With Nigeria’s presidential election concluded, Nigerians have
begun permutations on who will be appointed as the Minister of Finance and the
ideal replacement for the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele at
the expiration of his tenure.
The Independent National
Electoral Commission had on Tuesday announced the All Progressives Party
candidate Bola Tinubu as the winner with 8.79 million votes.
The election has been
described as flawed leading to the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, and the
Peoples Democratic Party candidate Atiku Abubakar saying they will upturn the
result in court.
Irrespective of the
outcome, Nigeria’s ailing economy has been a source of concern for experts.
Paul Alaje, Partner and
Senior Economist at the SPM Professionals said the next CBN boss and the
Minister of Finance, Budget, Budget and National Planning should be trained
economists.
“For serious countries,
economists are both in fiscal and monetary even trade policymakers. I don’t
know about another institution, but the education that I have both locally and
abroad regarding economics and business, there are things that are exclusive to
economics as a study which is combining fiscal and rate and monetary,” Alaje
said in an interview with an online newspaper.
Under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, the CBN
Governor and the finance minister, Zainab Ahmed have been criticized for
policies that a section of analysts believe are hurting the economy and the
general well-being of citizens.
Emefiele is in charge of
the monetary policy saddled with the responsibility of price stability but
Nigeria’s inflation has hit a record 21.82 Percent.
Also, the naira has been
devalued from N170 per dollar in 2014 to N460.97 in March 2022. At the black
market, it trades around N765/$.
Emefiele made a
controversial naira redesign policy which was overruled by the Supreme Court on
March 3, 2023.
Alaje said, “A minister
of finance or CBN governor who is not grounded in economics is a mere
administrator. They will expect technicians to explain to them and that is what
we see most times in Nigeria.
“Charles Soludo was a professor of economics;
we saw a major difference. Sanusi Lamido was not a professor but he tried his
bit because he has a strong foundation in economics. So even when professors
are talking to him, he has the foundation and he can relate to what they are
saying. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former minister of finance, had a solid foundation
in economics. The difference can we say for those who are directing our economy
now?
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