It was a great evening yesterday as my Ph.D. alma mata the London School of Economics @LSEnews Alumni Association (Abuja Chapter) held the first ever Abuja LSE Talks, hosted by the British High Commissioner to Nigeria @CatrionaLaing1 (also an alum) her residence, and alum 
Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, Former Minister of Finance and National Planning and former Deputy Governor @cenbank as the Keynote Speaker on the theme “The Role of of LSE Alumni in Public Leadership and National Development”. Dr. Usman did great justice to the theme with his personal
experience in the public and private sectors in Nigeria. He spoke about the negative impact of vested interest politics and politicians on national development, noting that the problem can only be solved by “the Kingsley Moghalus of this world”. I spoke briefly afterwards
about the limitations technocrat face in creating transformation as one of the key reasons I went into the murky waters of Nigerian politics. Only competent, visionary political leadership, not technocrats under corrupt politicians who frustrate them,will ultimately save Nigeria.
At the central bank, I said, we transformed the financial and payments system between 2009 and 2014, but could do nothing about other aspects of the economy, especially fiscal policy (public sector revenue and debt management) that were under the control of politicians and beyond
our remit as an independent central bank. LSE alum Salamatu Suleiman, former Minister of Women and Social Affairs and now Chairperson of the Nigerian Human Rights Commision, also spoke movingly about the need for public servants to avoid elitism and understand the common heritage
they share with the masses. The LSE, founded in 1895, has 155,000 alumni from all regions of the world including 55 past and current heads of state and government (including Kwame Nkrumah and Jomo Kenyatta), 18 Nobel Prize winners, numerous billionaires including George Soros,
and central bank governors including Janet Yellen (Fmr. Chairman, US Federal Reserve Bank), Stanley Fischer (Israel), Mervin King (Bank of England) and Paul Volcker (US). The event was organized by alum Dapo Oyewole, Special Adviser to the Speaker of the House of Representatives
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