The ink of Charles Soludo’s pen apparently has not run dry as the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor has written another long note, one which is directed at the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, whose reply to Soludo’s first article elicited a response from the former national economic adviser. He said the minister needs help, noting that she’s out of touch with modern economics.

Soludo appreciated those who commented on his first article and agreed that they raised points that open up further debate. He was however not impressed by the response of the People’s Democratic Party’s Director of Publicity for the Presidential campaign, who he said made him laugh as usual.

However, the focus of the new article is on Okonjo-Iweala, who had denigrated the former central bank chief in her response to the first article.

“I was really embarrassed for you to read that one of the reasons for declining forex reserves is ‘oil theft’,” Soludo wrote in the article titled Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Missing Trillions (1). “Under you as Minister of Finance and coordinator of the economy, the basket of our national treasury is leaking profusely from all sides.”

He added: “You are brilliant, Madam, but you need serious help. Having spent all your life in the World Bank bureaucracy largely in administration/operations, no one will blame you if your economics has become a bit rusty.”



I read some of the responses to my article, “Buhari vs Jonathan: Beyond the Election”, and I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the debate. I am glad that the debate has finally taken off. I have decided, for the record, to re-enter the debate if only to set some records straight and hopefully elevate the debate further. Whom do I respond to? First, let me thank Gov Kayode Fayemi for his very mature and professional response on behalf of the APC. It forms a great basis for deepening the conversation.

Pat Utomi, Oby Ezekwesili, Iyabo Obasanjo, and thousands of other patriotic Nigerians have raised the content of the debate. Femi Fani-Kayode made me laugh, as usual. The Gov. Jang faction of the Governors’ Forum played the usual politics, although I know what most of them think privately. Who else? Oh, Peter Obi. Well, since he can’t write and designated Valentine as usual to write for him (who never disputed the NBS statistics that Obi broke world record in the pauperization of Anambra people but instead focused on lies and abuses) I won’t dignify him with a response here. His third class performance in Anambra will be the subject of a comprehensive article later.

Here, I will focus on Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s response (as Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy—CME and hence on behalf of the Federal Government). Since I have known her, out of deep respect, I have never called her by her name: I call her Madam. I must state that I have great pains seeing myself on the opposite side of the table with Madam, in this way. I respect you, Madam, and will always do. If you read my article of September 2010 (before you became Minister), the tone and elucidation were as strong as the current one. It is my honest effort to ensure that our choice of leaders is based on rigorous scrutiny of what is on offer. Part of my frustration is that five years after, everything I warned about has come to happen and we are conducting our campaigns as if we are not in crisis. As a concerned Nigerian, I have a duty to speak out again. Regrettably, you have taken it very personal.

I am not bothered about the personal abuses: I actually expected worse. What name has the government not called President Obasanjo or any person who has dared to disagree with it of late? Anyone who disagrees with the government must either be ‘insane’ or have a ‘character’ deficiency or must be ‘looking for a job’ or ‘without honour’, or a ‘charlatan’. Yesterday, Sanusi alleged that $20 billion was missing and he was accused of gross financial mismanagement, recklessness and poor governance to the point of being the first governor of central bank to be suspended from office. Today, he is the good one; and for daring to award an “F” grade for our economic performance, Soludo has become the ‘worst’ and ‘without character’ or perhaps ‘looking for position’ (Lol!). Some days ago, a former president was called ‘a motor park tout’ and ‘un-statesmanly’ just for disagreeing. This “how dare you criticise us” mind-set of the government is dangerous for our democracy.

In this Part One of my planned three part series, I will restrict it to the main issues you raised. I will not bother about the malicious attacks on my person. For me, it is nothing personal. In early 2011, I had a similar heated exchange with then Finance Minister Segun Aganga. But when the Nigerian economy was at stake and he invited me to a stakeholders meeting in his office (as Minister of Trade and Investment) to discuss Nigeria’s response to the ruinous EU- Economic Partnership for Africa (EPA), I flew into Nigeria for that (at my expense)— the first and only time I have been to any government office to discuss policy since I left office. It is about Nigeria. I will, as expected, remind people like you of the salient aspects of my record of public service in response to your charge; challenge your claim to debt relief, and your reason for not saving; highlight your forgery of economic statistics and the lies in your response; but most importantly re-focus our attention to the historic mismanagement of our economy which you carefully avoided. I will show that while you are introducing austerity measures and soon to immiserate the citizens, our public finance is haemorrhaging to the point that estimated over N30 trillion is missing or stolen or unaccounted for, or simply mismanaged— under your watch! We can’t go on like this, and I am convinced that an alternative future is possible. Can we have a public debate on this alternative future? The issues at stake are too grave to be trivialized through name calling. As I write, the naira exchange rate to the dollar is at N215 (from N158 a few months ago) and unless oil price recovers, this is just the beginning.
For the sake of Nigeria, I won’t keep quiet anymore!

