Prof. Charles Soludo, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, said former President Goodluck Jonathan practically converted the apex bank to his personal Automated Teller Machine (ATM).
He said this in an interview with The Business Edition of The Interview magazine, where he also said the ex-President ran the bank like Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada ran the country.
Idi Amin, regarded as one of the most corrupt African leaders ever, ruled the country between 1971 and 1979.
Soludo Said: “Imagine a scenario where a president can order the CBN to create an intervention fund for national stability and CBN literally ‘prints’ say, N3 trillion, and doles it out cash to the Presidency to prosecute an election campaign or for just about anything he fancies. It is a scary thought.
“We are going down a dangerous path that ruins the economy. I don’t know any other country where such is tolerated, except perhaps what I watched in a movie about Idi Amin and his governor of central bank.”
He lamented the situation in which the bank leadership becomes tied to the apron strings of politicians despite its statutory independence.
“Recent revelations regarding the ‘arms-gate’ (an expression for the $2.1 billion arms procurement saga) and the apparent abuse of the CBN as ATM by the presidency should get reasonable people thinking,” he added.
Leave a Reply