Economist Soludo and self indictment

In what looks like a self indictment, removed former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and now the civilian Governor of Anambra state, Professor Charles Soludo had recently stated that President Tinubu inherited “an almost bankrupt economy” from former President Muhammadu Buhari. Governor Soludo asks Nigerians not to blame Tinubu for economic hardship, saying he inherited a dead economy from Buhari.
Record shows that Soludo, though an Economist of international repute has performed poorly as the country’s CBN Governor which earned him outright removal by the ‘Yaradua administration.
When in 2003 and 2004 then President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed the world known Economist, Professor Charles Soludo as Nigeria’s chief economic Adviser and CBN Governor respectively, many Nigerians were of the view that Nigeria’s economics and monetary challenges will be a thing of the past.
Unfortunately that was never to be as Soludo’s performance was nothing to write home about. This abysmal performance earned him an outright dismissal by the ‘Yaradua administration.
Soludo, who spoke similarly on Channels TV’s Politics Today called on Nigerians to be patient with the current government, and alleged that the Central Bank of Nigeria was illegally printing money, which according to him, contributed to the fall of the country’s currency.
The former CBN governor noted that the alleged illegal printing of money was a total violation of the 2007 Act governing the apex bank.
He ascribed the present economic situation in the country to alleged recklessness of the previous government, describing the economy it left behind as a dead horse.
He said, “We sat here in this country and saw the monetary authorities literally printing money.
“And to prevent us from getting to where we are today, that was why we had an explicit clause that prevented the Central Bank from lending recklessly, granting ways and means to the federal government.
“This particular government inherited a dead economy from a microeconomic point of view; this government inherited a dead horse that was seen standing but people didn’t know that it was dead. I think it’s important for Nigerians to understand this.”
The Buhari economic management team, EMT chaired by ex VP Osinbajo and comprising of other members as was dissolved sometimes in 2019 and replaced with an Economic Advisory Council led by Prof. Doyin Salami, which membership included Prof.Charles Soludo as well.
Interestingly one would be glad to hear from Soludo what contributions he made as a member of Buhari’s Economic Advisory Council, EAC then. Did he make or not make an attempt to make the difference? Did he encounter any challenges or frustrations in putting across his thoughts to turn around the economy as an EAC member and a renown Economist?
For me, Governor Soludo cannot exonerate himself from the alleged failure of PMB’s economic policy in impacting the lives of all Nigerians since he was part and parcel of the administration’s economic policy strategists. I see this as a self indictment of Soludo.
Indeed if what he said about the PMB administration is correct, then Nigerians expect an unreserved and unconditional apology from Soludo for his failure to make the economy of the country work after enjoying all the parapanelia of office as a member of the PMB’s advisory economic council.

Ilallah wrote in from
EMEKA ANYAOKU STREET, ABUJA musahk123@yahoo.com