Dr. Tope Fasua and the N1,500 daily feeding strategy

First, we must ask: Is Dr. Tope Fasua the Chief Economic Adviser to the President or the Economic Assistant to the Vice President?

I’m confused. Was he speaking in an official capacity or just expressing a personal opinion?

Now, my challenge with Tope—who is a friend and close collaborator—is his love for the spotlight.

Tope is everywhere: analysing, talking, engaging, postulating… and, more often than not, annoying Nigerians.

I once mentioned to him that he needed to be more guarded in his utterances and seek official clarification and backing before going public.

He waved it off and continued being a fly in the ointment of the administration.

His latest faux pas has really rubbed Nigerians the wrong way. He’s been trending—for all the wrong reasons—for the last 48 hours.

The Tope I know is very thin-skinned. He doesn’t handle counter-arguments well and takes criticism too personally.

That’s why he left the intellectually rich Dukes Summit, a WhatsApp group I set up with 200 of Nigeria’s brightest minds to discuss issues like this.

In analysing his latest gambit, I’d rather focus less on his well-publicised statement and more on the deeper, causative factors behind this apparent train wreck.

It was the brilliant Mustafa Chike-Obi who once told me that the most important figure in any serious economic reform effort should be the Chief Economic Adviser to the President.

This person is supposed to coordinate five strategic ministries—Agriculture, Communication & IT, Finance, Education, and Petroleum—alongside the CBN.

Now, within that context, do you see Tope having the clout to coordinate these efforts?

Have you ever seen Tope in a meeting with the CBN Governor?
Has he ever addressed the Federal Executive Council?
Has he worked closely with Trade & Investment or the Ministry of Finance on any major economic strategy?
Has he been part of any serious presidential trade mission?

No. Instead, he has so much time on his hands that he’s all over the place, annoying everyone—including his bosses.

The last serious economic adviser with real weight we had was Prof. Charles Soludo—and we all saw the positive impact he had on the economy.

Dr. Sulaimon, appointed at the tail end of the Buhari administration, couldn’t do much. He was more of a theoretical economist—detached from reality.
You can’t run the Nigerian economy with charts and graphs alone, and that was his strong suit.

Now we have a social media economic adviser—with no real academic pedigree or track record in economic leadership.

His last known employment was at UBA—or was it Standard Trust Bank? Either way, that explains his very active presence in their alumni WhatsApp group.

Tope got this job on the back of a recently acquired doctorate and a series of well-written articles on the economy. The administration needed support from the volatile under-50 professional demographic.

So, they brought in people like Toyin Subair, Fela Durotoye, and Tope Fasua.

All paperweights. Good with words. Charismatic. That’s it.

All have failed. Fela resigned. Toyin has gone quiet. Tope is running around naked on the talk circuit, trying to stay relevant.

Do you see Tope summoning Aliko Dangote, Kola Adesina, Tony Elumelu, or Samad Rabiu to a policy meeting on tariffs?

My brother, I think we even take Tope too seriously. His paymasters don’t. If they did, someone like Bayo Onanuga would have issued a statement by now. But instead, the big boys of the regime are too busy doing their thing, leaving the little boy to fiddle with his penis—to our collective irritation.

Honestly, I think Tope should resign and take up an appointment at Ekiti State University, where he comes from, and contribute more meaningfully to the nation.

Come and beat me!

Thank you.