Nigeria Is Not Broke, FG Insists

Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-IwealaThe Federal Government has insisted that the country is not broke, contrary to beliefs in certain quarters.It, however, stated that a lot of resources has been sunk into the security sector, although, did not say exactly what the country currently expends in the sector.Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku while responding to a question at a press briefing, in Abuja, on Thursday, wondered how the country can be said to be broke when it has about $45 billion in foreign reserve.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), had said the external reserves stood at US$ 46.89 billion as at August 26, 2013 out of which US$45.67 billion dollars was in liquid, while US $1.22 billion sremained “blocked”.

The figure represented a decrease of US$16.34 million from the US$46.91 billion recorded on 23 August 2013.

As at January 2, the reserves stood at US$44.34 billion and the Minister of Finance, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala then disclosed that the government was working to raise the reserves to US $50 billion dollars, which has not yet materialised.

But Maku said late payment of salaries to civil servants was not a sign the economy is sick and disclosed that President Goodluck Jonathan had already ordered that such delays were curtailed.

He noted that security challenge still persists at Cameroon borders, despite the State of Emergency declared in parts of the north, gains made by security agencies and collaboration between the Federal Government and the republics of Chad and Cameroon.

The minister stated that inflow of arms into the country will be reduced when the Cameroon border is secured.

According to Maku, the country as a whole did not have what he described as security consciousness, unlike what obtained in some of the neighbouring countries.

He said, “We did not have security consciousness in the past but it was not the same with neighbouring countries but in Nigeria, our borders were such that anybody could go in and out and we have seen the result of this nonchalance.”

Maku, who used the event to reel out achievements of the present administration, maintained that the ‘heat’ in the polity at the moment is about 2015 elections.