I stand by my statement on missing N30trn – Soludo

Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), Prof
Chukwuma, Charles Soludo,Wednesday said he would not
capitulate on his earlier claim of sleaze and mismanagement
of the Nigerian economy under the watch of the Minister of
Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr (Mrs)
Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, despite her decision not to join issues
with him on the matter.
He is however insisting that over N30 trillion of the nation’s
revenue is missing or has been mismanaged under the
Minister.
In a three paragraph statement titled “I stand by my
statements” made available to Daily Sun, Soludo, explained he
has also decided to withhold part 2 and 3 of his three part
response following the minister’s decision not to continue with
a debate that has generated so much controversy within and
outside the country.
The former CBN governor’s statement read in part “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…”
He thanked Nigerians all over the world who have contributed
to the debate so far, pointing out that with elections around
the corner, it was expected that some vested interests will
either choose to live in denial or attempt to politicise the
issues.
Soludo noted however that he was convinced from the debate
so far, Nigeria’s economic management strategies would no
longer be the same again as the managers now know that the
citizens will rigorously and vigorously challenge them to
account for their actions and inactions, stressing that the
nation would be better for it.
According to him, 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, the
objective of his recent article has been accomplished since
Nigeria must survive and prosper beyond Buhari or Jonathan.
Recall that in a controversial piece in the public space
recently, the ex CBN boss had alleged that Nigerian economy
has been grossly mismanaged under Okonjo Iweala as
Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy
as an estimated N30 trillion may either have been looted or
unaccounted for.
But in her response to Soludo’s earlier claims, the Finance
Minister accused him of aggravating the nation’s banking
crisis having left a liability of over N5trillion.