A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Charles Chukwuma Soludo has at a recent event disclosed that the president inherited a bad economy but it does not look feasible that his administration can do much to restore the naira-dollar rate to what it was before his administration took over power.
The professor of Economics who noted that Buhari worsened Nigeria’s economy made this known to newsmen while speaking at a public policy debate organised by the Afri Heritage Institution in Enugu, ‘Big Ideas Podium’.
Soludo, according to The Cable was reported to have said during the event, “Buhari met a very bad situation when he assumed power, but he has made the situation worse. Nigeria today is a fragile state with a failing economy. Some say failing state; some say failed state.”
He further added: “The economy is not just in recession; we are suffering from massive economic compression. Saying it is recession trivializes the issue.
“It will be a miracle if after eight years, by the time it leaves office in 2023, the current administration is able to return the economy in dollar terms to the exchange rate it met when it took over.
“The truth is this government inherited a very bad situation, but it has made it very much worse.” He alleged that Nigeria, as currently structured, favours only a “privileged few”.
Soludo who further pointed that the Northern region of the country still thrives in poverty despite having produced several leaders in the country noted that the South-east region also suffered the same fate during the Goodluck Jonathan’s era.
He added: “Nigeria is not working in anybody’s interest except that of the privileged few and because of this, there is an obsession with unnecessary distractions, like which part of the country produces the president. You can have the president, the vice-president and all the ministers from one village and the life of the ordinary people from that village will not move from point A to point B.”
Soludo continued: “The north has ruled the country for several years, but poverty, to a very large extent, is a northern problem.
“In the last dispensation, we had Jonathan as president, the finance ministry and almost all the financial institutions of government were headed by Igbos then, but we still don’t have any motorable federal road in Igboland.”