Ezekwesili: Buhari’s economic policies ‘archaic’
Oby Ezekwesili, former minister of education, says the economic policies of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government are “archaic”, comparing them to the ones he used as a military head of state.
Speaking on Saturday at The Platform, a yearly programme organised by Covenant Christian Center, Ezekwesili lamented the economic situation of the country.
She said the effect of the policies have been detrimental to the masses.
“What did not work in 1984 cannot possibly be a solution in a global economy that’s much more integrated,” she said.
“During the first coming of this our new president, a command and control economic system was adopted, and inflation spiraled, jobs were lost and the economic growth level dipped.
“In over one year, the president is still holding to the premise that command and control is the only way out, and we have lost the single digits inflation status we maintained in past administrations.
“The weakest and the most vulnerable suffer the impact of inflation the most. Enormous power is being abused as a result of archaic and opaque economic policies.”
Ezekwesili emphasised that the primary purpose of government is to provide security of lives and properties, as well as improve the welfare of the people.
She also criticised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), saying the apex bank needs to “regain its autonomy”.
“We need to rethink the present monetary policy of the administration, actually the monetary policy was relatively safe guarded from political domination, it will do well to give a semblance of autonomy back to the Central Bank, so that the central bank would speak the language of economics and not this language of rhetoric and language of anecdote, and language of suppositions that are no longer premised on hard economic facts,” she said.
“It is important that the central bank will retrace its steps and get back in right monetary policy making. Its crucial. If we lost that, it’s going to be tough to regain.”
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, who delivered the keynote address, charged Nigerians to harness the opportunity presented by information technology.
Commenting on the theme: ‘Nigeria, what is in your hands? Tapping into our dead economy, looking beyond our oil driven economy’, Osinbajo harped on the need not to be totally reliant on government.
“We want to challenge you to build solutions for smart electricity, education, healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, and so on,” he said.
The vice-president expressed the determination of the current administration to positively transform the country.
Other speakers were: Ibukun Awosika, chairman of First Bank; Mitchell Elegbe, founder and CEO of Interswitch Group; Seun Onigbinde, co-founder BudgIT; Taiwo Oyedele, partner, head of tax and corporate advisory services at PwC Nigeria; Itoya Ijewere, former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).
Well said Madam but i am sorry I beg to disagree with your argument. We need the command and control now to fix all the wrongs in the past few years. Democracy has not worked for us. it is obvious. See the revelations. What we need is a little of authoritarian and a little of democracy to fix this political, economic and religious space called Nigeria. We have heard too many ideas in the past few years but still see where we are. Lets wait and see the impact of the budget to be accented to by Mr. President, then we can challenge him if he is on command & control. At the moment, We need our own domestication of Democracy. You can see our VP did not respond to you based on news print report.
Madam Oby, I disagree with you! You have an outsider view of the situation and thats all you have. To make an ultimate summation is quite unfortunate, because the other view you don’t have. This questions your argument of fairness, sadly you said this to an audience who believe you without question. Shame!
Madam you’re once a member of FEC. An Executive is always an Executive. Your views and opinion might be right but you need to watch your utterances.You are famous in the area of your specialization; don’t overheat the polity because whatever you said publicly perhaps you meant well; will be interpreted some how. You need to apply the concept of managing public perception. Kindly seek for an audience with the president one-on-one and proper solutions i belief he will certainly listen to you. In alternative you can talk to the minister of Finance and the Governor of CBN.
Why are Nigerians afraid of facing the truth. The woman has said the obvioustuth and they are castigating her. The truth 7s Buhari cannot take Nigeria anywhere. His regime is just a waste of t7me.
Your comment..mr man actually u ar wrong ar u thinking of just bc of years u can disrespect him and thinking otherwise over all his efforts towards improving Nigerian economy. Shame on u
that true