President Bola Tinubu has continued to show his pragmatic approach to governance instead of sticking to his own pet ideas even when they are not yielding the desired results. He has constituted a tripartite economic advisory committee to help him steer Nigeria out of its worsening difficulties.

The president said his intention was to broaden the base of consultation to ensure “the best” economic future for the country. The group comprises Federal Government officials, state governors and major stakeholders in the economy. Tinubu needed to call in more hands on deck because his harsh economic measures aimed at repairing the disaster that his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, left behind, are not yet working.

The implementation of petrol subsidy removal which Buhari left for him, and his own floating of the Naira, have thrown the system into chaos. Some days ago, the Naira was rapidly nosing toward the N2,000 per US Dollar mark, the food inflation rate climbed to unprecedented 35.41 per cent in January 2024, according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics. The skyrocketing inflation is making it very difficult for people to remain in business.

As a result, many companies are suspending production. Some multinationals have closed their factory lines. While some have left, others have resorted to importation of the products they used to make from other countries where they are cheaper. The scarcity of foreign exchange is biting harder, and jobs are being lost at alarming rates. As a result, hardship and hunger have seized the environment. The sporadic protests in some parts of the country have degenerated to attacks on trucks carrying food to their target markets.

The Organised Labour (Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Unions Congress, TUC, and their affiliate unions have declared a two-day mass action on Tuesday, 27th and Wednesday, 28th February 2024, due to the hardship. Tinubu’s decision to reach out to other stakeholders is commendable. Nobody knows it all. Even the best economic managers with the best economic blueprints still need the necessary buy-ins from stakeholders to make things work.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s successful economic story was made possible because he brought in some of our best hands from across the world in 2003, and closed ranks with Corporate Nigeria to rebuild an economy that later defied the 2007- 2009 Economic Meltdown. We expect this enlarged body of advisers who are directly involved in actualising government economic policies at various levels to do a good job. They have no choice.

The economic pain is pinching all Nigerians not minding their ethnic, religious, political or social classes or backgrounds. When we solve these problems together, everybody will also be happy. However, we caution that the economic mandarins are not allowed to hijack the gains of economic recovery as members of Obasanjo’s Corporate Nigeria did, especially with the sales of the national assets. The people must come first.