Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesperson for the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has questioned whether Taiwo Oyedele, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, has the appropriate educational background to manage Nigeria’s economy.
Abdullahi made the remarks on Monday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, while commenting on the Federal Government’s 30-day fuel price reduction initiative.
He argued that subsidy policies were ideological and that economic decisions should be guided by the expertise required to understand the country’s economic realities.
“I’m not saying he’s incompetent, but I think he doesn’t have the right education,” Abdullahi said.
“Because, look, the issue of subsidy is ideological. And we have to understand where you are coming from. I mean, I’m talking about an economy, this Nigerian economy.”
The ADC spokesperson, however, said his criticism was not a personal attack on Oyedele, whom he described as intelligent and said he respected.
“No, I’m not going personal. Like I said, I have utmost respect for him. And I think he’s quite a smart guy. I’m not taking that away from him,” he said.
Abdullahi argued that different academic disciplines approach economic issues differently, stressing the need for people with relevant training to manage the country’s economy.
“But what I’m saying is that the way an accountant reviews an economy is not the same way an economist reviews it. And the same way a classical economist would look at it is not the way a development economist would look at it.
“We need people who are trained to do this job to do it,” he added.
Oyedele holds a Higher National Diploma in Accountancy and Finance from Yaba College of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom.
He also completed executive education programmes at the London School of Economics, Yale University, Gordon Institute of Business Science and Harvard Kennedy School.
Before his appointment as Minister of State for Finance, Oyedele spent 22 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he rose to become the firm’s first fiscal policy partner and Africa tax leader.
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