Former presidential candidate Prof. Kingsley Moghalu has projected that the prevailing economic hardship and its repercussions will endure for at least three to five years.
The political economist attributed Nigeria’s distressed economy to ‘unprecedented corruption and incompetent policy responses’ as its primary causes.
During his keynote address at the ‘Leadership Newspaper Group 2024 Conference and Awards’ in Abuja on Tuesday, the former Central Bank Deputy Governor painted Nigeria’s current economic state as a ‘Chronicle of a Death Foretold,’ attributing it to the collective choices made by the nation.
Moghalu emphasized that hyperinflation, the devaluation of the Naira, debt burdens, revenue deficits, unemployment, and extreme poverty are all outcomes of long-term mismanagement of the economy.
He said, “The past 10 years were particularly ruinous. They were the years of the locust, marked by unprecedented mismanagement of fiscal policy, unproductive external borrowing, unnecessary budget deficits, illegal Ways & Means lending by the Central Bank of Nigeria to the federal government to the tune of N30tn, and unprecedented corruption.
“Earlier, a combination of oil price shocks and an incompetent policy response from the CBN, in the form of an attempt to fix the exchange rate, all helped give us two recessions within seven years. Many of these things happened because, as we witnessed, there was a successful political assault on the independence of the central bank, with the storekeeper willingly handing over the store keys to the marauders.”
Expanding on his point, Moghalu emphasized that Nigeria faces a crisis that will persist regardless of short-term measures taken. He stressed that the repercussions of this crisis, and whether such measures succeed or fail, will be felt for a minimum of three to five years.
Former presidential candidate Prof. Kingsley Moghalu has projected that the prevailing economic hardship and its repercussions will endure for at least three to five years.
The political economist attributed Nigeria’s distressed economy to ‘unprecedented corruption and incompetent policy responses’ as its primary causes.
During his keynote address at the ‘Leadership Newspaper Group 2024 Conference and Awards’ in Abuja on Tuesday, the former Central Bank Deputy Governor painted Nigeria’s current economic state as a ‘Chronicle of a Death Foretold,’ attributing it to the collective choices made by the nation.
Moghalu emphasized that hyperinflation, the devaluation of the Naira, debt burdens, revenue deficits, unemployment, and extreme poverty are all outcomes of long-term mismanagement of the economy.
He said, “The past 10 years were particularly ruinous. They were the years of the locust, marked by unprecedented mismanagement of fiscal policy, unproductive external borrowing, unnecessary budget deficits, illegal Ways & Means lending by the Central Bank of Nigeria to the federal government to the tune of N30tn, and unprecedented corruption.
“Earlier, a combination of oil price shocks and an incompetent policy response from the CBN, in the form of an attempt to fix the exchange rate, all helped give us two recessions within seven years. Many of these things happened because, as we witnessed, there was a successful political assault on the independence of the central bank, with the storekeeper willingly handing over the store keys to the marauders.”
Expanding on his point, Moghalu emphasized that Nigeria faces a crisis that will persist regardless of short-term measures taken. He stressed that the repercussions of this crisis, and whether such measures succeed or fail, will be felt for a minimum of three to five years.