By Uzoma Ogoke
Why is Prof. Chukwuma Soludo always facing bad times in his home state, Anambra? About 16 years ago he was booed and jeered when he attempted to get PDP’s nomination for the state’s governorship election. Even when he switched camp and joined APGA, he got a hostile reception. And now, again, he had made his intension known as to run for the November 6 election on the platform of APGA – on that, or coincidentally, he was attacked in his house last week during a consultation event. With that, Soludo is in the news again.
He is an economics professor, former governor and chairman of the board of directors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). He was named governor on 29 May 2004. He is also a member of the British Department for International Development’s International Advisory Group. Soludo has been a visiting scholar at the International Monetary Fund, the University of Cambridge, the Brookings Institution, the University of Warwick, and the University of Oxford, as well as a visiting professor at Swarthmore College (USA). He has also worked as a consultant for a number of international organizations, including The World Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the United Nations Development Programme. Soludo is a core professional in the business of macroeconomics. He obtained his three degrees and then professorship at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, Enugu State. He graduated with a First Class Honours degree in 1984, an MSc Economics in 1987, and a PhD in 1989, winning prizes for the best student at all three levels.
Soludo has been trained and involved in research, teaching and auditing in such disciplines as multi-country macro-econometric modelling, techniques of computable general equilibrium modelling, survey methodology, and panel data econometrics, among others. He studied and taught these courses at many universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, and Warwick. Soludo has co-authored, co-edited, and authored a number of books on these subject matters.
In 1998, Soludo was appointed to the position of professor of economics at the University of Nigeria; the next year he became a visiting professor at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, USA.
Soludo joined the federal government in 2003. Prior to his May 2004 appointment to the bank chairmanship, he held the positions of Chief Economic Adviser to former President Obasanjo and Chief Executive of the National Planning Commission of Nigeria . In January 2008, in a speech to the Nigerian Economic Society, he predicted consolidation in the private banking industry, saying “By the end of 2008, there will be fewer banks than there are today. The restructuring of the banking industry has been attracting funds from local and foreign investors, which have increased banks’ ability to lend to customers”. Chukwuma hopes to see Nigeria become Africa’s financial hub, and considers microfinance important to the federal government’s economic policies. On 16 September 2019, the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari , appointed Soludo as a member of a newly formed 8-member Economic Advisory Council (EAC) which would report directly to the President. Did that attract envy among his people in Anambra State?
Politics
In September 2009, Soludo announced his aspiration for the seat of the governor of
Anambra State, for the state’s election of 9 February 2010. On 9 October 2009, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chose Soludo as their consensus candidate for the position from a field of 47 candidates, after repeated attempts to hold elective primaries were stalled by court injunctions. However, his nomination was contested by 23 of the 47 aspirants, citing lack of transparency in the process.
After this initial rancour, 36 out of the 47 candidates, and several top shots of the PDP affirmed their support for Soludo on Wednesday, 14 October 2009. He went on to lose to Peter Obi in an election which was largely considered free and fair, according to major election observers. However, with his perceived solid performance as CBN governor, Soludo remains a respected economic policy authority in Nigeria. Political commentators, while urging an issue-based campaign in the 2011 election, had called on aspirants to work with respected economists like Soludo towards an acceptable economic plan.
On 17 July 2013, Soludo resigned from the People’s Democratic Party after writing a letter to the National Chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur. He later joined the All Progressives Grand Alliance in preparation for the November 2013 governorship race in Anambra state. In mid-August 2013, he, along with five other aspirants, was disqualified by the APGA Screening Committee. As the race for Anambra governorship seat in 2021 hits up, Soludo has thrown his heart to the ring. He is an aspirant under the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). His declaration of interest for the coveted seat seems to have unsettled many arrangements. First there was the idea of making him the consensus candidate of the party. At a point agitations came up against the idea and other aspirants were said to have protested against the idea.
Meanwhile during a recent town hall meeting the former CBN governor was having with youths of Naufia in Njikok local government area, he was brutally attacked, an attack that led to the gunning down of three of his security aids. The question now is, who is afraid of Prof. Chukwuma Soludo. Why all these controversies over his governorship ambition. The truth is that Soludo is one, if not the most qualified person in Anambra State for the most sensitive position. He is a golden fish that can never hide. Anambra state is blessed to have him as a son and since he has offered himself to serve Anambrarians, all people of goodwill in the state should come together to help him realize the ambition.
Governorship is all about management of human and resources. It is largely about managing the economy and who else will be more qualified in the state than a man who has presided over a critical sector of the economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria
It is a clear fact that Soludo’s tenure as the governor of the Central Bank remains the most progressive in recent time. Before his assumption of office, the banking sector was in a serious mess, with cases of banks folding up and putting many people into untold financial mess. By then people lost confidence in the Nigerian banking sector, as Nigerians were unsure of which bank will close shop next. Nigerians, both high and low are now enjoying the dividends of the highly sophisticated professional policies put in place by this first class professor to bring a total turn around in the sector.
Economies of South-East states are currently in bad shape and require shrewd financial managers to fix them up. Anambra state is lucky to have a person like Soludo showing interest to offer his wealth of professionalism to salvage the state. Were Nigeria not a country where politics is the super lucrative business and politicians see the opportunity of occupying political offices as a do or die affair, Soludo would have had no much stress clinching the governorship of a state.
Be that as it may all News Echo advises is that all actors in this game of Anambra State governorship election 2021 should play to the rules. The idea of using both seen and unseen forces to win the election should be jettisoned by all the gladiators and vehemently rejected by all people of Anambra State.
