Oyedele as minister
By Baba Yusuf The appointment of Professor Taiwo Oyedele, as the Minister of State for Finance of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is yet again
By Baba Yusuf
The appointment of Professor Taiwo Oyedele, as the Minister of State for Finance of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is yet again another excellent appointment by Mr. President. I believe that Professor Oyedele will be a value addition to the administration of President Bola Tinubu, especially at this critical time in his administration, when Nigeria is struggling with fiscal governance. I congratulate Professor Oyedele for this elevation, and I join him, his family, friends and associates in thanking God for this appointment. I believe he will deliver beyond expectations.
Professor Oyedele is a highly respected Accountant, Economist and, Tax expert in Nigeria, and he is one of the best on the African continent. His recent achievement as the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms in Nigeria, is an attestation of his capacity, competence and integrity to deliver his new mandate, as the Honorable Minister of State for Finance. The game-changing fiscal policy and tax reform, which is a paradigm shift for Nigeria’s Fiscal governance, will be successful and impactful, only if the execution of the new laws is done efficiently, effectively and impactfully. Therefore, in my view, the appointment of Taiwo Oyedele, is one of Mr. President’s strategic objective of achieving the excellent execution of the reforms, hand-in-hand with the Nigerian Revenue Service and other critical stakeholders. This is indeed a case of a “square peg in a square hole”. Therefore, I commend President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for this appointment.
Indeed, the appointment of a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as a cabinet member, is a political appointment. But more importantly, the Minister is the Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry, within the scope of his/ her span of responsibility and accountability. Taiwo has the excellent track record, experience, competence and capacity as an egghead, a thought leader, and as a technocrat. However, he will have to navigate the politics of the job, in a way and manner that will enable him to deliver beyond expectations.
Recently, the strain on Nigeria’s fragile fiscal structure and framework, has become very obvious, reflecting a fiscal crisis, with multiple budgets from 2024 active in the same year; with less than 50% capital expenditures including projects executed since 2024 not yet funded or paid for. Therefore, imbibing fiscal discipline is a sine qua non for Nigeria’s economic stability. Like I have repeatedly advocated, the alignment of Nigeria’s fiscal policy and the monetary policy; and the entrenchment of fiscal discipline are critical success factors for Nigeria’s economic turnaround, growth, development, and sustainability. Hence, I was very happy to hear Minister Taiwo expounding on this very important point during his Ministerial screening by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In my view he has the skillset and political will, to ensure that all leakages are blocked and fiscal discipline is achieved for Nigeria. Professor Oyedele’s high level of emotional intelligence in managing the Nigeria’s diversity, which he demonstrated during the fiscal policy and tax reform assignment he successfully chaired, will certainly be useful. He has shown the capacity to work with all Nigerians, and by this I will expect Minister Taiwo to step up that game and reach out across Nigeria and work with experts and well-meaning Nigerians from across Nigeria, to achieve success.
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While the Central Bank of Nigeria `(CBN) has done well to stabilize the monetary side of the economy, it is clear that we have a fiscal crisis that must be addressed as a priority. Honorable Minister Taiwo will surely add value to achieving this strategic objective. Having achieved so much with taxation, we need to also focus on value creation and value innovation, so as to truly diversify the economy, make more revenues and grow. Indeed, Minister Taiwo was clear and on point in this regard, during his Ministerial screening at the National Assembly, when he spoke about the need to align the Nigeria’s fiscal policy to catalyse the productive sector of the economy across agriculture, solid minerals, manufacturing, etc.
However, the mandate should not just be about revenue mobilization and tax collection, it should also be about revenue management, cost management, fiscal discipline, accountability, and Nigeria’s entire resources optimization and sustainability. As the monetary side of Nigeria’s economy stabilizes, so should fiscal side improve with indicators like increase in revenue, better budget performances, growing productive sector of the economy, lower cost of living, higher purchasing power, etc
It is worthy of note that about 3 months ago, in December of 2025, President Tinubu directed the transfer of some key roles in revenue generation, debt management, and Nigeria Customs oversight from the office of the Honorable Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, to the office of the Honorable Minister of State for Finance, with reviewed scopes of responsibility and accountability. The redirected roles include; specific responsibility for domestic finances, revenue generation, revenue distribution, domestic debt management, cash management, revenue sharing amongst tiers of Government and federation account, Nigerian Customs Service, etc. These responsibilities are crucial to Nigeria’s fiscal stability and sustainability. Therefore, Minister Taiwo has a lot of work to do and needs all the support he can get.
Meanwhile, while one of the crucial pillars of fiscal structure is revenue, and revenue management is one of the mandates of the Honorable Minister of State for Finance., I am confident that the Minister of State has the capacity to lead his team to ensure the achievement of revenue targets, and managing all incomes. This I expect that he will do in collaboration with the CBN and other Ministries, Departments and Agencies under the leadership of the Honorable Minister of Finance of Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun.
Fiscal Discipline:
I have been consistently advocating that there is the urgent need to properly align Nigeria’s fiscal policy with the monetary policy. And we can only achievement of the fiscal policy with the monetary policy, if the federal government entrenches fiscal discipline. Indeed, the lack of fiscal discipline had been the bane successive administrations in Nigeria including the incumbent. That is why we have not been able to achieve that level of growth and consistency required to fully recover and grow Nigeria’s economy.
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For example, for the first time in a long time in Nigeria, local contractors have gone on strike and have carrying placards, demanding for the payment of the backlog of payments of contacts awarded and executed as far back as 2024. Interestingly, we the Honorable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Chief Wale Edun, has stated about a week ago that about N1.8trillion have been earmarked to pay contractors (foreign and local). These are indications of lack fiscal discipline, which is negatively impacting and is misaligned with the current Monetary policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
We have a bludgeoning debt crisis that has been managed so far well by the administration of President Bula Tinubu, but it remains a work in progress. Therefore, we must make more revenue, but more importantly, we must exercise more prudence.
Our cash flow management require urgent review and possibly a now strategy. Of course, these are things that Minister Oyedele will handle, working hand in hand with other critical stakeholders in the Federal Executive Council, Office of the Accountant General, Office of the Auditor General, National Revenue Service, the Nigerian Customs Service, etc., to ensure that, while the collection is good, that expenditure is seriously managed to ensure that economic stability
So, there’s a lot of work to be done. Interestingly, we have an election year. Politicking will take a chunk of the time of the administration. I hope that the federal government will remain focused on achieving sustainable micro economic impacts, while the politics is ongoing, so that citizens could easily relate with the macroeconomic indicators.
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Looking at the $1 trillion economy target for Mr. President in his administration, the 4.4% growth as reported by the World Bank and IMF is good, but not good enough. I am on the opinion that the administration of President Bola Tinubu should target at least 7% to 8% growth going forward- consistently. We can only achieve that growth with fiscal discipline, and aligning our fiscal policies with monetary policy.
I am expectant that, Professor Taiwo Oyedele will be a value addition, and delivery his mandate. I wish his all the best.
May Almight God Continue to Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
