Shamsuddeen Usman

Shamsuddeen Usman,, (born 18 September 1949) is a Nigerian economist, banker, technocrat and public servant.

He is currently the CEO of SUSMAN & Associates, an economic, financial and management consulting firm headquartered in Nigeria.

From 1974 to 1976, Usman worked as the Planning Officer for the Kano State Ministry of Economic Planning.

He taught Economic Analysis and Public Finance in Ahmadu Bello University, Bayero University Kano and University of Jos between 1976 and 1981.

and PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science between 1977 and 1980.

His PhD was on "Tax Incentives and Investment in the Nigerian Oil Industry".During his first two years at the London School of Economics, he served as a teaching assistant for the final year class in Public Finance.

He was a controller at the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB) and then served as the Director of Budget/Special Economic Adviser to the Kano State Government between 1981 and 1983.

He was then appointed the General manager of NAL Merchant Bank (currently Sterling Bank).

He was responsible for the Phase I of the programme with the mandate to reform public enterprises, as an integral and critical component of the International Monetary Fund-led Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), which was started in 1986.

Under his supervision, about 88 public enterprises were either fully or partially privatised without any foreign technical assistance.

The programme succeeded in relieving the government of the huge and growing fiscal burden of financing public enterprises, minimised the overstretching of government's managerial capacity through a redefinition of the role of the supervising ministries, created a large body of shareholders and deepened and broadened the Nigerian Capital Market to the position of being the most developed in black Africa.

The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) through which the shares were sold has grown from N8.9 billion in 1987 (before privatisation) to N65.5 billion in 1994 (after the Phase-I).

From 1989 to 1991 Usman served as the pioneer Director General of The Technical Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, now the Bureau of Public Enterprises.

This represents less than 2% of the total value of the Federal Government's investments as at 30 November 1990 which stood at N36 billion.

Privatisation has massively expanded personal share ownership in Nigeria.

By reducing the reliance of public enterprises on the government for finance, the programme of privatisation has encouraged new investments in the enterprises and sectors concerned.

The new operational autonomy of these enterprises and their liberation from political interference in day-to-day management has also improved the internal efficiency of these enterprises allowing them to commercialise their operations, adopt more resource efficient private sector business models and rationalise labour practices.

Flotation of shares of privatised enterprises has greatly stimulated the rapid growth of the Nigerian Capital Market and helped to deepen and broaden it.

Usman was head-hunted to become the executive director of United Bank for Africa in charge of the International and Investments Sector in 1992.

This included direct supervision of the New York Branch.

The catalytic effect of the volume of shares released into the market via the privatisation exercise cannot be over emphasised, the TCPC became the current Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) in 1993.

The Phase-I of the privatisation generally led to the improved Performance of the privatised enterprises, which inturn led to a considerable increase in the volume of corporate taxes accruing to the national treasury, among several other benefits.

The sale of shares and assets realised over N3.7 billion as gross privatisation proceeds from the privatisation of 55 enterprises whose total original investment according to the records of the Ministry of Financed Incorporated (MOFI) was N652 million.

Subsequently, he was appointed by Union Bank of Nigeria in 1993 as executive director and head of Corporate and International Banking.

His time at Union Bank was short-lived as NAL Merchant Bank recruited him as managing director and chief executive officer in 1994, a post that he held for over five years.

At the return to democracy in Nigeria in 1999, he was appointed as the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in charge of Domestic Monetary and Banking Policy, later named Financial Sector Surveillance.

He was the Finance Minister of Nigeria between June 2007 and January 2009 and also served as the Minister of National Planning from January 2009 to September 2013.

Usman is the Chairman of Citibank Nigeria Limited.

He was also a member of the Committee on Vision 2010.

As Minister of National Planning, he was responsible for the development of Nigeria's long-term development strategy, Nigeria Vision 2020 and the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan.

During his tenure as the Minister of Finance and National Planning, he was the Chairman of the Nigerian National Economic Management Team.

He represented Nigeria as a Governor on the Governing Boards of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

He was a Member of the Federal Executive Council, National Economic Council and the National Council on privatization.

He was the first Nigerian Minister to publicly declare his assets before assuming office as a public officer, an act considered as a sign of accountability and transparency in a country noted for its high levels of corruption.

Usman was born in Warure Quarters of Kano State.

His Father, an Islamic scholar, died when he was about six years old.

He began his education at Dandago Primary School.

After attending secondary school at the prestigious Government College Keffi and King's College, Lagos, he gained a BSc.

in Economics from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria.

He later won a National scholarship to study for his MSc.