Videonews: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Speaks At A World Bank Presidential Candidate Event
Chidi Anthony Opara
Ademola Omobewaji
Professor of African Literature & Oral Literature
Department of English,
Director, General Studies Programme, UI.,
& Co-coordinator, Ibadan Cultural Studies Group,
Room 68, Faculty of Arts,
University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, Nigeria.
Mobile: +234 (0)802 350 4755
+234 (0)706 226 4090
Web: arts.ui.edu.ng/aodasylva
E-mail: a.da...@ibadanculturalstudiesgroup.org
a.da...@mail.ui.edu.ng
dasy...@yahoo.com
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Chidi Anthony Opara
From: Ademola Omobewaji <dasy...@yahoo.com>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2012 3:44 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Videonews: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Speaks At A World Bank Presidential Candidate Event
Chambi Chachage
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2012 1:14 PM
Chidi Anthony Opara
From: Chambi Chachage <cham...@yahoo.com>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2012 2:36 AM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Videonews: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Speaks At A World Bank Presidential Candidate Event
Chidi, do you mean this:"Concludes Ikheala, 'the most compelling reason why she deserves the World Bank presidency: Nigerians need a break.'" - http://www.zcommunications.org/can-a-nigerian-squeeze-the-poor-for-the-world-bank-by-patrick-bond?My mission is to acquire, produce and disseminate knowledge on and about humanity as well as divinity, especially as it relates to Africa, in a constructive and liberating manner to people wherever they may be.Address: 41 Banks Street # 1, Cambridge, MA 02138 USACellphone: +1 (857) 413 - 9521Skype: chambi100Twitter: @Udadisi
Ayo Obe
Ayo
Moses Ebe Ochonu
---Mohandas Gandhi
shina7...@yahoo.com
Tade Akin Aina
Sent from my iPad
Hamburg, Roger P.
are right!he did use the expression ,"the Invisible Hand" in one
chapter.I also own "The Wealth of Nations" where the "invisble Hand "
appears. People quote him to suit their own agendas.You cannot read the
present into the past.
>>> From: Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi...@yahoo.com>
>>> To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com"
>>> <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
>>> Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2012 1:14 PM
>>> Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Videonews: Ngozi
>>> Okonjo-Iweala Speaks At A World Bank Presidential Candidate Event
>>>
>>> "It is my prayer that she gets the job".
>>> ------Ademola Omobewaji DASYLVA
>>>
>>> It is also my prayer that she gets the job but for a different
>>> reason, which is well known here.
>>> ..........CAO.
>>>
>>> Publisher At PublicInformationProjects
>>>
Prof. Alfred Zack-Williams
Dear Tade,
How interesting? I was having dinner last night with the VC of Glasgow University, who gave a very enlightening welcome / goodbye speech for Network Chairs at the Biennial Conference of European Social Science History Conference in Glasgow, who made a not too dis-similar point. Incidentally, he is an economist and Adam Smith was a student and Professor at Glasgow.
All the best.
Tunde
Pablo Idahosa
Actually Tade, and hopefully not to be too pedantic, but I think that you are referring to the more orthodox neo-liberals. There's no incompatibility between certain forms of neoliberalism, which have proven to be malleably wide in their intellectual/ideological and practical remits, and their unwillingness to cite the Theory of Moral Sentiments. In general, they have actually rarely cited Smith, and have no need of the moral sentiments. They are more likely to cite classical political Liberals about negative freedom and property rights, which they utilize to buttress certain neo-classical assumptions, which are also not beyond being other-regarding and accepting of forms of reciprocity to make markets effective and efficient in allocating allocating/distributions resources and rewards to individuals. Neoliberals want to create the institutional setting for the functioning of markets, which may or may not work, and their view might ultimately be incoherent, which I believe them to be, but politically and ideologically they have no need for the moralist Smith. Few people take notice of orthodox neoliberals anymore, although many of their assumptions remain insidiously entrenched in a great deal of mainstream development assumptions, or expressed through populist libertarians like Ron Paul.
