Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga

Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga
Federal Minister of Trade and Investment, Nigeria
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 July 2011
Federal Minister of Finance Nigeria
In office 6 April 2010 – June 2011
Preceded by	Mansur Mukhtar
Succeeded by	Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Personal details
Born	1955 Owan West LGA, Edo State, Nigeria

Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga (born 1955) was appointed Nigerian Minister of Finance from 6 April 2010 to June 2011.

He was educated at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria where he obtained a B.Sc Degree in Biological Sciences in 1977 and the University of Oxford, United Kingdom where he obtained a degree in Theology in 2000. Aganga qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1983.

Aganga previously worked in Arthur Young in Nigeria, Ernst & Young in London UK, and Goldman Sachs International in London, where he was Managing Director in hedge funds. Aganga was also a Board Member of the Nigerian Security and Exchange Commission Technical Committee on Nigerian Capital Market Structure and a former Chairman of the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) Prime Brokerage Committee. Aganga currently serves on a number of boards and committees including Technoserve and The Prince’s Trust Invest in Futures Committee.

In 2006, Aganga founded the Nigerian Leadership Initiative.^[1]

Aganga is credited for the establishment of the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) in Nigeria.^[2]

In July 2011, Aganga was redeployed by the President to the new Ministry of Trade and Investment, to make way for Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to return as the Nigerian Minister of Finance.

Aganga is married to Abiodun Aganga (née Awobokun). He has four children. He is also the brother-in-law to the former military Governor of Kwara State Group Captain Salaudeen Latinwo. His older sister is Mercy Latinwo.

Controversy over Aganga's Ministerial Appointment

In 2010, Aganga's ministerial nomination was resisted by the Lagos State chapter of the PDP on the basis that he was filling the Lagos State ministerial slot but had not been born in the state.^[3]

In June 2011, again Aganga's ministerial nomination was resisted by the Lagos State chapter of the PDP^[4], but Aganga was approved by senate on 6 July 20011 as Minister.

Fitch Ratings October 2010

In October 2010, Fitch the rating agency cut the outlook on Nigeria’s BB- rating to “negative” from “stable” because of withdrawals from the Excess Crude Account and a drop in foreign currency reserves. Aganga who was at the time, Nigeria's Finance Minister, stated that Fitch Ratings’ action to reduce the outlook on the country’s sovereign credit rating was “unduly punitive”.^[5]

Rice Importation Ends in 2014

In October 2011, Aganga, the Nigerian minister for Trade and Investment announced that rice importation in Nigeria will end in 2014.^[6] Nigeria has used various trade policy instruments such as import restrictions, and outright ban on rice import at various times from 1978 to 1995. All have failed.

From October 1978 to April 1979, Nigeria's military government under Gen. Obasanjo, banned imports in containers under 50kg. In April of 1979, the Nigerian government introduced rice imports under restricted license only for Government Agencies. In September 1979, Obasanjo's government introduced a six months ban on all rice imports.

In January 1980 the policy was changed again, by the civilian government of Shehu Shagari, this time the government issued Import license for 200,000 tones of rice. In October 1980, the same government changed the policy to no quantitative restrictions on rice under general import license.

In December 1980, Shagari created a Presidential Task Force (PTF) on rice, and it was named the Nigerian National Supply Company to issue allocations to customers and traders. In January 1984, the Military regime of Muhammadu Buhari disbanded PTF on rice and importation was placed under general license restrictions.

In October 1985, a few months after Major General Ibrahim Babaginda appointed himself as President of Nigeria, he imposed a ban on the importation of rice (and maize). During this period, rice was illegally imported into Nigeria through the country's borders.

In 1995 the import ban on rice was removed by the then military President of Nigeria, General Sani Abacha, because local suppliers failed to meet demand.^[7]

Since 1995, Nigeria has adopted a more liberal trade policy towards rice, until October 2011, when the civilian government of President Jonathan announced that it was going to ban rice importation in 2014.

References

1. ^ Ifedayo Adebayo, Chinelo Onwualu and Terfa Tilley-Gyado (March 25, 2010). "A who's who of the ministerial nominees". Next. http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5545138-146/a_whos_who_of_the_ministerial.csp. Retrieved 2010-04-15. 
2. ^ Emma Ujah (01/06/2011). "Sovereign Wealth Fund: Aganga’s legacy". http://www.nigeriadailynews.com/politics/19184-sovereign-wealth-fund%3A-aganga’slegacy.html. Retrieved 2011-07-02. 
3. ^ Miriam Ndikanwu (2010-03-26). "Lagos PDP rejects nominee Aganga". The Nation. http://thenationonlineng.net/web2/articles/40959/1/Lagos-PDP-rejects-nominee-Aganga/Page1.html. Retrieved 2010-04-15. 
4. ^ "PDP, others reject Aganga as minister nominee for Lagos". http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=517:pdp-others-reject-aganga-as-minister-nominee-for-lagos&Itemid=97. 
5. ^ "Fitch Ratings Punitive - Aganga". http://allafrica.com/stories/201010250193.html. 
6. ^ "Federal Government to ban rice importation". http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news/23029-federal-government-to-ban-rice-importation.html. 
7. ^ "Irony of Nigeria's rice importation". http://www.tradeafricablog.com/2011/02/irony-of-nigerias-rice-importation.html. 

Persondata
Name	Aganga, Olusegun Olutoyin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1955
Place of birth	Edo State, Nigeria
Date of death
Place of death