…says FG must take responsibility for Economic challenges
….Tinubu’s reforms already yielding results-Edun
….as Governor Otti calls for leadership discipline, human capital investment to unlock Africa’s prosperity
The Emir of Kano, His Royal Highness Muhammadu Sanusi II, and renowned economist and founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank, Dr. Atedo Peterside, have called on Nigerian leaders to embrace economic discipline, sincerity, and accountability in governance, warning that without these, the pains of current reforms may never translate into real gains for citizens.
Both spoke on Tuesday at the Oxford Global Think Tank Leadership Conference and Book Launch held in Abuja, where top policymakers and economic experts gathered to discuss the theme of leadership and reform in Nigeria.
Peterside, known for his long-standing advocacy for economic transparency, commended President Bola Tinubu’s administration for removing the fuel subsidy but said that the real challenge lies in what is done with the additional revenue generated.
According to him, “I’m somebody who, I believe, is speaking the truth all the time. So you are quoting me in 2012, you can quote me in 2025
the issues will not change. I’m not one of those people who, when you are out of government, you fight against fuel subsidy, and when you are in government, you advocate for it.”
He said the administration deserves credit for taking bold steps many governments had avoided for decades.
“I’ll be the first one to give credit to this government for removing the fuel subsidy, which some of us started calling for from the very first economic summit over 30 years ago. But the same president must take the blame for sabotaging the efforts to remove the fuel subsidy in the past, in 2012,” Peterside added.
While commending recent economic adjustments such as a more market-driven exchange rate, he stressed that these were only the first steps, and that Nigeria’s real test was ensuring accountability in how the increased revenue is used.
“Those measures improve fiscal balance. They give all three tiers of government so much more revenue. And that’s where the problem starts. What is the point of giving the thief more revenue if he’s only going to steal it?” Peterside asked pointedly.
He continued: “The real test is what is being done with that revenue in their hands. Is that revenue supposed to be used to fuel 400 cars to escort the president to the airport? The real result should be to help eliminate poverty, to get the economy functioning.”
Peterside argued that while the removal of subsidies and market reforms were necessary, their benefits could only be realized through proper governance and targeted social support. “It’s not true that gain follows pain. Gain follows pain only if you are doing the right things after putting the pain in place,” he emphasized.
He urged the government to build an inclusive economy that does not depend on connections or proximity to power.
“We want an economy where you don’t need to know the government to invest here and do business. I can clap for you for removing subsidy and for market-determined exchange rates — those are one-day actions. If you want me to keep clapping, show me the rest of your actions after those two things.”
In his remarks, the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, also a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), provided an incisive analysis of the country’s economic trajectory, saying many of Nigeria’s challenges stemmed from a failure to act on sound economic advice.
He said, “It’s extremely important for us to try to understand economics and how the economy works. A failure to understand economics sometimes leads to misplaced expectations. There’s a role for the Central Bank, there’s a role for the Ministry of Finance. You’ve got monetary policy, fiscal policy, structural policies, and institutional reforms.”
Sanusi recalled the events of 2012 when the Jonathan administration attempted to remove the fuel subsidy but was resisted by protests led by opposition figures who later inherited the same problem.
“If Nigeria had allowed the Jonathan government to remove the subsidy in 2011, that would have been paid. But that pain would have been a very tiny fraction of what we’re facing today,” he said.
He revealed that the Central Bank had projected limited inflationary impact at the time and pledged to stabilize the economy within a year.
“I stood up and put my credit card on the line and said, remove the subsidy today, inflation moves up from 11% to 13%, I will bring it down in a year. We would not have had 30-something percent inflation,” Sanusi recalled.
He explained that the CBN under his leadership took measures to prevent hyperinflation and runaway devaluation.
“Nigerians don’t realize that we were on the brink of hyperinflation. We were heading in the direction of Zimbabwe. Inflation has been reined in and the runaway devaluation has been stopped. Yes, we are at ₦1,400 to the dollar, but it’s better to know it will be ₦1,400 for six months than to think it’s ₦1,400 today and ₦2,000 tomorrow,” the Emir stated.
Sanusi, however, said the real problem remained unchecked public spending and a bloated government structure.
“Some of these things, we’ve got to be honest — why do we need 48 ministers? Why do we need dozens of vehicles when we’re moving around in convoys or travelling all over the country?” he queried.
Responding to a question on why Nigerian leaders fail to heed expert advice, the Emir was forthright:
“What my experience has shown is that leaders listen to so many people, and they decide that they’re going to accept those that tell them what they want to hear. We have too many sycophants in government.”
He lamented that truth-tellers in government are often branded enemies of the state.
“People like Dr. Peterside and myself are always enemies of state because people don’t like hearing bad news. Those who tell leaders the truth are seen as their enemies, while those who praise them are rewarded,” he said.
Sanusi urged political leaders to surround themselves with people of integrity who will offer honest counsel rather than flattery.
“It is not your benefit to turn yourselves into praise singers. You disgrace yourselves and the offices you hold when you do that,” he warned.
Speaking also at the event, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, has said that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has brought about positive leadership change and economic reform designed to impact the lives of ordinary Nigerians.
According to him, “In Nigeria, leadership changed in 2023, and the Honorable President Bola Ahmed Tinubu changed it for the better. If you look at the record, if you look at the statistics, if you look at the progress that has been made since 2023 the food growth rate, the stable exchange rate, the lowering inflation those are just one side of the story. The most important aspect is the human side, the effect on people’s daily experience, the cost of food, the cost of transport, how they are living their lives.”
Edun emphasized that the federal government has put in place a “transparent, accountable, and robust” system for providing direct financial assistance to vulnerable households.
