There’s no room for overhaul in APC economic plan…says Soludo

At the Vanguard Economi Discourse, the Former Central Bank of Nigeria, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo has said that, the All Progressive Congress Party, APC, manifesto in 2015 promised a conscious plan for post-oil economy in Nigeria and that there is no projection for exchange rate overhaul in the APC economic plan. He said, however, that even in 2023, it would be a miracle if the current government would be able to bring back the dollar, for instance, to match the Naira where it met it in 2015.

This is because, every government, according to Soludo, has promised to move away from depending on oil for revenue but have failed to do so. While talking on transitional plans from sole dependence on oil to other sources of revenue, Professor Soludo asked, “Is it a plan to post-oil economy that Nigeria has been waiting for? Whose plan is it?  Ownership would determine if the plan is just a public relations plan or a national plan.”
“At what rate is the Economic Recovery Growth Plan ERGP consistent with the APC manifesto? The APC manifesto promised a conscious plan for post-oil economy in Nigeria. To achieve this, APC shall restructure the country”

What has changed? The rapid accumulation of foreign reserves depletion was not an accident. There are no projection for exchange rate overhaul in the APC plan. The IMF complained that naira was undervalued and pressured. Nominal exchange rate would have been at 70 to 80 naira to the dollar if we had not maintained an under-valued naira Soludo added.

He went further to say “I can bet that not much would happen at the end of plan in terms of restructuring of the economy. Extended ERGP or ERGP plus-plus. No doubt, the federal government means well for Nigeria but the road to hell is always filled with good intentions. What Nigeria needs at this time is statesmanship politics.”