FG’s economic policies confusing — Ezekwesili

Former Vice President of the World Bank for Africa, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, has described economic policies of the present administration as “confusing,” expressing regret that in spite of the confusion, the government remains “adamant.”

Ezekwesili, a former minister of education and convener of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaign said this in the current edition of The Interview. She said the government’s problem is not timidity but that of remaining adamant even with evidence of doing things the wrong way.

A statement by the MD/Editor-InChief of The Interview, Azu Ishiekwene, described the interview as “a nononsense call to reflection. Oby is not treading on eggshells. It’s bareknuckle stuff.”

Ezekwesili said “I am not a fan of the economic policies of this government so far; I feel it’s too tentative in making even the right policy decisions and even when it tries to make the right policy decisions, it has been in the breach. It has been very confusing.”

While citing the government’s monetary and fiscal policies as key areas of denial of “empirical evidence”, she called for structural reforms and better citizen engagement to ensure a turnaround of the economy.

Ishiekwene added that, in the edition, the founder of the Centre for Values in Leadership, Professor Pat Utomi, also spoke among other things, on why he is not in Buhari’s cabinet and on Nigeria’s “self-inflicted recession.”