It is interesting to observe the holier-than-thou attitude of the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. NgoziOkonjo-Iweala, whenever issues of integrity are raised against President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, which he has entrusted her with so much powers and responsibilities.

In fact, I learnt that some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) bigwigs are worried at the noncommittal attitude of the minister, when the administration faces problems. I heard some of them are indeed blaming the President for keeping faith in a woman who would not standup for the administration in really critical matters.

I am one of those who are surprised that despite the hue and cry about corruption in Nigeria, nobody has been able to besmirch the financial integrity of President Jonathan. In fact, some have said, rightly or wrongly, that he is the cleanest president Nigeria has ever had. Unfortunately, the cold stance of the minister on issues being raised in the polity against the incumbent administration casts shadows of doubts of people on the integrity of the President. According to some members of the party interviewed, there are many who believe that Okonjo-Iweala is not the kind of person the President needs as his coordinating minister.

About a fortnight ago, the minister issued a statement which the correspondent of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) rightly interpreted to mean a declaration of semi-independence from the administration. The correspondent, in his accompanying note to his editor on the minister’s statement published on the BBC online website, said, “I therefore want to see on the face of it, this looks like a declaration of at least semi independence by the finance minister from Nigeria’s president, who has been accused of punishing the central bank governor for raising concerns about the allegedly missing oil billions.”

This BBC statement, according to the bigwigs, shows how she smartly washes her hands clean and let the President drown, despite the trust bestowed on her by the President as his “Coordinating Minister of the Economy”.It is indeed difficult to understand how a minister in charge of finance could just dance away from controversies surrounding earnings and expenditures of revenues belonging to the federation. It is incumbent on the minister to monitor and manage accruals and payouts from the earnings of government. It is therefore logical that in the events of shortfall, she should be able to properly investigate the causes and sources and properly account whenever required. That is what Nigerians expected from her. That is what both the Senate and House of representatives required of her.

But she would rather play smart by trying to distance herself and her office from the inquisitions and attacks that have followed the allegations by the CBN governor. When the Senate committee probing the allegations sought her word on the matter, she said her ministry lacked the “capacity and expertise” to guarantee the authenticity of documents, and will prefer an independent forensic review to “satisfy Nigerians,” leading the upper legislative chamber to order a forensic review of documents presented by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

She was also quoted to have said in a recent statement that she wants to see “the truth from an investigation under the auspices of the Auditor-General, which … should be undertaken as a matter of extreme urgency by independent external auditor.”

In the same vein, she said: “My position on this has been clear from the start. The Ministry of Finance’s reconciliation showed a shortfall of $10.8bn in NNPC remittances to the Federation account. After this, the conflicting claims continued with new figures such as $20bn being mentioned. So since 13th February I have called for an independent forensic audit.”

Her position on this matter has further underscored her skillful maneuvers to be seen as the saints among devils. True, we are not practicing parliamentary system of government with the intrinsic collective responsibility, but I believe an official that is not ready to affirm the position of the administration when challenged is not worthy to be part of it.

While nobody expects her to lie, she is expected to show greater leadership in things that concern the finances of the country. I understand that the President did a lot to persuade to her join the administration in order to bring her big voice as a key player in the global financial system to bear our economy. In her previous tenure as finance minister, the country had to pay so much in dollar for her services. I believe the same holds true in the current dispensation. President Jonathan even went a step further to make her a super minister, who oversees all ministries and departments relevant to the economy; except of course the presidency. I mean, the Coordinating Minister for the economy, the first of its kind. No doubt she is expected to bring in extra credibility and strength to economic management of the country.

Because of her pedigree and World Bank background, Okonjo-Iweala is the only person in the incumbent administration that could counter the orchestrated allegations by the suspended CBN governor. Truth told, she tried by arranging the reconciliation process when the news of the alleged missing money broke. But I think she should have followed it through to let Nigerians and the world know the real truth in the matter.

Remember, after the reconciliation the team that was made up of ministers and top officials of finance and petroleum ministries, the CBN, the NNPC, and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) announced they had traced all payments by the NNPC except $10.8 billion. Even when the CBN governor still insisted on a different figure of $12 billion, the finance minister was perfunctory in defence of the figure that they all jointly arrived at. Even when the governor without any rational logic switched the figure to $20 billion, Okonjo-Iweala was largely quiet.

The world expected her to speak up. She is the only voice the financial world would believe more than Sanusi’s in this circumstance. She needed to tell the world, hey! This is what I have done concerning this issue and this is what I found. Don’t mind Sanusi he is talking bunkum. Or in the other hand, she could also say, look I think that the NNPC reasons are not plausible, I think they have to better explain this or that.

The minister cannot say she does not know the truth. She went through the books. She has been minister of finance under two different administrations, which places her in good stead to say whether what the corporation has done is different from what it used to do or ought to do. The administration needed her strong voice to silence this matter once and for all.

Can the minister in all honesty say she is not aware of the deductions as regards to the subsidy on kerosene before now? Can she sincerely tell Nigerians that she is not aware of payouts made by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on subsidy on PMS, known as petrol, repairs of vandalised pipeline and products/crude oil losses as well as maintenance of national strategic reserves over these years? If she does not know, then she is not worth her salt as the finance minister.

Written by Joel Isidore