Most people have a fair idea of what the roles of finance ministers are; managing government finances, formulating and overseeing economic policies, financial regulation amongst many other important roles. While I think we currently do not have the political infrastructure for a finance minister, any finance minister to optimally deliver on core expectations, at the barest minimum, a good Nigerian finance minister should NOT talk about crude oil prices. Not any longer. Is it meant to be an excuse for bad economic management? Or its just thoughtless rhetoric? Whatever it is, continuing to harp on that trite in interviews is unproductive and should be discontinued.

We squandered the crude oil boom (there really was a boom, so please refrain from writing to me attempting to dispute that), and it is highly unlikely that any economy in the world can sustainably rely on revenue from crude oil now or in the near future, so it is pointless to continue to adopt that talking point. I cannot possibly provide an exhaustive summary of how good finance ministers must perform, but I have some thoughts that you might find useful.

Future finance minister(s) should be focused on working constructively with regional commissioners for the creation of opportunities and wealth. The various geo-political zones are diversely blessed and these variations must be exploited for economy, industry and competitiveness. The golden 1960s is proof that such endeavour can have immense socio-economic benefits; an important case in point: University of Ife was built largely from funds from Obafemi Awolowo’s ingenuous agriculture (cocoa farming) scheme. That’s a blueprint that responsible finance ministers can follow. Below is a general rundown of some of the critical priorities for a good Nigerian finance minister.

In no particular order of relevance, a good finance minister should:

• Prioritize consistent and equitable government spending on health. The electorate must task elected officials on this matter; ensuring that the president selects visionary (finance and health ministers) who have the courage, temperament and intellect to thoroughly revamp our fragile healthcare system.
• Avoid policies that disproportionately adversely affect the poor, children, uneducated/poorly educated and otherwise marginalized population.
•  Should create a socio-economic system that constructively exploits abundant, well distributed rainfall for agricultural productivity.
• Explore safe, sustainable exploration of other natural resources such as gold and bitumen, amongst others.
• Competently manage our production deficits- simply put, we must move towards a future where we are able to produce more than we consume.
• Ensure that government agencies truthfully and transparently remit funds- although this is admittedly a very difficult task.
• Identify and appoint/collaborate with responsible, innovative stakeholders across all relevant sectors that can bring about economic/industrial growth and competitiveness.
• Competently manage Nigeria’s rising debt profile.
• Seek out approaches to enhance service delivery; such as transportation and other services. It is good to highlight here that a functional educational system has an outsize effect on service delivery.
• Minimize waste e.g., severe reduction in legislators’ income.  
• Formulate policies to attract foreign investment and lower the costs of sending and receiving earnings sent home by workers living abroad. This is arguably a lifeline for the Nigerian economy and any good finance minister must ensure sustainable balance in these financial affairs.

The above mentioned require a steel spine and a steady hand, but can be achieved. There are however, certain systemic problems that are bound to frustrate the efforts of any good public official (finister minister or anyone else for that matter).

Some of these include the collapse of the civil service, widespread insecurity, judicial corruption, impunity (we urgently need more strict penalties for corrupt people and other defaulters), failure of imagination and of political ideology, amongst many other ills. At the human level, there does not seem to be an easy resolution to any of these problems. What or who will restore the normal functions of democratic governance in Nigeria? Like many people, I am not very optimistic on that front.

It would however, be much less frustrating, if I did not have to listen to a person tasked with managing our financial affairs pompously, confidently yet ignorantly talk about irrelevant things like crude oil prices.

As these sorts of things go however, I am fully aware that this is mere wishful thinking. Come next interview, the finance minister is likely to absentmindedly and meaninglessly refer to crude oil prices. It could go like; ‘We are in this mess because of the slump in crude oil prices, or we have unique challenges because we have long relied on revenue from crude oil and now its just no longer as profitable as it used to be’ and on and on.

I will likely grit my teeth, roll my eyes and curse out loud. Afterwards, I will likely be contrite and then offer a truly sincere prayer. It will probably be something like ‘Lord send us another smart one. A real smart one’, Amen.