Prof. Attahiru Jega, the former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has cautioned the Nigerian government against following every piece of advise from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), two institutions that are part of the Bretton Woods system.
According to Jega, while interacting with the institutions is beneficial, the government must exercise caution to avoid causing long-term issues for the nation.
Speaking at the Chartered Institute of Directors of Nigeria, or CIoD, which is hosting the 2024 Annual Directors’ Conference with the topic “Good Governance as a Catalyst for Economic Recovery, Growth, and Development,” the former head of INEC offered this counsel.
He also demanded that the process for hiring leaders be changed, stating that the main issue facing Nigeria is that the majority of its leaders lack the necessary skills.
President Bola Tinubu has been accused of receiving advice from the Bretton Woods institutions over current economic policies, particularly the elimination of PMS subsidies and the naira’s floating, which have caused inflationary pressures in the nation.
The World Bank and IMF’s “anti-people” policies have been held responsible for the nation’s suffering.
However, during a conference held on the margins of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington, DC, USA, Abebe Selassie, the Director of the IMF’s African Region, asserted that the organization did not recommend that Tinubu eliminate the fuel subsidy.
It was a domestic decision. President Tinubu made the choice. In Nigeria, we don’t have any programs. “As we have with other countries like Japan or the UK, our role is restricted to regular dialogue,” he stated.
Jega counseled Nigerians to focus on fostering and solidifying democratic governance, as opposed to just excellent governance, as the World Bank advocates.
“There is no other way to put Nigeria on a long-term path toward what I refer to as ‘people-oriented development processes.'”
While interacting with the World Bank and other institutions is beneficial, Jega reaffirmed that “we should not swallow hook, line, and sinker what they bring to us.”
“We must be very careful in terms of what measures they have suggested to us because if we don’t do that we may advertently or inadvertently fall into greater medium and longer-term problems even if we think we are seeing short-term benefits from that kind of engagement,” he stressed.
