The African Democratic Congress (ADC) spokesperson, Bolaji Abdullahi, has questioned whether the minister of Finance and Coordinating minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has the appropriate educational background to manage Nigeria’s economy.
Abdullahi made the remarks on Monday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he discussed the Federal Government’s 30-day fuel price reduction initiative and the need for subsidies to ease the hardship faced by Nigerians.
The ADC spokesperson argued that economic policies, particularly fuel subsidies, were influenced by ideological positions and required specialised knowledge of the country’s economic realities.
“I’m not saying he’s incompetent, but I think he doesn’t have the right education,” Abdullahi said.
He explained that professionals from different academic backgrounds could approach economic challenges differently, insisting that the country needed people with relevant training to make critical economic decisions.
“Because, look, the issue of subsidy is ideological. And we have to understand where you are coming from. I mean, I’m talking about an economy, this Nigerian economy,” he added.
Abdullahi, however, clarified that his criticism was not intended as a personal attack on Oyedele, whom he described as intelligent and said he respected.
“No, I’m not going personal. Like I said, I have utmost respect for him. And I think he’s quite a smart guy. I’m not taking that away from him,” the ADC spokesperson said.
He maintained that the training of an accountant differed from that of an economist, arguing that economic management required expertise suited to the country’s challenges.
“But what I’m saying is that the way an accountant reviews an economy is not the same way an economist reviews it. And the same way a classical economist would look at it is not the way a development economist would look at it.
“We need people who are trained to do this job to do it,” he said.
Oyedele holds a Higher National Diploma in Accountancy and Finance from Yaba College of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom.
He also completed executive education programmes at the London School of Economics, Yale University, Gordon Institute of Business Science and Harvard Kennedy School.
Before his appointment as Minister of State for Finance, Oyedele spent 22 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he became the firm’s first fiscal policy partner and Africa tax leader.
Beyond his criticism of Oyedele’s qualifications, Abdullahi reiterated the ADC’s position that the government should subsidise production to reduce the burden of rising costs on poor Nigerians.
He argued that the country could not abandon subsidies while millions of citizens struggled with economic hardship.
“We cannot have people so poor and leave them without subsidy. So, we (ADC) are going to subsidise production,” he said.
Abdullahi also referred to an audit report by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), saying the party intended to examine the findings further.
He maintained that Nigeria’s status as an oil-producing country should enable it to pursue measures that would make fuel more affordable for citizens.
“You can also ask: Where will the crude come from? We are an oil-producing country. Whatever we need to do to subsidise the production of crude and deliver cheaper fuel to Nigerians, we are going to do it,” he said.
The ADC spokesperson said the party, alongside Atiku Abubakar, was committed to protecting Nigerians from economic hardship.
“When your country is at war, you don’t begin to talk about the price of guns or the price of bullets or whether you defend your country by all means necessary. So, ADC and Atiku say we will defend the people by all means necessary,” Abdullahi added.
