By

JESUTEGA ONOKPASA

There is a presently trending article by Ope Banwo, titled “Edun and Cardoso: Ikoyi-bred economists trying to operate a Fadeyi economy”.

I suspect the article is trending more for its heading than its body, in other words, on account of the equivalent of a catchy soundbite rather than on the basis of actual substance.

While, Banwo’s article is high on criticism regarding how Wale Edun, Minister for Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, and, Michael Olayemi Cardoso, Governor of the Central Bank, are running the Nigerian economy, it is unfortunately rather anaemic when it comes to offering alternatives to what he carpets as Edun and Cardoso’s “Ikoyi” approach.

Nevertheless, given that he laments what he claims is the incongruity of “Ikoyi-bred economists” managing a “Fadeyi economy”, one can safely conclude that he thereby submits that there is such a thing as “Fadeyi economics”.

Indeed, since he purposes to discern a difference between “Ikoyi economics” and its Fadeyi counterpart, I will take the liberty of his own terms to demonstrate how wrongly he has formulated the problem he purports to lament.

Perhaps a “Fadeyi Approach” to managing an economy could be similar to the unorthodox approaches the Buhari/Idiagbon Junta deployed in managing our national economy back in the mid eighties.

That “Fadeyi Approach” ended up in complete disaster for the Nigerian economy.

Or again, maybe it could be likened to quite populist but miserably foolhardy policies, such as taking over white-owned farms which Robert Mugabe implemented in Zimbabwe that led to the tanking of that country’s economy.

I really wouldn’t know what Banwo truly had in mind because he didn’t even end up adequately sharing it in his article but perhaps a typical Lagosian might come up with a “Bole Kaja Approach” to managing a “Fadeyi economy” as a fitting synonym for Banwo’s prescription.

What I’m pretty sure of is that “Bole Kaja” rules will leave the passengers stuck in that bygone mode of transport and they will only be able to step up to a clean energy-powered high speed train, for instance, by adopting and playing by “clean energy-powered high speed train rules”.

Another thing I am cast iron positive about is that unorthodoxy is the very worst strategy for economic management or economic rescue and, in fact, has never worked anywhere in the world!

Ironically, the only approach that actually works is what Banwo derides as the “Ikoyi Approach”!

Funny enough, a very big problem with Banwo’s offering is that he appears to have gotten his metaphors mixed up, an indication that he failed to properly identify the problem he purported to be prescribing a solution to.

It is not because anyone has been applying “Ikoyi models” to a “Fadeyi economy” that we are were we are today.

On the contrary, it is the opposite that is true; successive administrations in this country have been tolerating, even aiding and abetting, if not actively perpetrating, “Fadeyi behaviour” in what can ONLY exist as an “Ikoyi economy”, and, THRIVE upon an “Ikoyi Approach” to its management.

Any economy, anywhere in the world, can only thrive if all players and stakeholders in that economy play by the rules.

Regardless of how intellectually sound or academically intact the economic policies deployed in the management of absolutely any economy, they will not work or yield the desired results unless people play by transparent, ascertanable, verifiable rules that are known to and are binding on absolutely everyone.

We cannot have people lavishing on preferential treatment; gorging on waivers, helping themselves to insane chunks of our national wealth; round-tripping precious foreign exchange; creating monopolies in an economy of 200 million plus people; muscling their competition out of contention; sabotaging the national economy through price fixing, smuggling and hoarding while creating cartels on consumer goods; or, and perhaps worst of all, arbitrarily increasing prices without commensurately raising employees’ remunerations in consonance with what ought to constitute the labour component of their cost of production.

In other words, what Cardoso and Edun must realize is that their “Ikoyi methodology” will simply not work unless they bring those who play by the “Fadeyi rules” to heel and compel them to play by the “Ikoyi rules”, which are the only rules by which any economy works for everyone, be they Fadeyi or Ikoyi folk.

Banwo sought to give the impression that Edun and Cardoso are at sea regarding their management of the Nigerian economy.

I believe his true intent was to drape the President Bola Tinubu administration in the gab of incompetence.

Unfortunately for him, the facts are inconsistent with his perception.

Despite the challenges our citizens are passing through, the omens are actually good and quite promising, for that matter.

The administration is not yet a year in office but its policies and programs are already yielding favourable results that constitute a solid basis of hope for the economic revitalization of our country.

It will take time for these reforms to take root, grow strong and bear fruit.

There is not very much we can do to hasten the period between the planting of the reforms and the harvesting of the fruits they will bear, but there is a lot we can do to stubbornly cultivate and sustainably nurture them to fruition.

Contrary to the despondent narratives of the likes of Banwo, President Tinubu is on the right course and has placed our country on the right track to success.

Ours may indeed be a “Fadeyi economy” but managing it in accordance with a “Fadeyi paradigm” will only continue to strand it at Fadeyi if not demote to Makoko.

In order to upgrade it to an “Ikoyi economy”, the only economy that works fairly for everyone, the “Ikoyi Approach” must be forced down everyone’s throat, indeed, whether they like it or not.

Onokpasa, a lawyer, is Chairman, Tinubu Media Support Group, TMSG, and writes from Abuja.