The Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Soludo, has once again reiterated that President Bola Tinubu’s administration inherited a dead economy from its predecessors.
This assertion was made known by Soludo while featuring on a Channels Television programme, Politics Today, on Thursday, November 23, 2023, where he was commenting on the policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Soludo, who said people did not know the economy was dead, noted that the country is facing humongous challenges which Nigerians need to understand.
What the Anambra State Governor is saying
Soludo during the interview said,
- ‘’I did say before that this particular government inherited a dead economy from a macroeconomic point of view. This government inherited a dead economy, almost a dead horse but people didn’t know it was dead.
- “Because you can’t pour drums of water on a rock and expect that the rock will not be wet, there are humungous challenges and I think it is important that Nigerians understand this and it is not a tea party.
- ‘’Cardoso and the Minister of Finance when I spoke to each one of them on their appointment, my congratulations and also my commiseration because I know what faces them and they need our support, collectively and intellectually and in whatever way we can. But I believe that we lock ourselves in a room for a day or two, we must be able to get through this.’’
CBN printed money illegally
Soludo, while explaining his role in putting curbs on monetary structures when he headed the apex bank between 2004 and 2009, accused the CBN of illegally printing money.
Soludo, who was also a former CBN Governor said,
- “We must realise where we are coming from.
- “We sat here in this country and saw the monetary authorities literally printing money, illegally I must say, because I superintended the development of drafting of the 2007 Bank Act.
- “And to prevent us from where we are today, that is why we had an explicit clause there that prevents Central Bank from lending recklessly to the Federal Government.
- “That you can not grant to the Federal Government more than 5 per cent of the previous year’s actual revenue.”
He maintained that the CBN failed to comply with the 2007 CBN Act, adding that the current monetary trajectory was avoidable in the first place.
- He said, “We all sat here and saw how the CBN brazenly, illegally violated that law year after year and kept on printing money.
- “When you continue to credit the account of government, one trillion people shouted, two trillion,10 trillion, 15 trillion and 20 trillion and we kept going.”
What you should know
- Recall that about 3 months ago, Governor Soludo first hinted that the President Tinubu’s administration inherited an economy that could be compared to a dead horse but standing.
- While expressing empathy for the economic team of the current administration, Soludo commended President Tinubu for removing fuel subsidy, which he described as a scam, and dealing with the exchange rate.
- Meanwhile, Soludo had on Tuesday, November 21, presented the budget estimate to the State House of Assembly in Awka, the Anambra State capital.
- The governor disclosed that there is only about 57.8% increase in the present budget compared to the 2023 budget of over N280 billion.
- While the Recurrent expenditure accounts for N96.2 billion, the Capital expenditure is N313.9 billion, indicating that 77% of the entire budget is targeted at Capital expenditure.
