Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the World Bank

The Policy Council I move one small step ahead in my self-imposed duty of policy advocacy and public commentary with the premiering this week of “The Policy Council” on three national television stations. I have for virtually all my adult life since National Youth Service engaged in a determined effort to influence public opinion, hopefully positively. I started as a “letter writer” around 1986 writing the editors of various national news magazines until I settled on Nduka Obaigbena’s “THISWEEK”. Actually as a primary school student, I had written one letter to an NTA Ibadan children’s programme. I won the prize, but I never got to collect it-after one journey to Ibadan (from Lagos), my mother and I concluded the prize, whatever it was, was not likely to be worth a second, or perhaps third try! Employment in the banking sector eventually forced me to suspend my public interventions until frustration with national drift under Abacha induced me to send another letter to the editor in 1998-by then I had formed acquaintances in The Guardian, and that one got published on the op-ed pages. There were numerous other op-ed articles, at first still in The Guardian…later Businessday before I eventually accepted the challenge of writing a column in 2006, and that column “Economy, Polity, Society” continues till date. Then TV…. I had done a few official appearances on TV usually representing institutions and not myself. Professor Pat Utomi and “Patitos Gang” was my first regular television forum from sometime around 2004, after I had left the banking sector. And then I became a regular “policy analyst” on Silverbird TV, Channels and CNBC Africa with occasional discussions with BBC, Associated Press, Radio France International and Financial Times. I do not know exactly when the desire to take policy to television stirred up in me-watching Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN must have played some part. I of course noticed that Fareed had successfully made the transition from print media (Newsweek) columnist to TV talk show host, and our interests in policy, economy, development, governance and global affairs were not dis-similar. I also recall one older “friend” wonder (and them swallow the thought) if I wouldn’t have done fine asking the questions, rather than answering them! I spent many months thinking through the possibility of doing a policy-focused TV show in Nigeria, but the final push undoubtedly came towards the end of 2011 from a friend and brother (God bless him) who, completely independently of my ponderings, concluded that I should be doing exactly that which I was meditating over, somewhat of a miraculous intervention! And thus came…“The Policy Council…with Opeyemi Agbaje”!!! The objective is to provide a platform for informed debate and analysis around policy, economy, development and governance in Nigeria, Africa, the African Diaspora and the world, in order that policy can work for our people. The platform will be objective and non-partisan; and guests and discussants will be invited for the insight they can offer on policy. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the World Bank The matter of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (NOI) going to the World Bank is for me a complicated matter! I am often in sync with those who query whether she doesn’t have more to do at home, than at the bank. Isn’t transforming Nigeria a bigger imperative, even for the world, than reforming the World Bank? I am not surprised for instance at the unanimity of support for her nomination at home-there are many opponents of reform, who simply see the prospect of her going to the World Bank as good riddance-a major tactical victory in their efforts to prevent a change in Nigeria’s dysfunctional political-economy! But then I also see benefits to developing and emerging nations, including ours, from having her at the bank-an African, a woman, a two-time finance minister of Africa’s most troublesome economy-all exposures and experiences that place NOI in a unique position to make the World Bank more relevant to the needs of the developing world. The fact that she is also a World Bank insider makes her appointment a compelling choice! There is no doubt that she is the best candidate on offer, as attested to by The Economist and Financial Times, and her candidacy is buoyed by an uncommon unanimity of ECOWAS, AU and major emerging nations across the world. However if her appointment will mean quelling plans for a BRICS global development bank sponsored by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South-Africa, I am not sure that I would be pleased by such outcome. I would think a BRICS alternative to the World Bank would be a great thing, irrespective of what America, Europe and Japan do with their votes at the Bank. One of the lessons of economics and free enterprise is that competition is good for the customer and market place! All told, the decision will not be made based on our sentiments! The US/Europe/Japan bloc will decide based on their reading of their own geo-political and strategic interests and in the shorter-term, how any decision affects Obama’s domestic political equation in the run-up to the US elections. All things considered, I’ll be happy whatever the outcome is-we either have NOI helping to reform Nigeria, or we release her to help change the World Bank ultimately for our benefit as well. In the latter eventuality, the choice of her successor will be a critical decision for President Jonathan!