Great Imo Jonathan
This is the greatest irony in Nigeria’s political history, and it is a shame that must be told.
Chukwuma Charles Soludo is a supposed Professor of Economics. Unfortunately professors in Nigeria now rig elections to make touts and rascals with criminal records leaders. But he was also former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. That is the man who printed nylon as currency for Nigeria, a currency that has gone out of circulation before government of Nigeria abandoned the nylon money as Nigerians no longer use it. Someone once said na yahoo currency. And this is a man who taught in universities, and who once sat at the table where policy is decided. Something must be wrong somewhere.
Meanwhile Peter Obi is a trader. An importer. A man who sells goods in Onitsha Main Market. A man who learned economics not from textbooks, but from the ledger book of his shop.
And yet today, it is the trader who is teaching the Professor public accounting. It is the trader who is teaching the Professor how to save. It is the trader who is teaching the Professor how not to borrow.
What a shame.
Professor Soludo was handed Anambra State — a state that Peter Obi the trader left as the richest, most liquid state in Nigeria. No debt. $156 million dollars in the bank. N35 billion Naira. Investments. The strongest balance sheet of any state in the federation. A state that could pay salaries for two years without receiving FAAC.
The trader did that. Without being a professor.
The Professor came, and what did he do? He borrowed. He borrowed to build roads that wash away. He borrowed to pay salaries in a state that never owed salaries before. He borrowed to run a government that was already funded by savings. He turned the strongest state into a debtor state.
The trader governed for eight years without borrowing one kobo from any bank. The Professor cannot govern for eight months without borrowing.
The trader left savings. The Professor is spending savings.
The trader left investments for the future. The Professor is spending the future to pay for today.
The trader built a 30-year plan called ANIDS to make Anambra a global destination. The Professor abandoned the plan and replaced it with PowerPoint presentations, stupid arguments and English grammar that does not translate to food on the table of the market woman in Eke Awka.
Where is the economics? Where is the first-class economics that says you should squander savings and go into debt? Which textbook did the Professor read that says a state should leave zero savings and over N100 billion debt?
Peter Obi the trader taught Nigeria the first principle of public accounting that Soludo the professor forgot: *You don’t spend what you don’t have. You save for the rainy day. You leave public money better than you met it.*
The trader knows that if you sell goods worth N100, you cannot spend N150 and claim you are making progress. The trader knows you must save your profit. The trader knows you must not borrow to buy aso-ebi.
But the Professor, with all his degrees, does not know this.
In Anambra markets, traders are laughing. They say, “See our colleague, the former chairman of Next, teaching economics to the man who taught economics to the world.”
It is not funny. It is a shame.
If a trader can manage Anambra’s money better than a Professor of Economics, what then did the Professor learn in all those years in school?
The answer is simple: Degree is not wisdom. Certificate is not prudence. Grammar is not governance.
Peter Obi, the trader, has become the Professor of Public Accountability. And Chukwuma Soludo, the Professor, has become his student.
What a shame for Anambra.
Great Imo Jonathan
