With quite a reputation behind her, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala appears to mean different things to different people across the spaces she has straddled. This is why I paused for a moment of contemplation when a professional colleague working in a multilateral institution abroad sought my opinion on the candidacy of Nigeria’s first female Finance minister and also Foreign Affairs minister, for the post of Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

This prodding brought to mind in recall the phone call I had received on the evening of Wednesday, March 20, 2013 from her when she was Finance minister, complaining about an article I had written about her and a number of appointments that had then been made in the Nigerian economic sector in a major national newspaper. While I had thanked her for the call, I refrained from tendering an apology for what I still consider as the objective commentary, I made in that article.

Along the line, so many things happened. I was eventually retired from public service. Feeling unfairly treated, I went to court. It was to my utter shock to later discover that prominent civil servants, including directors in the service, were behind the dishonest recommendation for my disengagement from the civil service. Some of the intrigues, episodes and persons behind that ordeal are documented in my book ‘An Encounter With the Spymaster.’

Although reinstated by the court five years later, I have since voluntarily retired from the federal civil service. Meanwhile, three years after the court order for the payment of my entitlements, some civil servants are still dilly-dallying over this directive. In life, one must always be grateful to the Almighty God for sparing one’s life and giving the direction that leads in making one better off than how one was in the past.

However, back to my friend’s request, I understand that the WTO is an intergovernmental organisation, established to promote and regulate international trade, and its Director-General performs both managerial and advisory roles, with member-states being ultimately left to make their own decisions. Surprisingly, no African has served in the top position in the WTO since 1948 in its precursor organisation, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The current Director-General of WTO, Mr Roberto Azevêdo has announced his decision to step down on August 31, which makes the position potentially vacant, and in need for the recruitment of a new head.

President Muhammad Buhari must have considered Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s pedigree and credentials before nominating her as Nigeria’s candidate for the WTO top job. Even though she has not served in any capacity in his administration, the president might have acknowledged her contributions as Nigeria’s first female Finance minister, during which time she spearheaded an ambitious debt relief negotiation with the Paris Club of Creditors during the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2003. The efforts of her team led to the outright cancellation of $18 billion of Nigeria’s total debt stock, and a series of other measures eventually leading to the reduction of the country’s external indebtedness from $35 billion to $5 billion.

Similarly, in her second coming as Finance minister during the tenure of President Goodluck Jonathan between 2011 and 2015, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was responsible for leading aggressive but praiseworthy reforms that enhanced the transparency of the government’s accounting systems, which strengthened our public institutions against corruption. She introduced the Government Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMS), the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Management System (IPPMS), and the Treasury Single Accounts (TSA), which are now being fully implemented by the Buhari administration.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala had an impressive over 25-year career at the World Bank, rising to the position of the Managing Director in charge of Operations of the foremost financial organisation. In 2010, she was made Chair of the World Bank’s successful drive to raise $49.3 billion in grants and low-interest credit for the poorest countries in the world.

Still, after her last official engagement in Nigeria, Okonjo-Iweala has been quite preoccupied as a global finance expert, helping many multilateral and multinational organisations with their developmental ventures in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America.

She is a World Health Organisation (WHO) Special Envoy for Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator and was recently appointed as an African Union (AU) Special Envoy to mobilise international financial support for the fight against COVID-19. She also currently chairs the boards of the African Union’s African Risk Capacity (ARC), the Nelson Mandela Institute, and the African University of Science and Technology, Abuja.

In the business world, outside the African continent, she is a Senior Adviser at Lazard and sits on the boards of Standard Chartered PLC and Twitter Inc. She further serves on the advisory boards of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Harvard University International Advisory, the Oxford University Martin School Advisory Council, Women’s World Banking Africa Advisory Board, and the International Commission on Financing Global Education. Also, she is on the advisory boards of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Tsinghua University, Beijing’s School of Public Policy, the CARICOM (Caribbean) Commission on the Economy, and the Tax Inspectors Without Borders (an initiative of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), among others.

More so, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is Chair of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which has immunised 760 million children globally and saved thirteen million lives since its inception in 2000. Through Ngozi’s leadership of GAVI, world leaders have pledged an additional US$ 8.8 billion for the vaccination of children, far exceeding the initial target of US$ 7.4 billion. The project will ensure the immunization of over 300 million children including the creation and distribution of the COVID vaccine globally and mostly in Africa.

With a growing concern that what Africa needs is trade rather than aid, to fight poverty, hunger and disease, a savvy bridge builder and go-getter in the person of an Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the right figure who can broker numerous agreements that would promote fair trade. In fact, the core objective of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AFCTA) in creating a single continental market for goods and services, with the free movement of business persons and investments across the globe could be easily achieved through her watch.

In a recent media interview, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala said the WTO is a most important global multilateral body with challenges that require reforms. She said: “I believe it is relevant for the economic development, growth and sharing of prosperity in the world. I want the (WTO) job because I have the skills and the organisation needs some reforms to make it relevant for times we are in and I have a reputation as a strong reformer.”

