N30tn missing under Okonjo-Iweala, Soludo insists

A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, on Wednesday said he stood by the statement he made in his last article that over N30tn was missing, stolen or unaccounted for under the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

Soludo, who said Okonjo-Iweala had responded to the article by saying she was no longer interested in taking issues with him, insisted that he would no longer keep quiet on issues relating to Nigeria’s progress.

The renowned economist, however, said he had withdrawn the second and third parts of his three-part article on the management of the economy.

He also clarified that the missing N30tn did not include the N8.6tn ($40.9bn) which a recent report by the African Union said had been stolen from Nigeria through illegal flows.

A statement by Soludo read, “My attention has been drawn to statements credited to the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in response to my latest article and call for a structured debate on the issues. According to the report, she no longer wants to take issues with me. In the circumstance of the moment, I therefore withhold parts two and three of my promised three-part response.

“Let me also state for the avoidance of doubt that I stand by every statement I made in the two articles. In particular, I insist that over N30tn has either been stolen or unaccounted for, or grossly mismanaged over the last few years. This figure does not include the estimated $40.9bbn (N8.6tn at parallel market exchange rate or nearly two years’ Federal Government budget) which the African Union’s recent report claims to be ‘stolen’ from Nigeria each year.”

Soludo said he thanked Nigerians who has participated in the debate.