A former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, says the points raised by ex-Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Chukwuma Soludo, on the economy, were correct.
Recall that Soludo, on Thursday, noted that President Muhammadu Buhari inherited a bad economy but made the situation worse.
Reacting to Soludo’s claim, Spokesperson to Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, Laolu Akande, had said the former CBN governor ought to have offered progressive ideas and join hands with the current administration.
However, in a series of tweets on Monday, Ezekwesili said if Soludo had given his views to economic managers of another country, they would have used it to improve the economy.
She accused the Federal Government of intolerance, adding that the government made things worse by labelling Soludo “unpatriotic.”
She wrote, “The FG really should desist from the unhealthy habit of assuming ill-motive on the part of people who think differently.
“Soludo was correct. Soludo spoke sound economic policy and FG as usual responded in prose but worsened it by tarring him and a ‘few others’ as ‘unpatriotic.
“It is extremely intolerant of the FG and its spokespersons to assume that differing views on how the economy is run is ‘unpatriotic’.
“In a democracy, the culture of healthy debates help to coalesce best ideas for solving society’s problems. First, the FG must learn to listen.
“Second, the FG must learn to respond to criticism in a way that elevates democratic public debates.
“Provide evidence based counter factual. Third, the FG must know that no amount of tagging those who disagree with policy thrusts will stop some voices. Voice is core to democracy.
“If Soludo gave that feedback to another country economic managers, they would most likely appreciate it and review for improvement. Do same.”
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