Single Six-year term rotational presidency, solution to Nigeria's economic woes—Moghalu

Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Kingsley Moghalu has suggested a single six-year rotational presidency term as the solution to the economic woes currently bedeviling the nation.

Making this suggestion in a tweet via his official X handle on Monday, Mr Moghalu who lamented over the deteriorating value of the country’s currency, also suggested that the country also adopt five vice presidents that would handle different areas of governance and economy.

The former vice president of the CBN also called for a review of the country’s economic policies towards massive value-added exports.

“One reason Nigeria has had forex problems and forex-driven inflation is because we’ve not fundamentally reviewed our trade policy towards massive exports of value-added exports. So every devaluation in an import-dependent economy in which natural resources exports like crude oil, are no longer building up our foreign reserves the way they did in years past simply imports inflation and deepens poverty. Meanwhile, subsidizing the Naira value in this scenario creates scarcities and arbitrage opportunities. And, investors do not invest in a vacuum,” a post by Mr. Moghalu partly read.

“The governance environment (including security, rule of law and the independence of relevant institutions like the CBN) matters greatly. So while we need some quick fixes to address the dollar liquidity crisis in Nigeria, we must restructure the Nigerian economy in the next four years,” the post added.

“We cannot restructure the economy effectively without political and constitutional restructuring. There is no stability without this, only rent-seeking and do-me-I-do-you-God-no-go-vex state capture. Solution: a renegotiation of Nigeria, a single six-year rotational presidency, and possibly five VPs in charge of different areas of governance and economy who come from geopolitical zones, not that of the President. = Inclusion. Either that or a rotational single six or seven-year tenure of a “mixed” presidential system with a President and a Prime Minister,” he said.

His comment comes as Nigeria struggles with the hard-felt impact of fuel subsidy removal and the unification of the country’s FOREX market.

President Bola Tinubu on assumption of office, immediately eliminated fuel subsidy. The president also unified the country’s forex market, eliminating the multiple exchange rate regime that was initially in practice by the ex-president Muhammadu Buhari-led government.