Okonjo Iweala Vows Not To Resign

The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has dismissed   calls for her to resign, stressing that she  cannot do so while the economy

is doing well.
Her reaction came on the heels of the call by the Governor Rotimi Amaechi-led Governors’ Forum for her to quit the stage following what the governors described as

non-performance in the discharge of her duties to the nation.
The minister, who was asked whether she would heed the governor’s call and  resign, said: “Do I look like a person who wants to resign? I dey Kampe.”

According to her, the administration was creating jobs and that is the main focus of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s government.

“I want to start from job creation because this is the main way that Nigerians feel the impact of what is being done by this administration. This is an issue that Mr President had insisted on and focused on.

“Now, in agriculture where we are seeing a strong results, over 2.5 million seasonal and full-time jobs have been created. When I  say seasonal, for example,  in rice, 460,000 of the jobs created were seasonal. But overall, over 2.5 million jobs have been created.

“In nine commodity chains, in cassava, in soghum, in oil palm, in cotton, cocoa, dry season rice, rainy season rice, maize, etc. So, we are creating jobs for skilled and unskilled people in this very important area of the economy,” she said, adding that investments were being done in the manaufacturing sector.

In the area of manufactruing,  she said, “specific investments are going in. Indorama company is making an investment of $1.2 billion in petrochemicals, fertiliser, particularly. They  have already closed on the financing for this investment to be situated in Port Harcourt and the environs. Then, Proter & Gamble of the US that has built a new factory and they have invested $250 million  in  manufacturing baby products.”