Jonathan Has No Record OfGood Governance – Soludo |Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
Jonathan Has No Record OfGood Governance – Soludo |
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
MUYIWA OYINLOLA
— Jan 26, 2015 |
A former governor of the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof Charles
Soludo, has advised the presidential
flag bearer of the ruling Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP),
President
Goodluck Jonathan, to stop
campaigning about the record of the
outgoing government, saying it hasno testimonial to parade.
Soludo, a former governorship candidate of
the party in Anambra State, gave this
position in a document entitled ‘Buhari vs
Jonathan: Beyond election’, and made
available to LEADERSHIP newspaper.
The document, which emphasized the
technocrat-cum-politician’s passion for the
country and concern about the forthcoming
general election, stressed the need for the
country to improve on its economy especially
considering the dwindling price of crude oil
in the international market, among other
economic challenges.
He said, “My advice to President Jonathan
and his handlers is to stop wasting their
time trying to campaign on his job record.
Those who have decided to vote for him will
not do so because he has taken Nigeria to
the moon. His record on the economy is a
clear ‘F’ grade.
“As one reviews the laundry list of micro
interventions the government calls its
achievements, one wonders whether such list
is all that the government could deliver with
an unprecedented oil boom and an
unprecedented public debt accumulation. I can
clearly see why reasonable people are worried.
“Everywhere else in the world, government
performance on the economy is measured by
some outcome variables such as: income
(GDP growth rate), stability of prices
(inflation and exchange rate), unemployment
rate, poverty rate, etc.
“On all these scores, this government has
performed worse than its immediate
predecessor– Obasanjo regime. If we
appropriately adjust for oil income and debt,
then this government is the worst in our
history on the economy. All statistics are
from the National Bureau of Statistics”.
While comparing Jonathan’s administration
to that of former President Olusegun
Obasanjo where he (Soludo) served, he noted
that “despite presiding over the biggest oil
boom in our history, it (present
administration) has not added one percentage
point to the growth rate of GDP compared to
the Obasanjo regime especially the 2003-
07 period. Obasanjo met GDP growth rate
at 2% but averaged 7% within 2003-
07.
“ The current government has been stuck at
6% despite an unprecedented oil boom.
Income (GDP) growth has actually performed
worse, and poverty escalated. This is the
only government in our history where rapidly
increasing government expenditure was
associated with increasing poverty”.
While assessing the economic and
development policies of the two major
political parties in the February election, the
ruling PDP and the All Progressives
Congress (APC), he declared that “So far,
neither the APC nor the PDP has a credible
programme for employment and poverty
reduction”.
“The APC promises to create 20,000 jobs
per state in the first year, totalling a mere
720,000 jobs. This sounds like a quota
system and for a country where the new
entrants into the labour market per annum
exceed two million. If it was intended as a
joke, APC must please get serious.
“On the other hand, President Jonathan
targets two million jobs per annum but his
strategy for doing so is a Job Board—
another committee of sort. Sorry, Mr.
President, a Job Board is not a strategy. The
principal job Nigerians hired you to do for
them is to create jobs for them too. You
cannot outsource that job, Sir. Creating 3
million jobs per annum under the unfolding
crisis would task our creativity and audacity
to the limits”.
Source- Leadership
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