Posted on: 12:58 Fri, 26 Aug 2016



Professor Charles Soludo, on Thursday in Kaduna State, took the Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) government, to the cleaners detailing what the government must do to take Nigeria to a progressive change.

Speaking at the fourth “Progressive Governance Lecture Series” in Kaduna on Thursday, Charles Soludo, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says the Muhammadu Buhari administration is only fighting the symptoms of corruption, adding that the Nigerian economy is stuck on a slippery muddy length and would need to be totally reset.

The former Central Bank of Nigeria governor who spoke at the lecture which was organised by the 23 governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Soludo also said for the current war against corruption to be successful and enduring, it must be tackled from the systemic level rather than just dealing with the symptoms.

Speaking on the topic ‘Fragile state with a failing economy, making progressive change work for Nigeria’ , Soludo said the APC needs to move from a coalition of political parties that won election to a coalition for governance.

“There seems to be a potential conflict with what the people want and what the country needs to survive sustainably. The economy is stuck on a slippery muddy length today with a fragile state.

“What will be the seven pillars or three pillars that the APC will show to Nigerians and say, we came and we put these pillars there and in the next 20 years it will take you out of the woods?

“Where are the out-of-box ideas for use? The challenge for APC, as I see it, is moving the coalition to grab power to a governing team. I commiserate with you because this will be the first time that a government, under a democracy, will be required to structurally transform but without external anchor in terms of IMF conditionality etc.”

Below are the 16 hard truths Soludo told the APC governors and the vice president who were in attendance.

1. That the collapse of oil price is a blessing to Nigeria as it presents an opportunity for a new beginning.

2. That the Federal Government should consider ‘loosening of Abuja stranglehold on the states’.

3. That Nigeria can’t experience sustainable and inclusive growth in the face of ‘mass elite discord’

4. That agriculture might not be a sustainable option for Nigeria’s economy given the disastrous level of poverty and illiteracy in the country.

5. That there is urgent need to Identify and break ‘dynasties of poverty’ as the surest path to sustainable growth and inclusiveness.

6. That APC government must not see the oil price collapse as a temporary development with hope for a rebound.

7. That APC must stop the blame game and focus on the challenges confronting Nigeria at the moment.

8. That APC government has not much time left having spent 35 per cent of its working days with no major milestones.

9. That he wondered if APC has any sustainable agenda at the moment, as a collection of any five APC leaders might just be source of comic relief.

10. That APC should consider proper devolution of power to the states for the management of their resources.

11. That APC should come clean with Nigerians, providing a measurable agenda with specific timelines for execution.

12. That APC should be the change it professes to be, if it must be taken seriously by Nigerians.

13. That APC must create an agenda for industrialisation and give form and content to change.

14. That APC must change from a coalition to grab power to a governing team.

15. That APC must be careful not to repeat the mistake of PDP which ruined itself with opposition from within.

16. That not providing qualitative education for the poor masses is building a time bomb that will affect everybody sooner or later.