By Reuben Abati
President Muhammadu Buhari recently set up an Economic Advisory Council, to replace the country’s Economic Management Team. He also moved some departments and agencies of government to the new Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. I don’t see why this should become a source of agitation and frustration for some Nigerians. The Economic Advisory Council is chaired by Professor Doyin Salami, a seasoned intellectual. The members are persons of great technocratic ability with a track record of achievement as economists and policy wonks. The Council will meet every month and meet with the President every quarter. The Nigerian economy can certainly benefit from new ideas and perspectives. It is also refreshing to see the President put together a team that is not made up of party members, dead woods, or sycophants. Each member of the Economic Advisory Council inspires confidence. There is a consensus that the President got it right with the list. What the Advisory Council needs is the President’s support and an enabling environment for it to be able to make a difference. How do we achieve double-digit economic growth? What are the fiscal and monetary policies that can position the Nigerian economy differently, for better performance? What do we need to do to reduce unemployment? What kind of injection does the real sector need? The Council can also help generate robust discussions within government on key issues that affect all of us. It is also a good development that the President is personally taking charge of the economy. The Council will report to him directly. I don’t have a problem with that.
I also like the idea of a new Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. Such a sharply-focused Ministry should serve as a strategic hub for the management of the many disasters that keep occurring across the country. The missing link in existing efforts is the lack of co-ordination and synergy among various agencies and between the states and the Federal government. This ministry could help send a signal that the Nigerian government now intends to place a higher premium on human lives. It is about time the country took disaster management and humanitarian care more seriously.
I expected many Nigerians to focus on the value of these two initiatives. Instead, what I hear is a disturbing conversation about how both amount to an “enemy action” to whittle down the influence and authority of the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. Previously, the Vice President was the chairman of the Economic Management Team and the National Economic Council. The first is an ad hoc administrative structure focusing on the economy; the latter is a statutory, constitutional body. I do not share most of the views that have been expressed, or the obvious attempt to politicize what in reality is within the authority of the President. Afenifere says for example, that the “office of the Vice President has been rendered useless, impotent and irrelevant.” How? Just because the President sets up an Economic Advisory Council and created a new Ministry to ensure greater service delivery in a critical area of national concern? The Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) says Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is being “maltreated” and “that the unconstitutional stripping of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo’s official attributes amounts to …continuous humiliation of Christians in high positions of current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.” There you go. Nigerians are always quick to play the ethnic and religious card. Some other commentators claim that they see the hands of an anti-Osinbajo cabal in the matter. At least one Pastor has prophesied that the cabal will fail. Others have argued that certain forces are determined to stop Vice President Osinbajo just in case he is nursing a 2023 Presidential ambition. Persons have been named who have been penciled down as the VP’s likely replacement. The various conspiracy theories seem suspicious.
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https://reubenabati.com.ng/index.php/component/k2/item/8810-opinion-presidential-powers-and-the-vp-reuben-abati
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