The ministry of finance has to properly address these Issues

STRIKE 1: 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!

...I will show that while you are introducing austerity measures and soon to immiserate the citizens, our public finance is hemorrhaging to the point that estimated over N30 trillion is missing or stolen or unaccounted for, or simply mismanaged—under your watch!

STRIKE 2: Why did we save under Obasanjo but not under Jonathan? Two keywords explain it: leadership and integrity. Governor Amaechi said the governors insisted on sharing the funds because they found out that you were illegally fiddling with the savings. So, as Nigerians still wonder, if billions of dollars are now ‘missing’ under your nose, why should governors trust you to keep their money?

Do the states that have taken the federal government to the Supreme Court and refused to save also include the PDP governors—who are in the majority? If so, then it is fatal: even governors of your own party, PDP, do not trust you to keep their money!

Furthermore, did the governors also stop the Federal Government from saving part of its share? If you ran a surplus budget at the Federal level, you would have had credibility to blame others or to say they did not listen to your advice. The key point is that since you were running huge deficits yourself, it was also in your own interest to share the ECA. You did not show leadership or credibility, full stop!

STRIKE 3: First, you admit that ‘oil theft’ has reduced oil output from the average 2.3 – 2.4 million barrels per day (mpd) to 1.95mpd (meaning that at least 350,000 to 450,000 barrels per day are being ‘stolen’. On the average of 400,000 per day and the oil prices over the past four years, it comes to about $60 billion ‘stolen’ in just four years. In today’s exchange rate, that is about N12.6 trillion. This is at a time of cessation of crisis in the Niger Delta and amnesty programme. Can you tell Nigerians how much the amnesty programme costs, and also the annual cost for ‘protecting’ the pipelines and security of oil wells? And the ‘thieves’ are spirits?

STRIKE 4: As coordinator of the economy, can you tell Nigerians why the price of automotive gas oil (AGO), popularly called diesel, has still not come down despite the crash in global crude oil prices, and how much is being appropriated by friends in the process?

STRIKE 5: Second, my earlier article stated that the minimum forex reserves should have been at least $90 billion by now and you did not challenge it. Rather it is about $30 billion, meaning that gross mismanagement has denied the country some $60 billion or another N12.6 trillion.

Now add the ‘missing’ $20 billion from the NNPC. You promised a forensic audit report ‘soon’, and more than a year later the Report itself is still ‘missing’. This is over N4 trillion, and we don’t know how much more has ‘missed’ since Sanusi cried out. How many trillions of naira were paid for oil subsidy (unappropriated?). How many trillions (in actual fact) have been ‘lost’ through customs duty waivers over the last four years?

STRIKE 6: By the way, can you tell Nigerians why you were eased out as Finance Minister and you cried like a baby begging OBJ to still allow you remain in the Economic Management team—- barely few weeks after the debt relief? Why were you eventually also removed from the economic management team if you were so important? Ironically, President Jonathan has recycled you, with a bigger title and greater responsibilities. But the difference is that the team that did the actual work is no longer there, and the world has seen that the king is naked.

STRIKE 7: Your magic wand for mass housing is the Mortgage Refinance Corporation with 23,000 mortgage offers—for a country with 17 million housing deficit! Then, there is the pedestrian proposal of a new development bank— financed with loans from the World Bank, etc? A World Bank loan to set up another ‘development bank’ where we already have Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, NEXIM, Federal Mortgage Bank, etc? People have totally run out of ideas and can’t see anything for Nigeria without through the prism of the World Bank.

I agree but the debate should be fixed in march.

Now, all we look forward is President Jonathan vs General Buhari.

Can someone please get Sanusi involved in this debate? He is needed biko

Mynd44:
Can someone please get Sanusi involved in this debate? He is needed biko

Sanusi is a traditional ruler now, It will be diffcult for him to get involved..

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala won't honour the debate: she ran from the one called by Oby Ezekwesili.

You Buhari supporters should be more concerned about getting your master to debate withe GEJ.
Soludo isn't contesting for any position so I ain't interested in his debate.
Buhari should come out and debate.

The woman will NEVER show up. Most of these people are like our pente-rascal pastors - they are very entertaining on a stage giving lectures. Tell them to come down and answer questions or debate and you hear "touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm".

The fuel subsidy brouhaha proved her lack of depth as if SLS had been on the opposing side, she'd have been roundly trounced. Emotional outbursts and charts that she ALONE must interpret without rebuttal is all she stands on.

Item 2 (STRIKE 2) alone breaks the back of the woman beyond redemption and proves all her noise was just ... Noise