Soludo, Oshiomhole in war of words over economic crisis

What started as a discourse on rescuing the nation’s economy, on Friday, in Lagos, almost degenerated into a face-off between the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Charles Soludo and the immediate past governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

Soludo had, in his keynote address, at the public lecture tagged, The Hard Facts to Rescue The Nigerian Economy, organized by the Vanguard newspapers, commended the Federal Government for eventually coming up with a recovery programme for the economy, but, noted that the policy was inconsistent with the government’s promises of job creation and other benefits that would enhance the lives of the people.

He argued that though the present government inherited a fragile economy, the economic recession the nation presently found itself was avoidable; since it was induced by  slow and inadequate response to the situation on ground then.

“It is true that the present government inherited a bad economy when it came into power. By May 2015, many state governments had already started borrowing money to pay salaries, the foreign  reserved had been depleted, insecurity was high, corruption had become the order of the day and business confidence was dwindling by the day.

“It was obvious that a rescue plan was urgently needed at that time. But we wasted too much time re-inventing the wheel and  the nation’s economy was plunged into avoidable recession, and Nigerians are paying for it today,” he argued.

Soludo further said that even if the rulling All Progressive Congress (APC) remained in power for the next six years, it cannot restore the naira to dollar exchange rate to the level it met the local currency in 2015.

His words: “Even in 2023, it would be a miracle if the current government would be able to bring back the naira, for instance, to match the dollar where it met it in 2015.

“This is because, every government, according to Soludo, had promised to move away from depending on oil for revenue but had failed to do so. Hence, the current administration cannot be an exception.”

He added that the APC manifesto in 2015 promised a conscious plan for post-oil economy in Nigeria, and that there was no projection for exchange rate overhaul in the party’s economic plan.

“The naira   exchanged for between N226 and  N270 per dollar at the parallel market, within the first and third quarter of 2015, while the official interbank rate remained at N197 to a dollar.

“These compare to an average price of about N268 which  it closed  on December 31, 2015 at the black market. The  naira on Thursday appreciated to N455 per dollar in the parallel market as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) injected another $195 million,” he said.

While talking on transitional plans from sole dependence on oil to other sources of revenue, Soludo observed that the determination of whether the plan for a Nigerian economy that depended less on oil is public relations plan or a national plan, would be determined by who originated the plan in the first place.

He asked, “Is it a plan to post-oil economy that Nigeria has been waiting for? Whose plan is it?

“At what rate is the Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP) consistent with the APC manifesto? I can bet that not much would happen at the end of the plan in terms of restructuring of the economy.”

He blamed the Intertnational Monetary Fund (IMF) for the undervalued and pressured naira, stating that nominal exchange rate would have been at N70 to N80 to the dollar “if we had not maintained an under-valued naira.”

While commending the Federal Government for eventually coming up with a recovery plan for the nation’s economy,  the former CBN governor, however, stressed the need for the government to take ownership of the policy, in terms of  implementation to avoid a repeat of past mistakes.

“If government does not take ownership of the plan, nothing would make it different from previous ones that failed to effectively make any impact,” he argued.

Expressing his confidence over the ability of the nation’s economy to come out of recession soon, Soludo however expressed huge doubt about the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) getting back to where it was two years ago when the incumbent government came into power.

However, reacting to Soludo’s paper, former Governor Oshiomole, stated that, contrary to the former CBN governor’s position, it had become imperative for  the nation to trace the roots of its economic problems to enable it effectively tackle the numerous challenges presently facing it.

“I’ve refused to be intimidated when figures are being reeled out the way it’s being done by Charles Soludo today. But the fact remains that Soludo was also once governor of CBN and he once oversaw the affairs of NEEDS (National Economic  And Development Strategy), and we all witnessed how, instead of creating jobs, the scheme resulted in over 7 million job losses.

“The challenge we have is that we all seem to have solutions while out here than when in government. I had also once  confronted the CBN for a policy that gave undue Forex advantage to two banks, a development that resulted in the naira losing substantial value then,” the two-term governor of Edo State argued.

However, describing the former Edo State governor as not being right, Soludo stated that as  CBN governor, he was never part of the foreign exchange bidding process then and that there was no way he could have influenced the bidding.

“Let me say, with due respect, that Oshiomole lied on this. Besides, his claims that NEEDS led to job loss can not be substantiated,”  he added.