Soludo worst CBN Gov- Says Okonjo - Iweala

The Coordinating Minister for the
Economy and Minister of Finance Dr.
Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala has responded to former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN ) Charles Soludo’s recent critique of the Nigerian economy , describing Soludo as the worst CBN governor in Nigeria ’s history .

Okonjo - Iweala in a statement from her office noted that “ the consolidation of the banking sector was a good policy idea of the Obasanjo Administration but
Soludo went on to thoroughly
mismanage its implementation leading to the worst financial crisis in Nigeria ’s history . ”

The finance minister stated that after Soludo ’s consolidation exercise, “the regulatory functions of the Soludo - led CBN were very poorly exercised.

As Governor , he failed to adequately
supervise and regulate the now larger banks – an anomaly in Financial Sector Supervision . In his time there was very little separation between the regulators and the regulated which is a violation of
a key requirement of Central Banking success .”

This Okonjo- Iweala said “ led to
infractions in corporate governance in many banks as loans and other credit instruments running to hundreds of billions of naira were extended to clients without following due process , and several of these loans could not be paid back .

This massive accumulation of bad
debts or non - performing loans as they are called in the banking sector meant that our banks were ill- positioned to deal with the global financial crisis when it hit .”

Okonjo - Iweala accused Soludo of
bringing the banking sector to its knees and as such the sector “required a massive bailout by Nigerian tax payers .

This bailout was done by his successor ( now Emir of Kano ) who cleaned up all the bad debts and transferred them to the newly - established Asset Management Company of Nigeria ( AMCON) , from where they are managed today . ”

For the record Okonjo- Iweala stated that “ Soludo’s single- handed
mismanagement of the banking sector led to an incredible accumulation of liabilities that will cost tax payers about N 5 . 67 trillion ( being the total face value
of AMCON- issued bonds) to clean up . ”

This amount she said “ is more than the entire Federal Government 2015 Budget , constitutes the bulk of Nigeria ’s‘ contingent liabilities’ mentioned in Soludo ’s article .

It is only in Nigeria where someone who perpetrated such a colossal economic atrocity would have
the temerity to make assertions on
public debt and the management of the economy . ”

Concerning Soludo’s comments on the mismanagement of the economy and the imposition of the austerity measures , the finance minister lamented that “ the
fall in oil prices , a global phenomenon over which Nigeria has no control, has given every charlatan the opportunity to attack the economy , and by extension
the managers of the economy . ”

Thorough examination of the facts on performance under the Jonathan
Administration Okonjo- Iweala said “ will also reveal that at a time when global economic performance was mediocre , with GDP growth averaging about three percent per annum, Nigeria ’s GDP growth – averaging about six percent
per annum – is indeed remarkable .
”Even more interesting she said “is the fact that the oil sector did not drive this economic performance but the non - oil sector ( Agriculture, Manufacturing , Telecommunications , the Creative
Economy , and so on ) , which shows that the current Administration ’s
diversification objective under
the Transformation Agenda is working . ”

NATION