Charles Soludo, Anambra governor, says President Bola
Tinubu’s economic reforms rescued Nigeria from the brink of collapse and
restored the country’s public finance to a solvent path.
Soludo spoke on Thursday at The Platform, a policy and
leadership forum, in Lagos.
The former central bank governor said Nigeria’s economy was
akin to a “standing dead horse” when the current administration assumed office
in May 2023.
He said the removal of petrol subsidy, unification of the
exchange rate, and other structural adjustments were necessary and overdue,
describing them as “a fundamental rejigging” needed to keep the economy
breathing.
“I’m not shy to say this, that the audacious structural
reforms embarked upon by the current administration of His Excellency Bola
Ahmed, have rescued the economy from the tipping point,” Soludo said.
“The endorsements by the World Bank, the IMF, the London
Financial Times, rating agencies such as Fitch, Moody’s, etc., in my view, are
well deserved. Of course, many people know that I made a living criticising the
World Bank and the IMF.
“In 2023, I had described the state of the economy when this
government assumed office as akin to a standing dead horse.
“And public finance was about to tip from insolvency, with
potential catastrophic consequences, including possible mass retrenchment of
workers and/or arrears of salaries and pension.
“You see, when the previous administration passed the 2023
budget that had a clause that subsidies will end by end of June, it was an
indication we had reached the end. You could go no further.
“Printing of money illegally — up to N20 something trillion
— was tipping Nigeria’s economy into the Atlantic Ocean. What we had in 2023
was a fiscal dead-end.”
‘NO SHORTCUT TO MACRO STABILITY’
The former CBN chief also warned that stabilising Nigeria’s
economy would remain a painful process, especially as the country grapples with
high inflation and weak infrastructure.
However, he said the reforms have restored investor
confidence and reopened the door for capital inflows.
Soludo urged critics to offer credible alternatives backed
by rigorous analysis, rather than broad slogans.
“It’s always easy when you’re not the one doing the work,”
he said.
“People say ‘just fix electricity’, as though there’s a tap
somewhere you just switch on. We need to be serious and go beyond surface-level
commentary.”
‘I ADVISED THE CBN GOVERNOR TO OBEY THE WAYS AND MEANS LAW
OR AMEND IT’
Soludo also revisited past criticisms of the Buhari
administration’s fiscal practices, particularly the abuse of ways and means
advances by the former leadership of the CBN.
He said under the law, the CBN was not permitted to lend
more than N500 billion to the federal government, yet it illegally printed over
N20 trillion, flooding the system with liquidity and accelerating inflation.
“At a meeting, I told the CBN governor at the time: obey the
law or amend the law,” the governor said.
“His response was, ‘come and imprison me. I’m helping the
country.’ That kind of recklessness brought us to the brink.
“I knew that that particular act of printing money, and they
printed up to 20-something trillion, and poured into the system, and you expect
the exchange rate to remain the same, inflation to remain the same, and so on
and so forth. That’s a joke. Elementary economics tells us that that was a
recipe for disaster.”
While expressing confidence in the current administration,
Soludo acknowledged the “long list” of unresolved national challenges,
including energy reform, poverty, insecurity, and corruption.
He argued that sustainable development would require strong
institutions, ethical leadership, and a more productive citizenry.
“Everyone has a diagnosis, and the list of what to fix is
long. But the challenge is how to fix them given our resource constraints and
competing priorities,” he added.
The governor said complaints alone will not build a
prosperous nation.
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