Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Prof.
Charles Chukwuma Soludo, yesterday accused the President Muhammadu Buhari-led
administration of worsening the state of Nigeria’s economy.
Soludo spoke in Enugu at an interactive forum, titled “Big
Ideas Podium”, which was organized by the African Heritage Institution.
At the Forum chaired by a former Governor of Cross Rivers
State, Donald Duke, Soludo acknowledged that the current All Progressives
Congress, APC, administration inherited a bad sitution.
He was, however, quick to declare that the current
administration had made the economy several times worst than it met it.
He said, “Nigeria is now, some say a fragile state, some
say a failed state; it is not going to be a tea-party to come out but
unfortuately, we are not taking it serious.
“Nigeria is not just in recession but in a massive
economic compression; it will be a miracle for the present APC administration
to return this country to the dollar size it met in May 29, 2015, if it stays
for 8 years, that’s till 2023.
“It is business as usual; propaganda, lies, double-speak.
Current government is fighting corruption, insecurity, but we say to them,
enough of the blame gain.
“They inherited a bad situation but they have made it
several times worst; getting us out here is not a tea-party like I sad before.
Nigerians should rise in unity; it should no longer be ‘let them’; only united
citizens can rescue Nigeria out of this position.”
The Ex-CBN boss, while stressing the need for what he
called ‘Citizen United’, as a panacea to the present situation, urged the
masses the take the government into account for all the promises made before
the election.
“My idea is that of Citizen United; we won’t get the
leadership that we deserve; we won’t get the leadership that we want; we will
get the leadership that we demand.
“They gave us manifestoes, promised a lot and we said
‘yea’; how many have gone back to check how far them are implementing those
promises; if any party implements 25 percent of its manifesto, Nigeria will get
better.
“If you check any State run by APC, PDP or APGA, the three
parties that have Governors, can you see spot any difference in any of those
States that will distinguish one party from another, it is the same.
“APC said in its manifesto that it will restructure
Nigeria, that Nigeria was not one, but after election, has anybody heard about
it (restructuring) again? They control 23 States and the National Assembly, all
they need is one more State to get the required 2/3; so they have what it
takes, but they are not talking about it again.
“If we don’t rise to hold them by the jugular, Nigeria
cannot go anywhere. We have to start preparing for a post-oil economy; insanity
is to repeat the same thing over and over again and expect different result”,
he further stated.
Soludo, who also faulted the clamour for Igbo presidency
described it as an “unnecessary distracton”, stressing that you could have the
President and his Vice as well as all the ministers come from one village “but
the life of all the people in the that village will not move from point A to
point B.
While justifying his position, he recalled that during the
former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, several members of the
economic team, including the finance minister, Deputy Senate President, Deputy
Speaker of the House of Reps, SGF, all came from the South-East, “but not one
motorable federal highway in Igbo land.
“We want a new Nigeria where it does not matter where the
president comes from; we want to set a structure where each citizen will work
hard, where security is guaranteed.”
He further used the event to lambast the Federal
Government for unleashing security agencies on various protesters across the
country, especially the pro-Biafra groups, insisting that they had every right
under the Constitution to express their feelings.
According to him, “people have right under the
Constitution to protest within the law; the duty of the police is to give the
protesters protection. Killing innocent citizens simply because they expressed
their feelings is wrong; no citizen of Nigeria should be killed for no just
cause; we don’t condone violence, but government should protect its people;
once you remove freedom of expression, democracy is gone.”
Other speakers at the event included Prof. Akpan Ekpo and
Prof. Osita Ogbu, a former econmic adviser to then president Olusegun Obasanjo.
Earlier, Duke, who stated that corruption was not a
problem peculiar to Nigeria, observed that “it is a bigger challenge for us
because there are no consequences here; that’s why it is worst here.”
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