Moghalu slams African leaders’ focus on GDP over citizens’ wellbeing

Kingsley Moghalu, former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, has criticized African nations for prioritizing economic indicators over the well-being of their citizens. He argues that governments are “chasing shadows” by focusing on GDP growth, which often does not reflect the harsh realities faced by the majority of the population.

Amid a severe cost-of-living crisis in Nigeria and other African countries, authorities have been more fixated on optimistic economic projections. In Nigeria, where citizens are experiencing the worst economic hardship in a generation, the government has flaunted reforms such as the removal of fuel and electricity subsidies and the devaluation of the naira, rather than addressing the impact of these policies.

In his December 2024 budget presentation, President Bola Tinubu announced that the Nigerian economy grew by 3.46% in the third quarter of 2024, up from 2.54% in the same period in 2023. He also highlighted that the nation’s foreign reserves now stand at nearly $42 billion, with a trade surplus of N5.8 trillion.

However, the National Bureau of Statistics reported in November that 64% of Nigerians were unable to feed properly last year, and the United Nations World Food Programme stated that 25 million Nigerians are starving.

“Chasing shadows”

In an interview with Africa Report, Mr Moghalu said that “human development and social infrastructure, not GDP, should matter most.”

“Africans need to stop chasing shadows, take substance seriously, get our priorities right and ferociously focus on fundamentals,” he said.

Mr Moghalu spoke as the pioneer president of the African School of Governance (ASG), a new graduate-level institution launched on January 14.

The Rwanda-based ASG, partnered with Singapore’s civil service educational initiative, aims to develop a new generation of competent African public officials. Co-founded by President Paul Kagame and former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, the ASG has the Mastercard Foundation and Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy as partners.

Its governing board includes Donald Kaberuka, former president of the African Development Bank, Makhtar Diop, managing director of the International Finance Corporation, and Kishore Mahbubani, former Singaporean ambassador to the United Nations.

Mr Moghalu said that the ASG’s curriculum will provide educational opportunities “filtered through an African lens and anchored on realities unique to the African continent.”

He said while ASG will cover similar subjects as prestigious institutions like Harvard, it will emphasize relationships between African countries and between Africa and the rest of the world, areas often overlooked by Western institutions.

“So when we teach international relations, we will emphasise relationships between African countries and relationships between Africa and the rest of the world. Harvard doesn’t teach this,” he said.