The Verdict From The O’Level Economics Teacher

I always quote him, and when Nigeria floated the Naira, I relied on his books which I read in secondary school to posit that it would destroy Nigeria’s economy. Magically, it turned out that everything I was saying, the great Economics teacher who wrote a really popular WAEC Economics teacher, was also saying.

“RENOWNED economist and author, Dr. O.A Lawal has told the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stop the Naira floating policy it introduced on the advice of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“Lawal, who spoke in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune said that the nation’s economy cannot withstand a floated Naira, adding that the World Bank and the IMF would destroy the Naira completely if care is not taken.

“He recommended the adoption of “managed currency” system adding that the country cannot afford to leave its currency at the mercy of certain forces, thereby expanding the frontiers of inflation and instability”, in July 31 2023, Tribune Newspaper 

In a piece on LinkedIn, a member of our community shared a link in the comment section. That link was an interview by Dr. OA Lawal. Dr. Lawal wrote a very popular O’level Economics textbook for secondary school education.

I did not do Economics in secondary school; I did Further Mathematics. Typically, because of the WAEC restrictions to a maximum of 9 subjects which I found strange, I had to find alternative ways to add some additional subjects I could not register for my senior secondary education. So, in SS1, I studied for those subjects and in my first term  in SS2, I took GCE (external WAEC). 

To prepare for those subjects, I bought some books under self-study. For the Economics subject, I used Dr. Lawal’s textbook. I passed with A2 (Distinction).  Reading his book influenced my basic understanding of economics, and he was a distant teacher. I did not attend Economics classes in school as Further Math was scheduled to clash with Economics in the timetable.

So, when Nigeria floated its currency, in a June 2023 article, I wrote that it was a bad policy. I quoted what Dr. Lawal wrote in his  textbook. Magically, yesterday, I just realized that he also spoke out: “CBN’s currency floating policy will kill the Naira —O. A. Lawal”, Tribune published on July 31, 2023. Indeed, floating the Naira without life jackets of production has sent Naira to uncontrollable seas!

That is from the teacher. If you read his book, you would have understood that most things the big experts were saying about Naira were nonsense. It is very refreshing that Dr Lawal found time in his retirement to share these insights.

The Tribune interview is on click; he posits the same thing I have recommended: managed or controlled exchange rate because the Naira does not have production-anchored economic resilience to be under the full influence of market forces.

I always quote him, and when Nigeria floated the Naira, I relied on his books which I read in secondary school to posit that it would destroy Nigeria’s economy. Magically, it turned out that everything I was saying, the great Economics teacher who wrote a really popular WAEC… pic.twitter.com/lMktvlIeeD

— Ndubuisi Ekekwe (@ndekekwe) May 5, 2024

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