African Democratic Congress (ADC) spokesperson Bolaji Abdullahi has questioned whether Finance Minister Taiwo Oyedele has the appropriate educational background to manage Nigeria’s economy, while stressing that his remarks were not a personal attack.

Abdullahi spoke on Monday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he discussed the Federal Government’s 30-day petrol price reduction initiative.

“I’m not saying he’s incompetent, but I think he doesn’t have the right education,” he said.

Abdullahi argued that economic policy decisions, particularly on fuel subsidies, require specialised knowledge of economic theory and development priorities.

Expressing respect for Oyedele, he said accounting and economics offered different perspectives on managing an economy.

“No, I’m not going personal. Like I said, I have utmost respect for him. And I think he’s quite a smart guy. I’m not taking that away from him,” he said.

“But what I’m saying is that the way an accountant reviews an economy is not the same way an economist reviews it. And the same way a classical economist would look at it is not the way a development economist would look at it.

“We need people who are trained to do this job to do it.”

Oyedele holds a Higher National Diploma in Accountancy and Finance from Yaba College of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom. He has also undertaken executive education programmes at the London School of Economics, Yale University, Gordon Institute of Business Science and Harvard Kennedy School.

Before becoming Minister of State for Finance, Oyedele spent 22 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he rose to become the firm’s first fiscal policy partner and Africa tax leader.

Last Thursday, Oyedele announced a 30-day petrol discount at Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited filling stations, saying transporters would receive priority. He described the arrangement as selling petrol at cost rather than providing a subsidy.

The initiative has also drawn criticism from former Vice-President and ADC presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, who accused President Bola Tinubu of adopting his proposal for targeted petrol support but restricting the intervention to 30 days.

Atiku said the administration had previously dismissed his proposal as unworkable and criticised his understanding of economic policy.