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Soludo honoured by UNN
�Speaks on challenges
NKIRU OKEKE,
Enugu
GOVERNOR
of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Charles Soludo has said that he was in
government to bring reforms to the Nigerian economy, even as he said that such
reforms were bound to bring him in confrontation with people who may resist
change.
Professor Soludo, stated this at a
reception organised in his honour by his alma mater, the University of Nigeria,
Nsukka, on Saturday.
"If you are trying to make changes, you
must be ready to step on one thousand and one toes, Nigeria needs people who are
prepared to go extra miles despite all odds, we must thank His Excellency,
President Olusegun Obasanjo, who has said we must make a fundamental break with
the past," he said.
The CBN governor also noted that his
appointment into the Obasanjo administration was a divine call to service of the
nation, stressing that he was invited by the President not on the basis of tribe
or religion, but purely because the President believed in his ability to be of
service to the country.
Soludo, who received the university�s Most
Distinguished Alumnus Award, recalled that "when President Obasanjo called me to
Aso Rock, he said look, I have never met you, I�ve never seen you, but I�ve
heard so much about you, and I want you to come and serve your country."
"I told my wife about the President�s
offer, we drew up a balance sheet to check if I should take the offer, we found
five minuses and no plus, the only plus for us was that, well, this may be a
divine call to service� and that was how I went into government," he added.
He said the Obasanjo administration is
trying to create a new Nigeria, based on the philosophy of the founding fathers
of the nation, noting that it was an assiduous task which required all hands on
deck.
According to him, "This is a President who
doesn�t care where you come from as long as you are the man for the job. In this
era and in the Nigerian context, this is very rare and we must thank the
President who decided we must make a fundamental break with the past."
While expressing joy at the award
presented to him by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, the CBN boss
maintained that he was proud of the achievement of the university which produced
the likes of Mrs. Dora Akunyili, the Director General, National Agency for Food
Drugs and Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
Professor Soludo, who graduated from the
institution in 1984 with a first class honours in Economics, called on the
alumni of the university to always make contributions towards improving on the
quality of the university.
Speaking earlier, Prof. Nebo noted that
the CBN governor was one among the alumnus of "admirable men and women who have
distinguished themselves in their various fields, and who are rendering
meritorious service in different parts of the world."
The guest speaker at the occasion and
vice-chancellor of the University of Uyo, Prof. Akpan Ekpo, who gave a lecture
entitled: "The Nigerian Economy Under a New Democratic Experiment: The Charles
Soludo Effect," noted that government�s intervention in the economic sector must
be robust if the economy is to be on the path of sustainable growth and
development.
"The Charles Soludo Effect represents this robust and
qualitative intervention in the Nigerian economy policy space. The CS effect
embodies boldness, dynamism, preciseness, commitment, patriotism and passion in
the positive transformation of the Nigerian economy through policy
conceptualization, formulation and implementation. It is based on the perception
of the realities of Nigeria�s political economy. It has developed over years of
Professor Charles Soludo�s involvement in theorizing, modeling, policy advocacy
etc on the Nigerian economy," he declared.
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