Buhari’s Lopsided Appointments Grounding Nigeria’s Economy- Moghalu

A former Central Bank of Nigeria Deputy Governor, Kingsley Moghalu, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s lopsided appointment is currently grounding Nigeria’s economy.

Moghalu who on Tuesday  declared intention to vie for the office of the President in 2023 under Young Progressives Party (YPP) also accused Buhari and past governments of treating government corporations as spoils of political war. 

He made the claims on Wednesday during a Channel’s TV Programme.

Nigerians over the past six years are facing high inflation at 18.12 per cent in April, despite low consumer income, while over 23 million people are currently unemployed, according to official government data.

To worsen the bite of the inflation, the purchasing power of the naira has depleted to N498 per dollar at the parallel market where businesses mostly go to get dollar.

Nigeria’s reserves has seen persistent decline over low crude oil prices which makes up over 95 per cent of foreign exchange earnings and insecurity has tripled over the past six years. 

Both the domestic and foreign investors have accused the government of making Nigeria  harsh  for them,  resulting to a drop in investment inflow by 21.21 per cent from $3.3bn to $2.6bn in 2020, according to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Moghalu said, “Why must the President practically appoint everyone in the country that’s part of the problem. Members of political parties are appointed Director-Generals of very important government parastatals.

“This should not be the case. The members of the boards directors could be politically affiliated, but I think its wrong to be appointing politicians as pretty much CEOs of government institutions. “

He explained this is why there is no separation between government institutions and the political party in power at all levels.

Moghalu said the National Assembly has a very strong role to play, adding that such role had yet to be placed by the parliament.

He said, “You may appoint politically affiliated people to the boards of government corporations, but one of the problems with it  is that it has led to a complete break down of corporate governance in the public sector.

“There is no corporate governance in Nigeria’s public sector. I would say the dividing lines stop at board level. The CEOs and down should be carrier technocrats. That is the approach I would take.

“Now even at the board level, you should be also able to appoint people who may not be politically affiliated and mix them with people who are politically affiliated so there is a balance of corporate governance in government institutions.

“Looking at the public sectors as spoils of political war is why this country is not properly governed. The economy is grounding, security is grounded, everything is grounded in this country.”

Moghalu faulted electorates who have over the years criticized technocrats eyeing the country’s biggest political position.

Moghalu said, “There is something in this country that is a kind of opposed to intellectuals in politics, you see citizens saying ‘that man is blowing grammar’ that shows that the citizen himself does not know what he or she actually needs for his or her own progress.

“If you have been electing people who are not blowing grammar, they are doing ‘practical’, well how far? why is the economy the way it is?… If you cannot think it, you cannot do it.”