To Doyin Salami : On the Nigerian Economy

My Dear Doyin.

I hope I can still call you Doyin or Prof. Now you are heading an economic rescue team that puts you in almost the same position as Okonjo Iwealla in a previous era. You are now as powerful as it gets in Nigeria . And I know that a lot of our people once they get an appointment , remember they are no longer ordinary men to be addressed in simple terms.

But I know you . That you will not be like that. You are a Prof of the prestigious Lagos Business School. And you have no airs about that. You however are proud of the knowledge which your education and experience as a teacher and adviser give you.And that is not bad

I am writing you about the task this our President has just given you. I do not know what you discussed with him before accepting. Just like Soludo and Rewane. Three of you are cerebral and in the best of circumstance are enough to turn our stubborn economy around.

But I know three of you have advised our president before in one way or the other in the past five to six years. I am not sure he has mostly listened because our economy has not looked like one that listened to advise in the past five years.

Please Resign if..

So Prof, this your new role, I hope you at least negotiated with the President a minimum condition: that you are allowed to resign with your team if you are not listened to. You are my teacher and you will be better teaching us at LBS than teach people in Aso Rock who refuse to listen. They may even drag your hard earned reputation down to where theirs are currently. We cant have that.

Our economy is not doing well Prof. I have heard it from you. From Soludo and from Rewane in the past couple of years. I was even there at the Nigerian Economic Summit around 2016(or was it 2015) when you told the President before a full house that he should constitute an economic team and have an economic plan. To be fair they partially listened and came up with EIRGP(what does that mean again?). They took a few good ideas and gave it to people who did not believe in the ideas to run. The result has been , well what we are now suffering.

But Prof, all hope is not lost. With proper advise, and grace to listen on the part of your new employer, we can cage some of the economic monsters that are staring at Nigeria and leading us to perdition. Yes. We are in trouble economically Prof. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

On 2% Growth

Our economy is not growing. Growth of less than 2% is not acceptable in Nigeria. Its not really growth. Dont let those in government tell you its growth. It is not

On Poverty and Unemployment

We are minting poverty and unemployment. Because despite VP Osinbajo distributing TradeMoni to states conducting elections, we are getting poorer. And graduates are not getting jobs. We need to create jobs. But the people in government think of job creation in terms of giving handouts to the poor.

On Ease of Doing Business

We need a government that is pro business. Business creates jobs. We need a mind shift in government about the role of business. Business is not an adversary of government. Business needs government to create the policies that will make them succeed. And then pay government the tax it requires to fund its success. Take the policy on the Ease of Doing Business . We cannot be above 100 in Ease of Doing Business. And on taxes?. We can not afford to keep raising taxes for the few businesses that dare to survive in this tough environment. I run a small business Prof and I feel the pinch. I want to run my business legally in an environment that supports me. Tell our President that business is suffering. That if we do better, he will get his taxes to improve the lot of the poor he so loves.

On Exchange Rate

I cannot advise you on whats happening at the Central Bank. I know you have been there and part of their advisory team. Perhaps now you can more than advise. We need a better exchange rate system. I suspect the CBN today has developed designer exchange rates. Like the tailors in Aba who design dresses for each customer to fit his taste. We need an exchange rate that makes us all equal before the almighty dollar. Not one that is more favorable to people going to Mecca or Jerusalem to pray for a better economy than for those actually doing the work of making the economy better.

On Fuel Subsidy

And Prof, I know your opinion on subsidy. And Soludo’s and Rewane’s. Even if I have not heard it first hand, I can Goggle it( I know you wont delete your tweets because you are now near Aso Rock). They know you are comfortable with critical opinion. Please tell President that we are all now convinced the subsidy is not good for us. We were misguided in 2012 when we trooped to oppose the removal of the same subsidy. And thankfully, Dangote Refinery is coming soon. Please tell President also to visit that refinery, pray for Dangote, and encourage him to get it up and running. Just remove the subsidy.(Why is Dangote not in your team sef? Since he is about 20% of the economy!)

I dont want this message to get too long. In this age of 280 Twitter characters, its tough to read long mails. But Nigerian problem are too many even for Twitter. And you are a Prof and reading is part of your job.

And finally, You need ….

I wish you success. I have not been a keen supporter of our president. But I have always wished he succeeded. Its good for all of us when a Nigerian President succeeds. So who can wish for his failure. But we have been failing Prof. And we need successes. The poor need you to succeed. The unemployed are praying you do. The Nigerian Business wants you to succeed. And the rest of the word want Nigeria to succeed. Its not been rosy for anyone recently.

Your appointment and that of your team is a breath of fresh air in the gloom of the past few years. I hope our optimism will not be misplaced. We have almost all exhausted our optimism. Except perhaps your new neighbors in government who are enjoying the Nigeria only they and their families can imagine.

And do not worry about Prof the VP. He is meant to be in charge of the Economy. But these are desperate times. There is fire on Nigerian mountains. We will plead with him to relax and support you. When you succeed, he will succeed also.And Nigerians will appreciate and forget.

And if you are not being listened to, remember, come back to LBS. We listen when you talk. And we are mostly better for it. You may even bring Soludo along with you. Since Rewane is already there.

Good luck