Tinubu’s new economic teams positive move but VP should be more involved – Ex-Presidential Aide

The new set of economic teams recently announced by the President Bola Tinubu Administration is a positive step that shows the President is aware of the need for a better coordination of the economy, according to former Presidential Aide and veteran journalist, Mr. Laolu Akande. He made this known while speaking on Channels TV’s Sunrise […]

The new set of economic teams recently announced by the President Bola Tinubu Administration is a positive step that shows the President is aware of the need for a better coordination of the economy, according to former Presidential Aide and veteran journalist, Mr. Laolu Akande.

He made this known while speaking on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday.

President Tinubu recently announced the formation of the Presidential Economic Coordination Council, which includes high-ranking officials such as the Vice President, Senate President, and the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, among others. The President also composed a new Emergency Taskforce of the Economic Management Team to be lead by Coordinating Minister for the Economy.

According to a statement from the Presidency, this move aims to enhance the nation’s economic governance framework.

Akande commended the President for prioritizing better coordination of economic policies through the establishment of the Economic Coordination Council and the increased visibility of the Economic Management Team.

However, he cautioned that the Council’s creation could potentially create tension regarding its relationship with the constitutionally mandated National Economic Council.

Akande lauded the President saying he has demonstrated that he is “quite responsive on the need for some kind of better coordination of economic direction of government which seems to have been confirmed with the inauguration of the Presidential Economic Coordination Council and then trying to make the Economic Management Team more visible by having a Task Force. It’s a good thing.

“That coordination has been missing and that role is a critical function. In the past administration, what happened was in-between 2015 and 2019, you had an Economic Management Team which is different from the National Economic Council. Many people mix up the two,” Akande said.

“The problem that I see in this Council is that it creates some kinds of tension between it and the National Economic Council. We already have a National Economic Council which is a designation by the Constitution. So, this Council [Presidential Economic Coordination Council] at the level of the president… is manageable.”

However, Akande emphasized the importance of increased Vice Presidential involvement in the newly formed economic teams. He suggested that greater VP participation would enhance coordination and ensure a more inclusive decision-making process. He specifically suggested that the Vice President should chair the Economic Management Team and also the team’s Emergency Taskforce.

The veteran journalist advised Tinubu to make Vice President Kashim Shettima the Chairman of the Economic Management Task Force and not a minister because such an arrangement is “inelegant”. He said “In that Task Force, there are at least 3 Governors including [Anambra State Governor] Professor Soludo. Now, it is inelegant to have a minister chair a meeting of Governors. If you have 3 Governors sitting down there, it is inelegant to ask a minister to chair it. Because, in the order of protocol, the Governor is senior to the minister. This is why the Constitution, in the formation of the National Economic Council where the Governors come, the Constitution says the Vice President should chair.

“What I would have expected President Tinubu to do is to put Shettima there to chair the Economic Management Team so that the Governors will see the need to be there. The Governor is elected, the minister is not.

“The Governors will go to a meeting chaired by Shettima, not the one chaired by a minister,” the former presidential aide noted.

The former presidential aide further stressed the need to clearly define the roles of big private sector players in direct policy-making. He said, “The involvement of big time players in the economy in direct policy making is something to be managed properly to the extent that somebody like [former President Muhammadu] Buhari said ‘I don’t want them taking part in direct policy making.'”

The President’s move is “in furtherance of his administration’s efforts at re-engineering the nation’s economic governance framework,” the Presidency said in a statement signed by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale.

The newly established Economic Management Team Emergency Taskforce comprises private sector players including Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote; UBA Chairman, Mr. Tony Elumelu; BUA Founder, Abdulsamad Rabiu, Ms. Amina Maina, Mr. Begun Ajayi-Kadir, Mrs. Funke Okpeke and Dr. Doyin Salami.

Other private-sector members of the PECC are Mr. Patrick Okigbo, Mr. Kola Adesina, Mr. Segun Agbaje, Mr. Chidi Ajaere, Mr. Abdulkadir Aliu and Mr. Rasheed Sarumi.