Will Salami influence President Buhari’s socialist orientation?
Nigerians woke up on January 4 to the news of President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointment of Professor Doyin Salami as an Economic Adviser, a role required by the Nigerian constitution, in recognition of the fact that the President may not be good at the economics of governance.
Obviously, Doyin Salami is not a newbie on the public policy table, having formerly served as a member of the country’s monetary policy committee between 2010 and 2017 as well as being Chair of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council since September 2019 until this appointment.
Albeit the question is whether or not President Buhari, who is seen as an unapologetic socialist, would heed to likely advice of a renowned privatesector oriented economist, with a capitalist sentiment like Doyin Salami.
With barely 17 months to the end of the eight-year rule of Buhari’s administration, one wonders the economic magic that the President hopes to deliver to return the economy back to its historically high growth of over five percent, a level needed to reflate the economy and ensure real per capita income growth, as the population continues to rise at almost three percent annually despite the low life expectancy and high infant mortality rate.
Oftentimes, Salami does not hide his criticism of the socialist agenda of the government and why many of the supposed policies do not and may not work in Nigeria. Incidentally, he has been more critical of the monetary policies, including the list of 43 items barred from accessing foreign currency from the official market and the overall foreign exchange management, which he considers unhealthy for the country’s broader economic prospect. Contrarily, the President seems highly supportive of the CBN’s disposition on many issues, including exchange rate matters, and this is well reflected in Buhari’s appointment of Governor Godwin Emefiele for a second term of five years as the Central Bank Governor, a deviation from history that may tip Emefiele as the one of the longestserving Governor of the apex bank in its sixty-three years history, second to the late Abdulkadir Ahmed who served for eleven years between June 1982 and September 1993.
Late last year, Professor Salami noted five key hurdles to Nigeria’s investment climate viz: macroeconomic instability; policy inconsistency; inadequate infrastructure; insecurity; and tough business climate. It would be exciting to see how he advises the government in crossing these hurdles, especially as it is important for improving the social resilience of the country and the misery index, which he noted has risen above 50%.
Highlighting the need for fiscal consolidation, Salami was critical of geometric growth in government expenditure, which he said has more than doubled between 2015 and 2020, compared to a paltry 15% growth in revenue. He remains critical of the need to block fiscal leakages and unlock internal revenue generation at state levels to avoid the State government’s over dependence on rent. More importantly, he is an unapologetic believer in privatization, as he advocates the government needs to sell off dead assets, which he puts at an estimated $900bn. The question is whether or not President Buhari would accede to the likely privatisation orientation of Professor Salami
Salami, a faculty of the Lagos Business School who bagged his Doctoral degree in economics from Queen Mary College of the University of London, currently serves as a member of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Advisory Group for sub-Saharan Africa and a member of the Board of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group, two organisations that may have consistently advocated for a shift in President Buhari’s policy philosophy towards a market-oriented approach. So, the question is whether or not Nigeria is about to make that change in its policy orientation and what this might mean for capital flows and broader private sector development in the country.
Speaking on the appointment, Abiola Rasaq, Lagos-based financial analyst and former Chief Economist for United Bank for Africa (UBA) said “it is better late than never for the
President to formally have a supposed confidant on economic policies, which is obviously one of the missing links in the current administration and the choice of Professor Doyin Salami is apt”.
According to him, Salami “is a fearless Economist and understands the private sector as well as public service, hence he is wellrounded to appropriately advise the President on reforms requisite for reflating the economy in a more sustainable manner”.
Razaq believes that while Salami has served as Chair of the Presidential EAC for about fifty-one months, this constitutional role, which should give him closer and more frequent access to the President should help to facilitate his advisory role.
“Hopefully, the President would not only frequently seek his perspectives on germane economic issues of unemployment, inclusive growth, sectoral reforms amongst others but also trust his opinion in making some crucial policy shifts.”