Chukwuma Charles Soludo obtained a Distinction grade at the secondary school; a B.Sc (First Class Honours) (Economics); M.Sc. (Economics) and Ph.D (Econometrics and Monetary Economics), winning Departmental, Faculty and University awards as the best graduating student at the University of Nigeria. Soludo garnered over four cumulative years of post-doctoral training and research at the Brookings Institution, Washington, DC as visiting fellow (January 1991- July 1992); UN- Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (September 1992- October 1993); IMF Research Department, Washington, DC (1994; 1998); University of Oxford, UK (1994; 1997); and University of Warwick, UK (1994); Cambridge University as Smuts scholar (Sept 1996- June, 1997).
Soludo is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (FCIB); Fellow of the Nigerian Economic Society (FNES), and holds the Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) (Honoris Causa) from three Universities (University of Nigeria, Nsukka; University of Calabar, Nigeria; and University of Agriculture, Markurdi).
Before he joined Government in 2003, he lived and worked in Ethiopia, the U.K., and the USA, and travelled to 43 other countries as an itinerant scholar and consultant to 18 international organizations (including the World Bank, IMF, OECD Paris, European Union, African Union, USAID, UK-DFID, ADB, IBM Consulting, USA; IDRC Canada; Chemonics International, USA; United Nations, NY; UNIDO, ECOWAS, COMESA, CODESRIA, UNCTAD; AERC Nairobi).
He was the founding Executive Director of the African Institute for Applied Economics, Enugu. He was professor of Economics at his Alma mater, University of Nigeria; and visiting professor at Swartmore College, PA (1999). He was Smuts research fellow at Cambridge University, UK (1996/7); visiting fellow at Brookings Institution, Washington, DC (1991/92); research fellow at UN-Economic Commission for Africa, Ethiopia (1992/93); visiting scholar at IMF research department (1994; 1998); visiting scholar at University of Warwick, and Oxford (1994); long-term consultant at the World Bank (1999/2000).
He has about 80 scholarly publications, and authored, co-authored or edited 12 books. His research interests and consulting assignments are mostly in the areas of macroeconomics/monetary economics; multi-country macroeconometric modeling; Africa’s Growth and Economic Development; Trade; public and corporate finance.
At the Federal Government of Nigeria (2003 – 2009), he held five substantive positions: Chief Economic Adviser to the President; Deputy Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Planning Commission (of ministerial rank); Governor/Chairman, Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Nigeria; Chairman, Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPM), Plc; Founder and Chairman, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), as well as membership of more than 25 technical/policy committees.
He led the team that drafted the Government’s reform program called the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) which became the basis for the IMF’s first ‘Policy Support Instrument’ (PSI), and its vigorous implementation helped to secure debt relief for Nigeria; massively restructured nonperforming government parastatals of the National Planning Commission, including a new Statistical Agency for Nigeria; rebuilt the central bank as the monetary authority and policy institution; restructured a bankrupt security printing and minting company to become a world class company; revolutionalized the Nigerian banking/financial system; set up a new international financial institution, AFC, and helped to steer the Nigerian economy away from the full impacts of the global financial crisis.
He also led the drafting of the Financial System Strategy (FSS2020)—a blueprint for developing and strengthening Nigeria’s financial system to become Africa’s financial hub. For these accomplishments, he has been decorated with scores of awards, including being the triple winner of the African and Global Central Bank Governor of the year, 2005, 2006, and 2007 (by the FT-Banker; Euromoney, etc), and the Financial Times of London has described him as “a great reformer”. The Federal Government of Nigeria has conferred the third highest national honor (Commander of the Federal Republic, CFR) on him in 2006— in recognition of accomplished performance. Three Universities have also awarded him honorary doctorate degrees.
He has also served as a member of the International Advisory Group for the UK-DFID (2005- 07); member of the United Nations Commission of Experts for reforming the global monetary and financial system (Stiglitz Commission); member of the Chief Economist’s Advisory Council since inception. In January 2011, he was elected as a member of the Board of Directors of the South Centre, Geneva and since March, 2011 has been appointed as a member of the IMF External Advisory Group for the Triennial Surveillance Review.
Soludo is the chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Institute for Applied Economics; consultant and strategic adviser to institutional investors in Africa; member, Technical Advisory Group, Natural Resource Charter, Oxford; and member or Chairman of Boards of several private companies.
Chukwuma Charles Soludo was born on July 28, 1960, and he is married with children.
#Walking in the footsteps of Giants with Gbenga Asaolu~Eagleolu# Charles Soludo_May 21
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