President Goodluck Jonathan seized the
opportunity of an interview with a Nigerian
newspaper last week to hit back at a former
Central Bank governor, Charles Soludo, who
accused his government of failing to account
for at least N30 trillion, and allowing
corruption to flourish.
Mr. Jonathan dismissed Mr. Soludo’s claim as
politically-motivated, and ridiculed his
academic standing, saying it was illogical for
that sum to be “stolen” as his government had
not generated that much in all its years in
power.
In an elaborate article on the state of the
Nigerian economy mid-January, Mr. Soludo
had tackled Nigeria’s finance minister, Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, over her management style
and inability to steer the nation aright amid
an oil crisis.
Mr. Soludo, a first-class economist and
professor, said whatever fiscal reserve Nigeria
would have fallen back on during the crisis,
had been badly depleted by corruption and
poor management by the Okonjo-Iweala-led
economic team of the Jonathan
administration.
“Our public finance is haemorrhaging to the
point that estimated over N30tn is missing, or
stolen, or unaccounted for, or simply
mismanaged,” the former CBN governor said.
Mr. Soludo said the sharp decline of the naira
against the dollar was an indication of trouble
for the nation.
He said his article was written for Nigerians
to be informed ahead of the 2015 elections.
“Part of my frustration is that five years after,
everything I warned about has come to
happen and we are conducting our campaigns
as if we are not in a crisis. As a concerned
Nigerian, I have a duty to speak out again,”
he said.
At the time, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala dismissed Mr.
Soludo’s concerns as those coming from a sore
political loser who wished the country ill. In a
vicious tit-for-tat article, the finance minister
labelled Mr. Soludo Nigeria’s worst CBN
governor ever.
In his interview with Thisday newspaper last
week, President Jonathan repeated some of
those claims, and questioned Mr. Soludo’s
scholarship.
The president made the remarks as he sought
to explain widespread impression of his
government as being terribly corrupt, saying
such allegations are often fed by spurious
claims made by notable figures like Mr.
Soludo.
“So you’ll see that there is a lot of politicking
about some of the serious issues. Not too long
ago I read in one of the papers, I think
Vanguard, that former chief economic adviser
to President Obasanjo who also went to
become a CBN governor… Soludo is a professor
and first class material. Yes, making a first
class in economics, he is a brilliant person.
His secondary school records are fantastic. So
by all standards he is a brilliant person. So the
Vanguard wrote that he accused Ngozi; that
N30 trillion was stolen under the watch of
Ngozi in four years,” the president said.
“Ngozi became a finance minister, let’s say
from 2011 till date. From that time till now,
our annual budget is between N4.3 trillion
and N4.9 trillion. So even if you put all
together, it is about 18 plus trillion naira, and
not 30 trillion. The budget for these four years
is less than N20 trillion, but Soludo said that
under Ngozi’s watch they stole N30 trillion.
This is in the papers, social media, stored in
the clouds and will continue to be there. And
when you type it in it will come out that
during President Jonathan’s time they stole
N30 trillion.”
But while the president hinged his
explanation on realized budget figures for
Nigeria annually, Mr. Soludo, in his article,
based his N30 trillion claim on funds available
to the government, amounts not reconciled
and what the country earn if there had been
quality economic policies.
“Under you as the Minister of Finance and
coordinator of the economy, the basket of our
national treasury is leaking profusely from all
sides. Just a few illustrations,” he wrote to the
finance minister in January.
“First, you admit that ‘oil theft’ has reduced
oil output from the average 2.3 – 2.4 million
barrels per day to 1.95 mpd (meaning that at
least 350,000 to 450,000 barrels per day are
being ‘stolen’). On the average of 400,000 per
day and the oil prices over the past four
years, it comes to about $60bn ‘stolen’ in just
four years.
“In today’s exchange rate, that is about
N12.6tn. This is at a time of cessation of crisis
in the Niger Delta and the amnesty
programme. Can you tell Nigerians how much
the amnesty programme costs, and also the
annual cost for ‘protecting’ the pipelines and
security of oil wells? And the ‘thieves’ are
spirits?
“Second, my earlier article stated that the
minimum forex reserves should have been at
least $90bn by now and you did not challenge
it. Rather, it is about $30bn, meaning that
gross mismanagement has denied the country
some $60bn or another N12.6tn. Now, add the
‘missing’ $20bn from the NNPC. You promised
a forensic audit report ‘soon’, and more than
a year later, the report itself is still ‘missing’.
This is over N4tn, and we don’t know how
much more has ‘missed’ since Sanusi cried
out.
“How many trillions of naira were paid for oil
subsidy (unappropriated?)? How many
trillions (in actual fact) have been ‘lost’
through customs duty waivers over the last
four years? As coordinator of the economy,
can you tell Nigerians why the price of
Automotive Gas Oil, popularly called diesel,
has still not come down despite the crash in
global crude oil prices, and how much is
being appropriated by friends in the process?
“Be honest: Do you really know (as
coordinator and minister of finance) how
many trillions of naira self- financing
government agencies earn and spend? I have
a long list but let me wait for now. I do not
want to talk about other ‘black pots’ that
impinge on national security.”
Mr. Soludo added, “My estimate, Madam, is
that probably more than N30tn has either
been stolen, or lost, or unaccounted for, or
simply mismanaged under your watchful eyes
in the past four years. Since you claimed to be
in charge, Nigerians are right to ask you to
account. Think about what this amount could
mean for the 112 million poor Nigerians, or
for our schools, hospitals, roads, etc.
“Soon, you will start asking the citizens to pay
this or that tax, while some faceless ‘thieves’
are pocketing over $40m per day from oil
alone.”
In his interview with ThisDay, the president
said after reading the former CBN governor’s
claims, they (cabinet members) simply asked
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala about the impression of
her former colleagues at the World Bank,
about Mr. Soludo’s charges. And they were
convinced it was political.
“We asked Ngozi how her colleagues in the
World Bank saw the accusation and she said
they were laughing and couldn’t believe it.
There are certain things that you just cannot
believe and if that is coming from somebody
considered to be cerebral like Professor
Soludo, then of course you know what the
ordinary person would say. It is all political,”
the president said.
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