By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Barring any last-minute change, Mr Bola Tinubu will be inaugurated as the President of Nigeria on May 29, 2023, taking over from Mr Muhammadu Buhari, after he was declared winner of the February 25, 2023, presidential election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He will inherit a battered economy and would be expected to get the ground running to endear himself to some Nigerians, who are not happy with his emergence.
As Mr Tinubu prepares for his next job, some public affairs experts and economists have warned him about policy loopholes that can derail the administration. They identified critical areas that have put Nigeria in bad shape, which should be his major concern.
These pit holes include risk-unconscious over-dependence on hydrocarbons – oil accounted for 90.5 per cent of merchandise trade in 2022; poor policy coordination – expansionary fiscal operations, driven by massive borrowings vis-à-vis contractionary monetary policy; fiscal inefficiency and revenue leakages – recourse to borrowing (it is relatively easy) and doing so inefficiently (largely through CBN), largely funding recurrent expenditure; counterproductive fiscal policies- Fiscal Policy Reform (FPR) weakening manufacturing activities and new investments; misplaced priorities – deepening brown economy and disregarding sub-national comparative advantage, and discourages productivity and weak social compact.
These were part of submissions at the 3rd National Policy Dialogue webinar organized by the Public Affairs Service of CMC Connect LLP, Perception Consulting, on Thursday, May 11, 2023.
The webinar themed Setting a Fiscal Policy Agenda for The Bola Ahmed Tinubu Administration, aimed to foster a national discourse on the fiscal policy direction of the incoming government, especially in the areas of regulations, taxation, excise duties and other policies that are making the ecosystem unfriendly for business growth.
The keynote speaker, a distinguished economist renowned for his expertise in fiscal policy, banking, finance, and public sector consulting, Dr Abiodun Adedipe, stated that “The fiscal inefficiency, revenue leakages, misplaced priorities, risk-unconscious over-dependence on hydrocarbons, poor policy coordination, and counterproductive fiscal policies are the major reasons Nigeria is in bad shape.
“However, I believe this discourse will serve as a platform to tell the incoming government the need to engage the private sector deeply in formulating and reshaping economic policies that will make Nigeria and the productive sectors bounce back, thereby promoting a better Nigeria,” he said.
Furthermore, he said, “What we are selling to Tinubu`s administration is to set an agenda for ourselves, to be the top 10 economy in ten years’ time.”
Mr Adedipe eloquently elaborated on strategic directions for Bola Tinubu Government. He said, in the immediate, the incoming government should match non-oil revenue to recurrent spending, aggressively promote exports to the world market, starting with African countries, strengthen domestic manufacturing, and interrogate the nexus between import and export tariffs.
Elaborating further, the policy expert and Chief Consultant at B. Adedipe Associates recommended that the Tinubu government should ensure actionable, consistent and coherent fiscal, trade and monetary policies by promoting high-level actions on policy coordination and ownership, unified voice on policy pronouncement, setting the right tone at the top, revamp reform on Ease of Doing Business, evaluate policies based on deliverables. He espoused that the government must expand non-oil fiscal space, push for tax/GDP ratio of 15 per cent and above, and align fiscal, monetary and trade policies.
Dipo Olowookere