As hundreds of thousands of Oyo indigenes jostle for limited SUBEB and TESCOM jobs amid extreme and excruciating hardship, occasioned largely by the impunity and rascality of the political class, Governor Seyi Makinde in his unusually compulsive obsession with the landlocked and tiny Southern African country of Botswana, recently announced the appointment of Ms Neo Theodore Tlhasalo, a Botswana citizen, as his Special Adviser on African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and international trade, to the chagrin of highly competent and qualified hands in the state.
Ms. Neo Tlhaselo’s appointment was contained in a letter signed by the governor’s Chief of Staff, Honorable Segun Ogunwuyi. As a business development expert and media entrepreneur, Ms. Tlhaselo, the founding director of Conversation with Africa and The Business KRAAL, became the first foreigner to eat directly from Seyi Makinde’s political cake — a move analysts said is both insulting, condescending, and insensitive to the people whose slot the stranger has snatched. Perhaps anticipating the potential backlash and pushback following such an announcement, Ms Tlhaselo’s country of origin was conspicuously omitted, further deepening speculation. However, a little background check revealed the 40-year-old woman originated from Botswana, although it’s unclear which part of Botswana she hails from.
‘Makinde, Botswana Bromance’
Before Ms Neo Tlhaselo’s contentious appointment on Thursday, August 1, 2024, Governor Seyi Makinde had a long history of emotional attachment to the country of 2.5 million people. For instance, his current commissioner for works and transport, Daud Kehinde Sangodoyin, a professor of statistics at the University of Botswana, Gaborone, and one of the closest cabinet members to the governor was plucked directly from the little nation. The fact that he was relocated from the country to help drive some of the government’s economic policies speaks volumes.
Not surprising that when the cabinet was reshuffled and reconstituted, Prof. Sangodoyin had his reappointment swiftly confirmed by the rubber-stamp state legislatures. In five years as a commissioner, Professor Sangodoyin has rotated between ministries of education, establishment and training, public works, and transport. Again, when the governor was sworn in for a second term in 2023, Sangodoyin quietly made the list of commissioner designates without fuss, demonstrating his profound connection and relationship with the governor and other power brokers, such as the governor’s right-hand man, the Osun state-born Otunba Seye Famojuro.
‘Botswana Back in 2019’
In 2019, while taking the oath of office, Governor Seyi Makinde told a throng of supporters and party faithful of his government’s unwavering commitment to agriculture, particularly investment in maize exportation. Meanwhile, the governor asserted that in due time, the state would begin to export maize to Botswana. “We recognize that one of our areas of comparative advantage is agriculture. I am excited to tell you that today we have already taken steps to market our potential. Our farmers will be happy to know that we are in talks with Botswana to export our maize to them. Our African neighbors have, in the recent past, imported from Central America, but they are ready to give us a chance,” the governor had declared to the cheers and applause from the audience at his first term inauguration. “I also welcome Gobusamang Keebine, Business Botswana President,” the governor equally boomed through the microphone.
‘Botswana Bubble’
Sadly, five years down the rail, no single grain of maize has been exported to either Botswana or any other African country. Despite that Botswana bubble, the governor has kept his mum, thereby raising critical concerns and suspicion about Ms Neo Tlhaselo’s appointment for a portfolio that not only stretches the bounds of state government legal engagement but seems downright contradictory.
Perhaps, before delving into the personality of Ms Neo Tlhaselo and why she’s the least deserving of that appointment amid a plethora of eminent hands, let’s take a walk through her assigned portfolio: SA, AfCFTA, and international trade. To understand this better, I sought one of my mentor’s help. As an economist with a PhD, a World Bank consultant, and an assistant consultant to regional consultant to the ECOWAS mission on AfCFTA, my mentor, Dr Jide Alade*, is one of the go-to hands in both international trade and the African Continental Free Trade Area. Fortunately, both my mentor and his mentor are both from Oyo State. In fact, they are both products of the University of Ibadan with extensive knowledge in international trade negotiations. “Why Botswana?” he quietly asked me. What is the interest of the state government in international trade negotiations, and importantly, will he do the same for other trade negotiations like ECOWAS ETLS (ECOWAS Trade Liberalization Scheme), ECOWAS CET (common external tariff), etc.?
“According to Article 3 of the Revised ECOWAS Treat, one of the main objectives of ECOWAS is to promote the economic integration of the region by establishing, among other things, a Free Trade Area (FTA), a document on the ECOWAS website noted. Further, the document stated that ETL was established in 1979 and at that time only covered agricultural products and handmade crafts but subsequently, it was expanded to reflect the growing demands of the market. The AfCFTA, established in 2018, was designed as a free trade area encompassing most of Africa by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which according to Wikipedia has 43 parties and another 11 signatories, making it the largest free-trade area by number of member states, after the Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala-led World Trade Organization, and the largest in population and geographic size, spanning 1.3 billion people across the world’s second-largest continent.
“Under the agreement, AfCFTA members are committed to eliminating tariffs on most goods and services throughout 5, 10, or 13 years, depending on the country’s level of development or nature of the products,” a term of the agreement noted. On July 7, 2019, Nigeria, under former President Muhammadu Buhari, finally signed the AfCFTA, becoming the last African nation to do so.
“Our vision for intra-African trade is for the free movement of “made in Africa goods.” That is, goods and services made locally with dominant African in terms of raw materials and value addition,” the former President had stated. In all of the deliberations that led to the signing of the trade agreement by Nigeria, no mention was made of the interventions of state governments. Experts say Makinde’s appointment baffles, first because as a subnational government, its survival is still tied to the apron string of the federal government. Except that last year, the governor led a powerful delegation to the first Oyo State International business summit in London, UK.
While a subnational government can independently woo foreign investors, it is prohibited from stepping on some national government’s jurisdiction in certain trade relations matters. That the governor appointed a foreigner to lead its international trade negotiation appears counterintuitive.
Apart from being the youngest tertiary institution principal ever at 25 in 2010, there is no indication that the Botswana opportunist possesses any international trade-related credentials that distinguish her from the ranks of experts and luminaries in the state.
Instead of trying to help Oyo State sail its various international trade hurdles, she might as well leverage her position to help her country of birth while hurting Nigeria since her allegiance is to Botswana rather than Nigeria. Ridiculous, isn’t it?
OYO101 is Muftau Gbadegesin’s opinion about issues affecting the Oyo state and is published every Saturday. He can be reached via @GbadeTheGreat on X, muftaugbadegesin@gmail.com, and 09065176850.
