Tinubu’s ‘Audacious Reforms’ Rescued Nigeria from Insolvency – Soludo
The governor of Anambra State, Charles Soludo, says the “audacious reforms” embarked upon by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration rescued Nigeria from insolvency.
Soludo who was a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said although he was a strong critic of World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), there commendation of these reforms is well deserved but a long still has to be done.
“We must appreciate that we have come a long way while acknowledging that there’s still a long way to go. Let me say this, and I’m not shy to say it: the audacious reforms embarked upon by the current administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu have rescued the economy from the tipping point.
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“The endorsements by the World Bank, IMF, London Financial Times, and rating agencies such as Fitch and Moody’s, in my view, are well-deserved. Many people know that I made a living criticizing the IMF and World Bank and a Governor of Anambra, I even rejected a World Bank loan due to its terms. However, regarding the trajectory of economic reforms, the World Bank and others are largely right, in my view,” he said.
Speaking further he noted, “In 2023, I described the situation of the economy as akin to a standing dead horse, and public finance was on the verge of tipping into insolvency with potentially catastrophic consequences, including possible mass retrenchment of workers and pension arrears.”
“You see when the previous administration passed the 2023, budget that had a clause that subsidies will end by end of June. It was an indication we had reached the end,” Soludo stated.
The governor revisited how the administration of Muhammadu Buhari handled Ways and Means while urging President Tinubu to stay on course.
His words, “There’s a limit to which you can continue to print money. I was one of those who raised the alarms at some point. And at some point, I had to say to the regime, the Governor of CBN, that this printing of money, illegally printing of Naira, if the CBN Act, the provisions were obeyed, there was no time that you could have had more than 500 billion standing as Ways and Means.
“Thank God at least we are here, public finance is back on a solvency path, and macro fundamentals are recovering positively. Yes, there are still a lot more to do, but I urge the President and his team to stay the course.”
