Employ Only Real Economists To Perform Economic Duties For You – NES Chairman Tells Governor Okpebholo

By Simeon OSAJIE

The Chairman of the Nigeria Economic Society (NES), Edo State Chapter, who is also the Coordinator of the Society’s State Chairpersons’ Forum in Nigeria, Dr. Francis Ilenloa Igberaese, has urged the newly sworn-in Executive Governor of Edo State, Senator Monday Okpebholo not to behave like his predecessor in office, who though never read economics, believed that he was an economist and could do the job of an economist.

While congratulating both the governor and his deputy on their swearing in, Dr. Igberaese emphasised that the amount of economic prosperity the government would be able to achieve for the people is a direct function of the personnel he would employ to do the job. He said that if he employs qualified personnel, he would be sure of victory in terms of economic growth, price stability, job creation/reduction in unemployment, income generation, poverty reduction, etc.

The University Don recounted how the professional society once wrote the former governor, H. E. Godwin Obaseki, volunteering their services to the state, only to be told that the governor was an economist himself. He decried a situation where a government would constitute an economic team without any economist, likening such a situation to rushing a patient to the hospital without a doctor, or setting up a legal team without a lawyer. He observed that it has become an unfortunate trend to see people who have access to government becoming accidental economists, without knowledge of any development theory or growth model.

He advised Governor Okpebholo to contact professional groups where the eggheads are found, who are always prepared to contribute to the growth and development of their environment. He warned that success in business does not make any person an economist since businessmen are more often than not ruthless profiteers. He also warned that being privileged to have worked in economic institutions does not make someone an economist.

He noted “We in the Nigerian Economic Society are the only true economists who are trained and well groom for the job. We are the counterpart of the Royal Economic Society or the America Economic Association. We are the oriental economists and professional policy makers. Elsewhere in the emerging countries, economic functions and economic institutions are headed by economists, which explains their successes. When some people in this part of the world constitute themselves into a group and attempt to make economic policies, they can only come out with mere ideas that would never survive the margins. Unfortunately, people still come out to blame the economists who were never given a chance to do their job.”

Going further, the NES Chairman stated that he believes this time, God, in His infinite mercy has decided to raise someone who would allow the economists to help attend to the “Economics of the Poor”, starting from agriculture and its value chain to full prosperity of the people, which has eluded us in the past. He assured that if given the opportunity, they would make sound development policies that are pro-poor and anti-poverty, to the extent that Edo State would become a model for many states in the country, stating that they already have a modified version of the ‘Asian Miracle’ model for domestication in Edo State.

“The only problem Edo State has had is the employment of non-economists to do the jobs of trained economists. We have had at best, pseudo economists, claiming to be the economists. For example, how can a non-economist become an Economic Adviser simply because he needs a political job? What does he know in economics to talk about, let alone advise the governor? How can he even generate the income without their usual crowding out taxation to finance projects?

“How can someone who does not know the basic prerequisites of a good plan formulation and successful plan be in charge of economic planning and expect to succeed? These are some of the absurdities and questions of sensitivity following the employment of a non qualified personnel for the job of the economist”, he added.

He therefore appealed Governor Okpebholo not to put political considerations ahead of economic considerations in such specialised job of the economist.