Former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Charles Soludo, in his fresh statement, insists N30 trillion has been mismanaged or unaccounted for under the watch of the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Soludo stated that his earlier claim on the missing money is separate from another N8.6 trillion an African Union report said was stolen in the country.
He however promised to sheathe his sword since Okonjo-Iweala has said she would not join issues with him. For this reason, Soludo said he is withholding other parts of his statements on the missing money and the mismanagement of the economy. Soludo challenged the minister to an open debate on the issue, an invite Okonjo-Iweala apparently did not take.
Below is Soludo’s statement
I STAND BY MY STATEMENTS
Chukwuma Charles SOLUDO, CFR
My attention has been drawn to statements credited to the Hon. Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in response to my latest article and call for a structured debate on the issues. According to the report, she no longer wants to join issues with me. In the circumstance of the moment, I therefore withhold parts two and three of my promised three-part response.
Let me also state for the avoidance of doubt that I stand by every statement I made in the two articles viz: (1) “Buhari Vs Jonathan: Beyond the Elections”; and (2) “Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Missing Trillions”. In particular, I insist that over N30 trillion has either been stolen or unaccounted for, or grossly mismanaged over the last few years. This figure does not include the estimated $40.9 billion (N8.6 trillion at parallel market exchange rate or nearly two years’ Federal Government budget) which the African Union’s (AU) recent report claims to be “stolen” from Nigeria each year.
I wish to thank Nigerians all over the world who have been contributing to this timely debate. This is election time and it is expected that some vested interests will either choose to live in denial or attempt to politicise the issues. But from the debate so far, I am convinced that our economic management won’t be the same again. Once our managers know that the citizens will rigorously and vigorously challenge them to account, the welfare of the citizens will be better for it. Whoever wins has his job cut out for him, and to the extent that this debate has challenged the respective teams to seriously re-examine their blueprints to guarantee the security and prosperity of every Nigerian, my objective is accomplished. I love my country Nigeria, and as I said before, I won’t keep quiet again.
Once more, Nigeria must survive and prosper beyond Buhari or Jonathan!
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