Most countries remain poor because they do not have economic experts in charge of their economic decisions. As a result, the decision-making process is more about politics than policy.
One of the countries affected by this is Nigeria. The country has had to battle numerous economic crises due to the kind of politics being played in Nigeria.
Over the years, Nigeria has seldom had people knowledgeable in economic matters in charge of the economy as appointments to key economic positions like other appointments in the country have most times been due to party affiliation, Ethnic considerations and hardly a case of having a round peg in a round hole.
Nature of Nigerian Politics
The nature of the kind of politics being played in Nigeria lies in the organization of the country’s political parties who contest not on ideologies as it is done in most advanced countries but on fickle ideas.
For instance, despite the blurring of the lines in recent years, there is still a marked ideological difference between the Conservatives and Labor in the UK, between the Republican and Democratic party in the US as well as what obtains in some other countries.
Parties do not contest based on ideology like in most Western countries, so experts are flown in to mask the resultant economic deficiencies. It has worked in Nigeria in the past with technocrats like Idika Kalu who was brought back from the US to become Minister of Finance under Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.
Finance Ministers Over the Years
Other Finance Ministers since the beginning of the current republic include: Adamu Ciroma, a History Graduate seen as an accidental CBN Governor and later on serving as Minister of Finance during President Obasanjo’s first tenure.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iwela came in during President Obasanjo’s second tenure to change the face of the economic direction of the country via her string of economic reforms, she later returned to the position under president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. it is instructive to note that the impact of Okonjo-Iweala as finance minister especially during her first tenure under president Obasanjo trumps what any other finance minister past and present has been able to achieve.
Achievements Under Okonjo-Iweala
Under the tenure of Okonjo-Iweala as Finance Minister, she was able to renegotiate Nigeria’s debt with the Paris Club, resulting in a landmark $18 billion debt relief deal for Nigeria in 2005 which in turn helped Nigeria clear off $30 billion in external debt.
She also came up with mechanisms to prevent excessive borrowing and government spending while at the same time advocating for laws to improve budgetary discipline and ensure better management of public funds.
Her greatest masterstroke has to be the establishment of the Excess Crude Account (ECA) which created a savings mechanism to stabilize the economy during periods of volatile oil prices. Okonjo-Iweala implemented policies to stabilize the Naira and curb inflation, partnered with international organizations to audit the oil sector, increasing transparency in oil revenue management, and played a central role in developing this reform agenda aimed at improving governance, reducing corruption, and fostering economic growth.
Nigeria’s Current Economic Challenges under Tinubu
Nigeria’s current economic challenges under Tinubu are still linked to excessive government spending and the unstable naira, a situation Okonjo-Iweala was generally successful in combating during her tenure as finance minister under Obasanjo.
Tinubu’s economic reforms while been a laudable idea has witnessed significant hitches in implementation so far as most times key members of the administration seem not to be on the same page. This is in addition to the messaging disconnect the administration has with Nigerians. In Tinubu’s cabinet currently, no one seems able to convince other cabinet members of the need to cut spending and sell the same idea to the president, so key members of government end up portraying the opposite of what the government seeks to achieve.
What Would Okonjo-Iweala Have Done?
The key question now is in this situation, what would Okonjo-Iweala have done?. Under Okonjo-Iweala, you would expect fiscal consolidation, a more coherent forex strategy, and a will to marshal other cabinet ministers in the same direction.
This is a key departure from what is being done currently, and how do we know Okonjo-Iweala can do this?, we only have to look at Okonjo-Iweala’s run-in with Cosmas Maduka of Coscharis motors to be convinced.
Okonjo-Iweala and Coscharis Motors
In 2003, Nigeria needed cars to host the All-Africa Games but every other car manufacturer wanted to be paid to import the vehicles, the Government under Obasanjo was however unwilling to pay because it was unclear what would happen to the cars after the All-African Games.
Then Cosmas Maduka stepped in and instead of payment requested an import duty waiver for the cars from President Obasanjo which was granted, the idea was to sell the cars cheaply once the waiver was granted. After receiving the waiver, Coscharis imported 1,000 BMW vehicles for the government to sell and make profit.
All was going well and the vehicles had arrived Nigeria’s port awaiting the guarantee from the government, However, when Okonjo-Iweala as the finance minister got involved, she refused granting any guarantee stating that the government does not sell cars and as such the waiver offer was off the table.
She pointed out that the government waiver was being misused and after weeks of negotiation, the government instead offered to take up comprehensive insurance for the cars but Coscharis would sell the cars.
In 2013, another controversy emerged between Okonjo-Iweala and Cosmas Maduka during her stint as finance minister under Jonathan, concerning the importation of two armored BMW vehicles valued at ₦255 million for the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and specifically for Stella Oduah, then Minister of Aviation.
Coscharis Motors claimed that the importation of the vehicles was covered under a duty waiver granted by the Ministry of Finance for the importation of 300 vehicles intended for the 2012 National Sports Festival (“EKO 2012”) in Lagos State. However, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala refused and stated the waiver granted was specific to the vehicles for the sports festival and did not include armored cars. She further clarified that any use of the waiver beyond its original intent was unauthorized and was an evasion of due import duties.
Conclusion
while we want to be positive, it is critical to note Dr. Okonjo-Iweala could not achieve much under president Goodluck Jonathan’s administration as the prevalent corruption amongst most key members of the government at the time limited the impact of her policies.
President Jonathan was seen as weak in most quarters hence the free-rein of corruption under him but President Tinubu seems more willing to carry out strong economic reforms however reform is not wishful thinking but is about knowledge.
As such, president Tinubu needs to find his own woman with the ‘gele’ or an equally strong person in the ilk of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala that comes with the experience and technical knowledge people would defer to as without this, the president would not achieve much.
The big question however remains if he would drop the current members of his economic to bring in this person, or would this person come in as an all-powerful external adviser. Regardless of what he decides to do, the fact remains that President Tinubu needs his own Okonjo-Iweala as soon as possible.
