‘Ex-President used CBN as his ATM,’ Soludo says

The former boss of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Charles Soludo, in an interview, accused former President Goodluck Jonathan of running the apex bank like his Automated Teller Machine (ATM).

Vanguard Newspapers reports that Soludo said “Recent revelations regarding the ‘arms-gate’ and the apparent abuse of the CBN as ATM by the presidency should get reasonable people thinking.”

He likened it to former Ugandan President, Idi Amin’s style of governance.

The former CBN Governor said “imagine a scenario where a president can order the CBN to create an intervention fund for national stability and CBN literally ‘prints’ say, N3 trillion, and doles it out cash to the Presidency to prosecute an election campaign or for just about anything he fancies. It is a scary thought.”

Adding that “We are going down a dangerous path that ruins the economy. I don’t know any other country where such is tolerated, except perhaps what I watched in a movie about Idi Amin and his governor of central bank.”

Read: Jonathan has mismanaged Nigeria’s economy, Ex-CBN governor says

The former CBN Governor recently accused President Buhari of copying the budget of the last administration.

Professor Charles Soludo worked as a consultant for a number of international organisations, including the World Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the United Nations Development Programme.