My attention has been drawn this morning to an article entitled:
“Jonathan Replies Soludo over “missing N30 trillion” claim”—
extracting from Mr. President’s interview as published by Thisday
newspaper. ThisDay quoted Mr. President as saying that “Soludo
said that under Ngozi’s watch they stole N30 trillion” but that
since the sum of the federal budget over the last four years was
less than N30 trillion, such an amount could not have been
“stolen”. According to the President, “it is all political”. I had
earlier stated that I would not make further comments on the issues
until probably after the elections but since Mr. President has decided
to join the fray, I am constrained to make a further brief
clarification. For me, President Jonathan is a gentleman and a
friend but I have a fundamental disagreement on his management of
the economy. On the issues at stake, I believe that the pressures of
office and the hectic electioneering campaigns have not allowed him
time to read my articles or that his staff have not explained the
contents to him hence he totally missed the point in his comments.
For the avoidance of doubt, let me clarify as follows:
1. In my article entitled “Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Missing
Trillions”, I presented some rough calculations covering: oil theft,
money that ought to accrue to stock of foreign reserves, unbudgeted
oil subsidy payments, customs duty waivers, leakages through the
self-financing government parastatals, unremitted sums by NNPC,
etc. I concluded that section of my article by noting that: “I have a
long list but let me wait for now. I do not want to talk about
other ‘black pots’ that impinge on national security. My estimate,
Madam, is that probably more than N30 trillion has either been
stolen or lost or unaccounted for or simply mismanaged under your
watchful eyes in the past four years”.
2. It is evident that the monies I referred to are “off-budget”.
These are monies that did not make it to the budget. I find it funny
that the Government deliberately avoided the issues raised above but
instead has sought to divert attention by focusing on the “federal
budget”. Let me state for the record that I believe that the amount
of resources that are either stolen from the economy or out-rightly
mismanaged by government far exceeds the federal budget per
annum. Ours is about a N100 trillion economy, and I will be
shocked if the government pretends that it does not know that
currently about 10% of the GDP falls into a ‘black hole’ on
annual basis. We have not added figures based on counterfactual
analysis such as the cost to the aggregate economy of bad or
misguided economic policy. For example, in today’s Thisday
newspaper, a headline news reports that “Aliko Dangote, Africa’s
Richest Man, Loses $7.8 Billion as Naira, Stocks Plunge” while
reporting that “In dollar terms, the devaluation has knocked more
than $40 billion off the value of Nigeria’s economy”. Of course,
most people predicted that oil prices would soon fall but we were
caught unprepared, and today, the parallel market exchange rate is
N225 to the dollar. Thus, the kind of analysis in today’s Thisday
is just one little example of the kind of collateral damages–‘costs’
or ‘losses’– that mismanagement foists on the system. To repeat,
my article did not focus on the federal budget: the mismanagement
of the consumption budget and its unprecedented debt accumulation
(with low value-for-money expenditures) are entirely different
matters.
3. What I found particularly disconcerting as a Nigerian from the
comments I read is the fixation to validation from the World Bank.
According to Mr. President, “we asked the Minister how her
colleagues at the World Bank saw the accusation”. I shook my head
in disbelief. It is instructive that no one asked what Nigerians
thought or ‘how Nigerians saw it’ but rather what was important to
government was the impression of the World Bank. If this is the
mind-set of our leaders, then ordinary citizens have real cause to
worry. Well, I have read several editorial comments of Nigerian
media and they do not agree with the ‘impression’ of the World
Bank official. I read a similar comment by a high government
official stating that World Bank officials and CNN had told them
that government was doing well and therefore who else could
question them. But neither the World Bank nor CNN conducts
comprehensive independent surveys on the economy— they comment
based on the data they are given— and their subjective “opinions”
cannot substitute for hard facts. The World Bank is not a
statistical agency. I can provide a long list of countries that World
Bank reports praised as ‘star performers’ and they slumped into
deep crisis almost immediately after. Check out the World Bank and
IMF reports on the US and other countries’ economies shortly
before the unprecedented global financial and economic crisis in fifty
years (the Great Recession of 2008/09). Actually for many
countries once they start getting such ‘praises’, then perceptive
officials begin to worry. Nigeria is probably the only country where
its government officials quote the World Bank while ignoring data
from its own statistical agency!
A serious concern is that while government relies on external
validation (opinion) as ‘proof’ of its performance, it is selective in
the process—accepting the positive ones and disparaging the negative
ones. Our recent exchanges illustrate the point. In my first article
(26th January): “Buhari Vs Jonathan: Beyond the Elections”, I
argued that “the economy seems to be on auto pilot, with confusion
as to who is in charge, and government largely as a constraint.
There are no big ideas, and it is difficult to see where economic
policy is headed to. My thesis is that the Nigerian economy, if
properly managed, should have been growing at an annual rate of
about 12% given the oil boom, and poverty and unemployment
should have fallen dramatically over the last five years”. No one
has credibly challenged the above, except what the Financial Times of
London described as a “furious response by the Minister”. But, the
influential Economist Magazine of London and New York Times
agreed with us. According to the Economist editorial (7th February,
2015):
“… as Africa’s biggest economy stages its most important election
since the restoration of civilian rule in 1999, and perhaps since the
civil war four decades ago, Nigerians must pick between the
incumbent, Goodluck Jonathan, who has proved an utter failure, and
the opposition leader, Muhammadu Buhari….The single bright spot of
his rule has been Nigeria’s economy, one of the world’s fastest-
growing. Yet that is largely despite the government rather than
because of it, and falling oil prices will temper the boom. The
prosperity has not been broadly shared: under Mr Jonathan poverty
has increased. Nigerians typically die eight years younger than their
poorer neighbours in nearby Ghana”. I gave the Government an “F”
grade on economic management, and the Economist described its
performance as “utter failure”. The Economist also basically agreed
with me that the re-basing of the economy and its observed
‘growth’ have nothing to do with government policy. Again,
government has not credibly challenged the above or is the
Economist’s view also ‘all political ’? Government simply waved it
off. My point is that if Government has to rely on the
“impressions” of external bodies, then it should be consistent and
comprehensive.
4. In conclusion, let me re-state that I firmly stand by my earlier
statements. These are weighty statements which I weighed carefully
before issuing. I appreciate that this is an election time and so
attempts would be made to trivialize, or either play politics with, or
divert attention from, them. In a serious society, we should have had
a good debate on these matters as they could provide some of the
building blocks in trying to pick the pieces after the elections. Part
of our citizen duty in a democracy is to raise such issues and
demand for answers. In the meantime, I grant that our leaders are
busy with campaigns but these issues won’t go away until we have
a transparent resolution. Be assured that after the elections, we will
be back with even more questions!
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/02/president-jonathan-missed-the-point-on-the-missing-n30-trillion-by-charles-soludo/

