Economist To Aganga: You Can’t Separate Politics From Economics’ .
Monday, 29 November 2010 01:11 Isaac Amurie .A leading economist, Suleiman Yahyah has told the Minister of Finance, Olusegun Aganga that he cannot separate politics from economics. He urged the minister to borrow a leaf from the interventionist disposition of the Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi-led Central Bank of Nigeria in crucial aspects of the nation's economy as seen in the bailout package for the banking sector, which he said has begun to show some scale of success.

Yahyah who was speaking against the backdrop of the seeming conservative ideological posture of the Finance Minister and his inclination towards market economy stressed: "As an economist I am greatly aggrieved and astonished by the Finance Minister's averments separating economics from politics. This ludicrous economic utopia, nearest to the laissez-faire ideal was long defeated with the abolition of slavery in 1865."

The economist argued that the biting effect of the global economic meltdown and its attendant socio-economic woes, were enough reasons for the nation's economic managers to demonstrate a humble willingness to experiment policies that are tied to direct government intervention and control as against leaving the collective happiness of Nigerians to sheer unproductive debate on the relationship between the economy and politics.

"To provide a rational response to our economic uncertainty, soothe our heightened anxiety which remains amplified by the seismic economic crises of 2007-2009 and our government's obvious fiscal challenges, this generation of economist and policy makers must demonstrate a humble willingness to experiment 'reversible policies' anchored on derigesme (government control), completely outside neo-conservative market fundamentalism."

Yahyah added that "the benefits of this theoretical shift - the understanding and application of reversible experimentation will become visible and impact positively on our happiness index, just like the central bank's interventionist banking reform programme is beginning to show small scale of success."

He however counseled: "Should the economic team expand and accelerate this kind of political intervention in fiscal policies, in privatization and deregulation policy, in the application of subsidies and implementation of parametric labour market reform designed to deal with sustained unemployment - in a land of plenty, then and only then will economic policy make meaning."

He said that Nigeria will then record unprecedented advancement in all development index, "thus freeing our people from mass poverty, injustice and other avoidable by-products of free market hubris (excessive ambition) and politics. The economic team has a historic opportunity by simply re-writing our fiscal policy framework against unsustainable rise in recurrent expenditure within lawful limits starting with the 2011 appropriation, promoting tax and land reforms and indeed the petroleum industry reform, we will then see a shift in economic incentives that will drive a new path to growth and development."

He warned that "should the Economic team elect to ignore the urgent and trending quest for political intervention and the need to design a new economic stabilization model yet indulging in the luxury of debating the politicization of the economy, Nigerians should then be ready for an economic tide- driven by a predatory monetary transmission syndrome that will disrupt all factor prices - goods and services, wages, interest rates and fundamentally the exchange rate- destroying the value chain and all economic prosperity.

Then it will be meaningless if the "iron laws of economics" is determined by either the visible or the invisible hand".

On the new reform framework, Yahayah prescribed a re-balance of public and private interests with new regulations that would foster efficiency, a model similar to the rising capitalism from the east.

egift:

Aganga and his Boss are practicing Voodoo Economics - our political vocab keep expanding

A leading economist, Suleiman Yahyah has told the Minister of Finance, Olusegun Aganga that he cannot separate politics from economics.