The budget seeks to protect the average Nigerian and you know that the key is that we focus on diversification of the economy, this budget points to the fact that this country is a non-oil country and I think we want Nigerians to begin to think of the country in that way.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Categorized in : Energy

Investing in women is smart economics, and investing in girls, catching them upstream, is even smarter economics.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

women girl education

The best way to help Africans today is to help them to stand on their own feet. And the best way to do that is by helping create jobs.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

feet today jobs

Africans… their tired. They’re tired of being the subject of everybody’s charity and care. We are grateful, but we know that we can take charge of our own destinies if we have the will to reform.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

tired destiny grateful

[Africa] is a continent of many countries, not one country. If we are down to three or four conflicts, it means that there are plenty of opportunities to invest in stable, growing, exciting economies where there's plenty of opportunity.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

opportunity mean country

I believe that when you find problems, you should also find solutions.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

problem should believe

Mobile phone technology can help to bring financial services to the 80 percent of African women who do not have a bank account and bolster the growth of the world's poorest continent. It's not just about empowering women, it's about economic growth. Unless we can make access to finance easier for women in their businesses, we will be missing out on a significant portion of growth within our economies

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

phones technology missing

When it comes to doing my job, I keep my ego in my handbag.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

handbags ego jobs

I'm standing here saying that those who miss the boat now, will miss it forever. So if you want to be in Africa, think about investing.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

missing forever thinking

Life really went backwards. My parents lost everything, all their savings, because we had to run from the Nigerian side to the Biafran side. We were Igbos.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

saving parent running

I can take hardship. I can sleep on the cold floor anytime. I can also sleep on a feather bed.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

hardship bed sleep

Educating our young girls is the foundation for Nigerias growth and development.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

foundation growth girl

If we save people from HIV/AIDS, if we save them from malaria, it means they can form the base of production for our economy.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

malaria mean people

When you save the life of anyone, a farmer, a teacher, a mother, they are contributing productively into the economy.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

economy mother teacher

Today, the European Union is busy transferring aid. If they can build infrastructure in Spain, roads, highways ... why do they refuse to use the same aid to build the same infrastructure in our countries?

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

spain use country

The idea [the government's 'You Win' campaign] is that instead of young people in Nigeria waiting to get employment, they should create their own jobs and employ their peers and employ other people.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

government winning jobs

Im told Im like my father, and he was the most wonderful man. But I think he was gentler than me.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

men father thinking

Last week we met the marketers and negotiated the terms of payment of the 185 billion naira, (The)government resolved to issue Sovereign Debt Notes (SDN) to the marketers, which we will start issuing from tomorrow.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

energy

One in four sub-Saharan Africans is Nigerian, and it has 140 million dynamic people - chaotic people - but very interesting people.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

million four people interesting

Nigeria, with the oil sector, had the reputation of being corrupt and not managing its own public finances well. So what did we try to do? We introduced a fiscal rule that de-linked our budget from the oil price.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

price own try reputation

I'm trying to tell you that there's a new wave on the continent. A new wave of openness and democratization in which, since 2000, more than two-thirds of African countries have had multi-party democratic elections. Not all of them have been perfect, or will be, but the trend is very clear.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

new will you perfect