By Chioma Obinagwam
There is need for Nigeria to reconstitute its Economic Management Team to include all stakeholders from all spheres of the country, such as professional bodies, labour sector, among others, to enhance the quality of the decisions reached.
Dr. Uche Uwaleke, Head of Department (HOD), Banking and Finance Department at Nasarawa State University disclosed this at a seminar organised by the CBN in Sokoto, recently.
He said: “What we have now is good but we can do better. If you check the Economic Team of Nigeria, We have people from the private sector. The challenge is that they are only from the executive arm of the government. The Economic Team should include professional bodies from labour and divers background, which would improve the quality of decisions for the good of the People.”
“Nigeria’s Economic team should be diversified and not restricted to people from the Executive alone, ” he continued.
The current Economic Management Team was effectively put in place the day the Federal Executive Council (FEC) headed by the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo was constituted.
The team’s key members include Chief of Staff to the President, Alhaji Kyari; Deputy Chief of Staff, Ade Ipaye; Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma; Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun; Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu; Minister of Trade and Investment Okechukwu Enelamah; Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, and the Director-General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Dr. Abraham Nwankwo.
Unlike what obtained in the past, Buhari’s administration did not make anybody from the private sector a member of the economic management team.
Uwaleke argues that apart from economic, the decisions of the Economic
Team also has its social implication.
He added that a better mix would be instrumental in pulling Nigeria out of recession.