By Marcel Okeke
Recently, to the chagrin and perhaps, bewilderment of most Nigerians, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government inaugurated a ‘Presidential Committee on the National Economy’—just about 35 weeks to the end of the eight-year (two terms) tenure of the Administration. Truly, not a few Nigerians were stupefied by this ‘eleventh hour’ or ‘injury time’ move of the Government at the Centre—justifiably for numerous reasons.
More surprisingly, for the first time in the over seven-year-long life of the Administration, Mr. President himself assumed headship of the economic team—and presided over its inaugural meeting on Friday, September 9, 2022. About the same time, the National Economic Council (NEC), putatively headed by the Vice President, was reportedly ‘rushing out’ a National Social Protection Policy (NSPP)—to be ratified and approved ‘soon’ by the Federal Executive Council.
*Buhari and Finance Minister Zainab AhmedAt the inauguration of the new Presidential Economic Team, President Buhari said: “this Committee will provide our nation an opportunity to be bold, more proactive, and innovative in tackling persistent challenges”, adding that “the work with which I have tasked the assembled team will enable us respond more swiftly and efficiently.”
This immediately puts a big question mark on the economic agenda, programmes and activities of the Administration in the over seven long years of its existence. In other words, it is this ‘baby team’ just cobbled together that will now “swiftly and efficiently” respond to the monumental, hydra-headed problems of the Nigerian economy. The empanelling of the ‘emergency committee’ also questions the relevance and impact of the widely celebrated Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) set up since September 2019, and headed by Professor ‘Doyin Salami, who incidentally was appointed Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) to Mr. President in January 2022.In point of fact, had the PEAC made up of illustrious economists
and the CEA been effective or ‘fruitful’ in their assignments, definitely there
would have been no need for the President electing to assemble a ‘last minute’
team for him to lead at this point in time. The coming into being of the new
Presidential Committee on the Economy is therefore a direct vote of no
confidence on the PEAC and CEA. Now that the Administration is at its wits’ end
on how to pull the recumbent economy back from the precipice, Mr. President who
happens to have also been the Minister of Petroleum Resources in the past seven
years, is picking the gauntlet, although belatedly.
It is therefore most fitting to help set some agenda for the
latest Presidential committee on the economy as well as pose some critical
questions. It is good however that the new committee is peopled mainly by
members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), as this is likely to help in
identifying the ‘action points’ on decisions taken at the highest level of
Government. This was lacking in the membership of the PEAC who are mainly
distinguished economists and consultants from ‘outside’ of the Government.
‘Doyin Salami who led the PEAC was brought on-board from the Lagos Business
School, Pan-Atlantic University where he was lecturing.
Now
that the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria who is also the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources
is the head of the newest Economic Management Team, the most crucial and urgent
task before the committee is to immediately curb the dreadful insecurity in the
land. It is an existential threat to the Nigerian polity; and no meaningful
socio-economic activity takes place in a largely unsafe environment. Security
of life and property is a sine qua non for any economy to thrive. Fortunately,
the composition and headship of the new Economic Team is such that one person
namely, Mr. President, is the one at whose desk the buck (military, political,
executive, etc.) stops. Incidentally, too, he is a General of the Army (though
retired). It truly requires the ‘urgency of now’ to deal decisively with the
widespread insecurity in the land—for economic activities to really pick up.
Mr. President who also is the Honourable Minister of Petroleum
Resources should use the instrumentality of his new Economic Team to deploy all
necessary resources to immediately stamp out the bizarre phenomenon known as
oil theft in Nigeria. Accusing fingers have recently been pointing to very
highly placed personages as kingpins and collaborators in that ignominious deal
that is unwittingly bringing the national economy to its knees. At the moment,
revenue from crude oil remains the mainstay of the Nigerian economy and so, oil
theft amounts to stealing our Commonwealth. Relatedly, the new committee must
deal with the high spate of sabotage and wanton vandalism on oil and gas
facilities across the country—but particularly in the oil bearing areas.
In a similar vein, the new Economic Team should take another look
at the subsisting fuel subsidy—a process or policy that is almost crashing the
economy. From gulping few hundreds of billions of Naira few years ago, the
opaque dealing called petroleum subsidy is now guzzling trillions of Naira.
Now, more than ever before, the New Team must do whatever it takes to let
Nigeria begin to know the volume of crude oil being produced in the country;
the quantity being exported as well as the volume of fuel being imported/used
in the country on a daily/weekly basis.
The generation and publicizing of these data will save the Buhari
Administration so much public odium and opprobrium. So much public fund is at
present being suspected to be ‘stolen’ by many persons in the refined oil
products importation and distribution value chain in the country.
Now
that the President is leading the economic management team, can Nigeria
meaningfully commence the effective diversification of its economy? Can the
President muster the necessary political will to ‘off-load’ the dead refineries
and/or initiate the process of bringing them back to life within the remaining
35 weeks of his tenure? The much flaunted strides in agriculture through the
initiatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria has since been ‘deflated’ by
persisting insecurity and related social ills. The new Presidential Economic
Management Team must therefore expeditiously begin to address food insecurity
in the land. Hunger, poverty and insecurity are ‘conjoined triplets’.
It also goes without saying that the New Economic Team must ensure
that the public finance management of Nigeria is reworked expeditiously to save
the country from living largely and lavishly on borrowed funds. Rather than
continuing with the massive borrowing spree, the Government should be ‘winding
down’ as it ineluctably approaches its twilight. This is no longer the time for
excuses or to be appealing to Nigerians for their understanding or advertising
phantom projects and achievements of the Administration. It’s already too late
in the day!
*Okeke,
an economist, sustainability expert and business strategy consultant wrote from
Lagos. He can be reached at: obioraokeke2000@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment