Moghalu slams FG, CBN for killing Nigeria’s economy, renews call for competent leadership

The former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Kingsley Moghalu, on Thursday slammed the Federal Government and the apex bank over the country’s economic problems.

In a series of tweets on his Twitter handle, the former African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate described the crippling inflation and high rate in Nigeria as products of bad leadership.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, had in a recent fiscal performance report, warned the country of imminent economic collapse.

She noted that the federal government’s total revenue in the first four months of 2022 was N1.63 trillion while debt servicing gulped N1.94 trillion.

Moghalu blamed the development on humongous corruption in the system.

He also criticized the CBN for compromise and destructive policies.

He, therefore, advocated strong and competent leadership as solution to the crises.

Moghalu wrote: “But where a central bank is truly independent, as we are in our time, it can serve as a check, in the national interest, on the worst excesses of profligate politicians that often dot Nigeria’s landscape of high-level public appointments.

READ ALSO: Moghalu hails Nigerian govt’s move to stop export of raw materials, demands implementation

“In the current scenario, the leadership of the Bank evidently does not believe in the concept of central bank independence in its operations. Rather, the Bank asks “how high?” once the Presidency says “jump” . It sees itself as a quasi-fiscal agent, using its ability to print money, for the government of the day. This is what the rent-seekers and parasites that benefit from this situation justify as “unorthodox” central banking (as in, of course, central banking in Zimbabwe and Venezuela). Well, what’s the result today?

“Between a mismanaged fiscal space and a deeply compromised central bank that has sold its soul to politicians and private sector profiteers, the wheels have come off the Nigerian economy.

“Please don’t tell me that “inflation is a global phenomenon” just as some will mischievously or ignorantly refer to the levels of debt to GDP ratios of advanced, productive economies.

“There is a difference between real global challenges and us fundamentally killing our own economy with our own hands in the service of corruption, vested interests, and incompetent political leaders. The combined fiscal, monetary and forex calamity superintended by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and Planning, on the one hand, and the leadership of the CBN of the past 7 years, on the other, is a tragedy for Nigeria that could have been avoided. The effects on the lives of the average Nigerian are truly sad to see.

“This is a cautionary tale for the next President of Nigeria. If we want to renew and revive Nigeria’s economy, the right politics will be to do the right thing. Let institutions that are statutorily independent be so.

“Let competence govern critical aspects of our national life After all, when the positive results come eventually, the political leader will take the credit too! This is why I have argued that the problem is not an absence of competence in economic management in Nigeria. The problem is an absence of competent political leadership.”

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