Hon. Minister sir, while I should languish in jail for laying the foundation for a new financial system and for largely saving the economy from the global crisis, you should be celebrated for making it into the Guinness Book of records on many fronts, three notable ones being: (1) You assumed office when oil price was about $75 per barrel and external reserves stood at about $42 billion: within 9 months you have earned a world record as the Head of an Economic Management Team (EMT) that lost about $10 billion in foreign reserves at a time of unprecedented export boom, with oil price now over $90 per barrel;

(2) While the EMT I belonged to got Nigeria debt relief, you will get the world record as the Finance Minister who had the fastest rate of debt accumulation in Nigeria’s history, even at a time of oil boom and presented a budget where not a kobo of oil revenue is spent on infrastructure, power, etc but 114% of revenue spent on consumption; and

(3) as head of the Economic Team when literally all international ratings for Nigeria worsened, even worse than during the global crisis of 2008 and 2009, and for the first time in several years, the outlook for the economy is adjudged NEGATIVE, with FDI collapsing (a clear indication of loss of confidence by international investors), etc. Congrats Hon. Minister on these world records!

Hon. Minister, what pains me the most is that our worst performance in any year is still better than your best performance. Nigeria should be going forward, not backwards!

Hon. Minister sir, I NEVER EVER said that the Nigerian economy or the banking/financial system was “immune” or “insulated” from the global crisis. Aside from the usual sensational headlines of some newspapers (designed to sell their newspapers) and of course some misrepresentations by some commentators, the records show that I was the most vocal public official in articulating the nature and causes of the crisis and the consequences for the Nigerian economy as well as the remedial actions. Disprove this point if you can, Hon. Minister! When a section of the media tried to insinuate that my assurances that we would survive the crisis meant that Nigeria was ‘insulated’ from the crisis, I issued clarifications (as advertorial) through my Special Assistant (media) in early 2009.

Obiagu1:

So what was the basis for the acusation levelled against Soludo?

Hon. Minister, or are you embarrassed to learn that even the AMCON you taunt as the ‘saviour of the banks’ happens to be one of Soludo’s initiatives?

In the same public presentation, I outlined to stakeholders steps we had taken to tighten and strengthen regulation and supervision of the banks as follows:

• Greater emphasis on enforcement of Code of Corporate Governance
• Resident Examiners have been deployed to banks since January 2009
• Standby teams of target examiners being deployed to any bank at any time to ensure timely regulatory actions if necessary
• Review of Contingency Planning Framework for Systemic Distress in Banks
• Introduction of Credit Bureau
• Advice to banks on risk management—-call for extra conservatism during time of crisis—- capital conservation, cost minimization, de-emphasis on size, salaries/bonuses, among others.
• Strengthening of institutional coordination through the Financial Sector Regulatory Coordinating Committee (FSRCC)
• Greater emphasis on e-FASS as a tool for banks’ returns analysis for speedy identification of early warning signals
• Consolidated Supervision and Risk Based Supervision have been adopted and arrangements are being made to migrate from the current fragmented sub-sectoral supervision to all-inclusive financial sector supervision
• All banks are to be examined in 2009 by consolidated teams of CBN, NDIC, SEC, NAICOM
Adoption of common accounting year end for all banks with effect from end-Dec. 2009, aimed at improving data integrity and comparability
• Adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)
• Review of BOFIA to strengthen regulatory capacity .

scorpio1:

Without Soludo's radical bank consolidation Ideas, we wouldn't be where we are today in the Banking Sector, SOLUDO is A Genius and a blessed gift to this country if we can appreciate his worth and use him well,
If Aganga wants to join issues, i would prefer a live TV debate, It's gonna be Awesome!

with all the question raised in the article right for a man that meant to be serving his people this is the time to show it; thats if he is really there for the betterment and welfare of Nigerians

and all we get from Jonthan Governmernt is Aganaga saying he's got better thing to worry about

chinekeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee  hell nooooooooooooooooo what a country

and for yall record for naija to move forward we all have a collective role to play; it isnt enough posting in nl

now this is where nigerian new papers get on my nerve; they shouldn't be letting these b astards off the hook just like that; no need to galvanise in abuja sq just like the Egptians; these little things can move mountain

like solodu said with high rocketing oil price our reserve still goes rapidly drains up by the day   

and this is the man we want; well yes i want him but he need to work in the right way on the right track

If he claim to represent well for Nigerians then he should lead the way as he isnt doing it; if he claim to bring change he should lead the way; he should afford a time to defend issuses cuz if oyibo call us monkie we go vex

imagine this happens here in Uk; u can imagine all the government force defending issues all over the network

beaf your jon is begining to annoy me ooooooo

and i must say like the way u avoid indicting thread like this one

cuz u got absolutely nothing to say and u know it !!!!! period ANGRY

I wish we can force them to debate for 12 hours with only two pure-water breaks, that will be so worth the amount we pay them for all those extra allowances.

nwabobo:

Did Aganga finally agree to the TV debate as proposed by Soludo?

Just being curious since I've not been following developments on this.

nwabobo:

Did Aganga finally agree to the TV debate as proposed by Soludo?

Just being curious since I've not been following developments on this.

nwabobo:

Did Aganga finally agree to the TV debate as proposed by Soludo?

Just being curious since I've not been following developments on this.