Tinubu’s forthright Minister of Finance…

As they say, I do not know Tinubu’s Minister of Finance, Taiwo Oyedele, from Adam; meaning that I am not related to him in any way. I have had no relationship or affinity with him; I have never met him in person; and I have never spoken to him or exchanged any form of communication with him on any form of media, be it digital or analogue. But I have listened to him twice: once when Seun Okinbaloye of Channels Television squared up with him and the second when he fielded questions from a cross-section of interviewers at Chatham House recently. On each occasion, he left a lasting impression on me, and I could not but wish that all public officers were like him! If they were, and if what I could glean from Oyedele’s performance was anything to go by, this country will, before long, become a better place for everyone to live in.

Oyedele is a fortuitous, accidental or lucky Minister of Finance. Pick whichever of the qualifications suits you fine! Meaning that he was not President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s original choice for the post. He was only a presidential aide, then an assistant, what in Yoruba language is called “a-mu’gba-l’egbe”, but when the original choices resigned (for reasons which they did not explicitly explain and which need not detain us here) and his replacement in an acting capacity also reportedly fumbled, Oyedele was asked to step up, first as a Minister of State in March 2026 before becoming the substantive Minister of Finance and, so far, in my own opinion, he has not disappointed.

Since 17 August 2011 during the tenure of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan when Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala served her second stint as the Minister of Finance, the double-barrelled responsibility of Coordinating Minister of the Economy has been added to the portfolio of the Minister of Finance. Muhammadu Buhari operated strictly with a Minister of Finance during his own tenure (2015 – 2023) but the sitting president, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, revived the dual portfolio with the appointment of his first Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, on 21 August 2023.

The additional responsibilities of the Minister Coordinating the Economy are awesome. I asked Google, and this is what I got: His role spans overseeing the country’s “financial architecture, fiscal policies, and strategic economic direction.” In practical terms, it means that he is responsible for “managing public finances responsibly, controlling federal revenues and expenditures, and supporting national resource mobilisation.” This is called fiscal and public finance management. He is also responsible for harmonising “economic policies across various government instruments so they do not work against one another.” This is called policy coherence and integration.

Not done yet, his duties – or powers (whichever one you prefer!) – include what is called institutional coordination, which means that he coordinates or “acts as a bridge connecting key economic institutions such as the Budget Office, the Debt Management Office, the Nigeria Revenue Service, the Nigeria Customs Service and development finance bodies.”

I am sure that by now, you must have started seeing who should be held accountable for the success or failure of this government’s economic policies! To put it in the layman’s language, the person who should be held accountable for the people’s suffering or otherwise! Whereas the buck stops on the president’s desk, the policies that impact all of us, for good or for bad, are formulated at another person’s desk. Oyedele cooks the soup – or, better still, Oyedele prepares the pill, bitter or sweet; Tinubu merely serves it!

That is not all there is to Oyedele’s powers: He also “fosters cooperation across the three tiers of government (federal, state, and local)” as well as “engages with the private sector, investors, and civil society.” This is called intergovernmental and stakeholder alignment. Oyedele’s role also empowers him to promote an investor-friendly environment, drive revenue optimisation, broaden the tax base, and lead initiatives like fiscal federalism and economic diversification.

Have I, with this, blown Oyedele’s cover? Do we now know whom to address concerning the direction of the Tinubu administration’s economic policies? But that was not my intention when I chose to write on this man after listening to him field questions at Chatham House! But writers will tell you that once they sit before their laptop and begin to bang the keyboards, certain spirits take control and one’s brain and thinking faculties develop a life of their own and lead in their own direction, sometimes landing someone at a destination least expected!

Oyedele is my brother in the Nigerian parlance. We come from the same senatorial district in Ondo State. He is from Ikare-Akoko while I am from Owo (Ogho). We are immediate neighbours. Depending on where he is coming from, he must pass through my place before getting to his. Of course, Owo and Akoko have their own local politics. We have twice been governor of the state (Pa Michael Adekunle Ajasin: 1979 – 1983; Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu: 2017 – 2023) while Akoko through Chief Adebayo Adefarati has been governor only once (1999 – 2003) but they have dominated senatorial elections and federal appointments almost to the total exclusion of Owo. We remain brothers all the same and usually do not find it difficult to amicably resolve our differences or quickly close ranks when “others” are involved. I am sure you know what I mean!

