Professor Babatunde Wasiu Adeoye, a renowned economist at the University of Lagos, will on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, deliver the institution’s 17th Inaugural Lecture for the 2024/2025 academic session. The lecture, titled “Navigating the Miry Clay: Engaging a Three by Five Auxiliary Gear System,” will take place at the Tayo Aderinokun Auditorium.
Speaking with journalists ahead of the lecture, Prof. Adeoye explained the metaphor behind the engineering-sounding topic, drawing parallels between his journey, biblical references, and Nigeria’s struggling economy.
“Many people asked if I was in the Faculty of Engineering,” he joked. “But the title reflects both my background and the reality of our economy. I was picked from the miry clay and set on a rock. That’s Psalm 40:2, and that’s my life story.”
Born in Gbongan, Osun State, and left to fend for himself at age 10 due to a polygamous family situation, Adeoye said he was on the verge of becoming a roadside panel beater before providence stepped in. “I am the first and only professor in the entire Adeoye clan,” he noted. “My story is about grace and redemption. That’s the inspiration for the title.”
Relating his personal story to the country’s current state, he said, “The Nigerian economy today is also in the miry clay, stagnant, inefficient, and plagued by corruption, misplaced policies, and structural deficits. We need a 3-by-5 auxiliary gear system to pull it out.”
He explained that the “three-by-five auxiliary gear” represents a metaphorical gearbox system, three gears on the input side (policy, speed, and timing) and five on the output side (impact factors), designed to move a heavy truck stuck in difficult terrain. “It’s about driving the economy with deliberate, well-timed, and well-targeted interventions,” he said.
Addressing Nigeria’s ongoing economic challenges, Adeoye criticized the current administration’s neo-liberal economic reforms, particularly the removal of petrol subsidies and the floating of the naira.
“Yes, subsidy was a scam, but only in how it was managed. Governments elsewhere still subsidise key areas like agriculture,” he argued. “A bag of fertiliser is nearly ₦40,000. How can smallholder farmers afford that? Without support, food prices will continue to skyrocket due to cascading taxes and poor infrastructure.”
He dismissed the notion that Nigeria’s inflation is driven by excessive liquidity. “It’s structural inflation,” he said. “How many Nigerians have too much money? What we’re seeing is a lack of infrastructure, insecurity in rural areas, and absence of agricultural support. Monetary policy alone can’t fix this.”
Prof. Adeoye also questioned the rationale behind adopting foreign economic models without localisation. “Borrowing policies like a bicameral legislature, does it fit our background or culture?” he asked. “We’re running a government that works for the elite but burdens the people.”
On the floating of the naira, he observed: “The idea is good, let your currency float and compete. But what are we producing to compete internationally? We are still dependent on oil. Over 80% of our revenue comes from a single primary product.”
Drawing a comparison with Malaysia and Indonesia countries which started on a similar developmental path as Nigeria in the 1960s, he lamented, “They used revenue from primary products to build manufacturing and services sectors. We wasted ours.”
He also raised concerns over the scale of corruption, citing an example where one individual allegedly owned 750 duplexes. “This is the magnitude of economic decay we’re dealing with,” he warned.
Prof. Adeoye’s lecture is a call to action. “We need both leadership and followership sacrifices,” he said. “Those in government must stop living large, and the people must brace for the tough times ahead.”
He concluded with a stark message: “The current administration inherited a dead-horse economy. We haven’t started seeing the full effect of the rot. But we can still salvage it—if we act fast, act smart, and act together.”
