A major highpoint in President Muhammadu Buhari’s second coming was recorded last Monday when he named an Economic Advisory Council (EAC), comprising men that Nigerians have described variously as ‘President’s Wise Men’; Economic Wizards, Big Brains for Economic Re-engineering, etc.
The setting up of the council was hailed around the country and beyond and the reason for this is not far-fetched. Nigerians and their friends have all along scored Buhari very low on economic fronts, contending that one of the president’s major failings has been his inability to impact the lives of Nigerians economically.
It is a generally held view that his administration’s economic policies, if any, have not been able to move a needle and it has been such that, in the last four years, Nigeria has won unenviable trophies for negative ratings on a global scale.
Nigeria slipped into a 15-month recession that brought its economy on its knees for reasons analysts blame on Buhari administration’s lack of vision and ineptitude. The country became the poverty headquarters of the world as a result of near-zero economic activities in the country.
Although there was an Economic Management Team (EMT) headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo which stands disbanded now with the coming of the President’s wise men, in the eyes of many Nigerians, that team existed only in name and principles despite claims of lofty achievements.
The replacement of EMT by EAC, to a very large extent, represents Buhari’s subtle acknowledgment of his government’s failure and lack of touch with national economic realities. This is why all eyes are on the new Council with soaring expectations that the change in Nigeria-story is here.
EAC comes with star-studded economists at their best. Of the eight economists that make up this council, three of them stand out and these are Doyin Salami, Chukwuma Soludo and Bismarck Rewane.
Salami, a cerebral professor of Economics, stands tall as the chairman of the council. A former member of the monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and senior lecturer at the Lagos Business School (LBS), Salami is a doctoral degree graduate of Queen Mary College, University of London.
His research interests include corporate long-term financial management; macroeconomic policy; corporate competitiveness and risk management; and characteristics of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Soludo, a commander of the federal republic (CFR), is also a professor of Economics and a former governor and chairman of the board of directors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). He has been visiting scholar at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the University of Cambridge, the Brookings Institution, the University of Warwick and the University of Oxford and a visiting professor at Swarthmore College (USA).
Soludo is a core professional in the business of macroeconomics and has worked as a consultant for a number of international organisations, including The World Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the United Nations Development Programme.
He has also had a stint in government which he joined in 2003. Prior to his appointment as CBN governor, he was Chief Economic Adviser to former President Obasanjo and Chief Executive of the National Planning Commission of Nigeria.
Soludo, unlike others, is politically exposed. Indeed, the professor is a card-carrying member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who, at a time, joined the fray to become the governor of his state, Anambra. But that bid failed.
Rewane is the managing director/chief executive officer of Financial Derivatives Company Limited in Lagos. He is a strong and dependable voice in economic matters. With over 30 years of experience as an Economist, Banker and Financial Analyst, Rewane has offered useful insights on the economy.
He is a chartered member of the Institute of Bankers of England and Wales and a Fellow of The Nigerian Institute of Bankers.
The other members of the council, including Iyabo Masha, the only female member of the council, are bringing formidable profile and rich wealth of experience garnered from diverse backgrounds to bear on the duty the president has assigned to them.
Iyabo, for instance, is a global economist with a demonstrated history of working in central banking and financial markets, economic management, international lending, finance and development. She has a strong focus on macroeconomic stabilisation policy research and implementation.
She has worked with the International Monetary Fund since 2003 in Washington D.C, Metro Area and has had assignments in more than 10 emerging markets (Asian and African countries) with focus on comprehensive economic management including, among others, policy reform advisory services and dialogue with governments.
With all these to boot, Nigerians’ expectations from the economy via the government have been raised because they believe that its members are coming into the country’s troubled economy with magic wands.
MKO Balogun, CEO, Global PFI, sees the constitution of the council as a fulfillment of the yearnings of Nigerians who feel the President needs some strong people on the economy around him, adding, “the team is the best you can think of at this time of national development with key actors in Nigeria’s economic development agenda in the council.”
Balogun is confident that the team will deliver, expecting them to transform Nigeria to the level it should be as one of the most prosperous nations in the world by creating a sustainable policy framework for successful governments in Nigeria.
Olisa Ebigwei, a realtor, sees members of the council as round pegs in round holes. It is his expectation that the assemblage of these sound minds will lead to inflation reduction, reflation of the economy via comoditisation of the land use act which, in turn, will release over N200 trillion worth of real estate assets in development and investment locked in land.
Kola Ashiru-Balogun, managing director, Mixta Nigeria, agrees, adding that housing remains the only catalyst that can boost personal balance sheets which in turn will boost the economy. The implications, according to him, are far too important to be overlooked and a concerted effort must be put in place to coordinate all the different initiatives under simple but audacious ambitions.
Beyond the encomiums and expectations from Mr. President’s wise men, concerns still remain. Nigerians have not forgotten the brazen assertion by former President Olusegun Obasanjo who, during the inauguration of his special advisers, told them to get it into their head that it was not all advice they would give that would be taken.
In the same vein, President Buhari is not given to heeding advice, more so one that would be coming from economists who may be favouring private enterprise as engine of economic growth. Buhari would, ordinarily, like to run a socialist, welfarist economy rather than capitalist, private sector-driven one.
Although he sees Buhari’s new economic team as a good one that is as deep as they can be in terms of knowledge and experience, Adedotun Bamigbola, chairman, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers, Lagos State Chapter, still has his reservations.
“The challenge is not what advisory they will bring to bear on the economy, it is how expeditiously the handlers of the economy will implement these advisory and in what manner they will implement same,” he says, arguing that it will be nice if two or more of these eminent minds are part of the handlers of the economy in terms of management, not just playing advisory roles.
Like Bamigbola, some other Nigerians fault the composition of the council, insisting that it is not representative enough like the disbanded EMT which has membership from across government and comprises the ministers of finance, budget, industry and trade and also includes core economic parastatals like the Central Bank of Nigeria, Budget Office of the Federation, the Debt Management Office and the Investment Promotion Council.
But, it is too early in the day to hold opinions for or against the new council. Nigerians should just hope for the best, more so as it has been attested to widely that the president’s wise men are people with capacity to wield the magic wand and Nigerian people and its economy will be better for it.
CHUKA UROKO
