Blame FG recklessness for Nigeria’s high inflation – Soludo…

Professor Chukwuma Soludo, former Central Bank of Nigeria governor and Anambra State Governor has accused the Federal Government of plunging the nation into inflation with recklessness with respect to borrowings and lack of regards to the rule of law in debt management.

He stated this while chairing a panel session on the economy at the ongoing 2023 Induction Programme for incoming and returning governors in Abuja.

According to him, in order for the Debt Management Office (DMO) to effectively regulate both the states and the federal government in accordance with the law of debt management, in his opinion, it should be a federation agency rather than a federal agency.

He asserted that because the DMO is an agency of the federal government, it is powerless to control more serious financial problems that truly impoverish the entire nation.

Soludo said the DMO ought to be a federation agency like the NSIA instead of being an arm of the federal government.

Earlier, Debt Management Office (DMO), Ms. Patience Oniha, while addressing the incoming governors highlighted guidelines guiding both domestic and foreign borrowings by both the state and the federal governments.

She explained that provisions must be made for debt servicing and the state must operate within the limits of 40% debt service to revenue ration.

She added that all of these were World Bank tools and that her organization performed debt sustainability analysis in partnership with other pertinent organizations, where debt management performance evaluation played a crucial role. She pleaded with the incoming governors to always borrow for investments rather than consumption.