Ex-Governor of Central Bank, Dr. Charles Chukwuma Soludo
has criticized Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for blaming others for not saving for the rainy day asking, “did the governors also stop the Federal Government from saving part of its share”. Below is Dr. Soludo’s statememt
“… I hereby challenge your attempt to blame others for not
saving for the rainy day. It is not a virtue when you are
quick to appropriate all the credit when things are going
well, but shift the blame when they go wrong.
You blame the state governors— who, according to you,
have taken the Federal Government to the Supreme Court—
not that a Supreme Court judgement forced your hands. For
your information, the governors have never agreed to
savings and always threatened court action even under
Obasanjo. Why did we save under Obasanjo but not under
Jonathan?.
Two keywords explain it: leadership and integrity. Governor
Amaechi said the governors insisted on sharing the funds
because they found out that you were illegally fiddling with
the savings.
So, as Nigerians still wonder, if billions of dollars are now
‘missing’ under your nose, why should governors trust you
to keep their money?. Do the states that have taken the
federal government to the Supreme Court and refused to
save also include the PDP governors—who are in the
majority? If so, then it is fatal: even governors of your own
party, PDP, do not trust you to keep their money!.
Furthermore, did the governors also stop the Federal
Government from saving part of its share? If you ran a
surplus budget at the Federal
level, you would have had credibility to blame others or to
say they did not listen to your advice.
The key point is that since you were running huge deficits
yourself, it was also in your own interest to share the ECA.
You did not show
leadership or credibility, full stop!…”
—-Dr. Chukwuma Soludo..
