…Tasks Members On Impactful Roles On Reforms
The Federal Government has inaugurated a Ministerial Advisory Committee to provide independent, evidence-based reviews of its economic reforms in furtherance of its ongoing policy reforms with a view to ensuring that the benefits get to ordinary Nigerians.
Speaking at the inauguration of the committee on Tuesday in Abuja, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, said the committee would offer external, data-driven advice to strengthen economic policymaking and ensure that reforms translate into improved living standards.
According to him the committee marks a shift to a public-policy-private partnership aimed at improving the quality of government decisions.
- Advertisement -
The minister said: “Today is not simply about constituting another committee. It is about institutionalising a new way of thinking, a new way of solving problems, a new way of connecting ideas with implementation and strengthening the quality of economic decision-making in service of the Nigerian people.”
According to him, the present administration has undertaken some of the country’s most difficult economic reforms over the past three years, including the removal of petrol subsidies, exchange rate unification and comprehensive tax reforms, noting that the next phase was ensuring that Nigerians experienced their benefits.
While acknowledging that the reforms have imposed immediate costs on households, businesses and communities, Oyedele maintained that they were necessary because sustainable development cannot be built on fiscal illusion.
He explained: “The true measure of reform is not the number of policies announced or macroeconomic indicators cited. It is the number of jobs created, inflation declining, the naira stabilising and businesses investing with confidence. It is about the number of lives improved. That is why this committee has been established.”
Oyedele pointed out that the committee would not exercise executive authority or duplicate the work of existing government institutions but would instead provide independent, constructive advice capable of strengthening government decisions.
The minister charged members of the committee to examine the second and third-order effects of government policies, identify emerging risks before they become crises, incorporate international best practices into policymaking and provide feedback on how reforms were affecting businesses and communities.
Oyedele further explained that the natural instinct in government was often to act quickly, to announce, to declare progress and to move to the next initiative, stressing that quick actions without rigorous analysis frequently create new problems while solving old ones.
He said the committee’s work would be anchored on four pillars comprising economic policy advisory, public financial management, economic coordination and translating reforms into measurable outcomes.
On economic policy, the minister said the government required data-driven advice to achieve its development priorities of job creation, stronger economic growth, improved productivity and higher revenue generation.
Oyedele said: “The government’s aspiration remains bold, achieving seven per cent annual real GDP growth and building a $1tn economy by 2030. This requires thinking differently, questioning assumptions, challenging long-held theories and developing a strategy that stretches us while remaining deeply grounded in economic reality
In addition, the minister said that the committee would also help improve fiscal governance by advising on revenue mobilisation, expenditure quality, responsible borrowing and transparent financial reporting, stressing that economic reforms could only succeed through effective coordination across government institutions, collaboration with state governments and stronger partnerships with the private sector.
While urging the members of the committee to prioritise practical solutions over theoretical recommendations, he pointed out that a fiscal reform that looked flawless on paper but fails to improve conditions for Nigerian businesses is not reform but a disguised bureaucracy.
He further clarified: “We do not need this committee to validate what we have already decided. We need you to challenge our assumptions, point out the trade-offs we might be papering over and tell us the truth we may not want to hear. Healthy, fact-based disagreement is not a weakness; it is an advantage.”
He promised the committee members that “your counsel will be heard. Your advice will not languish in forgotten files. It will actively inform ministerial decisions and the guidance I provide to the President.
“The government’s role is to clear the path by creating predictable policies, macroeconomic stability and a functioning rule of law. The rest depends on your investment, your hiring and your risk-taking,” Oyedele added.
Speaking on behalf of the committee, its Chairman and Managing Director of Sterling Bank, Abubakar Suleiman, assured the minister that members would focus on providing practical, implementable recommendations rather than theoretical reports.
The chairman assured: “We promise you that’s not what we’ll give you. Our job is to free you to keep running this ministry and keep coordinating this economy while we take time off to think about things that, if you were not on this job, you would have been able to do yourself”, he added.
Suleiman pledged that the committee would avoid repeating advice already available within government and instead focus on practical, executable recommendations capable of delivering quick results.
He said: “We will try to listen and hear what people are really saying, where Nigerians are really feeling the pain, which of the policies is really working, and then we’ll bring that back to you in an environment that you can work with.”
In his remarks at the event, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Raymond Omachi, said the committee would serve as a strategic platform for evidence-based economic policymaking.
According to him, the committee’s work would support efforts to strengthen fiscal sustainability, boost public confidence and advance Nigeria’s economic transformation agenda