Let me start with Madam’s rather comical, wild judgment on my tenure of office which I believe to be totally false and baseless. I apologise upfront that in the process of making a ‘personal defence’, it is difficult to avoid a rather uncomfortable emphasis on “I”. I did not want that but since Madam has dragged us this low, I have little choice but to do so in the next few paragraphs—just to keep the record straight!

In my view, there are three criteria for evaluating a public officer’s stewardship: the evaluation by his employer; the satisfaction of the public he served; and the hard facts of performance. As I will show on these three counts, I am convinced that I left a world record of public service, and a thousand Okonjo-Iwealas cannot re-write that history. I served Nigeria under two presidents (Obasanjo and Yar’Adua) and as my immediate bosses, below are their written testimonials of my record.
Said President Obasanjo (December 2004):



Read the complete article here: http://www.trendtopix.com/okonjo-iweala-is-out-of-touchshe-needs-help-charles-soludo/

One day dis our con3 will soon miss under dis wicked people....

We need change


Sai buhari

Jst tell us <in the time of jonaaa>so so is missing shekena

This guy is simply a learner when ngozi okonjo iweala is involved, i expected a better response/reply from dis dude

Aren't Igbos supposed to be specialists in money management?

silent.

but why of all people should Charles Soludo be the one telling us this?
Or Isnt He the same Soludo that almost ran down the CBN?
Hmmm!
All i know is you both are two bad managers.

Kennywills7:
This guy is simply a learner when ngozi okonjo iweala is involved, i expected a better response/reply from dis dude

The guy is never a learner, Nigerians knw what he's saying is true, Money keep missing under her and she claim ignorance of it, How possible is that? Oil theft increased bcus some cabal in govt are involved. Let her make d audit report of PwC public and let see.

baybeeboi:
but why of all people should Charles Soludo be the one telling us this?
Or Isnt He the same Soludo that almost ran down the CBN?
Hmmm!
All i know is you both are two bad managers.

yea he almost ran down d cbn but NOI is at d point of running down d whole NIGERIA.

sunnydayasaba:



The guy is never a learner, Nigerians knw what he's saying is true, Money keep missing under her and she claim ignorance of it, How possible is that? Oil theft increased bcus some cabal in govt are involved. Let her make d audit report of PwC public and let see.

Let him give us explanation or how he come to d conclusion dat abt 30trn is missing! its not just about saying 100trn is missing
Give us proof and facts to back up ur claim
Election is here now we will hear all sort of stories and propaganda

Kennywills7:

Let him give us explanation or how he come to d conclusion dat abt 30trn is missing! its not just about saying 100trn is missing
Give us proof and facts to back up ur claim
Election is here now we will hear all sort of stories and propaganda

Take time out to read Soludo latest reply to NOI u will see where he breaks it down. Our Minister herself agreed that over 400,000 barrel of crude are stolen every day under her watch thereby reducing d amt of crude exported daily frm I think 2.1 Million barrels to 1.7 Million, calculate the Amt in 4yrs how much Nigerians have lost to some cabal through crude oil theft and what has GEJ done abt it since it started? Remember all other govt experience same crude oil theft, but we keep exporting the usual amt of crude without problem until dis govt came into power. Jst take ur time to search and read Soludo letter to her, am sure u will get a clearer picture of wat he's trying to say.

sunnydayasaba:


Take time out to read Soludo latest reply to NOI u will see where he breaks it down. Our Minister herself agreed that over 400,000 barrel of crude are stolen every day under her watch thereby reducing d amt of crude exported daily frm I think 2.1 Million barrels to 1.7 Million, calculate the Amt in 4yrs how much Nigerians have lost to some cabal through crude oil theft and what has GEJ done abt it since it started? Remember all other govt experience same crude oil theft, but we keep exporting the usual amt of crude without problem until dis govt came into power. Jst take ur time to search and read Soludo letter to her, am sure u will get a clearer picture of wat he's trying to say.

crude oil theft has always been a problem bro and am not sure its ngozi dat cause that to d economic however We all know these are political propaganda

sunnydayasaba:


Take time out to read Soludo latest reply to NOI u will see where he breaks it down. Our Minister herself agreed that over 400,000 barrel of crude are stolen every day under her watch thereby reducing d amt of crude exported daily frm I think 2.1 Million barrels to 1.7 Million, calculate the Amt in 4yrs how much Nigerians have lost to some cabal through crude oil theft and what has GEJ done abt it since it started? Remember all other govt experience same crude oil theft, but we keep exporting the usual amt of crude without problem until dis govt came into power. Jst take ur time to search and read Soludo letter to her, am sure u will get a clearer picture of wat he's trying to say.

Where can I get the full report?

sunnydayasaba:




https://www.nairaland.com/2124844/full-text-ngozi-okonjo-iweala-missing

Thanks

sunnydayasaba:




https://www.nairaland.com/2124844/full-text-ngozi-okonjo-iweala-missing

I think this is an abrief version, I hear it is at least about 15pages long.