By Ishaya Ibrahim
The set-piece for the contest of the 2019 presidential election is the economy.
The Washington based Brooklyn Institute has already determined that when it rated Nigeria the global headquarters of poor people.
Who among the two leading presidential candidates; Muhammadu Buhari, current president and flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar, former vice president and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate could reverse Nigeria’s poverty status?
In December 2017, ace comedian, Francis Agoda, popularly known as I Go Dye, asked Atiku not to contest the 2019 election on account of what he allegedly did not do to deserve the position.
Atiku, who is now the presidential flag bearer of the PDP for the February election, took the comedian on a cozy ride of what he did to make Nigeria’s economy work while as vice president.
From 1999-2007, Atiku was Nigeria’s vice president and head of the government’s economic management team which had as members – Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, minister of finance; Charles Soludo, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor; Nasir El-Rufai, director general of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE); Magnus Kpakol, special adviser on poverty alleviation; Oby Ezekwesili, head of Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit (aka Due Process Unit).
With his team, he said they formulated and implemented policies that brought about rapid economic growth. For instance, during his leadership of the economic team, the highest time unemployment peaked was 6 percent in 2003. Today, it is 18.8 percent.
Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was flying at double-digit, and got to an all-time high of 33 percent in 2004, according to data from the World Bank. Today, the economy is growing at less than 1.5 percent.
Banks, telecommunication companies, insurance, manufacturing, entertainment, media and other sectors of the economy which were once creating jobs, suddenly started laying off workers.
Old debt is back again
In 2005, the government inherited a mountainous debt stock of $36 billion which had been carried over from the military years. The economic team which Atiku led, took the credit for securing a debt cancellation worth $18 billion through painstaking negotiation which saw Okonjo-Iweala inter-facing with her old colleagues at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Nigeria then paid $12 billion to get out of the debt trap. Regrettably, Nigeria is on the verge of another debt crisis, 13 years after it got off the hook.
According to the IMF, Nigeria’s debt is fast rising again and could lead to a crisis if the economy is not diversified.
As of June 30, 2018, the total debt stock, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO), had risen to $73.21 billion or N22.38 trillion. External debt stands at $22.16 billion, moving closer to the 2005 debt level which the Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration inherited and cleared.
The government is also planning to raise a $2.86 billion Eurobond which would ultimately put our external indebtedness to $24.9 billion from the current $22.16 billion.
Atiku days as head, economic team
In 1999 when the Obasanjo’s government came in, the President appointed Atiku as head of his economic team. The reason for this choice could not be far-fetched. Atiku was a successful businessman with the gifted attribute of spotting talent in every field and making them shine.
The I Go Dye’s letter, therefore, provided the clue to what difference a well experienced economic team could do in terms of job creation and economic prosperity of a nation.
Atiku told I Go Dye: “As VP, I assembled what is arguably the best Economic Team ever in Nigeria. It was made up of young, world-class professionals, who came home to work. Some of those professionals are now political leaders, governors and world leaders in their own right.”
For instance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, then Finance minister, who came from the World Bank where she worked as its economist for 20 years. She helped negotiate the 2005 debt relief. Charles Soludo, then governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is credited for consolidation of Nigerian banks where hitherto, small banks had to merge in order to raise the N25 billion capital base. Nasir El-Rufai superintended the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) which brought in millions of dollars into the coffers of the government.
The BPE under Obasanjo has the record of raking in more money into the federal government’s purse than at any time.
For the current government which said it would raise N289 billion ($797 million) selling 10 state-owned assets to bridge an appalling revenue shortfall and meet up with key projects in its budget, it has not been able to do that. Rather, its preference is to pile debt.
Atiku further explained to I Go Dye: “If you ask what our first task was, coming into government in 1999, it was to bring stability to the economy after decades of military rule. For example, between 1999 and 2003, oil prices then were hovering between $16 and $28 yet we managed to pay up salary arrears from decades back, clear up our national debts and built up foreign reserves. Our GDP grew at the fastest rate we’ve seen since the return to democracy.
“You mentioned that I never brought young people into leadership, but my record speaks differently. I have a proven record of bringing young, unknown professionals into service. Many of the professionals and ministers I brought in were in their 30s and early 40s. Some of those young leaders have become governors in their states. I went to the World Bank and met a bright lady, convinced her to come back home, and she became a star in our government. To show you we had effective leadership, the same lady could not replicate her exploits under a different government.
“I was also in charge of privatization and I have witnesses that I never interfered with the process. I never bought anything belonging to the government. I was quite wealthy before coming into government, with declared assets worth millions of dollars in 1999 (which was put in a trust when I became VP); so it was understandable that many of the wealthy Nigerian business people who participated in the privatization programme were my friends. Did I use my influence to get them better deals? No. As the then DG of BPE testified under oath, I never used my position to interfere with his work.”
The philosopher king
Atiku may not have all the degrees in finance and business management, but he sure knows the experts in these fields that could make the difference. And like the Philosopher King in Plato’s The Republic, he easily can spot round pegs in round holes.
As a man who built his business empire before joining politics, the ability to spot stars was probably his greatest gifts, and this could probably explain his strides in business.
Atiku started out in the real estate business during his early days as a Customs Officer.
In 1974, he applied for and received N31,000 loan to build his first house in Yola, which he put up for rent. From proceeds of the rent, he purchased another plot and built a second house. He continued this way, building a sizeable portfolio of property in Yola.
In 1981, he moved into agriculture, acquiring 2,500 hectares of land near Yola to start a maize and cotton farm. The business fell on hard times and closed in 1986.
“My first foray into agriculture, in the 1980s, ended in failure,” he wrote in an April 2014 blog.
He then ventured into trading, buying and selling truckloads of rice, flour, and sugar.
His most important business move came while he was a Customs Officer at the Apapa Ports. He met Gabrielle Volpi, an Italian businessman who set up Nigeria Container Services (NICOTES), a logistics company operating within the Ports.
Atiku invested some of his savings into NICOTES, which would go on to provide immense wealth for him.
Although there were accusations that as a civil servant, he shouldn’t have been involved in the business, on his part, Atiku defended the decision, saying his involvement was limited to the ownership of shares (which government rules permitted), and that he was not involved in the day-to-day running of the business.
NICOTES would later be rebranded INTELS.
