By Austin Ogwuda
Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN and former Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi has expressed regret how the nation was living in a fool’s paradise for the past eight years of Buhari’s administration that has set Nigeria 40 years backwards economically.
Sanusi, notable for his audacity and bluntness gave insight into how Nigeria began the journey to bankruptcy during an interview with The Arise Television, anchored by firebrand Journalist, Rufai Oseni, monitored by The Town Hall Media.
Hear him, “let me give you an idea, when we look at the numbers we see how bad things are. If you look at the World Bank development indicators, in 1980, on a PPP basis, our per capita GDP was, I believe, $2,180. In 2014, it had risen to $3,099, a 50 percent rise.
“In 2019, our GDP per capita, on a PPP basis was down to $2,229. At this rate, by 2023, on a per capita basis, we would be back to where we were in 1980.
“We have been set back 40 years. Look at the fall between 2014 and 2019, all the gains made in 35 years between 1980 and 2014 were wiped.
“The economy”, he went on, “was poorly managed, and they were not willing to take advice; in the last eight years, apart from sycophancy, nothing has been done. Those sycophants are those buying the dollar at the rate of N400 and selling it at the rate of N600 to N700. A boy who has no record of service has a private jet and owns houses in Dubai and England just because he is buying dollars and selling them.
“I have been, over the years, talking about the pending crisis ahead of the current economic hardship. Any economist who has studied monetary policy in the last eight years knows that Nigerians will fall into this difficult situation.
“The difficult situation Nigerians are facing is just the beginning (if the right decision is not put in place) because Nigeria is not exceptional; such situations happened in Germany, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Venezuela.
“The previous administration turned adamant about our appeal for corrective measures on the economic policy. I have said in the presence of the now sitting president in Kaduna state, any politician who tells you that things will be easy, don’t vote for him because he is lying. People merely dismissed my advisory as a political
On whether the present government of Bola Tibubu is innocent over the country’s economic woes and should be absolved from blames, Sanusi remarked
thus: “If I am to be fair and just to President Bola Tinubu, he is not to blame for the current hardship.
“For eight years, we were living a fake lifestyle with huge debt from foreign and domestic debts. The Central Bank of Nigeria owes over N30 trillion, which resulted in debt service surpassing 100 per cent.
“I can’t join other Nigerians criticising Tinubu on the current economic hardship, and I am not saying he is a saint free from wrongdoing, but in this current economic situation, President Tinubu is not to be blamed. I will also speak if I see any wrong economic policy”, he added.