As Soludo’s tenure ends E-mail
Written by Ochereome Nnanna
Monday, 11 May 2009
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I ALWAYS like to start the story of Charles Chukwuma Soludo, a Professor of Economics and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by referring to the time he ran for Secretary of the Students Union of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in the 1982/1983 session. He was a tall, lanky, plucky and extremely articulate youth.

He did not win. He was beaten to it by another young candidate, Tony Ezebuiro. But Soludo’s campaign has lasted longer in my mind than
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Charles Chukwuma Soludo
Ezebuiro’s because of his highly imaginative sound-bite of a slogan: Soludo is the solution.

This has turned out to be the declaration of a vision. Those were the days when young men still saw visions and old men dreamt dreams. Today, I am discussing Soludo, a wholly home-grown intellectual who bagged all his three university degrees at Nsukka before he proceeded to Brookings Institute in Washington (a hive of America’s young policymakers) on a research quest that opened him up to the world of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the United Nations, for which he, at one time or the other, worked as a consultant.
When former President Olusegun Obasanjo won his second term in office, he responded to accusations of non-performance by opting to engage technocrats.

He cast his net far and wide, and one of the objects caught was Soludo, who had returned to Nigeria after his international scholarly peregrinations in 2000. At first, he was placed at the National Planning Commission as its Chairman and named as a member of Obasanjo’s intensely pro-reform Economic Team headed by Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former Vice President of the World Bank.

It was during Soludo’s tenure at the National Planning that he created the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) document, a definite pathway for the delivery of the economic vision packaged for Obasanjo by the Economic Team. Obasanjo was so impressed with this effort that he asked Soludo to walk across the street and assume the position of Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

This appointment provoked a storm of protests and media furore, which were orchestrated by establishmentarians of the Nigerian banking (and Central Banking) caucuses. He was said by them not to be a banker and thus was a square peg in the CBN round hole. But then, if there is any guarantee that Obasanjo would never reverse his position once taken, it is to provoke a media war. Whenever Obasanjo is seriously opposed, it is a sure sign to him that he must have taken the right decision! He asked Soludo to put into practice what he preached in the NEEDS document.

Implementing the NEEDS document meant igniting a revolution in the banking industry, in which some unwieldy 89 financial cowsheds which called themselves banks had to meet new capital bases in order to be allowed to carry on in the business. By the time consolidation had gone through two stages, the banks themselves started a race to produce industry leaders with enough capital bases to compete with the biggest banks in Africa and the world at large.

Today, 10 Nigerian banks have breasted the tape as among the first 1,000 in the world, compared with a situation in 2004 when making this grade was a pipedream. Soludo wanted to proceed to other stages of the NEEDS roadmap, but ran into the political clouds of a new administration seeking to stamp its identity. Ethnic hawks that surrounded the Yar’ Adua regime were making a push to get Soludo out and recapture the CBN with a view to de-consolidating the banks.

They alleged that consolidation did not allow their region to produce a single bank in which they had commanding stakes. And yet, where were these sectional hawks when the parameters of merit were set by the CBN? Is it true that once it comes to merit, count them out?

There was even a time that Soludo was being roped into a bogus scandal over Nigeria’s investment in the African Finance Corporation (AFC), which he had pioneered. The Federal Government had to set up a probe panel led by the Director of Operations of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Tunde Ogunshakin. The panel has since completed its job. What was the result? The Federal Government has not told the world - yet.

All we hear now are totally different tunes. Tune number one: President Yar’ Adua and President of the Senate, General David Mark, last week heaped eulogies on the CBN on its 50th birthday, and particularly on Soludo for achieving the consolidation, without which the Nigerian financial system would have been swept away in the gale of the current worldwide economic meltdown. Soludo’s personal protective attitude helped save the 25 consolidated banks from distress despite the haemorrhages they suffered as a result of the Stock Exchange crash.

Tune number two: Ogunshakin is reported in the press to have been sacked by the EFCC and reposted to the Police for alleged inappropriate conducts. The hunter is now the hunted.