What this all means for many parts of Africa – or at the very least where the WB has any traction anymore, what with the BRICs, Angola, the Turks, Koreans, etc. etc.-- continues to lie in a certain expectations and view about how markets function, one that has a legal and administrative system legal, or an institutional framework for an effective competitive system. We are all “institutionalists” now, which is where the neo-liberal "moral" sentiments lie, but, as my students say, good luck with that.
Best,
Pablo
Tade Akin Aina
Sent from my iPad
Prof. Alfred Zack-Williams
Dear Tade,
You are spot on. I am amazed at how the neo-Liberal ideology has been appropriated by our economists and other social scientists, not to mention the intellectually lazy politicians. I remember a few years ago talking to a ‘would-be Finance Minster’ in Sierra Leone, who gave me his party’s manifesto to read. I was horrified at the undigested neo-Liberal drivel, which constituted the core of their would-be policies. For example, that the state should withdraw from the economic sector and should only provide enabling environment for capital. I asked this mis-informed character a simple question: ‘Who is coming to invest in our country when we have no roads, we cannot provide electricity and water for our people’. Hegemonic (read imperialist) powers propagate neo-Liberalism (just as they did in an earlier epoch with Comparative Advantage Theory) in order to maintain the international status quo. As I understand it, one argument they put forward against ‘dirigisme’ is that the African state is unaccountable to its people. Now, could someone tell me to whom these proliferating Northern NGOs are accountable to?
Recently (2012) Pluto Press and the Nordic African Institute (with tremendous support from Dr Cyril Obi) published a volume by Sierra Leoneans contributors, which I edited on the civil war (When the State Fails: Interventions in the Civil War in Sierra Leone), which deals with some of these issues. Also the current issue of The Review of African Political Economy, in particular the editorial and a contribution by Yusuf Bangura. In my view we cannot begin to understand the aetiology of the Civil War in Sierra Leone, without analysing the ravages caused by neo-Liberalism and its foot soldier structural adjustment policies.
Ikhide
From: Prof. Alfred Zack-Williams <ab...@blueyonder.co.uk>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2012 7:25 PM
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Videonews: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Speaks At A World Bank Presidential Candidate Event
Pablo Idahosa
As to Eurocentric dead white men, Moses?� Without wanting to give anyone here a lecture on the history� of economic thought,� the dead economists' ideas, as Tade reminds us,� do matter. Well, Smith was one of the first political economists (although� the formal title goes to another irrelevant dead white man,� the very� misunderstood Thomas Malthus,� who appears to have no impact of African realities). He, that is Smith,� as� you well know, fathered and was part of� our understanding of� the emerging, "new" markets that would eventually morph into conceptions of what we now call capitalism and capital, and their� civil/uncivil societies. If there continue to be, and should be, � debates about what Smith once said, it because,� among many other things, and in fact and for the record,� despite what people think, he was not pro-business or pro-capitalist, nor was he a friend of labour.� He once� said� that business always criticizes high wages, but� rarely criticized� high profit. Now there may be economic reasons� why he� had this view. He favored what we once� called in the Eurocentric Gallic term,� the� petty bourgeois -- my very late grandmother would now be happy knowing that Smith endorsed her approach to markets! So he could, like Marx, whom I know you dislike,� have no relevance to Africa's long duree of lived experience,� whether� in the WN or in the TMS.� I know, for better of worse, I studied both, just as you have studied "great white men", hopefully for their usable (T. Ranger) past, and just as I, in equi-distant disproportion,� have studied African social and political thought, which is partly bout social justice, normative theories of distribution as well as ones that are about allocative efficiency.� We have to confront what it is,� and why and how they might be relevant. Capital is still with us; it doesn't only have a white face, although that's the face that its location originally came from.� Angola has written off coup-Guinea Bissau's 30-odd million debt, and is heavily implicated in Portugal's economy!� That African source of, like Dangote's, � capital is need of explanation. It may not have an old dead theory to explain; and if you have an intellectual legacy� that is of now, is African, and is relevant, then I would want to know about it� that explains, and can do something about, � all of it in the face of those Africa realities. You should draw upon them and show us what they are.
