Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Prof. Chukwuma Soludo took up the gauntlet yesterday.

He challenged Minister of Finance Mr. Olusegun Aganga to a debate on the economy.

Soludo, in a measured response to Aganga’s statement that he (Soludo) should be serving a jail term for mismanaging the economy during his tenure, wondered whether the minister was in full grasp of the issues at stake.

"My candid advice to you, Hon. Minister, is for you and your colleagues at the Economic Management Team to note that you need serious help on the economy. It is our collective destiny that is at stake. Threatening me with imprisonment or even imprisoning me will not solve the problem. But if you are convinced that you know what you are talking about in respect of the economy, and/or that you are sure of what you said about my regime, I challenge you to a 2-3 hour televised national debate on these issues," Soludo, declared.

The former CBN Governor, who served under ex-President Obasanjo and the late President Umaru

Yar’Adua, said he was amazed at the unprovoked attack of the Minister which was reported in The Nation of January 22, 2011. He said in the over two years that he left office, Aganga found no ground to accuse him of any wrong doing, "not until he suspected that I may be ‘advising’ former presidential aspirant Atiku Abubakar on the economy that he quickly conjured that I should be in jail for what he believes I said or did not do about the banking system.
He said although he hesitated in responding to Aganga’s diatribe, he nevertheless took the option to put the records straight. I have mulled the decision to respond or not. Some friends suggested I should ignore Aganga in consideration that I might be misconstrued as "attacking Government". But when Mr. Aganga, out of desperation to save his job, throws decency to the ground, and decides that the only way to burnish his uneventful tenure is to use his high office to throw mud at Soludo, then a sense of duty beckons on us to respond," Soludo stated.

He said he chose to serve out of love for Nigeria, saying the only way to move the nation forward is for those who have something to offer to get involved.

He urged Aganga to get his perspectives right, arguing that the data the Minister is bandying about as indicators of an improved economy are at variance with the realities on ground.

He said: "You must get serious, Hon. Minister. When you look Nigerians in the face and point to flattering comments on Nigeria’s prospects by some people in some conferences as your prove that the Nigerian economy is doing well, it does not make you look well informed; especially in the face of hard evidence to the contrary.

"As you were busy blaming people for ‘talking down the economy’, the UNCTAD report released in Geneva on January 17, 2011, slammed you again with a red card: foreign direct investment (FDI) into Nigeria dropped by 62 per cent in 2010 (from $6 billion in 2009 to $2.3 billion in 2010)—again the worst in many years, and even worse than during the global crisis.

While developing and transition economies increased their FDI inflows by 10 per cent in 2010, Nigeria’s FDI fell by a whopping 62 per cent. During our tenure, FDI was more than doubling every year, and even at the peak of the global crisis in 2008, stood at about $8.5 billion. Do you get the point, sir? The international investors are sending a strong message to you, Sir. You need to get your act together."

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