The current administration must therefore apply new and strategic thinking to solving the debt crisis. Tinubu should immediately impose a moratorium on fresh borrowings except unavoidable ones and this must have been previously negotiated. Unlike his predecessor, he should assemble and work closely with a crack team of economic experts and private sector operators. There should also be a very close collaboration with the organised private sector.
Tinubu should avoid the ‘Ways and Means’ bait. Based largely on just creating money, it distorts the economy, fuels inflation, and hinders policies to moderate interest rates. Removing the errant CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, is welcome, but the real slog lies ahead. The over 60 government agencies that the National Assembly has identified to be withholding funds due to the treasury should be compelled to remit public funds promptly. Tinubu must also carry out reforms of the oil sector, the country’s mainstay, to make it transparent and arrest its declining contribution to revenue receipts. Tinubu must stop the long-running looting of public funds by politicians and civil servants and their accomplices.