FG TO SOLUDO: You’re wrong, the economy has stopped bleeding

The Nigerian government has faulted claims by former Central Bank (CBN) governor, Charles Soludo, that the economy is in a worse state than the Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) government met it.

Speaking Thursday at the ‘Big Ideas Podium’, an event organised by the Afri Heritage Institution in Enugu, Soludo had said, “The economy is not just in recession; we are suffering from massive economic compression. Saying it is recession trivialises the issue.” His lecture was titled, ‘Prognosis of the Nigerian Economy 2017.’

However, reacting to Soludo’s assertions, the Presidency through the Senior Special Assistant to the Acting President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, said in a statement, “Nigerians have demonstrated that they know that the Buhari administration inherited a sorry state of the economy but is working diligently to fix it with positive results now emerging.

“What even the former CBN Governor, Soludo, cannot deny is the fact that the Buhari administration has ended the bleeding of the nation and is implementing reforms.”

The Presidency added, “The Buhari administration is spending more on infrastructure at a time when resources are lean. When we had abundant revenues, what happened was profligate and plunder.

“What no one can deny is that the Buhari administration is now implementing on behalf of ordinary Nigerians a Social Investment Programme that is unprecedented in Nigeria’s history; paying poorest Nigerians N5,000 monthly; feeding school children and engaging hundreds of thousands of unemployed graduates. And there is more to come.”

Highlighting the many accomplishments of the administration, the statement claimed thus, “The Buhari administration is plugging loopholes in several ways, including through the Treasury Single Account, raking in resources that otherwise were hidden and misappropriated, and the proper auditing of the federal payroll discovering about 30,000 ghost workers and saving billions per month.

“Another step in the right direction,” the government said, “is the fact that Nigeria no longer has to shell out billions of dollars for the JVC cash call, bringing relief from a burden that has slowed down investment in the oil industry.”

In further slamming Soludo’s treatise on the economy, the Federal Government accused him of selective amnesia saying, “It is quite curious that very few among us will choose to ignore the new direction but make story of the burdens of the past without proper attributions. This appears to me to be selective amnesia to which they are certainly entitled.

“What would have been more patriotic,” in government’s view, “is that people of goodwill will join several others working with us in this administration and offer progressive ideas and join hands with a government and administration that everyone knows is led by a President and Vice President who are trustworthy and are people of unabashed honesty and integrity.”

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