With the foregoing, I strongly believe that if what the WTO is looking for is ‘a candidate with vast experience in international relations, encompassing trade and/or political experience, a firm commitment to the work and objectives of the organisation, proven leadership and managerial ability; and demonstrated communications skills,’ then Nigeria’s Okonjo-Iweala is not only the strongest African contender but she is a bold reformer, skilful negotiator and finest globally acclaimed developmental economists needed for the job.

Yushau A. Shuaib
Founder of the Economic Confidential and Author of ‘An Encounter with the Spymaster’
www.YAShuaib.com

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I write this in respect to your Ministry’s apparent disobedience to a straightforward court order for my reinstatement and payment of remuneration after the illegal letter of retirement I received in 2013.

As you may be aware, Justice David Isele of the National Industrial Court, NIC, had on November 22, 2017, ruled and ordered the immediate reinstatement and the payment after I was forcefully retired over an opinion article I wrote on former finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in March 2013.

The court had declared that the letter retiring me from service has no force of law and is therefore illegal, unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect whatsoever being in flagrant violation of the civil service rules.

Meanwhile, I am equally too aware of the fact that the Federal Ministry of Information which you supervise as the Minister had in March this year reported to have rejected the judgement. In its appeal, the Ministry urged the Court to set aside the judgement of NIC and to dismiss the suit. Joined as a defendant is the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) which had signified its readiness to obey the order and recall me back into the service.

While your Ministry has neither complied with the court order nor responded to the series of letters from my lawyers over the legal issues, I least expect that as the Minister of Information, a lawyer by qualification and a former spokesperson of the then opposition party who was publicly defending my right to freedom of expression would now sit on a fair judgement on the same issue since last year.

You may recall that when you were the spokesperson of the then opposition party, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), you issued an official statement in the noon of Sunday, May 5, 2013 extoling my courage for the constructive criticisms in my writings as you berated the administration of Goodluck Jonathan for harassing and penalizing me over the same issue.

In your statement where you also condemned Jonathan’s regime for attacking Rotimi Amaechi and Oby Ezekwesili, you wrote thus: “The fate that befell NEMA spokesman Yushau Shuaib for daring to criticize the lopsided appointments in parastatals under the Ministry of Finance, are glaring actions of an administration (Goodluck Jonathan) that is bent on stifling Freedom of Expression.

“These anti-democratic measures will worsen as the 2015 elections approach. Therefore, all lovers of democracy must join us in speaking out against the Jonathan Administration’s descent into despotism.

“This is the only way to prevent a President’s desperation for power from torpedoing our country’s democracy. After all, a critical benchmark of a democratic society is the existence of a vibrant, free and independent media that will give the citizenry a platform to freely and vigorously debate current issues”.

Though I am quite surprised that you now keep mum after a judgement that favoured your advocacy in the past. I refused to believe that as the then spokesperson of the opposition party you were merely pretending or lying when you were defending my right to freedom of expression in 2013. I now wonder if you are aware, as the Minister, of the notice of appeal from your Ministry rejecting the entire judgement of a competent court for my reinstatement and compensations.

Like I had stated previously, I don’t believe you could be lying with your public support for the freedom of expression in 2013 by tolerating the unfathomable decision of your Ministry on the same issue in 2018.

Honourable Minister sir, I urge you to be wary of fraudulent antics of petty civil servants who could mislead you. It may interest you to note that in a deliberate effort to nail me at all cost after my article on Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in 2013, the directors in the Ministry of Information ignored my various initiatives and efforts in promoting the image of the government while in the service. I had issued countless press releases and articles as well as received awards and commendations even from government agencies in 20 years’ career in the service.

The directors met and insisted on my dismissal over the same article ignoring my written defence. They even made a mockery of the Automatic Employment the government offered me as a recipient of Presidential National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Award for meritorious service in 1994.

In page 6 of the minutes of their meeting of June 11, 2013, the Directors of the Ministry indicated their disdain for merit and demonstrated their jealousy when they stated that “the officer (Yushau Shuaib) came into the service by accident and it was advisable that he should go the same way.”

It was after I was forcefully retired that I sued the government for the unlawful retirement over the opinion article. In my statement of defence before the Court, I stated that I was not given fair hearing by the ministry and that the Public Service Rule 030421 gave me the right to write an article. The section states that “Nothing in this rule shall be deemed to prevent an officer from publishing in his own name, by writing, speech or broadcast matters relating to a subject of general interest which does not contain a critic of any officer.”

I also cited Section 39 (1) of the 1999 Constitution which states that “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including the freedom to hold opinions and receive and impart ideas and information without interference.”