Before nko, are you expecting the clueless one to understand the point

Prof. you don't need to manipulate our sense of reasoning to keep your name afloat, we can still remember you were CBN governor few years back so this your gimmick is uncalled for. Politics aside, add that 30 trillion naira allegedly stolen to the past four years' budget accounted for and even a primary 6 pupil will tell you that Nigeria's income is not up that.

SOLUDO GO AND RENT SHOP FOR ONITSHA MAIN MARKET AND KEEP YOURSELF BUSY, NOT EVERYBODY WILL WORK WITH PRESENT GOVERNMENT

Why is this man making a hell of noise


Mismanaged fund more than the budge put together, you are an insult to other economists


Fool, stop telling us shiit, we at the grassroot are witnessing transformation to compared your wasted yrs as cbn governor.

If such is happening as you claimed, that means during yours, Mismanaged fund supposed to be around 60 trillion because then Nigerian have no fact as to compare now the FOI bill was signed which ur boss OBJ refused to sign.


Enjoying our wealth you rooted in a more articulated environment then ranting shiit

Shame to you ingrate

Why won't he miss the point when a brain transplant is what he needs.

I don't need an oracle to tell me Buhari will win the election. Sai Buhari

Guidette:
Why won't he miss the point when a brain transplant is what he needs.

I don't need an oracle to tell me Buhari will win the election. Sai Buhari

#WHEREISBUHARI?

menesheh:
Why is this man making a hell of noise


Mismanaged fund more than the budge put together, you are an insult to other economists


Fool, stop telling us shiit, we at the grassroot are witnessing transformation to compared your wasted yrs as cbn governor.

If such is happening as you claimed, that means during yours, Mismanaged fund supposed to be around 60 trillion because then Nigerian have no fact as to compare now the FOI bill is signed which ur boss OBJ refused to sign.


Enjoying our wealth you rooted in a more articulated environment then ranting shiit

Shame to you ingrate

Boy, do you know what the poverty rate is right now? Do you the unemployment index? And most importantly, do you know the meaning of "grassroots"? Who are the grassroots that are enjoying the transformation? Are we still talking about Nigeria or is it Niger u are talking about?


Next time you feel the urge to comment, just book space then visit wikipedia. com to conduct a thorough research on the topic to stop making a fool of yourself

Zedric:


Boy, do you know what the poverty rate is right now? Do you the unemployment index? And most importantly, do you know the meaning of "grassroots"? Who are the grassroots that are enjoying the transformation? Are we still talking about Nigeria or is it Niger u are talking about?


Next time you feel the urge to comment, just book space then visit wikipedia. com to conduct a thorough research on the topic to stop making a fool of yourself

Boy too don't quote me wrong without presenting the necessary fact to refute my claims.

Also don't always blame the government at the apex for ur woes and laziness.

Vote wisely

menesheh:


Boy too don't quote me wrong without presenting the necessary fact to refute my claims.

Also don't always blame the government at the apex for ur woes and laziness.

If just decide to reason for once, to read and understand a post but screaming, u ll realize that I gave facts. Bro u said the grassroots are enjoying this present administration and I provided the poverty index to rufute your claim. Maybe I should have included standard of Education cos your Education seems to include only "read and write". You obviously haven't learnt how to reason

Zedric:



If just decide to reason for once, to read and understand a post but screaming, u ll realize that I gave facts. Bro u said the grassroots are enjoying this present administration and I provided the poverty index to rufute your claim. Maybe I should have included standard of Education cos your Education seems to include only "read and write". You obviously haven't learnt how to reason

Thanks case closed

menesheh:


Thanks case closed

Stay cool

No man Soludo.
My president didn't miss any point. He just didn't SEE any and just like him, I don't see any point reading your article while R.K. Rajput dey wait for me. Sorry but bad market

....Nigeria returned to democratic governance in 1999 and since then, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) has been in power at the center. Nigeria has had its ups and downs since that time but what is the experience of Nigerian citizens? The Web Pollster is starting another opinion poll to gauge the mood of #nigerians regarding how they’ve fared in the past 6 years?

Are you better off now than you were 6 years ago before President #jonathan was sworn in as president after the death of President Umaru Yaradua? If the economy of a country is getting better, the people feel it before they see official published statistics. Are Nigerians living a higher quality of life now than before because they have access to better, good paying jobs, better healthcare, better education and infrastructure, power or electricity that has removed the need to invest in diesel generators? What is your perception of corruption in the country? Do you feel opportunity is being expanded for all or most of the opportunities in the land is limited to a privilege few who are in government?

Follow links in my signature, NL is blocking any information that does not or may not favour the current government......?