Investors confident on economy despite Buhari’s absence

News that Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will remain in the U.K. for an indefinite period to complete medical tests is being taken in stride by investors who see Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who is currently serving as acting president as capable.
Buhari, 74, was scheduled to return to Nigeria on Sunday and resume official duties yesterday, after leaving on Jan. 19 to undergo unspecified medical tests.
Buhari “was advised to complete the test cycle…and there is no indication as to when the president will return,” his spokesman, Femi Adesina, said on Monday.
A sense that Nigeria has grown politically since 2010 the last time a Vice President took over as acting President and a vice-president (now acting President Osinbajo) who has engaged with international investors many times, may be helping to calm investors.
“They have high respect for him (Osinbajo) and will probably assume Nigeria is in capable hands while the president is in London,” Charlie Robertson, Renaissance Capital’s global chief economist said in response to questions.
Elected in March 2015, Buhari is confronting a slump in growth in Africa’s largest economy and oil producer.
The naira has fallen to record lows near N500/$ in the parallel market, while the country will most likely be confirmed in its first full-year recession in 25 years, once fourth quarter data is released by the bureau of statistics later in the month.
The government has sought to reassure investors and the country, saying there will be no delays in any government decisions because the vice president has all powers mandated.
“In the temporary absence of the President, the Vice President automatically steps in as the Acting President, meaning he becomes the Acting Commander in Chief. Any key decision he is unable to make, would most probably wait until the President returns. Besides, in these days of swift communication, decisions can be easily communicated to the President for ratification.
“In any case, the real question is what key economic decision the acting President can’t decide on. Recall that Acting President Osinbajo also doubles as the Coordinating Minister of the Economy. To this end, there may just be some delays with respect to any key decision that the Acting President is unable to take,” Abiodun Keripe, head of research and strategy at Elixir Investment Partners Limited, said.
In June, the president travelled to London to seek treatment for a “persistent ear infection.”
Buhari is currently at the Nigerian diplomatic residence in London and isn’t facing any serious health problem, another presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, said.
Nigerian Stocks have lost 3.99 percent this year, even as oil prices remain steady and dollar reserves touch the highest levels in more than six months.
Adeleke Adedipe, chief operating officer, LEKOIL Nigeria Limited, said Nigerian investors around him are relaxed, knowing fully that the Vice President, now in acting capacity as President, is graciously steering the Nigerian economic ship from drifting.

He said: “Osinbajo is simply continuing from where they were when the President left for the UK. The constitution allows him to be in charge of the country in the President’s absence; but we don’t know if he will slow down or accelerate the ship. The ship under his watch has not drifted. I believe the Nigerian business community are not in panic due to President Buhari’s absence.”

Adedipe however observes that it would be too optimistic for anyone to expect Osinbajo to drastically change the direction of the administration’s economic policy, arguing that the two weeks the President Buhari has been away, along with the indefinite status of the President’s arrival from the UK have made such option impossible for the Acting President.

“Two weeks is not a long enough period to set new agenda. Osinbajo is simply working with the agenda of his boss, which we are happy with. The situation is far better than what he had when former President Yar’adua died and the likes of James Ibori hijacked power”, Adedipe said.
Osinbajo in a statement yesterday, said government is “determined to give the ordinary man a fair deal,” amid some protests over Nigeria’s economic hardships.
The government hears Nigerians “loud and clear when they say things are difficult”, he told investors and reporters in Abuja on Monday. “But years of deterioration and corruption cannot be remedied overnight.”