Buhari Administration And The Use of Emergency Powers By Abdul Ajia

Sonala Olumhense as usual aptly captured the Nigerian situation over the last 15 months under the Buhari administration in his latest article published on the 28th of August, 2016 in major Nigerian media outlets.


I agree with those who claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari has enough executive authority to execute the policies that his economic council just identified as critical towards getting Nigeria out of the present ongoing recession. I have read the policy initiatives as reported by the Punch Newspaper and while still waiting on the draft proposal by the Buhari administration, as an Economist and policy analyst, I admit that the policy changes suggested by the National Economic Council are sound and necessary. The problem, as I suggested on another thread is in the language (emergency powers) that was used to convey the message.

As any communication scholar or practitioner will tell you, the way we communicate is very crucial towards getting the desired outcome. As with previous Nigerian Presidents, this administration is not well served by the men and women charged with conveying the administration’s message to the Nigerian public. Instead of asking for emergency powers, why not look into the expanded use of Executive Powers? If the administration communicates the use of expanded executive powers to the public, perhaps, the majority of those who are rightfully worried about executive power grab may be at ease and would not ascribe other meanings to the President’s intention.

Besides the semantics of the language used to communicate the need for more executive powers, there are other areas of policy that the Buhari administration has to embrace.

1. Remove the flexible exchange window, embrace full market exchange rate, and regulate all Bureau de Change fully like any other financial institution (The BDCs are illegal money laundering shops that have been allowed to operate on the margins of the financial market in Nigeria for too long)

2. Subsidize staple foods. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to those who are familiar with my economic thought that I am in support of food subsidy. While I am fundamentally against the subsidy on petrol because it is an unconscionable transfer of wealth from the state to favoured personalities, the food subsidy being proposed here will do what the petrol subsidy couldn’t. The two major staples consumed by the majority of Nigerians and across the geographical divides are rice and wheat and in light of the present astronomical rise in both, the Buhari administration has a duty to engage many of Nigeria’s strategic investors to help the administration through the power of their scalability to drive down the price of both. While we are pursuing reasonable import substitution for both staples, the Nigerian people must not be made to suffer for the greed of a few amongst us. The administration is also encouraged to partner with these investors in promoting its agro allied initiatives.

3. I encourage President Buhari as a matter of urgency to look closely into the CBN act and take appropriate actions towards making the CBN a true Treasury bank. From all indications, the CBN and especially under its present leadership is not functioning as one. As the events of the last 15 months have shown, the market reacts negatively and positively as the case may be to the actions and inactions of the leadership at the Treasury. While the CBN act grants the CBN tremendous autonomy, yet, the overall economic direction rest on the shoulders of the President. The President needs to act boldly to boost investor confidence.

4. The EFCC should be reorganized and the practice of selecting lower ranked police officers to man the EFCC should be jettisoned. I am advising the Buhari administration to find seasoned incorruptible Nigerian lawyers in Nigeria or abroad with specialization in economic crimes to head the anti graft agency. Also, the Buhari administration’s corruption fight should not be seen to be selective and if some of the president’s serving aides, associates and party members are caught in the process, justice must be seen to be done.

5. Finally, I understand the president may be constrained through the Nigerian constitution to have a certain number of people in the National Economic Council, yet, the same constitution has granted the president enormous powers to act on behalf of the Nigerian people in matters that he considers to be right. In the light of this, I am advising the president to constitute an Adhoc Economic Think Tank besides the National Economic Council. This proposed initiative would not duplicate the work of the National Economic Council but will strengthen it. I expect that the members of this Economic Think Tank would be men and women that understand how the economy works and how jobs come and go. I encourage the President to go for scholar – practitioners who not only understand modern economic theories and postulations but have also had opportunities in their careers to lead national or multinational organizations with proven results. Nigeria is blessed with these personalities both at home and abroad.

I wish the Buhari administration the best of luck as they move gradually into the midterm of their mandate and I pray to God to have mercy on the Nigerian people.