Economic Recovery Growth Plan Might Fail – Soludo

By Oladapo Okeowo

Professor Charles Soludo, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has pointed out that there are inconsistencies between the FG’s Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) manifesto.

He made this disclosure on Friday during the Vanguard Economic Discourse held in Lagos. 

Soludo, the keynote speaker at the event, said the APC manifesto could only be achieved via a complete restructuring of the country. This is due to its promise of a plan for a post-oil economy. A tall order seeing as Nigeria is heavily dependent on proceeds from oil sales.

Bearing this in mind, he asked “at what rate is the Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP) consistent with the APC manifesto?

He said, though it can be rightly argued that the present administration inherited a depleted economy, it also was depleting the external reserves and further weakening the nation’s economy.

“If it (foreign reserves) had even grown it by 50 percent, it would have been a different story by now,” he said.

He opined that it would be a miracle if the current government is able to return the naira to its pre-2015 value even as far off as 2023. He based this opinion on successive governments’ inability to move away from an oil-dependent economy.

“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 said.

According to him, it would be no surprise if the ERGP plan only flatters to deceive and goes on to fail horribly.