Erstwhile Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has accused the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan of running the Central Bank of Nigeria like the late Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin Dada.
Soludo also said the former presidency turned the CBN into a cash-producing Automated Teller Machine.
The former CBN governor stated this in an interview in the current business edition of The Interview.
Soludo said it was unfortunate that the CBN continues to fall victim to high wire politics which often electrocutes its leadership, in spite of the institution’s statutory independence.
“Recent revelations regarding the ‘arms-gate’ (short for the $2.1bn scandal involving the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki) and the apparent abuse of the CBN as an ATM by the Presidency should get reasonable people thinking.
“Imagine a scenario where a President can order the CBN to create an intervention fund for national stability and the CBN literally ‘prints’ say, N3tn, and doles it out as cash to the President 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 the central bank.”
Leave a reply