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For those who are yet to read Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s “Fighting Corruption is Dangerous: The Story Behind the Headlines”, this is the best time to do so. The former Finance Minister’s account of her experience and that of her team while in office, paints a vivid picture of reasons corrupt politicians are fighting fiercely to ensure they occupy Aso Rock and other key positions in the coming general elections.

The book published by The MIT Press, chronicles hazards, drawbacks as well as achievements recorded during her tenure in office.

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While providing practical lessons learned, Dr Okonjo Iweala also advises anti-corruption crusaders on how to equip themselves.

The book practically, documents in details, the diverse methods corrupt officials can divert resources away from the country’s development, rewarding the crooked but depriving poor people the right to enjoy their God-given resources. This explains why a country like Nigeria, so endowed with excess crude, cannot boast of a single refinery, hence, the importation of petroleum products. The anomaly couldn’t have endured this long if corrupt government officials and their cronies are not benefiting from the corrupt system.

In a viral interview with Peter Okojie, the author offers a peep into the content of her book. According to the WTO Director-General, her aged mother was held for five days, and then, she got a call by her abductors. “They didn’t ask for money contrary to what many people thought.

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They said I should go to the television and radio and publicly resign and I should leave the country and go back to the US where I was working, from where I came. “This was shocking but, the key thing is that when she asked these four young men who took her, ‘why did you take me? they said, ‘because your daughter did not pay oil marketers their money’. And that’s how we found out it had to do with oil marketers”. She recalled during the interview that there was a meeting with oil marketers in Lagos where they concluded that she will leave the office in a wheelchair.

“Absolutely, and by the grace of God, one of those who participated in the meeting, happened to be a friend of one of my brothers. He was part of the meeting but thought what was being planned in the meeting was not fair. So, he told my brother to tell his sister to be careful”, she added. Dr Okonjo-Iweala further revealed that she later confronted the marketer in whose house the meeting was held, just to let them know that she was aware of their evil plan. That’s how they roll! Silencing anyone who attempts to be patriotic especially when the individual’s selfless service truncates their evil mission.

The book according to her is not stating that it is absolutely impossible to fight corruption but that some battles can actually be won if we don’t give up. “Majority of Nigerians are honest, hardworking people. But Nigeria is held hostage by small minority of people. Why should we give up? that’s what they want. They want everybody to give up? When you try to fight the corruption, they attack you viciously and then, get away with it. I’m trying to say in the book, we musn’t do that and to give people examples of where you could actually block it even with threat to your life, relatives. I’m not saying everybody should take that risk but at the end of the day, some people have to stand up and actually, there are people standing up every day”.

Contrary to people’s conclusion that she wanted to use the book to exonerate herself from the atrocities committed by corrupt politicians during the time she served as finance minister, the global finance expert told her interviewer that, “The word exoneration doesn’t come to mind because when you didn’t commit any crime, what are you exonerating yourself from? I wanted to tell my story, that is true and I have the right to do that. “When people make you a victim, they victimise you all over again. And, what they like to do and have succeeded in doing, those people who are corrupt, they intimidate people. They say all kinds of things so you keep quiet. And I’ve said I’m not keeping quiet”.

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“Fighting Corruption is Dangerous” has continued to receive global accolades especially as the polity gets heated up with intrigues ahead of the 2023 elections. The sad reality is that a large number of the oppressed are still rooting for the oppressors who plunged Nigerians into the prevalent perils being experienced today.

Timi Okoya wrote about the book: “A quick read. A good account of the story behind the headlines which is almost always different from the perspective of the headlines. “For any Nigerian or anyone resident in Nigeria, there are no surprises about the atrocities detailed. It helps the discourse around corruption in Nigeria for history’s sake. The fight against corruption is, indeed, dangerous!”“Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala worked at the World Bank for 25 years, rising to Managing Director. I never met her during my years at the Bank. She was known as ‘Ngozi’ at the World Bank. Importantly for this review, Ngozi served twice as Finance Minister for Nigeria. She was recently named Director-General of the World Trade Organization.

