The appointment of an Economic Advisory Council (EAC) by President Buhari is certainly a welcome development.
Members of the council are well-known academics and professionals that the nation has relied on over the years for sound advice.
However, a closer look at the council and its purported role gives cause for some concern. Members of the council include Mohammed Sagaki, a well-known economic adviser to PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, and Charles Chukwuma Soludo, a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, remembered for his aggressive drive to clean up the banking system which resulted in a streamlining of the number of banks from over 100 to a little over 20 at the time. Both individuals, interestingly, have PDP leanings.
Doyin Salami and Bismarck Rewane have, at various times, served on Transition Committees – Salami in 2015 and on presidential panels; Rewane on the minimum wage implementation committee.
Furthermore, members of the new council – many of whom are well-known free-market capitalists – have at various times provided advice to the current government which it has often failed to take.
A most recent example is the report of the Minimum Wage Implementation Committee. This report provided advice to the Federal Government on steps it needs to take to raise revenues.
These include the sale of assets and government interests in state-owned enterprises and removal of fuel subsidy.
During the early days of the previous administration, members of this committee were known to have specifically provided advice on foreign exchange devaluation.
It is unlikely that Iyabo Masha, an economist with the International Monetary Fund, will propose anything different from the advice provided by the IMF Nigeria country team – much of which has gone unheeded.
Which brings us to the next question: what, practically, will the Economic Advisory Council do? It appears to be a group of individuals who are external to government processes, at least one of whom has been resident abroad for several years who will meet monthly and perhaps, meet with the president quarterly.
It would also appear that the creation of this advisory council puts an end to the existence of the Economic Management Team.
For clarity, the Economic Management Team, chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has membership from across government and comprises the ministers of finance, budget, industry and trade and includes core economic parastatals like the Central Bank of Nigeria, Budget Office of the Federation, the Debt Management Office and the Investment Promotion Council. It also has representation from the Office of the Chief of Staff.
The EMT holds weekly technical sessions to ventilate economic issues, develop policy which is then referred to the Federal Executive Council. Policy issues discussed and addressed by the EMT include tax policy, developing the National Trading Platform to improve revenue at the ports, trade policy and the establishment of the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations.
In addition, the EMT holds consistent consultations with the private sector through its Quarterly Business Forum Meetings which provides detailed briefings to private sector on government economic policy.
It is unlikely that a group of occasional visitors to an issue are in a better position to provide economic advice to a president who is well-known for his aversion to economic issues. What then does this mean? Is the EAC a decoy for some people to appropriate economic decision-making to themselves?
A more fitting architecture to manage the economy would have been to have the Advisory Council provide advice to the president while the operational management of the economy continues under the EMT.
Nevertheless, as the EAC has been constituted, it must be truly empowered to do its job and the advice it renders should also be considered with the seriousness that the difficult times Nigeria faces demands. It must not be another manifestation of a power play or political chess game in Aso Rock.
