Okonjo-Iweala Says Politicians Instigate Insecurity

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has said that there are politicians who instigate insecurity in Nigeria to make opponents “look bad.”

The World Trade Organization (WTO) boss made this revelation during the 2024 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), held in Lagos State on Sunday, August 25, 2024.

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Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, who previously served as Nigeria’s finance minister under the administrations of Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, also quizzed the possibility of attaining socio-economic growth without security.

“We cannot have socio-economic development without security,” Okonjo-Iweala said.

“We certainly cannot have security without development. We all know that security has been weaponized in our country for political purposes by political actors, leading partly to the situation we have now.

“We have politicians who believe that the best way to make their opponents look bad is to instigate insecurity, making it look like they can’t govern, regardless of whether this leads to loss of lives and property of innocent Nigerians.

“This has to stop. Nigerians have seen for years how organized crude oil theft on a massive scale seriously undermines the economic and financial health of the country.

“All Nigerians must agree that stealing of our national assets of any type is intolerable and must be stopped.”

She also said that there is so “much technology” to track the theft of crude oil and advised the government to effectively utilize technology.