By Damiete Braide
Minister of Finance, Senator Atiku Bagudu, has disclosed that the former minister for finance and economic planning during Muhammadu Buhari’s military regime in 1984, Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu, was wrongly accused because of his frank views about the choices that Nigeria made then.
Senator Bagudu made this known in during Dr. Kalu’s book launch at Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island Lagos, yesterday.
He described Dr Kalu as a renowned economist whose love for Nigeria made him to be frank in his dealing with people around him irrespective of ethnicity.
Bagudu recalled that he was privileged to be one of Dr. Kalu’s special assistants in 1994 when he was the finance minister.
“I had the privilege of interacting with this intellectual giant, who was then misunderstood by the society. The banking sector, prior to 1986, did not have Nigerian players, but today, they are not only there but also have dominated the international scene due to some of his policies. I know how much he loves Nigeria; he was one of the brains behind the National Planning Commission in 1992,” he said.
In his welcome address, chairman of the occasion and Obi of Onitsha, Chief Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe (Agbogidi), said: “Our discussions have always ended up that our biggest challenge in Nigeria is on true leadership, not only in politics and governance but also across all sectors of life.
“The big question is how do we generate a new crop of leadership that will take the country out of the situation that we are in now? It is an ongoing exercise and there is no answer to give to anybody but we will continue to put our heads together.
“We are gathered here today to launch a book whose origin started back in the late 1960s when the author was still a student in the university, and later did his master’s and PhD thesis in Economics. It is amazing to me that the argument he presented in his study remains relevant today. Dr. Kalu is not the only one interrogating our national development, there are many others, scholars, professionals who are doing the same.
“The question is why do our leaders fail to heed to messages coming from the talking drum? We communicate with the drum and the question is, the person that you are communicating with through the drum, is he paying attention to the message? That is the question that we have to ask ourselves.
“Since the military coup in 1966, the country has spiraled downwards, with every regime ending up worse than its predecessor, yet each regime came up as a corrective regime.
“We have experienced various experiments with various types of governments, but none has proved effective with passion as passed by our founding fathers.
“There is no better time to raise these hefty questions for our nation than now, that we have a new regime in place. I trust that the new regime will hear the message of the talking drum.
“I commend the author for this book and I have no doubt whatsoever and I expect nothing less than clarity of thought and excellence in presentations.
“This is to remind all Nigerians of the basic issues we have been discussing in the last 50 years. To refreshen our minds about the issues that have limited us from attaining our potentials. They have denied us our potentials to build a society that is commensurate with the tremendous resources God has blessed this nation with.
“I am determined and it is a pledge to take it from here. God willing to isolate some of these key inter-related obstacles to Nigeria’s emergence as a fully industrialised economy that has been projected to be the third largest economy behind India and China.”