Skip to main content
okonjo-iweala-ngozi

Missing $10.8bn resurfaces in London as audit report gets ready soon

The last is yet to be heard about the missing $10.8 billion as the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday assured that the report of the audit into the unaccounted $10.8 billion oil money would be ready soon.

Speaking at the Financial Times Africa Summit 2014 in London, with the theme, “Consolidating the Continent’s Rise”, she said the figure was not new but had been a source of discussions between the Ministry of Finance and the Petroleum Ministry and that the huge attention it generated prompted the government to take steps leading to the appointment of PriceWater House Coopers to do a forensic audit.

“Initially it was $48 billion, then $20 billion but the figure we have always had is $10.8 billion. I am the Minister of Finance; if money is missing, I want it to be used for good things for the country and that was why when we went to the Senate to demand for forensic audit, the President supported and asked that it should be done

“We engaged PriceWater House Coopers with the Auditor General taking the lead. They initially asked for 16 weeks to complete the work. They have spent 11 or 12 weeks so far and they will be done in a couple of weeks,” she said.

On the devastating Ebola disease, she said Nigeria needs to be commended for the efforts made in ensuring the index case did not take the illness out of the country and also containing it.

“Nigeria did a great service by stopping Sawyer who was Minnesota bound. Ebola cannot be said to be the real elephant in the room as it has been hyped beyond proportion by the media.

“We all want democracy but how do you get it? It involves money. People who sponsor campaigns believe they must get something from the government when elections are won. These are the real elephants in the room and we need to deal with it,” the Minister said.

In her remarks on Focus Nigeria earlier, Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms Arunma Oteh, had described wholesale and retail trade as the future of Nigerian economy.

Oteh said Nigeria is focusing more on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) development as a way of creating more jobs and improving the standards of living of its citizens because it recognises that SMEs are vehicles for wealth creation, which could in turn improve the economy of the country.

“I think first and foremost is the recognition globally about the importance of SMEs because they are the ones that create jobs. I think there is a greater focus on how SMEs can be supported. In our own country, President Goodluck Jonathan recently set up an SME Council.

He set up a job board and all of that is focused on how we can practically address the challenges we are facing with SMEs,” the DG noted, adding that to grow these SMEs, therefore, she believes the capital market is absolutely an important solution to source funds, among other reasons.

“We need to provide funding at reasonable cost. Capital that is patient so that people can grow their businesses and banking finance is not patient. What we need is capital that would be there for a long time, a market-based finance that is long term and there is a global recognition of that fact also,” she explained.

Oteh also expressed the need for investment focus on the housing sector in Nigeria, which, she lamented, has 50,000 mortgages as the highest it has booked at a time ever.
“Housing is big and government is focusing on it. This is because apart from providing housing for Nigerians to bridge the housing deficit, the sector is also capable of providing the much-needed jobs to move the economy forward.

In the process of building houses, different people are needed, from the plumbers, masons, engineers, other workmen and even manufacturers of building materials are empowered,” Oteh stated.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Inside Africa

August 20,2013 Divided Egyptians united in grief Many people across Egypt have been burying their dead following the violence of recent weeks The recent violence in Egypt has claimed the lives of people on both sides of the country's political divide. But while the bloodshed is polarising the country further, grief is one thing uniting them, says the BBC's Ahmed Maher. Here in Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city, it was a tragedy that left the family of Ahmed Qadri devastated. Mr Qadri was shot twice in his chest and abdomen as security forces launched a brutal crackdown on the Brotherhood supporters camping outside Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in Cairo on 14 August. A senior Muslim Brotherhood leader in his hometown, Mr Qadri is survived by a wife and three children. His 22-year-old eldest son, Fidaa, says he will not get over the death of his father for the rest of his life. Fighting back tears, Fidaa said he mad...
Post a Comment
Read more

News

August 19, 2013 We heard fire victims cry for help –Residents   Ekene   Neighbours of a family that perished in an inferno in a building located in Shagari Estate, Lagos State, said they heard the victims’ cries for help. PUNCH Metro had reported last week Thursday that a family of five lost their lives after  fire engulfed their three-bedroom apartment in the early hours of Wednesday. The victims of the fire were the mother, Mrs Anwuzia, the children, Ekene 16, and Emeka 17, an aunt, identified only as Philomena, and another yet-to-be- identified man. It was learnt that the father was not at home when the incident occurred. A friend of the children, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, said he was talking to one of the victims when the incident happened. He said, “Around 11.30pm that day, I was chatting with Ekene on the telephone and after sometime, she stopped responding. I was later told by another fr...
Post a Comment
Read more
My Level Has Changed. Ace comic actor, Hafiz Oyetoro spoke with GBENRO ADESINA about the challenges he faced before his breakthrough. How far have you gone with your Ph.D programme at the University of Ibadan (UI)? I am still on it. This is my second year. I am currently doing some field work. I hope to round off the field work by the end of this year. Afterwards, I will start writing. How are you combining it with your tight schedule? Everybody knows what he wants in life. You have to create time to do all the things you want to do and that is why everyone must be good in managing his or her time. Definitely, scale of preference will come in. No one has time to combine many necessary and important things but one has to create time to achieve one’s dream. You did an advert for Etisalat and all of a sudden, you switched over to MTN. Why did you switch from Etisalat to MTN? I will not want to say anything about that for now. Please, do not let us go there. It is no go ...
Post a Comment
Read more