Since you, as the Minister of Information, have refused to respond to the court judgement and series of letters from my solicitors since last year, I have no other alternative than to instruct my lawyer to take an immediate and appropriate legal action against you.
Yushau Shuaib
www.YAShuaib.com, Wuye District, Abuja

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By Yushau A. Shuaib

Dear Sambo Dasuki,

It’s exactly two years ago, in the morning of December 1, 2015, when we chatted on the phone over the security operatives that had invaded your Asokoro residence and later whisked you away as the immediate past National Security Adviser (NSA). I was then in Maiduguri on an assignment.

Since that day, you have remained in detention even after being granted bails by at least four separate High Court Judges. They are, Justice Adetokunbo Ademola and Justice Ahmed Ramat Mohammed of the Federal High Court, as well as Justice Hussein Baba- Yusuf and Justice Peter Affen of the FCT High Courts. They had considered the merit of your applications and granted you the bails. The ECOWAS Court of Justice too had ordered for your immediate release with compensation of N15 million for the unlawful and illegal detentions without legal warrant or court orders.

From all the court proceedings so far, none of the allegations against you is treasonable, while the allegations of misappropriation of funds can only be proven in the court on whether the expenditures went through the due process of official authorisations. The charge of illegal possession of firearms, by the discovery of weapons in your residence, less than 24 hours after you left office and at a time you had military and security bodyguards, is, to say the least, laughable, and can only be interpreted as witch-hunting.

While you have never stated your side of the stories in court or anywhere else since your arrest and detention two years ago, there have been so many accusations and complete falsehood through media trials. Some baseless documents were leaked without attaching originating memos and approving authorities among others. It is pathetically appalling that your image has been tarnished through sponsored and misguided media trials. It is unfortunate that many Nigerian are not aware of your antecedents when you had proven yourself as a man of integrity during your tenure as ADC to President Ibrahim Babangida as well as Managing Director Nigeria Security, Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC). In both offices, you left honourably and on principles to protect your reputation.

While your traducers would rather taint your image by making references to the alleged misappropriation of funds during your tenure as NSA, they tirelessly worked to suppress the apparent success stories of the war-against-terrorism campaign during your tenure. They don’t want Nigerians to know that during your tenure as NSA to President Goodluck Jonathan, the brave Nigerian troops, successfully liberated and recovered over two dozens big towns from Boko Haram. Those towns included; Abadam, Askira, Baga, Bama, Bara, Buni Yadi, Damboa, Dikwa, Gamboru-Ngala, Goniri, Gujba, Gulag, Gulani, Gwoza, Hong, Kala Balge, Konduga, Kukawa, Marte, Madagali, Michika, Monguno, Mubi, Vimtim among others.

Though some may be forgetful to realise that during your tenure as NSA, Nigeria spearheaded the formation of Multinational Joint Taskforce (MNJTF) where you sought the cooperation of reluctant neighbouring countries to join in the fight against terrorism. The taskforce has been sustained just as other initiatives and legacies you introduced and left behind in the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

While I won’t like to talk about your past relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari, especially on 1983 Coup and others which I published in previous articles and my recent book “An Encounter with the Spymaster,” the toxic speculation and misleading information that you arrested Buhari in 1985 remain unabated. Even while you have denied the allegation, with principal actors including, retired Colonel Abdulmumini Aminu publicly admitting their involvement, the rumour is sustained for ulterior motives.

I cannot end this short memo without expressing my most profound appreciation for rescuing me from humiliation after I was unjustly retired by the government you served when the then Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala had reported me to the Presidency for punishment over my harmless opinion article in 2013.

Not only did you attempt to bring me back into the public service which I politely rejected, you nevertheless accepted my condition to serve as a Consultant on Crisis Management to the same government.

Though we recruited a large number of young Nigerian graduates in ensuring the success of the campaigns, presently the workforce has reduced drastically due to lack of patronages from the system. We have nevertheless continued to sustain the services on pro bono basis, especially for the military, security, intelligence and response agencies.

Meanwhile, the good news today is that Justice David Isele of National Industrial Court has ordered my reinstatement into the public service and payment of all my salaries, allowances with interest in prevailing bank rate within 30 days. I am awaiting the Federal Government’s obedience to that court order.

While I still nurse the fear that you may spend another year in the unlawful detention as New Year 2018 is around the corner, I must commend your courage and doggedness during our recent chat in the court. You have said for the umpteenth time that you have no ill-feelings against your ‘good friends’ who are currently on the other side and other ‘people’ who cannot do anything in your case. You said: “In every Challenge, every temptation and every situation one finds himself, there are lessons to be learnt and to be thankful to Almighty Allah.”

May your days in court offer you with the opportunity you have craved for, to clear your name from malicious allegations and to enable you to provide concrete evidence of your stewardship as the National Security Adviser who ensured efficient inter-agency collaboration for national stability and national security.

As you remain in detention in the last two years against all legal procedures, even when you lost your father, Sultan Dasuki, I pray you stay fortified believing that God’s time is the best.
Yours Sincerely,

Yushau Shuaib
Author “An Encounter with the Spymaster”
yashuaib@yahoo.com

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