The President, the Senate President and well-meaning Nigerians have said it: Soludo is the solution. A young man’s vision of 26 years ago has been translated by him into a robust national reality. In his five-year sojourn at the CBN, he made mistakes, like any human. But his exploits, which include re-professionalisation of the CBN, will stand, waiting for successors to equal or surpass. Eighteen days from today, Soludo’s era will expire. He will be leaving in a blaze of glory. A great Lion, home to a hero’s welcome.

The man is already there for a second term, I predict

This is one of OBJ success story. without OBJ appointing SOLUDO, there can be no SOLUDO.  OBJ want reform and banking consolidation to give our financial system credibility. he got SOLUDO and give him free hand, the rest is history.

we must appreciate the good things people do, including their appointment of good people to do things in this country. kudos to OBJ on SOLUDO and to SOLUDO forr doing his best. there are some silly mistakes(or deliberate for chop chop)- reprinting of naira's and trying to 'revalue' naira by removing the zeros.

ONE major failure of OBJ is  YAR A'NOTHING,  YAR A'FAILURE. a man who only read out 7 point agenda for 2 years out of 4 years term and has done nothing just waiting for re-election. VISIONLESS 2020, DIVERSION 2011. DOWN REBRANDING


OBJ successor plan is  not a success but utter failure, this and OBJ inability to fix electricity is OBJ main failure, and as such it is a failed administration  extend to his friend's brother. (NEPOTISIM)

vigasimple:

This is one of OBJ success story. without OBJ appointing SOLUDO, there can be no SOLUDO.  OBJ want reform and banking consolidation to give our financial system credibility. he got SOLUDO and give him free hand, the rest is history.

we must appreciate the good things people do, including their appointment of good people to do things in this country. kudos to OBJ on SOLUDO and to SOLUDO forr doing his best. there are some silly mistakes(or deliberate for chop chop)- reprinting of naira's and trying to 'revalue' naira by removing the zeros.

ONE major failure of OBJ is  YAR A'NOTHING,  YAR A'FAILURE. a man who only read out 7 point agenda for 2 years out of 4 years term and has done nothing just waiting for re-election. VISIONLESS 2020, DIVERSION 2011. DOWN REBRANDING


OBJ successor plan is  not a success but utter failure, this and OBJ inability to fix electricity is OBJ main failure, and as such it is a failed administration  extend to his friend's brother. (NEPOTISIM)

For now Obasanjo, warts and all, remains the best Nigerian president. He is like a one-eyed king in the land of the blind, since we have not had any great ruler; of the lot Obj is the best, so far.

You might say so, and to some extent I agree. but Best thing is just three much, what about Akunyuli who almost got killed and still continued fighting. Soludo tried, I think the appointment of technocrats is one good thing Obasanjo did

and hes an igboman

opps becareful igbo shouldnt be trusted in power, they go break nigeria up ooo

kia biafara

obj na slowpoke, and shouldnt be given any credit by these yoruba,!!! god knows

obj appointed avaition minister, yoruba man what happened??

police chief nko 

just because solodu chose not to behave like the likes of avaition minister shouldnt accredit obj in anyway!!

when obj appointed rabadiu he had no idea what this man what up

therefore obj is never and will never be the but he just the biggest slowpoke so far from the oduduwa that spent 8 yrs after his tenure to figure out power is his biggest regret.

upon that as a slowpoke he is, he couldnt as a life time granny in nigeria couldnt find someone from the north that got vision and will move nigeria forward

he handed over to go slow man

so oduduwa ppl obj is a big failure!! simple fact!!!!

and u should recognise that !!

Seems I am missing something, but I cant find the statement attributed to the senate president anywhere in the OP?

Only a foolish visionless coach changes a winning team. soludo should be retained inspite of all the empty hues and cries against him. Aondakaa should be sacked or sent to Kuru Jos. .

I have said it now and again that if OBJ remains the best for now. He was pulled down by his quest to remain relevant which was why he chose a lame duck as his successor.

His nistakes would have been corrected if his choice of a successor was able to perform at his level or better.

But he produced a guy who left 6.5bn in Katsina state just because he did not know how to use it for the better good of the state.
He saw only the straightforwardness of Musa and failed to see his lack of abilities.

On a second thought, one might think he selected a weaker person to make his administration stand out . This is just a speculation because if he was able to choose technoctrats who were good, he should have been able to pick a good sucessor since election is by selection