Doyin Salami, Buhari’s new economic adviser

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday appointed a foremost professor of economics, Doyin Salami, as his Chief Economic Adviser.

Mr Salami was until now, the Chairman of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC).

The Chief Economic Adviser to the President (CEAP) is expected to address all issues on the domestic economy and present views on them to the president, the Nigerian government said in a statement.

He is also expected to closely monitor national and international developments, trends and develop appropriate policy responses; develop and recommend to the President national economic policies to foster macro-economic stability, promote growth, create jobs, and eradicate poverty, among others.

Profile

Mr Salami, an associate professor at Lagos Business School, leads sessions in the Economic Environment of Business. He was the Academic Director of the Global CEO programme.

Mr Salami had earlier been appointed as the Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council constituted by President Buhari. The Economic Advisory Council is tasked with the responsibility of advising the president on matters relating to economic growth, economic policy, and fiscal analysis.

A doctoral degree graduate of Queen Mary College, University of London, his research interests include issues in corporate long-term financial management; macroeconomic policy; corporate competitiveness and risk management; and characteristics of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

He was a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Government’s Economic Management Team. He is also an executive director of the UK-based African Business Research Ltd.

In addition to teaching, Mr Salami consults for multiple organisations, including the Department for International Development (DFID), World Bank, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Beyond multilateral organisations, he also works as a consultant for corporations, such as the British American Tobacco (BAT), and BGL Securities Ltd. Other companies for which he has undertaken consulting assignments include Coca-Cola Nigeria and Equatorial Africa (CCNEAL), Kakawa Discount House. He has facilitated or participated in corporate retreats for Zain Nig Ltd., MTN, African Petroleum Plc, amongst others.

Blunt Speaker

Mr Salami is largely considered to be quite blunt when it comes to review of the nation’s economic indicators.

In 2017, Mr. Salami took the CBN to the cleaners in his assessment of its monetary policy which he said was pushing the country towards a serious economic crisis.

He criticised the CBN’s “massive injections of cash” to the government, accusing the bank of serving as a “piggy bank” for the government, against its own rules.

“Monetary data shows a sharp rise in the extent of CBN financing of the government deficit,” he said.

From December 2016, he said the CBN had variously made cash available to the federal government running into trillions, mostly beyond legal thresholds.

He said the CBN’s claims on the federal government under the period amounts to N814bn, which is “twentyfold higher” than what the law permits.

Ironically, the claim of commercial banks, he said, “rose marginally by 0.4% to N4.6 trillion”.

Last September, Mr Salami argued that Nigeria’s public debt stock was unsustainable even though the country’s debt-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio at 35 per cent seemed comfortable.

The economist also lamented that with a debt service-to-revenue ratio at 97.7 per cent between January and May 2021, the country’s public debt profile was worrisome.