Ex-CBN Deputy governor, Tinubu’s aide, trade blame over poor economy

A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Kingsley Moghalu and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, have been locked in altercation over the poor state of economy.

Known for his vocal stance and who is always speaking to power, Moghalu said, Nigeria was better during the past administration of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP compared to the ruling All Progressives Congress which took over the reign of power in 2015 for the first time.

In his series of tweets on Wednesday, Moghalu insisted that the nation’s economy has been on a downward spiral without a solution, expressing that in the past 40 years, it was only during PDP administration of the former President Olusegun Obasanjo that the country economically better briefly.

Moghalu added that the improved economy was also observed during subsequent PDP-led governments of the late Umaru Yar’Adua, and Goodluck Jonathan.

Moghalu was deputy governor of CBN from 2009 to 2015 and said, “Nigeria has fallen under a completely incompetent economic management.”

The tweet read, “Nigeria’s economic distress is simply part of a 40-year downward trajectory that was broken only briefly by the Obasanjo civilian presidency and to some degree under Yar’Adua/Jonathan (up to mid-2014). Ever since, especially from 2015, we fell under completely incompetent economic management and have not recovered.”

The political economist called on the Federal Government to lay a “real foundation for longer-term economic transformation,” while stating that “80% of Nigeria’s exports in 2023 was oil tells you we have yet to get serious..”

Moghalu noted that the presidential palliatives initiative is not a good economic tool to curb poverty, and consequently improve wealth distribution.

Tinubu’s aide in reply countered the assertion and attributed the economic woes to past administrations.