Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a managing director at the World Bank have been approved for a cabinet position by Nigerian lawmakers, in Abuja on Wednesday.
Government sources, have said Okonjo-Iweala who as finance minister of Africa’s largest oil producer between 2003 and 2007, spearheaded talks that led the Paris Club group of creditors to write off $18 billion in debt. She was named finance minister of the year by the Banker magazine in 2004 and by Euromoney in 2005. The Harvard University-educated economist resigned from the Cabinet in August 2006 following a demotion by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Jonathan, who is forming a new government after winning April elections, will now assign her a portfolio. She is expected to return to her previous post with additional powers to oversee the country’s economic management.
The president has so far appointed 14 ministers of a 34- member Cabinet, including 12 ministers who will be returning to their former portfolios. Ex-Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga is among the proposed members and is due to appear before senate hearing today.
Jonathan has pledged to invest in roads and railways and reform the petroleum industry, the mainstay of the economy, to boost growth. Nigeria’s economy, the third-largest on the continent after South Africa and Egypt, will probably grow 8 percent this year, compared with 7.8 percent in 2010, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
1 comment:
Its a good development and will give the Good governemnet some credibility and i hope it brings economic reforms
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