He said, “There is in place a transparent, accountable, and robust system providing direct payments, in the first instance, to a total of 15 million households. Each individual is identified by their name, by their national identity number, and they are paid digitally, either to their bank account or to their mobile wallet. So there is accountability, transparency; there is a record.”
The minister, responding to concerns about the reach of the program, revealed that data verification was ongoing to ensure that no community was left out of the initiative.
“Of course, we would like to roll out an even bigger program of direct payments, but that’s a key part of alleviating and ensuring that the reforms also produce gains right down to the lowest levels,” he stated.
He further disclosed that the National Economic Council, under the approval of President Tinubu, has introduced a “work-based development program” that will channel resources directly to communities across the country.
“There is in place a work-based development program that will take resources, that will take information, that will take funding to the 8,809 wards in the 764 local governments. This will be a way of empowering economically active people at the ward level. Small businesses, cottage industries, they will be helped, they will be supported, they will be financed, they will be funded,” Edun explained.
Highlighting the broader goals of the reforms, the minister said the government’s emphasis is not only on macroeconomic growth but on ensuring that citizens at the grassroots benefit directly from national progress.
“In Nigeria of today, the emphasis is not just on the figures — the growth figures and so on and so forth. More importantly, it is about reaching the people right down at the ward level and assisting them to be able to prosper, to be able to produce more, and to be able to lead better lives,” he said.
Edun lauded the conference’s focus on leadership development, stressing that Nigeria’s youth must embrace integrity, empathy, and responsibility as core values of leadership.
“When we look at what we heard from the young people today, they talked about empathy, they talked about integrity, they talked about love, and they talked about responsibility. That way of thinking is certainly the way that we want our young leaders thinking,” Edun said.
He congratulated the organizers for convening a national conversation on leadership, describing it as “all-important to the progress and transformation of Nigeria.”
“So on that note, Ms. Arunawote, I congratulate you on this all-important conference. And on your behalf, I thank so many distinguished people who have come here to identify with you, to be part of this, and to be part of the conversation about the all-important item of leadership in Nigeria,” he concluded.
The event also featured remarks from global figures, including the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who emphasized the need for courageous leadership and institutional reform to navigate global economic challenges.
Speaking also, Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, said that Africa’s development will remain elusive unless its leaders embrace discipline, invest in education, and build human capital capable of transforming the continent’s abundant natural resources into sustainable wealth.
According to him, “No matter how much mineral resources you have, if you do not have the right leadership, you will not make a lot of progress.”
He said after more than a century of development studies, the world had realized that natural resources alone do not guarantee prosperity.
“It has been proven that natural resources, without the requisite human intellect to make the most of them, can in themselves become a hypothesis to a society’s development aspirations,” he stated.
Governor Otti observed that while some nations have achieved remarkable progress with limited natural wealth, others richly endowed with resources continue to languish in poverty.
“Everyone in this room knows perhaps a dozen countries around the world that developed with minimal income from crude mineral extraction,” he said, adding that “we also know another dozen countries blessed with abundant natural resources, and yet genuine development remains a disease.”
The governor described development as “a human function, a rigorous intellectual exercise, and the end product of a blessed heart,” stressing that progress is sustained by “the discipline of leadership, the power of ideas, and the courage of execution.”
He urged African societies to prioritize education and human capital development, warning that without the “critical mass of individuals committed to making the most of natural resources,” mineral wealth would only become “litter that could trigger undesirable outcomes.”
Otti, who hailed the founder of the Oxford Global Center, Professor Arun Mahadir, and former World Bank Vice President, Dr. (Mrs.) Arunma Oteh, for their intellectual contributions, described Oteh’s new book “All Hands on Deck: Prosperity Through World-Class Capital Markets” as “an excellent treatise on economic freedom, preservation of national sovereignty, and integration of domestic financiers into the development metrics.”
He said, “What makes this book truly exceptional is that it was written from a place of experience, with important anecdotes that break down the technical elements of the discussion for readers without extensive knowledge of economics and finance.”
Otti added that the book presents “important leadership lessons and a new paradigm for national development,” saying its message was particularly timely for Nigeria, which he described as being “at a crossroads with millions of people uncertain about the future.”
He called for a rethinking of Nigeria’s leadership recruitment system, which he said has prioritized mediocrity over merit.
“At the heart of our challenge is the dysfunctional leadership recruitment template that promotes chaos and mediocrity. The setbacks we have encountered in recent decades are the natural consequences of treating leadership development as a distant concern,” he declared.
The governor further criticized a system that “places scant regard on character, treats compassion as weakness, mistakes evidence for competence, and promotes the noisy as the truly courageous.”
Speaking on Abia State’s development priorities, Otti disclosed that his administration has consistently devoted a significant portion of its budget to education and health as part of its human capital development agenda.
“For the past two years, 20 percent of our budgetary provisions have gone to the education sector, and we are likely going to remain unparalleled for the foreseeable future,” he revealed.
He announced that the state’s policy of free and compulsory education has already doubled school enrollment within three months. “Between July and the middle of October, enrollment increased by 100 percent. We recently recruited more than 5,000 teachers for the public school system, and preparations are in place to recruit another batch of 4,000,” he said.
The governor added that the state was also making significant investments in healthcare infrastructure and services, allocating 15 percent of its public expenditure in line with the 2001 Abuja Declaration.
“The target is to have a well-equipped and staffed medical facility within walking distance in all parts of the state,” he said.
According to him, over 800 of the planned 1,200 primary healthcare centers across the state have already been functionalized.
“We have stayed in the difficulties of mediocrity for too long. At 65, we should be able to stand firmly on our feet and march forward with an unusual resolve to pay whatever price is required to fertilize the great estate that our nation has endowed us with,” he stated.
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