Soludo, Sanusi part of those who put us in this mess –Presidency

The Presidency has insisted that two former Governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II and Professor Chukwuma Soludo are part of those who have put Nigeria in the current economic crisis it’s faced with.

Both men have been critical of the Muhammadu Buhari-led government of late, accusing it of not taking the right steps in pulling the nation out of its current economic troubled waters.

But Mr. Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, noted in a statement yesterday, that Sanusi and Soludo failed to advice the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan even when they knew the economic policies of that government was headed in the wrong direction.

He said that the previous government was borrowing heavily and owed contractors, and international oil companies, and that “When this government took over we had accumulated debt back to the level it was before the Paris Club Debt Forgiveness.

The oil shock, according to him, “should and could have been foreseen. These are matters that both the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II and Professor Chukwuma Soludo, both of them eminent former Central Bank Governors had occasions to warn the government of the day about, but they were clobbered. The dire warning was written all over the wall, but they were ignored by Nigeria’s economic managers.”

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He noted that there were a number of indicators showing the country was headed for an economic crisis if the price of oil fell, since Nigeria did not have fiscal buffers to withstand an oil shock.

This, he noted, should have been the responsibility of the then economic managers to draw the attention of the government of the day to.

“What should they have done?

“They should have had the courage and vision to do as the present administration is doing through the Economic Team, the Ministry of Finance under Madam Adeosun and the various agencies of the state to envision a better future by first of all fighting corruption. Look at what a civilian administration is today doing to the military, investigating their finance and accounts that the military could not do to themselves.

“A man who has promised good things is being accused of failing to use the palm to cover the sun or that he is unable to stop the rain. Nigerians are right to be disappointed but they must direct their anger at the right quarters. The bad management and corruption of the past are firmly to blame.

“The current pain is due to the mismanagement of the past. What Nigeria is currently experiencing was inevitable. This government is simply being honest with the people instead of piling up debts and concealing the truth by pretending all was rosy. This government believes that Nigerians deserve to know the truth.

“From its records so far, this administration is trying to reset the Nigerian economy and ensure that it attains its potential and is diverse and resilient. We are doing this at a time when the global economy is in crisis due to the oil price collapse. Even rich nations like Saudi Arabia are experiencing problems,” he narrated.

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