Best,
Pablo
�� On 15/04/12 4:15 PM, Tade Akin Ania wrote:
Thanks Pablo and Tunde.Pablo, you are spot on in many ways .and you are not being pendantic. I raised the issue because we have �in Africa over the past two decades produced a formidable breed of neo-liberal economists trained by disciplinary networks, African universities and international institutions that have been dominant in the field for about twenty years now. They are and have been Central Bank Governors, Ministers of Finance, Treasury officials , private sector leaders. Their policies , writing and utterances have shown almost reckless �pro-market positions. So, we have all these academics and professionals emphasizing practice and policy without interrogating the sources and origins of their ideas and the nuances those sources contain. We have unfortunately been turned into victims of not only the ideas of �these international institutions but also the near fundamentalist proselytization of those ideas by Africans who have been and are still masters of mimicry. I remember several attempts to challenge these ideas and their stranglehold on African economic and banking policies. See where the banks have gotten us in Nigeria! Not engaging their ideas and showing the extent of intellectual superficiality and lack of historical awareness often concealed in elegant models and extensive complex equations is a disservice to our long suffering people's who often bear the brunt of their policies and actions.
Perhaps the lesson in all of these for us is in the famous quote from John Maynard Keynes:"The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men , who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist".Our own economists and politicians need to be able to get it and be at least clear of where their ideas are coming from and how complex these ideas and issues are. And if they don't get it they should be honest enough to admit it. Their errors and denials have been too costly for our young nations.Best,Tade.
�
Sent from my iPad
Actually Tade, and hopefully not to be too pedantic, but I think that you are referring to the more orthodox neo-liberals.� There's no incompatibility between certain forms of neoliberalism, which have proven to be malleably wide in their intellectual/ideological and practical remits, and their unwillingness to cite the Theory of Moral Sentiments. In general, they have actually rarely cited Smith, and have no need of the moral sentiments. They are more likely to cite classical political Liberals about negative freedom and property rights, which they utilize to buttress certain neo-classical assumptions, which are also not beyond being other-regarding and accepting of forms of reciprocity to make markets effective and efficient in allocating allocating/distributions resources and rewards to individuals.� Neoliberals want to create the institutional setting for the functioning of markets, which may or may not work, and their view might ultimately be incoherent, which I believe them to be, but politically and ideologically they have no need for the moralist Smith.� Few people take notice of orthodox neoliberals anymore, although many of their assumptions remain insidiously entrenched in a great deal of mainstream development assumptions, �or expressed through populist libertarians like Ron Paul.
�
What this all means for many parts of Africa � or at the very least where the WB has any traction anymore, what with the BRICs, Angola, the Turks, Koreans, etc. etc.-- continues to lie in a certain expectations and view about how markets� function, one that has a legal and administrative system legal, or an institutional framework for an effective competitive system. We are all �institutionalists� now, which is where the neo-liberal "moral" sentiments lie, but,� as my students say, good luck with that. �
Best,
Pablo
Dear Tade,
�
How interesting? I was having dinner last night with the VC of Glasgow University, who gave a very enlightening welcome / goodbye speech for Network Chairs at the Biennial Conference of European Social Science History Conference in Glasgow, who made a not too dis-similar point. Incidentally, he is an economist and Adam Smith was a student and Professor at Glasgow.
From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafric...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Tade Akin Aina
Sent: 13 April 2012 15:22
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Cc: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Videonews: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Speaks At A World Bank Presidential Candidate Event
�
Adam Smith also wrote "The Theory Of Moral Sentiments" conveniently ignored by generations of neo-liberal scholars and ideologues.
Tade.
Sent from my iPad
On Apr 13, 2012, at 9:48 AM, Moses Ebe Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com> wrote:
"someone who knows how to blend economic theory with political reality may be appointed in her place"
�
--Ayo,
�
�
That is precisely the professional portrait of the person we want running the economy, not someone whose only demonstrated loyalty lies with the Bretton Woods institutions, with a long-dead white man called Adam Smith, and with the Chicago School that helped craft the neoliberal nonsense ruining our country. Enough of textbookish, market approaches to complex and, in many cases, uniquely African economic realities.
On Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 3:56 AM, Ayo Obe <ayo.m...@gmail.com> wrote:
Of course he does! �If NOI goes to the World Bank where her expertise will be much better utilised than in the daily struggle of life as a Nigerian minister who actually wants to get things done, someone who knows how to blend economic theory with political reality may be appointed in her place. �So Nigerians are looking for a win-win situation here. �At least, until we see the replacement sha ...
Ayo
I invite you to follow me on Twitter @naijama
On 13 Apr 2012, at 02:36, Chambi Chachage <cham...@yahoo.com> wrote:
Chidi, do you mean this:
�
"Concludes Ikheala, 'the most compelling reason why she deserves the World Bank presidency: Nigerians need a break.'" -�http://www.zcommunications.org/can-a-nigerian-squeeze-the-poor-for-the-world-bank-by-patrick-bond
�
?
�
My mission is to acquire, produce and disseminate knowledge on and about humanity as well as divinity, especially as it relates to Africa, in a constructive and liberating manner to people wherever they may be.
Address:�41 Banks Street # 1, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
�
From: Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi...@yahoo.com>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2012 1:14 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Videonews: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Speaks At A World Bank Presidential Candidate Event
�
"It is my prayer that she gets the job".
------Ademola Omobewaji DASYLVA
�
It is also my prayer that she gets the job but for a different reason, which is well known here.
..........CAO.
From: Ademola Omobewaji <dasy...@yahoo.com>
To: "usaafric...@googlegroups.com" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2012 3:44 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Videonews: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Speaks At A World Bank Presidential Candidate Event
�
Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO),
�
A million thanks for this invaluable video clip on Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's presentation and interview�as�a World Bank Presidential Candidate which you made available to us on this listserve.
�
A Post well deserved:
She has proved herself to be eminently qualified for the World Bank top job. She has done not just Nigeria but the whole of Africa and, especially,�womanhood, proud. I should think she more than deserves our support and encouragement.
�
The Problem with Nigeria
If�Okonjo-Iweala's efforts are�hardly visible or impactful in Nigeria, the fault�should not be�hers, but Nigeria's.�It is undoubtedly the Nigerian structure and system that�do not�make anything, no matter how good, workable. A structure that is characterized by�insatiated hounds and vultures working at cross purposes against the interest of the Nigerian people.
�
The Wrestling the Nation's Destiny
Until�the mass of the people�are courageous enough�to rupture and dismantle exising corruption-linfested structure and institute an enduring solution to Nigeria's nationhood via the much canvassed National Sovereign Conference�for a re-definition of Nigeria's nationahood, and do something more drastic that is capable of engendering our national psychic retrieval in order to correct our dislocated and queer sense of values, Nigeria will continue to be where it is, if not worse off.�Currently, Nigeria as a country is the joke of the 21st�century. It needs a holistic repair, right from the rotten head on which it has walked since 1914,�to the bottom, a stinking a carrion, one might say.
�
Re-positioning the World Bank
There is a need to reposition the World Bank in a way that�favors developing nations than before. She is the candidate best suited for that. The World Bank is obviously better focused and a highly organized system, Okojo-Iweala will perform best.
�
It is my prayer that she gets the job.
�
Ademola Omobewaji DASYLVA,PhD
Professor of African Literature & Oral Literature
Department of English,
Director, General Studies Programme, UI.,
& Co-coordinator, Ibadan Cultural Studies Group,
Room 68, Faculty of Arts,
University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, Nigeria.
Mobile: +234 (0)802 350 4755
+234 (0)706 226 4090
Web: arts.ui.edu.ng/aodasylva
E-mail: a.da...@ibadanculturalstudiesgroup.org
a.da...@mail.ui.edu.ng
dasy...@yahoo.com
From: Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi...@yahoo.com>
To: USA Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2012 9:58 AM
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Videonews: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Speaks At A World Bank Presidential Candidate Event
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Felicia Oyekanmi
Tunde
Where do we categorize situations where government says it would keep out of the economy yet the government officials and so-called leaders spend the nations' money and appropriate all resources for their private use. We end up with rich nations but poor people replicated in virtually all countries on the African continent. Prof Felicia A. D. Oyekanmi Department of Sociology University of Lagos Akoka, Yaba, Lagos Nigeria Tel: {234} 1 7941757 Cell: {234}8056560970 |
|