Chizor Malize, Managing Director/CEO of FITC, is an award-winning, visionary leader and transformation expert. I recently interviewed her for the Eminent Business Personality Series (EBPS) of Financial Nigeria magazine. In the exclusive, high-impact interview, Dr. Malize highlighted FITC’s 43-year heritage and legacy in delivering innovative knowledge solutions and capacity building programmes in the Nigerian financial services sector and across Africa and the world. She provided compelling insights on the transformation of FITC over the last five years, embracing technology and digital transformation, sustainability and ESG, the FITC brand driver, and her industry and institutional outlook, amongst others. A prolific and respected international speaker, her multi-sector experience includes payments, banking, energy, and consulting, spanning eight African countries and the United Kingdom.

2024 Nobel economists professors Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson have demonstrated through rigorous empirical studies that a country's welfare is fundamentally shaped by the quality of its political and economic institutions. In the main feature of the November 2024 edition of Financial Nigeria magazine, we provide short commentaries on INEC, NNPC, CBN, NTA and some other government institutions to show how the institutional theory has applied in Nigeria. financialnigeria.com/why-nig…

See the graceful @ireneochem, Founder and CEO, Africa Women Innovation & Entrepreneurship Forum (@awieforum), on the front cover of the October 2024 issue of Financial Nigeria magazine – Africa’s premier development and finance journal. Her interview will be shared here next week. Irene is tireless in championing the empowerment of African women entrepreneurs. Her vision and work take the advocacy for gender equity beyond the social realm. She asserts that women are economic agents, more so in Africa. Registration is still ongoing for the AWIEF 2024 Conference and Expo, which comes up on 28 – 29 November, in Cape Town, South Africa. Visit awieforum.org to learn more.

.@ChineduMoghalu and I have followed the leadership of Dr. @NOIweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization, for years. So, we decided to independently assessed how the @wto and the reform of the global trading system have fared under her leadership. Our conclusion is that both her leadership and the trajectory of the performance of the organisation, despite the threat of deglobalisation, should be supported to continue. But personally, I would be happier to see this leading light in global development in a powerful and influential role in managing Nigeria's affairs. financialnigeria.com/keeping…

Democracy. Fiscal reform. Market reform. Rising crude oil prices. Demographic advantage. All these themes that drove domestic and foreign investment in Nigeria in the 2000s have all but lost their allure now. shar.es/ag7EqS via @FinancialNG

The communique of the Nigeria Development and Finance Forum (NDFF) 2024 Conference provides 15 resolutions and recommendations for the Nigerian economy. Read the communique to have a sense of how enriching the highly successful conference was for the participants. Participants at the highly impactful conference included cabinet ministers, regulators, policymakers, members of the diplomatic corps in Nigeria, public and private sector leaders, leaders of international institutions, social sector leaders, and the media. @officialABAT @NigeriaGov @NGRSenate @HouseNGR @UN_Nigeria @IMFNews @WorldBank Via @FinancialNG financialnigeria.com/ndff-20…

"Reform" is one of the most abused words in Nigeria's governance. Reform entails both CHANGE and IMPROVEMENT in a law or an institutional practice. So, if a new tax overburdens businesses/consumers and means government now has bigger revenue to mismanage, that is not reform.

If Nigeria's economy starts to do well again, it won't be because of IMF's advice, or by ignoring it. It would be because Nigerian leaders collectively made up their minds to move the country forward. IMF advises on fiscal management and are quiet on political misgovernance.

Meet two of the confirmed Speakers for Nigeria Development and Finance Forum (NDFF) 2024 Conference, where we will bring together public, private, social, and international sectors leaders to provide sights on how to achieve Nigerian sustainable economic progress. ndffconference.com/ @SamAmadi @DamilolaSDG7

In Nigeria, there is an obsession with infrastructure projects by the federal and state governments. But there is a distinction that could be made between having infrastructure projects and achieving infrastructural development, the latter being about improving the quality of life of the people with the provision of infrastructural facilities. Many of our infrastructure projects in Nigeria are opportunities for political intrigues, corruption, and a false impression of progress. Many of the projects contribute to the chaotic public spaces through their poor delivery and maintenance. Indeed, many of the infrastructures are too advanced for the users, hence their misuse (increasingly with fatality), abuse, and abandonment, e.g. busstops in metropolitan Lagos. For real progress, the governments need to shift focus to human development. The quality of life of the citizens will always define the real progress of any country.

The CBN says it has cleared all "valid" FX arrears and some foreign airlines say that is not true. Who do you believe? Until that belief becomes reasonably invalid, I choose to believe the CBN, not least because the denial of access to cheap tickets to Nigerians by some foreign airlines is unacceptable. However, the CBN ought to provide clarity on its criteria for invalidating some of the FX claims. The credibility of a central bank rests on its transparency and provision of (forward) guidance.

After he once opposed removal of petroleum subsidies, as president, President Bola Tinubu has implemented the same economic policy. This means he is not a market economy ideologue. But who is he ideologically? And shouldn't he focus policy on the long-term spectrum and not on short-term gains? financialnigeria.com/tinubun… via @FinancialNG