Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State has said that President Bola Tinubu rescued the county’s economy from a tipping point and salvaged Nigeria’s public finances from the brink of collapse.
In an address delivered on June 12 at The Platform Nigeria, hosted by Pastor Poju Oyemade and The Covenant Nation, Soludo commended Tinubu’s economic reforms.
The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, in a statement issued Friday said Soludo called for a nationwide ethical and ideological rebirth to drive sustainable national development.
Speaking on the theme “Rebuilding Our Nation,” Soludo urged political parties across the country to unite along ideological lines as a first step toward a new, issue-based political culture.
The governor noted: “The audacious structural reforms embarked upon by the current administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu have rescued the economy from the tipping point.
“The endorsements by the World Bank, IMF, London Financial Times, rating agencies—Fitch, Moody’s, are well deserved.
“Many people know that I made a living criticising the World Bank and the IMF. As Governor of Anambra, I have even rejected a World Bank loan because of the terms.
“On the trajectory of the current economic reforms, the World Bank, etc, are largely right. Funny enough, when these institutions criticise the government, some people use them to validate their criticisms, but when the same institutions give a positive report, they are derided as “neoliberal, out-of-touch institutions.
“In 2023, I had described the state of the economy when this government assumed office as akin to a standing dead horse, and public finance was about to tip from solvency, with potentially catastrophic consequences, including possible mass retrenchment of workers and/or arrears of salaries and pensions.
“Public finance is back on a solvency path, and macro fundamentals are recovering positively,” Soludo said.