Wailing on the Economy


I love to read books and that habit means I frequent bookshops a lot. However, since I resumed duties as a Senator, I have not had as much spare time as I used to have so rather than buy in stores, I buy majority of the books I read online. So you could imagine my shock when I tried to purchase some leadership and management books from a foreign bookshop online only to find that my account, which is well funded, would not work! Then I got an email from my bank explaining to me that due to the realities of our economy, my ATM card is being restricted. I was shocked!

At first I thought the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had incorrectly fingered me as a recipient of the fabled Dasuki money (I did not receive a dime and I did not solicit for such funds). But then a number of my friends reported similar experiences to me. Even at that, I could not believe that Nigerians could be precluded from spending their money as they deemed fit, until the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) news headline confirming my worst fears-Nigerian credit/debit cards are being restricted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)!

To say I was shocked would be an understatement! Forget about my books, what about people in more desperate circumstances than I was? This policy disproportionately punishes honest, hardworking and patriotic Nigerians who have domiciled their accounts, businesses and properties in Nigeria as a vote of confidence on their country. Many Nigerian politicians notoriously have foreign accounts and may not feel the pinch as much as ordinary Nigerians. And the thing is that it is precisely our politicians who have put us in this state and not the long-suffering Nigerian masses.

After I got over my initial shock, I made enquiries as to how people are copping with this economic blockade and I was moved to tears by the results of my findings. If you think that the naira is losing value solely because of the falling crude oil prices, you will be wrong. Part of the reason for the downward trend is a unique and new type of capital flight that has arisen in response to the realities of our forex restriction regime. You see, Nigerians, faced with the inability to use their ATMs abroad are heading to the Black Market, to buy foreign currency in unprecedented numbers and are then flocking to neighbouring countries like Benin Republic and the Republic of Ghana to open accounts there, because ATMs from Beninese and Ghanaian banks work overseas while those from Nigerian banks don’t. Imagine that!

Even if we must ban the use of Nigerian ATM card abroad, is it not better to take into account some realities before we implement such drastic measures? With the hugely successful Bank Verification Number (BVN) registration process, the CBN has the verified account details of all elected and appointed politicians in Nigeria. If at all we must ban, why not ban it for politically exposed people like me instead of ordinary Nigerians that depend on it? Do not punish regular everyday Nigerians for the wrongs of the political class! A lot of the small and medium scale enterprises that employ the majority of Nigerians, depend on their ATM cards to do business abroad.

What do Nigerians who are in foreign hospitals for life threatening illness do if they can’t access funds via ATM? What do Nigerian students schooling abroad and who depend on their parents to fund them via naira ATM do? How do bloggers pay for hosting if ATMs will not work on foreign sites? Is this the anti Social Media Bill via the backdoor? What do thousands of young Nigerians who promote their businesses to the world via Facebook/Twitter Ads do? #PunishpoliticiansnotNigerians!

These people are not just statistics. They are young men and women who trooped out in their millions to vote in the All Progressive Congress (APC) to power. And now how are they being rewarded? There is no fuel and when you complain you are told that former President Goodluck Jonthan is the cause of the fuel scarcity! Really? When electricity improved in June it was not Jonathan’s fault but when there is fuel scarcity in December, six months after he handed over, it is his fault. As our young people will say, issorai!

The sad thing is that while Nigerians are going through these hardships and trying to take it in their stride, their governors, who they look to for help, are threatening to reduce the minimum wage! At the time the new Minimum Wage Bill was signed into law by President Jonathan, the ₦18,000 wage was equivalent to $130. Today the minimum wage is worth only $75 and rather than thinking about how to raise it, our hovernors are conspiring on how to reduce it. It is like spanking a child and when the child is crying you begin taunting the child. How sad!

With this policy on ATM use abroad, those in power are making Nigeria into a country where the poor pay for the sins of the rich and powerful. Nigeria is going through tough times and what we need is a government that includes not one that excludes! Blaming all our woes on Jonathan is just escapism and a revision of history. If we need to conserve our reserves, there are practical and commonsensical actions we could take rather than this action, which seems rather knee jerk.

