Nigeria now Africa’s proof that bold economic reform works — Oyedele

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, on Thursday, in Kigali said Nigeria has moved from a country that talks about reform to one that has actually done it.

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‎Oyedele noted that the reform efforts of the past three years now gives the African continent its most compelling real-world argument against the paralysis of incremental policy change.

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‎Oyedele, speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the first day of the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, said the discussions at the forum reflected a shift from rhetoric to execution.

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‎He said, “Nigeria is still the largest economy by scale, by skills, by opportunities, by population. And we have done it. It wasn’t meant to be easy, but it was necessary.

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‎“Africa is not just about saying we should do this or we should do that; we now have the example in Nigeria.”

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‎Oyedele argued that the forum’s central preoccupation, around scale, speed and credible institutions, was one Nigeria could speak to from experience rather than aspiration.

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‎He explained, “For Africa, the conversation is around scale and also around speed, as well as credible institutions.

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‎“How can we ensure that, as Africans, we come together so that the world can pay attention to us? There are issues to deal with: how do you raise finance for development, not just focusing on extraction but value addition?

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‎“How do you stimulate growth in labour-intensive sectors, agriculture, manufacturing, industry, services, technology, so that we can lift our people out of poverty? I think the leaders in the room recognised that the time for rhetoric is over, and it is now time for execution.”

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‎Oyedele also gave a readout of Tinubu’s bilateral engagements on the sidelines of the forum, saying the sessions focused heavily on mobilising investment in Nigeria’s power sector, solid minerals and private sector-enabling reforms.

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‎He stated, “One very exciting thing about Mr President is that he is never tired of marketing Nigeria.

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‎“He is the chief marketer for the country. We had several discussions mostly focusing on economic opportunities, how we can mobilise more investment particularly in the area of power, and we also had interesting discussions around mining as well as opportunities to support private sector businesses more broadly.”

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‎He noted that concrete investment commitments had already emerged from the forum’s first day.

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‎“Part of the engagement today included investment in port development, in mining under solid minerals, private enterprises, and so on.

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‎“So it has been very good. Mr President has the credentials to demonstrate all that he has done, and his commitment to demonstrate even more going forward,” he stated.

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‎Oyedele also spoke of President Tinubu’s meeting with Guinea’s leader, President Mamadi Doumbouya, describing the dynamic between the two leaders as that of a “big brother and younger brother”.

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‎He also revealed that Tinubu had personally commended Doumbouya for resisting pressure to withdraw from ECOWAS during the period when several West African military-led governments were considering abandoning the regional bloc.

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‎“Mr President commended the President of Guinea for not withdrawing from ECOWAS when the pressure was much on him to do that.

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‎“He was thinking of the vision for ECOWAS as something he could relate with, rather than something that was put together in a hurry,”

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‎“There is also a lot the two countries can do together in the area of development, some of which is iron ore and partnership. We are stronger together. Both presidents were very happy with the engagement,” Oyedele said.

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‎Guinea holds approximately one-third of the world’s known bauxite reserves and is increasingly regarded as a critical minerals powerhouse on the continent, with iron ore deposits in the Simandou range alone estimated at over two billion tonnes of high-grade ore.

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‎It is considered the potentially largest untapped iron ore deposit on earth.

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‎The Africa CEO Forum, now in its 13th edition, brings together chief executives, heads of state and global investors to deliberate on capital mobilisation, institutional reform and continental economic integration.

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