Kingsley Moghalu, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has said bad governance brought Nigeria to the current economic quagmire, saying “If you cannot govern the people well, you cannot manage the economy.”
Moghalu, who spoke as the Keynote Speaker at the 16th annual LEADERSHIP Conference and Awards in Abuja on Tuesday, also recommended that President Bola Tinubu should set up a seven-man team of economic advisors to help proffer solutions to the issues.
He, however, condemned the recently constituted economic advisory team by the President as simply a combination of businessmen who are also players in the economy. He said the implications are that they would not give the desired outcome for the revival of the economy.
According to Moghalu, the authorities should do self-examination on how to address the fundamentals of the prevailing economic crisis in the country, adding that, “The best time is now for us to address the crisis.”
While admitting that the removal of petrol subsidies and free float of the Naira were bold and correct decisions of the government, Moghalu highlighted some mistakes by the Tinubu administration, which, he said, have exacerbated the current crises.
He said Nigerians should have been educated on why the subsidy had to go and the modalities on ground to manage the fallout of the policies.
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Moghalu further stated that President Tinubu’s cabinet took too long to be formed in a sensitive period when the government inherited an economic mess, a reason he said further jeopardised the already battered economy.
He said the main reason for Nigeria’s current quagmire was absence of nationhood, which he said was responsible for the crises facing the nation. He, therefore, urged the government to restrategise to make a difference.
He also counseled the Federal Government and the CBN to go after chief executives of commercial banks for round-tripping and manipulation of the foreign exchange rate instead of scapegoating Cryptocurrency traders for the free fall of the Naira.
It will be recalled that the federal government had recently clamped down on BINANCE, including detaining its top officials, for allegedly manipulating the Forex market.