As we look towards the future, it is clear that Africa is more important than ever to the security and prosperity of the international community and to the United States in particular,’ said President Obama during the unveiling of his new strategy for Africa.
The Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, on Monday blamed the erratic power supply in the country on some cabals he said are benefiting from the decay recorded in the sector over the years in the country.
Nnaji who disclosed this at a stakeholders forum in Lagos said certain individuals are resisting attempts by the present government to change the status quo.
The World Bank Board has selected its next President, an American, for the next five years. The selection of Korean-born American health expert, Jim Yong Kim as its new president, has maintained Washington’s grip on the job and leaving developing countries questioning the selection process.
At the time, Obama was an ambitious young senator from Illinois with a keen interest in foreign affairs. Okonjo-Iweala was Nigeria’s blunt-speaking finance minister, traversing the globe to convince the world’s wealthiest nations that they should ease her country’s debt burden.
The first time Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala ever had to convince Barack Obama of anything was back in 2005.
Last spring, when the International Monetary Fund began its search for a newManaging Director, I argued that the Fund should pass over Christine Lagarde– then French finance minister – for a candidate from the developing world. As it happened, developing countries failed to rally around a strong candidate in time, and Lagarde handily won the gig. And, as I reported in August, she set about shifting the Fund in a rightward direction, echoing theclarion call for ‘fiscal consolidation,’ otherwise known as austerity, coming from wealthy European states. A shame, but hardly a surprise.
