By Hamilton Nwosa(Head, The New Diplomat’s Business and data tracking desk)
The New Diplomat is setting the pace in a first part Introductory diagnosis of the Nigerian Economy in a post-covid-19 era. This special digital publication would be preceded by a distinguished panel of economic and policy experts that would engage in a conversation on Nigeria’s economy in a post-covid-19 epoch via The New Diplomat’s WebEx forum. The dialogue would focus on a variety of critical subject areas that hold the key to Nigeria’s economic future, starting with the banking sector.
COVID-19 pandemic has brought so much disorder, disruptions, shocks and distress to economies around the world. The virus is projected to cause even more disruptions, shocks if there are no systemic dynamics and metrics to manage the post-covid 19 crisis as many jurisdictions ease restrictions and open their economies . Moreso, there are still concerns around the world that until a vaccine is developed as applicable treatment for the dreaded virus, all eyes should still be on the curves in many global jurisdictions .
For Nigeria, a mono-product economy, the dynamics and economic mix appear pretty complicated as oil prices continue to plummet at the global market in the midst of the terrifying impact of covid-19. As Nigeria opens up her economy gradually beginning from Monday, May 4, what are the concentric circles of economic activity? What is the economic outlook? In brief, what is going to happen in the different industries and sectors of Nigeria’s national economy? From banking to commodity trading, and from service sector to production, etc how would and should operators and players respond to the new world order of doing business? Who would survive? Who will crash? And who will stay afloat or fortify its organization’s archetype ?
As a prelude to specific sectors, two seasoned economic experts, foremost economic policy analysts and executive members of The New Diplomat’s Advisory Board , namely Dr. Ayo Teriba(Cambridge trained economist on developing countries) and HE Amb Eloho Otobo (Harvard trained international political economist) will be dissecting the nation’s economic outlook in the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis. Here are the two experts brief bio:
Dr Ayo Teriba
Teriba, a Cambridge-trained economist is the CEO of Economic Associates (EA) where he provides strategic direction for ongoing research and consulting on the outlook of the Nigerian economy, focusing on: global, national, regional, state, and sector issues. Dr Teriba, a distinguished economist has served in key Federal government economic policy initiatives. Among others, he was a member of the Federal Government’s Economic Team; member Federal Government’s Board of Economic Advisers in the Office of the Economic Adviser to the President; member of the Nigeria Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council, and member of the defunct National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC), where he conducted periodic reality checks on macroeconomic, fiscal and monetary policies.
Before becoming the Chief Executive Officer of EA in 2004, Teriba worked as Chief Economist and Member of Editorial Board at ThisDay Newspaper Group (2001-2004), Faculty Member at the Lagos Business School (1995-2001), Head of Research at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce (1993-1995), and Company Economist at UAC of Nigeria (1992-1993). Among others, he has served as Lead Consultant to many blue-chip companies, a host of federal ministries, departments and agencies, several State Governments, DfID, USAID, UNIDO, World Bank, and was a Visiting Scholar to the IMF Research Department in Washington DC.
Dr Teriba earned B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Ibadan with Sir James Robertson Prize and Medal, UAC Prize in Economics, and Economics Departmental Prize as the all-round best economics graduate in 1988, M.Sc. Economics from Ibadan in 1990, M. Phil. Economics of Developing Countries as a Cambridge-DfID Scholar at the University of Cambridge in 1992, and Ph.D. in Applied Econometrics and Monetary Economics from the University of Durham in 2003. An Alumnus of the Lagos Business School, Teriba who is the Chairman of The New Diplomat’s Advisory Board is a commentator on economic issues.
Amb Eloho Otobo
Currently, Ambassador Otobo who is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow in Peace-building and Global Economic Policy at the Global Governance Institute, Brussels, Belgium, and a Harvard-trained international political economist had previously held the position of director and deputy head of the United Nations Peace-building Support Office (PBSO) at the United Nations Headquarters, New York. He has also acted as Assistant Secretary-General at the UN from February-August 2009, among others. Ambassador Otobo who earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Lagos in Sociology with specialization in Industrial Sociology before proceeding to Harvard where he obtained his Masters degree in public administration with specialization in international political economy, among other key certifications, has been a major player at the global level on global economic policies and public policies. He has worked in, and led teams in economic revitalization in many post-conflict countries in Africa. Prior to joining the United Nations in New York, Otobo worked at the Economic Commission for Africa(ECA) Addis Ababa, Ethiopia under the team lead of late Prof. Adebayo Adedeji, who was Executive Secretary of the ECA.
At the United Nations PBSO , Otobo led the Office’s strategic efforts in assisting the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) to develop peacebuilding strategies, and metrics including supporting governance reforms and reconciliation processes for countries on the agenda of the PBC; supervised the work related to the follow-up, monitoring and periodic reporting on the economic dynamics and implementation of the peacebuilding strategies; and formulated benchmarks for monitoring progress in the implementation of peacebuilding strategies. Otobo who currently sits on the Advisory Board of key global research institutions including being an executive member of The New Diplomat’s Advisory Board is a regular contributor to the Financial Times (FT), UK on global economic issues. His areas of research interests and writing include peacebuilding, public service reforms, institutional development, governance, regulatory policy and economic management, and international trade.
He co-edited African Development in the 21st Century: Adebayo Adedeji’s Theories and Contributions (2015) as well as authored Consolidating Peace in Africa: The Role of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (2015) and Africa in Transition: A New Way of Looking At Progress in the Region (2017). This latter book Africa in Transition was nominated for the Grand Prix of Literary Association Award in 2018 in the Research category.
Watch out for these two excellent experts with both compelling profundity of thoughts, and in-depth knowledge of economic policy implementation as they offer crucial insights, and diagnosis that would help Nigeria navigate itself through the Covid-19 economic crisis in the coming days ahead! Starting from Wednesday! Only in The New Diplomat!