“This book was written after her “Reforming the Unreformable: Lessons from Nigeria” (2012), which recounts her experiences as Minister of Finance under President Olusegun Obasanjo”, says Menachem Prywes who teaches Economics at the Universidad Privada Boliviana. According to him, “The book delivers a technically strong description of the issues she faced as finance minister and the policy measures she executed to resolve them. For example, in Reforming, she outlines the government’s plan for diverting part of annual government petroleum revenues into a sovereign wealth fund when petroleum prices are high.

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The objective is to stabilize the budget when prices are low. I like her pointers on tactics for resisting pressures to run down the fund in when petroleum prices are high. I could teach a practical course on economic management of developing countries with Reforming as the text”.

Concerning the book’s title, Prywes notes, “Don’t be distracted by the full title, ‘Fighting Corruption is Dangerous: The Story Behind the Headlines’. This is not a financial tell-all or an adventure action book. This is a professional work of applied economics. Readers should have graduate-level education in economics and experience with developing country economies to fully benefit from this book”.

He goes further to offer revelations on reasons the author chose the title. “The title refers to the kidnapping of Ngozi’s mother, ordered by petroleum & gasoline dealers, in an attempt to force her to back off from an anti-corruption campaign. Nigeria is an oil producing country and shares the benefits with the general population through the sale of subsidized gasoline.

Nigeria has plenty of petroleum, but no refinery. To resolve this, the Nigeria government subsidizes gasoline imports. Many petroleum and gasoline dealers, however, have been robbing the public treasury by submitting fraudulent claims for subsidies. The government loses billions of US dollars per year to such fraud.

“Ngozi refused to bargain and, in the end, the kidnappers gave up. They left Ngozi’s mother tied-up in a forest, but she was eventually able to twist free and make her way to safety.”In summary, this book is a kind of proof of her qualifications to run the World Bank, the IMF, or the WTO”.Kings Udoidua in his brief review wrote, “I thank Dr Ngozi Iweala for this bold feat in delivering an insider account of the Nigeria project. I have always known that there was something right with the Jonathanian government that most Nigerians didn’t know about. This exposé has dissolved that uncertainty.

“Every Nigerian need to read this book. I recommend it for every school as a necessary reference in social studies.”The proliferation in the new media has given rise to a new wave of information dissemination such that a lot of lies and half-truth become easier to peddle. Those who will read this book will learn to filter better what information is making the rounds. Anything short of such censorship will cause many to fall victim to miscues from political propagandists.”I have been enlightened and I look forward to starting a campaign with this book as a study material for educational development that will lead to exposure of corruption and the need to institutionalize the structures of society for the common good.”Once again, thanks to Dr Ng. Helpful Report”.

For Anthony Chiedo, “Systemic corruption could be fought with right policy mix and strong political will. The author demonstrated deep sense of understanding of Nigeria economy both from Micro and macro-economic point of view. This, I think, was aided by previous experiences she gathered while working on other growth and development assignment in the past. I also noticed practical expression of unequal level of patriotism which made her to continue her fight against corruption amidst obvious threat to her life and that of her family and friends. It takes high powered brevity and integrity to soldier on in the type of environment the author expresses in this book. In all, reading this book has helped empower me morally and academically to carry on with a similar assignment I was assigned to undertake somewhere even though at smaller scale. The author deserves an accolade”.

U-Roy Agboli wrote; “I couldn’t stop reading this book. It’s an exposé of the crop of politicians we have in the continent of Africa and why our current situation is such a sad state.Emmanuel also commended the author saying, “Factual and well-chronicled. This is an exemplary first-hand treatise on anti-corruption reform. I hope more government leaders will follow suit.

Okem Ebube wrote, “Insider information is provided in droves. It’s great to see the former finance minister navigate the treacherous waters of Nigerian politics.

(Vanguard)