Tinubu appoints 400level economics student into presidential advisory committee

President Bola Tinubu has appointed a 400-level student of the University of Ibadan (UI), Orire Agbaje as a member of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms.

Orire Agbaje was inaugurated alongside other members of the 70-man committee by the president in Abuja on Tuesday.

According to the presidency, Orire Agbaje is an Economics student and the president of the institution’s tax club.

The presidency broke the news via a post on X while sharing details of the inauguration with a spotlight on her.

On its official X account, the presidency wrote: “One of the members of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms inaugurated today by President @officialABAT is Miss Orire Agbaje, a 400-level Economics student of the University of Ibadan, who is also the President of @ui_taxclub, President of @SEIHUnibadan, and a Nigeria Higher Education Foundation (NHEF) Scholar.”

Orire is also the President of the Nigerian Universities Tax Club.

Meanwhile, Special Assistant to the President on Social Media and Digital Communications, Mr Olusegun Dada, on his verified X account, highlighted the selection of the unique Committee member as he posted a picture of President Tinubu with Agbaje.

According to Dada, it was a beautiful moment as he captioned the photos:

“Beautiful moment when President Tinubu met Miss Orire Agbaje, a 400 level Economics student of the University of Ibadan who is the President of the Nigerian Universities Tax Club and a member of the just inaugurated Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms.”

The Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms is in charge of several aspects of tax law reforms, fiscal policy design as well as the coordination, harmonisation of taxes, and revenue administration.

According to President Tinubu, the committee headed by Taiwo Oyedele is also expected “to deliver a schedule of quick reforms that can be implemented within thirty days.

Orire Agbaje thus becomes one of the youngest to have been appointed into president Tinubu’s cabinet.

She is also one of the youngest political appointees of any federal government administration in Nigeria, especially within the last decade.

The clamour for youth leadership and youth participation in government in Nigeria appears to be an age-long quest which at some point, witnessed rigorous advocacies for strategic measures to be put in place.

This saw the passing into law of the “Not too young to run” bill by the Muhammadu Buhari administration which assured young Nigerians of their relevance in the nations’ political sphere.

However, many factors contribute to the low level of youth participation in government and government activities, especially with the failure of sitting governments to deliberately include young Nigerians in their administrative activities.

But with an undergraduate having a place in the federal government today, it is a sign for young Nigerians to remain hopeful that soon, the baton of leadership would be handed over to them as that has been their agitation in recent years.

President Tinubu’s appointment of Orire into the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, a presidential advisory committee, is a sign of an all inclusive government in Nigeria where participation in government cuts across races and status.