President Goodluck Jonathan seized the opportunity of an interview with a Nigerian newspaper last week to hit back at a former Central Bank governor, Charles Soludo, who accused his government of failing to account for at least N30 trillion, and allowing corruption to flourish.
Mr. Jonathan dismissed Mr. Soludo’s claim as politically-motivated, and ridiculed his academic standing, saying it was illogical for that sum to be “stolen” as his government had not generated that much in all its years in power.
In an elaborate article on the state of the Nigerian economy mid-January, Mr. Soludo had tackled Nigeria’s finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, over her management style and inability to steer the nation aright amid an oil crisis.