Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State has said that President Bola Tinubu’s administration inherited what he termed a ‘dead economy’ from its predecessors, News About Nigeria gathered.
The governor made this statement during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today program on Thursday, where he delved into an analysis of the country’s economic landscape.
“From a macroeconomic point of view, this government inherited a dead horse that was still standing, and people didn’t know it was dead,” said Soludo, who is a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
He underscored the significant challenges faced by the current administration, noting that the complexities of revitalising the economy should be clearly understood by Nigerians.
“Because you can’t pour water on a rock and not expect the rock not to be wet, there are humongous challenges, and I think it is important that Nigerians understand this and it is not a tea party,” he added.
Governor Soludo, drawing on his experience as the head of the CBN from 2004 to 2009, accused the apex bank of engaging in the illegal printing of money.
He highlighted the importance of realising the historical context, pointing out that the explicit clauses in the 2007 Bank Act were meant to prevent the reckless lending of the Central Bank to the Federal Government.
“We must realize where we are coming from. We sat here in this country and saw the monetary authorities literally printing money, illegally I must say, because I superintended the development of drafting the 2007 Bank Act,” Soludo explained.
“To prevent us from where we are today, that is why we had an explicit clause there that prevents the Central Bank from lending recklessly to the Federal Government. That you cannot grant to the Federal Government more than 5 per cent of the previous year’s actual revenue.”
Governor Soludo criticised the CBN for allegedly violating the 2007 CBN Act, asserting that the current monetary trajectory was avoidable.
“We all sat here and saw how the CBN brazenly, illegally violated that law year after year and kept on printing money,” he noted.
“When you continue to credit the account of government, one trillion people shouted, two trillion, 10 trillion, 15 trillion, and 20 trillion, and we kept going.”
