The Governor of Anambra State, Chukwuma Charles Soludo, stated that President Bola Tinubu’s administration has salvaged Nigeria’s economy from impending collapse and has set the nation’s public finances back on a sustainable course.
During his address on Thursday at The Platform Nigeria event in Lagos, the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor commended Tinubu for turning around an economy on the verge of disaster and lauded his “bold structural reforms” for preventing a crisis.
The complete remarks were disseminated by the State House in a statement released on Friday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
He noted that Tinubu’s reforms have garnered international acclaim, referencing favourable assessments from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and global credit rating agencies such as Fitch and Moody’s.
While he recognised the varied responses to such endorsements, Soludo asserted that the direction of the reforms indicated that the accolades were warranted.
The governor encouraged Nigerians to engage in economic critique with substantiated evidence and thorough analysis, rather than relying solely on personal opinions.
While urging critics of the incumbent administration to look deeper, Soludo said no “nation has prospered sustainably without a critical mass of patriotic, vigilant and actively participatory citizenry.”
The Anambra Governor said: “In 2023, I had described the state of the economy when this government assumed office as akin to a standing dead horse, and public finance was about to tip from solvency, with potentially catastrophic consequences, including possible mass retrenchment of workers and/or arrears of salaries and pensions. Public finance is back on a solvency path, and macro fundamentals are recovering positively.”
“Many analysts have interesting ‘opinions’, but I urge them to go deeper: conduct rigorous counterfactual analysis and provide credible alternatives!
“As a friend said recently, the task is always easy, especially if you are not the one doing it,” Soludo said.
Beyond economic policies, Soludo emphasised the need for ethical reorientation and ideological realignment across Nigeria’s political and social systems.
He said, “We must deliberately create a critical mass of ‘new Nigerians’—who believe in her and are ready, if necessary, to die for her.
“The struggle for liberation from colonialism would not have been possible without the nationalists of the time, and the current struggle to liberate her from underdevelopment cannot be sustainable with ‘neo-nationalists’ of today.
“No nation has prospered sustainably without a critical mass of patriotic, vigilant and actively participatory citizenry.”
He referenced the student loan program of the Federal Government and the initiatives aimed at youth and education implemented by his administration as measures to foster a more patriotic and involved citizenry.
Urging a national dialogue, Soludo emphasized that the nation must deliberately advocate for values that enhance productivity, integrity, and civic duty.
“We must break this vicious ‘culture’ and intentionally promote ethical-value rebirth. This is a national emergency requiring urgent national conversation,” the governor said.