Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesperson of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), says Taiwo Oyedele, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, may not have the right educational background to manage Nigeria’s economy.
Abdullahi spoke Monday during an interview on Channels
Television’s Politics Today, while commenting on the federal government’s
30-day fuel price reduction initiative.
He said subsidy policies were ideological and that economic
decisions should be guided by the right expertise.
“I’m not saying he’s incompetent, but I think he doesn’t
have the right education,” he said.
“Because, look, the issue of subsidy is ideological. And we
have to understand where you are coming from. I mean, I’m talking about an
economy, this Nigerian economy.
Abdullahi said he was not attacking Oyedele personally,
adding that he respected him and considered him intelligent.
“No, I’m not going personal. Like I said, I have utmost
respect for him. And I think he’s quite a smart guy. I’m not taking that away
from him,” he said.
“But what I’m saying is that the way an accountant reviews
an economy is not the same way an economist reviews it. And the same way a
classical economist would look at it is not the way a development economist
would look at it.
“We need people who are trained to do this job to do it.”
Oyedele holds a higher national diploma (HND) in accountancy
and finance from Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) and a bachelor’s degree
in applied accounting at the Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom
(UK).
He completed executive education programmes at the London
School of Economics, Yale University, Gordon Institute of Business Science and
Harvard Kennedy School.
Before his appointment as minister of state for finance,
Oyedele spent 22 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he rose to become
the firm’s first fiscal policy partner and Africa tax leader.
Oyedele announced last Thursday that the federal government
would offer a 30-day discount on petrol sold at filling stations operated by
the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited.
The minister said transporters would receive priority,
adding that the measure was not a subsidy but an arrangement for the government
to sell petrol at cost.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar accused President Bola
Tinubu of adopting his petrol subsidy proposal but limiting the measure to a
30-day discount.
Atiku, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential
candidate, said Tinubu had previously described him as ignorant of economic
policy when he proposed targeted support to reduce fuel costs.
Atiku added that the Tinubu administration had dismissed his
proposal as unworkable.
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