Biafrarep:
I put it to you that you are either dependent on your parents/guardian or you are not in Nigeria. Pls prove me wrong! Everybody is feeling the heat, from manufacturers, importers & businessmen to those in the informal sector. It is a chain reaction, when when income falls, purchasing power falls & demand reduces. If nothing changes, then Nigeria is headed for reccession that would be worse than that of the 1980's. To worsen matters, the finance minister & CBN governor are confused on what to do.

Well, the problem is...we do not have enough forex in the country.

Meanwhile....demand for forex increases.....made worse by our over-dependency on imports.

In your opinion, CBN should stop hoarding dollars, and let the money flow.

But that would make things worse.....it would utterly deplete our dollar reserves.....and make our naira worthless....making things worse for the importers, manufacturers, even the people whose kids are studying abroad. (Hint....it would mean that it would cost far more naira to buy forex....meaning that your relatives would spend far more naira to get one dollar.

Devaluation won't work either.

Right now...the solution is simple.Keep on hoarding dollars....while we sort out manufacturing, and stop importing things we can make right here. In the short term, we can rely on agric as a alternative dollar source (although it is not tenable in the long term....because everybody is doing it...hence agric products are cheap).

Long term....we must industrailze. We have no choice.

viktor01:
So somebody could still open their mouth to blame the past administration?
If blame is what we wanted, we probably should have let them (past administration) be so that the blame can be justified.
The next person that blames the past administration for how Nigeria is today will receive a slap from me.

Well...

1.The past administration did not save , despite oil being high at $111 per barrel from 2011-14.

2.The past administration also did nothing about the corruption monster too.

3.The past admin did not get us off the dependency on resources.

4.They also did not make the tough but necessary choices of removing fuel and other subsidies completely...which would have freed more money for savings.

Having said that, even if the past admin had saved....it would have only delayed the inevitable. And if they were in charge....they would have done what the current one is doing...hoard dollars to prevent devlauation.

And here is why the CBN governor is not devaluing the naira...explained back in November....

the CBN governor stated: “The simple idea behind devaluation is that it will make your import more expensive while your export is cheaper.

“Our major export commodity which accounts for more than 80% of our income is crude oil and here is crude oil that the price is determined, we don’t have a control over it. So, if we devalue, it has no impact directly on our major export, and what is supposed to be the non oil export, we are not producing effectively.

“It means that for the industry which is also import dependent, they have to pay higher prices for those goods which will translate to higher inflation.”

PHIPEX:
The popularity of CBN (monetary policy) is an evidence that our fiscal policy (Ministry of Finance) is weak. I've not heard any reasonable statement from the ministry of finance since she got to her office.

Actually, our fiscal policy is par the course for a country that is resource dependent.

When your currency is pegged to dollars....and you are not getting much dollars like you used to with the fall in price of your resource....you do one of two things...

1.Restrict the flow of dollars....and keep your currency strong....OR.

2.Devalue.

But devaluation would be bad for Nigeria....and it isn't based on our experience in 1989....

Devaluation works if you are producing things which you have control over....ie if you are an industrial nation producing goods for a global market. But for Nigeria...where we are producing oil....well...here is Emefiele to explain...

Our major export commodity which accounts for more than 80% of our income is crude oil and here is crude oil that the price is determined, we don’t have a control over it. So, if we devalue, it has no impact directly on our major export, and what is supposed to be the non oil export, we are not producing effectively.

“It means that for the industry which is also import dependent, they have to pay higher prices for those goods which will translate to higher inflation.”

See the problem? That is why option 1 is the best of two bad worlds.....and also why we have to get off resource dependency...be it oil or agriculture.

grandstar:
Buhari is in the mold of Julius Nyerere and Kenneth Kuanda: - honest leaders who left their economies in tatters.

Buhari's understanding of economics borders on zero. This restrictive foriegn exchange policies are adversely affecting all sectors of the economy and inflation is rearing its ugly head.

If these wrong headed policies continue for the next 18months, Buhari should kiss a 2nd term bye bye.

APC will give him only so long.

Businessmen will have a strong influence in politics from now on.

They won't take a risk on sentiments by hooting for a shoeless politician or simply a man of integrity.

They will root for a tested technocrat. I suspect the governor in Kaduna may be the man

Bros wetin you dey yarn abeg??

STARGREEN:
Sure things are going down but with time it will get better.

AT TIMES ONE NEED NOT TALK WHEN THERE IS NOTHING TO SAY. IF U WERE D ONE LOOSING MILLIONS OF NAIRA INVESTMENT I WONDER IF U COME HERE SAYING THIS TRASH

This is what we got when our treasury had been looted dry by Jonathief and his cohorts.

oduastates:
What did you do with the money when oil prices were high?
Nothing?
Only remittance from the diaspora is saving Nigeria right now. You can shout transformation agenda as much as you can, Nigeria clock has been turned back by Jonathan and Iweala straight back to 1982.

Jonathan/Iwealla drove Nigeria's economy pass South Africa's as the fastest growing economy in Africa.

Western economic intelligence agencies announced it then, the same way Western Economic intelligence agencies now announce to our hearing that Nigeria's economy is not healthy.

BBC should just calm down, our president just said that the economic situation in the country is a blessing
http://www.prestnaija.com/buhari-economic-situation-nigeria-blessing/

okejos:
BUARI SHOULD GO TO GEJ FOR ADVICE N STOP THIS EGO OF SHAMEFUL CHANGE THAT IS NOT LEADING US ANYWHERE

I MENTION THIS EARLY THIS YEAR, AND REALLY THE NDA HAS FORCED HIM TO GO SEEK FOR JONATHANS ADVICE