former Senior Adviser on Media and Publicity to former President Goodluck Jonathan, stated that the former Minister of Finance did not say any unheard of before and only rehashed World Bank talking points.
Rueben Abati, a veteran journalist, says Nigerians should not expect the Director General of the World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to paint a bleak picture of Nigeria’s economy under President Bola Tinubu.
Okonjo-Iweala, on Thursday, visited President Bola Tinubu and, while addressing State House correspondents after the visit, commended Tinubu for working to stabilise Nigeria’s economy, saying reforms under his administration are heading in the right direction.
However, while sharing his opinion on Okonjo-Iweala’s comments on Friday during Arise Television’s Morning Show programme, Abati, who is also co-host of the show, said Okonjo-Iweala would not have said anything different from what she said.
Abati, a former Senior Adviser on Media and Publicity to former President Goodluck Jonathan, stated that the former Minister of Finance did not say any unheard of before and only rehashed World Bank talking points.
He said, “Now, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who is Director General of the WTO for the second time, is an International diplomat. No one should expect that she will go to the president of Nigeria and tell him anything otherwise as an international diplomat.
“Yes, she will echo, and what she’s done is not even original. She simply echoed the IMF and the World Bank. After her consultative session outcome, she said, ‘Oh, President Tinubu, reform is going very well, and those reforms are important and all that.’
“But both the IMF and the World Bank added the same caveat about the need for social safety nets. She said exactly the same thing. She said, Okay, the reforms are working, but now we need growth. In other words, she’s also saying the same thing that the IMF and World Bank said that we need to do more.
“We need to do a lot more in terms of expanding this economy. You know, making it grow 3.4 3.5% growth is not enough. Those who know the subject have said, Look, can we get to Nigeria to a double-digit growth level, which was where this economy was going at a certain time, removing subsidy and having additional revenue.
“Yes, it may solve initial problems, but there are more fundamental problems that an international diplomat will not stand in front of President Tinubu and spell out.”