GUARDIAN
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed how Former Minister of Education, Obiageli Ezekwesili, assisted his administration in substantially reducing the cost of contracts, which he said saved the Federal government billions of naira.
Obasanjo said Ezekwesili, a former Vice President of the World Bank for Africa, brought transparency and accountability into the award of contracts through various reforms.
Obasanjo’s stated this in his goodwill message sent to the former minister during a Thanksgiving Service in celebration of her 60th birthday held at the Redeemed Christian Church of God (The Everlasting Arms Parish) in Abuja, yesterday.
Ezekwesili, who is also the convener, FixPolitics, and Founder, School of Politics, Policy and Governance (SPPG), turned 60 years yesterday.
While describing Ezekwesili as a dynamic young woman who is competent, reliable and very enterprising, Obasanjo recalled how he met the former minister through Transparency International, an initiative started by Peter Eigen who had worked at the World Bank.
Ezekwesili had served as Minister of Solid Minerals before she was posted to the Education Ministry under Obasanjo’s administration from 1999-2007.
The former Nigerian leader said: “Before I appointed Oby a minister, I first assigned her to work closely with me in what we called the Price Intelligent Unit (PIU) which she headed and was domiciled at the Villa. It later became the Due Process Office, which earned her the nickname ‘Madam Due Process’. The idea was to cut down on waste and bring transparency and accountability into the award of contracts, which she did excellently.
The point is, in government, you cannot accurately eliminate sharp practices.
“But if you have good public officers like Oby you will reduce it to the barest minimum. That exactly was what she did at a period all contracts had to go through her office. Oby’s stewardship in the Due Process Office brought about a substantial reduction in cost of contracts, which of course saved the government billions of naira at the time. Given her involvement in the global demand for more transparency in the oil and gas sector, she was a founding member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). The NEITI that we have today is by dint of her efforts and the support I gave, especially in the days of difficult beginning.
“From the Due Process Office, I appointed Oby a minister in charge of Solid Mineral. At that period, illegal mining was being carried out in several parts of Nigeria and most of the people in the business I shared my frustration with said we needed to put in place the requisite regulation. They also suggested that we needed someone who was tough to handle that ministry. So, knowing Oby very well, I could not see a more perfect fit for the sector. That was why I sent her to the ministry, and she did excellently well.
“After we had gone far in our transformation reforms in the Ministry of Solid Mineral, I realised that we hadn’t done much in Education. At that time, I knew that the Ministry of Education required reform and the three people that I thought I could use were already heavily involved in other things. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was still in Finance; Nasir El-Rufai was handling the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which had almost been destroyed with deviation from the original master plan. And then I had just put Oby in Solid Mineral. I had a conversation with the Head of Service who felt that I could deploy Oby for the assignment. I was hesitant because I didn’t want to disrupt what she was doing at Solid Mineral. “Sir, is Solid Mineral ministry more important than that of Education?” That question settled it for me. I sent Oby to Education, and I told her to recommend a replacement for the Solid Mineral sector.
“As President, I tried to expose some of the brightest talents I had in government to opportunities available to be the best they could possibly be. Without any doubt, Oby was one of the best talents I had working with me.”
