Finally,the brouhaha and hullabaloo surrounding the World Bank presidency have been laid to rest with the appointment of Jim Yong kim to lead the World lender as soon as Robert Zoellick,the incumbent president, steps down as head of the world lending body.
For weeks on end,the Nigerian press was seized with a somewhat maniacal obssession with the candidacy of Madam Ngozi who was referred to in such glowing terms as "the best person for the job","the most qualified" and the like.
This was a veritable distraction from the reportage of the unending carnage taking place in the North even as it distracted us,albeit momentarily,from the disturbing news of the resurgence of violent militancy in the already volatile Niger-Delta region.Indeed,the past couple of weeks served as a PR tool for a government and a people who have descended to the lowest ebbs in the sight of the world.
This notwithstanding,the entire debacle brings to the fore certain salient questions which Nigerians,either in their haste to celebrate one of their own,or even in their desperation for the limelight and international attention that were instantly focused on an otherwise pariah nation ,forgot to ask.
My question is simple: Was it not because of Nigeria's seemingly intractable problems that madam Ngozi resigned from the plum position of MD of the World bank,ostensibly in a bid to come salvage the tattered remains of an almost comatose economy? Was it not borne of her love for the country of her origin?
If the above find answers in the affirmative,then the more pertinent questions to ask are as follows:
1.Have these problems now being resolved?
2. Or has madam Ngozi's love simply waxed cold.
We need not bother ourselves with the first question because even the blind can see that Nigeria's economic woes,rather than abate,are on a steep incline.indeed,burgeoning debts,alarming levels of unemployment,massive lay-offs in the banking and manufacturing sectors,mind-boggling accounts of corruption in all facets of the public sector,amidst a myriad of problems are testaments to the fact that Nigeria is not any better economically.
The second question,however,may take a bit of brainstorming to answer. Perhaps,only madam Ngozi can satisfactorily answer this.For was it not this same woman that jettisoned an enviable job as one of the directing minds of the World's biggest lender out of love for her country,only to capitulate shortly thereafter in an ill-fated bid to ascend to the apogee of its bureaucracy? Pray,what did she forget in the organisation that she was so desperate to reclaim? Its a baffling contradiction.
In any case,what magic wand was she supposed to wield upon assumption of the coveted office? She cited the fulcrum of her "campaign" as job creation and employment generation in third world countries.is she impervious or oblivious of the cliche that "charity begins at home"? How has she fared in the area of job creation back home in Nigeria? Aside from her preoccupation with the removal of subsidy on petroleum,little has been heard from this "accomplished technocrat" with regard to concrete policy thrusts aimed at the amelioration of the poverty that abounds in this country.
In a knee-jerk respond to the unprecendented and vociferous protests by the people earlier in the year,she,along with her principal,announced the conception of a bogus programme with the dubious moniker "SURE".This programme,I assure you,is not as sure as it was made out to be.Almost four months after,all of the governments promises have yet to come to fruition.there is plenty motion but little movement.Where are the "Palliatives"? Your guess is as good as mine.
Now that the elections have come and gone,can Madam Ngozi please concentrate on the arduous task of navigating Nigeria's economy out of the cesspool of corruption and uncertainty it now finds itself? I trust that several opportunities still lie in wait for her.