By Uche Mbah
The new Economic team inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari is already running into critical waters as pundits are of the opinion that it once again throws up the Presidency’s disdain for the constitutional provisions. The inaugurations has further alienated the Vice presidency from mainstream governance.
Recall that Buhari, contrary to constitutional provisions, had inaugurated an economic team headed by himself. The team comprised Bismark Rewane, financial derivatives critic and Charles Soludo, a former Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN governor. The team is being chaired by Doyin Salami. Salami sits on the CBN monitory policy team, and is a Director of Lagos Business School, and Vice Chairman of the Goodluck Jonathan transition Committee in 2015. They are to report directly to the president. This had effectively dissolved the Economic Management, team, EMT, headed by the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Ironically, all members of the team are avid critics of Buhari’s economic agenda-or lack thereof.
Buhari has advisers in every aspect of governance except in economy. Even with no economic know how, he allegedly he issues direct orders to the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, forcing him to make decisions the members of his new team has always been critical of. Therefore critics are not expecting the new group to work wonders since the presidency’s penchant to throwing money at issues-and going cap in hand to borrow when the treasury goes bust-will clash with the conservative economy of the eight man group. Rewane has once refereed to the CBN under Buhari as a “piggy Bank”.
More worrisome is the fact that none of Buhari’s cabinet members-including the CBN governor, Vice President, minister of Finance and her counterpart in budget and planning-are part of the team.
Opposition members generally believe that the economic team is geared to both silence the vocal economic critics and alienate the Vice presidency, a move aimed at crippling the alleged 2023 presidential ambition of Osinbajo. Sources say they are expected to report more to Aba Kyari, the Presidential Chief of staff, than to Buhari.
Buhari himself has said no one should approach him directly except the person passes through Aba Kyari. All former economic teams were handled by the Vice President, even under the chairmanship of the powerful Okonjo Iweala, former Minister of Finance.The Economic Team was then headed by the Vice President, Namadi Sambo.
