Reducing Nigeria’s debt burden, fixing unemployment and boosting economic growth are some of the most urgent tasks awaiting Wale Edun as the minister of finance and coordinating minister for the economy.
Edun, 62, is one of Tinubu’s closest advisers and a member of his economic team that helped prepare his election manifesto. He had long been tipped to become finance minister in Africa’s biggest economy.
“The new finance minister understands the need to work more like a salesperson; he badly needs private capital/remittance inflows and short-term funds to boost FX liquidity. The country can no longer depend on oil receipts amid high theft,” a senior investment banker told BusinessDay.
Muda Yusuf, chief executive officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, said the top priority of the new minister of finance should be to ensure macroeconomic stability.
“This means bringing down inflation, stabilising the exchange rate, promoting investor confidence, reducing the fiscal deficit, and ultimately reducing the burden of debt service,” Yusuf said.
The inflation rate in Nigeria soared in July to its highest in nearly 18 years, with many Nigerians groaning under the weight of skyrocketing cost of everything from food to fuel and rent.
Inflation pushed an estimated four million more Nigerians into poverty in the first five months of this year, the World Bank said in June.
“The country is facing a number of challenges, including high unemployment, a currency deficiency, and inflation. I believe that it is essential for the new leader to implement measures that will boost investment and accelerate economic growth,” said Ayodele Akinwumi, head of research and strategy at First Security Discount House Limited.
“If the economy can grow at a double-digit rate, this will help to reduce unemployment and generate foreign exchange reserves. This can be achieved by creating incentives for non-oil exports,” Akinwumi added.
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Edun is also expected to come under severe pressure to do something about the weakening naira.
The naira has fallen sharply against the dollar in the parallel market in recent days after it emerged that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has less firepower to defend the currency. In its first financial accounts since 2015, the CBN data showed reserves were closer to $15 billion than the $33 billion widely publicised.
As coordinating minister of the economy, experts say Edun faces the additional responsibility of coordinating the economic activities of other ministries and ensuring adequate synergy among departments and agencies of government, a practice introduced in the Olusegun Obasanjo administration.
Experts say there is an economic sense in having some sort of framework for policy coordination.
“Since the fortunes of key ministries such as petroleum, power, transport, and agriculture are heavily interwoven, it would be difficult to have a clear roadmap, with respect to any one of them, until some level of integration in economic policy is achieved,” a senior economist told BusinessDay.
Edun possesses a strong background in economics, public finance, international finance, merchant banking, and corporate finance at national and international levels.
Notably, he served as the commissioner for finance in Lagos State for two terms (1999-2007) during Tinubu’s tenure as governor.
Edun completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics at the University of London and earned a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Sussex, England. Although specific details about his early life and education are not publicly available, his expertise and accomplishments speak for themselves.
He held key positions such as head of treasury and deputy head of corporate finance at Chase Merchant Bank, where he oversaw treasury and money market activities and played a major role in capital market and financial advisory operations for local subsidiaries and affiliates of multinational corporations.
He gained valuable international experience during his time at Wall Street firms Lehman Brothers and Chase Manhattan Capital Markets Corporation in New York, USA.
In 1986, Edun joined the World Bank/IFC in Washington DC, USA, through the prestigious young professionals program.
At the World Bank, he worked on economic and financial packages for several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including the Dominican Republic, Trinidad, as well as Indonesia and India in the Far East.
Until his appointment, Edun was the chairman of Chapel Hill Denham Group. He co-founded and served as the executive director of Stanbic IBTC Plc (formerly Investment Banking & Trust Company Limited) upon his return to Nigeria in 1989. In 1994, he established Denham Management Limited.