In writing this, I set out to express my observations of this young Nigerian professional doing great things. He was born a year after I left secondary school in 1974. I was attracted by his simplicity and fluidity as he makes his points. He cuts the impression of someone who knows his onions. He appears to be on top of the issues he discusses. No airs. He was not provoked even by a master of the provocation art like Seun Okinbaloye. He not only makes his points, he teaches – not lectures. He uses no abusive or derogatory words. Can we still find a highly placed public servant so refined and so focused? Twice, Oyedele has answered that question in the affirmative.

I am by no means saying that Oyedele has all the answers to the country’s economic woes. He does not, and he never said he did. Has he solved all the problems bedevilling our economy? He has not, and he never said he has! Does he lay any know-it-all claims? None, from all that I have heard him say. But he interests me with his forthrightness. He lays it all bare. The problems. Their origins. This administration’s preferred solutions. The contrary opinions and why they may not work in our present circumstances. The likely consequences of going back on Tinubu’s reforms. He recognises the hardship the reforms have caused and are still causing.

At Chatham, he graphically painted the picture of someone in a manhole, who must first get out of the hole before he can make any meaningful progress. That was how he explained Nigeria’s zero growth pre-Tinubu. And I could picture that scenario in my mind’s eye. Oyedele will make a great teacher if he chooses that profession. He knows how to make his points; maybe because I, too, love teaching!

We have serious problems and Oyedele admitted that much. Zero growth is one. The economy was actually run down. Indebtedness was massive. Foreign reserves were near zero level. But for Tinubu’s reforms, we may by now have found ourselves at the Venezuela or Mugabe’s Zimbabwe junction. Revenue expectations have not been met. When he spoke of “faith-based economy” (budgets prepared on unrealistic projections and hopes that were never realised), it explained why we have multiple budget cycles running side by side and colliding with one another.

In a nutshell, I found his explanations convincing. His methods may be orthodox, which is typical of Western-style capitalist economic thinkers, but he appears sincere in his determination to see the country out of the woods. Indeed, he says Nigeria is already out of the hole; the next step is for it to start moving forward. His optimism is reassuring, but…

And it is a big but! I have not seen much of wealth creation; after stabilising the economy, wealth creation should attract the attention of this government. Borrowing and taxes may stabilise the economy, but it is wealth generation that will move it forward and make the people prosperous. Wealth is created when we exploit the resources God has deposited in the soil, in the air, and in the seas and waters. We are not doing much in that direction yet. Or if we are, the ministers charged with those responsibilities must do what Oyedele is doing – if they have the capacity. We shall soon return to that.

There was a time when the entire world resembled what Nigeria looks like today. The Bible records that the world was without form, and darkness covered the entire face of the world. There was darkness. There was despair. There was gloom. There was hopelessness. Nothing worked. What did God do? He first created light. No nation can effectively and efficiently harness its God-given resources and achieve its true potential without power supply. So, our priority ought to be power supply. Unfortunately, we have performed miserably in this regard. God’s first miracle was power supply; and since man was created in the image of God, our priority should also be power supply.

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The second is that man should be at the centre of every developmental effort. Nothing can be achieved if the right attention is not placed on man himself. The first is his security because without life, there is no man. Next is food security. Agriculture, tilling the ground, and exploiting its resources must be next. But since we found crude oil, we have neglected agriculture both for subsistence and export. Next is health, but today, our health facilities are in their worst ever state while our leaders take pleasure in junketing abroad for medical attention that they have neglected to provide here. Education comes next in my own priority list.

Once there is power supply, food is provided, man is in sound health, education that enables us to fully tap into our God-given resources (instead of waiting on expatriates who exploit us) should come next. The Tinubu administration’s loan scheme for undergraduates is good, but countries that value education do far more than that. They make education compulsory, free, and/or affordable at all levels. It is an invaluable investment; not a waste.

Let me end by advising that ministers in the critical sectors listed above should take a cue from Oyedele – if they are able. No one who will embarrass the country like Bwala should be allowed to address the world on our behalf. If ministers in the critical sectors mentioned above can be as fluid, fluent, forthright, simple, humble, and ready to engage like I have watched Oyedele do on the two occasions mentioned above, Tinubu, their principal, will have little work to do towards the 2027 presidential election.