Shamsuddeen Usman, CON, OFR (born 18 September 1949) is a Nigerian economist, banker, technocrat and public servant.
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.
[6] 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.
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 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.
Flotation of shares of privatised enterprises has greatly stimulated the rapid growth of the Nigerian Capital Market and helped to deepen and broaden it.
[citation needed] Usman was head-hunted to become the executive director of United Bank for Africa in charge of the International and Investments Sector in 1992.
[1] He has served as the Chairman of the Abuja Stock Exchange, Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) and Financial Institutions Training Centre.
Usman introduced a system of performance-based budgeting and pursued various economic reforms such as reducing the average Nigerian Ports Clearing time from approximately 2 months to approximately 14 days during his tenure; increasing the capitalization, trust and effectiveness of the insurance sector together with pursuing the implementation of the Insurance Act; cancellation of illegal waivers and concessions which led to revenue leakages of over $2 billion; reducing Nigeria's external debt; and easing customs charges and capital market charges for operators to promote a vibrant and hassle-free environment for investment in the economy.
[8] In times leading to the presentation of the government's budget by the President (Umaru Musa Yar'Adua) to the National Assembly, Usman did not enjoy a cordial relationship with a few Members of the Senate and House of Assembly as both, on all occasions during the preparation of the budget, were pushing for increased government spending against Usman's wishes, particularly as the Nation was suffering from dwindling oil revenues.
Usman claimed the reason for this is that the Economy of Nigeria lacked the capacity to take this increased spending, given its deflated revenue base and in order to control inflation and curtail corruption and improper implementation as in the Power Sector during the Obasanjo administration; this should be avoided.
These roles highlight Dr. Usman's continued prominence in Nigeria's socio-economic development through his leadership and governance across multiple sectors.
In the years preceding 2008, Nigeria benefited from the surge in oil prices, which allowed the government to build up excess reserves and increase public expenditure.
He constituted a Presidential Technical Committee on the Establishment of the Nigeria Sovereign Wealth Fund, which submitted its report to the National Economic Council and the President.
As a result, it appeared that the National Assembly had delayed his screening and by the next morning, the local newspapers were reporting that he had been dropped as a Minister due to political interests against his appointment as a Technocrat.
[citation needed] He also started Gidauniyar Alheri, an NGO in the Garangamawa area of Kano city that provides human resource development training to youths and carries out other charitable activities in the state.
[citation needed] On 17 August 2002, the Gidauniyar Alheri Community Services was founded to help the people of the 10 wards of Gwale local government in Kano state cope with issues like poverty, illiteracy, and a lack of sufficient healthcare.
Over 200 thousand people have taken advantage of the Gidauniyar Alheri Community Health Centre's free medical services since it opened in an effort to lower the state of Kano's alarmingly high rates of maternal and infant mortality.