The Economist magazine has dismissed newly appointed Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, as ill-equipped for the job handed her by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The magazine in its assessment of President Buhari’s cabinet suggests that Adeosun’s qualification and skills may not suitable for the current challenges the Nigerian economy faces despite her having acquitted herself well as Commissioner for Finance in Ogun State. The magazine said of her:
“Africa’s biggest economy, which relies on oil for 70% of its revenue, is sputtering as prices fall. Economic policy has been adrift since Mr Buhari came to power, and investors complain about the central bank’s use of trade controls and import restrictions. However, the new finance minister, an accountant who cleaned up the books of one of Nigeria’s smaller states, is poorly qualified for the job.”
Adeosun holds an economics degree from the University of East London and a post graduate degree in public financial management from the University of London and she spent time working with Price Water Coopers and Chapel Hill Denham Management. She served as Commissioner for Finance in Ogun State from 2011 to 2015.
She replaced as Nigerian Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former Managing Director of the World Bank, who had served two administrations in that capacity.
Of Okechukwu Enelamah Minister for Trade and Investment, the magazine said he is a respected businessman but “may lack the clout to stand up to a president with statist leanings’
On the composition of President Buhari’s cabinet as a whole, the magazine notes:
“The president has failed to please all as he juggles the demands of his party and people. His decision to keep the oil post for himself, while appointing the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s new head as his deputy, was designed to keep the valuable resource in hands he can trust. But it raises concerns over the centralisation of power. Ethnic groups of the south-east who mostly voted for Mr Jonathan in this year’s election are feeling neglected. Critics also fret over an absence of desperately needed financial expertise”.
Curled from The Nigerian Times
