Iweala, Soludo best appointments in my administration – Obasanjo

Forum 1 year ago

Iweala, Soludo best appointments in my administration – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Saturday that his appointment of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iwela as the Minister of Finance and Prof Chukwuma Soludo as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria was the best he made during his administration.

Obasanjo said this while speaking at the first year anniversary of Soludo as the Governor of Anambra in Awka on Saturday.

He said he had no doubt in Soludo’s capacity to deliver in his new assignment.

Obasanjo stated, “When I appointed Soludo as my economic adviser, I worked with him very well and I was highly impressed with him so I chose to appoint him the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and he was one governor of CBN that was not from the commercial bank and he performed wonderfully well.

“I appointed Soludo and Okonjo-Iweala and I think probably that of all the appointments that I made while in office these two appointments were the best.”

He said he was accused of ruining the country because of his appointment of the two technocrats who were from the South-East by those who had “Igbophobia”. He however pointed out that they performed creditably.

He said Soludo did well as CBN governor, while blaming the current crisis on the inability of the apex bank to function as the development bank that it should be.

He said, “Central Bank is not like a commercial bank. The Central Bank is for development and part of the problem we have suffered in the past, and we are suffering today, is that the Central Bank has not performed its job as a development bank as it should have.”

Also, addressing the issue of Nigerians travelling overseas for greener pastures, the former president said “When we develop our human capacity for export, it is not a waste. In fact, the experience they bring back, the outreach they get, the intellectual property they bring home and of course the money they bring back home are very important. East or West, home is the best, and they will be looking forward to coming back home.”