In a news story on Bloomberg, the magazine quoted Shoprite’s South African CEO, Whitey Basson, as saying the retailer’s seven stores in Nigeria sold more Moet & Chandon champagne than all the liquor shops in South Africa last year. May be you did not get me. Mr. Basson is not just saying that Shoprite sold more Champagne in Nigeria. No. He said that Shoprite sold more Champagne in Nigeria than all the stores in South Africa (including their competitors) combined! To put it in perspective, Shoprite has less than 20 stores in Nigeria and over 400 in South Africa! Now these are the foxes that spoil our economic vine!

The problem is not that we are drinking so much champagne, the problem is that we are importing the product and paying for it with our foreign reserve. I could understand if we were importing life saving medicines, but Moet & Chandon champagne is a luxury. In 2014, official records show that 768,131 bottles of champagne were imported into Nigeria at a cost of over $100,000,000. When you factor in the fact that one company, International Wine and Spirits, claims that it sold 1.1m bottles of champagne in Nigeria, it means that more of the product is being smuggled in through our porous borders than those coming in through official channels.

And who are the champagne drinkers in Nigeria? Certainly not regular Nigerians who are eking out a living using their ATM cards as a cashless form of skin business over the border.

No. It is the political elite again who are to be blamed. In the past 50 years, Nigeria has paid for maybe a million people to go on pilgrimage. Imagine if we had paid for a million people to start businesses instead! If we had done that, we would not be so dependent on oil rent. We would, like other nations, be dependent on taxes paid by a productive population who makes the things that they consume. We would have saved billions of dollars the state paid as air tickets, Basic Travel Allowance and other incidentals.

Not that I am against pilgrimages. If ones religion requires pilgrimages as a sacrifice then by all means go. But if government has to pay for your pilgrimage, then how is it a sacrifice? It is no longer a sacrifice. It becomes a holiday! I advise the present administration to swallow its pride and instead of vilifying Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, should consider consulting her for advise on how she was able to coordinate the economy in such a way that Nigeria enjoyed seven years of economic stability in which our currency maintained its value and workers were paid on time and regularly too. Propaganda can only sustain you for so long. Blaming others can only fool weak minded people for just that long. But over time, it will keep becoming clearer and clearer that the emperor is naked. May we never get to that stage.

My name is Ben Murray-Bruce and I just want to make #Commonsense!

BenBruce4Presdt:
Wailing on the Economy


I love to read books and that habit means I frequent bookshops a lot. However, since I resumed duties as a Senator, I have not had as much spare time as I used to have so rather than buy in stores, I buy majority of the books I read online. So you could imagine my shock when I tried to purchase some leadership and management books from a foreign bookshop online only to find that my account, which is well funded, would not work! Then I got an email from my bank explaining to me that due to the realities of our economy, my ATM card is being restricted. I was shocked!

At first I thought the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had incorrectly fingered me as a recipient of the fabled Dasuki money (I did not receive a dime and I did not solicit for such funds). But then a number of my friends reported similar experiences to me. Even at that, I could not believe that Nigerians could be precluded from spending their money as they deemed fit, until the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) news headline confirming my worst fears-Nigerian credit/debit cards are being restricted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)!

To say I was shocked would be an understatement! Forget about my books, what about people in more desperate circumstances than I was? This policy disproportionately punishes honest, hardworking and patriotic Nigerians who have domiciled their accounts, businesses and properties in Nigeria as a vote of confidence on their country. Many Nigerian politicians notoriously have foreign accounts and may not feel the pinch as much as ordinary Nigerians. And the thing is that it is precisely our politicians who have put us in this state and not the long-suffering Nigerian masses.

After I got over my initial shock, I made enquiries as to how people are copping with this economic blockade and I was moved to tears by the results of my findings. If you think that the naira is losing value solely because of the falling crude oil prices, you will be wrong. Part of the reason for the downward trend is a unique and new type of capital flight that has arisen in response to the realities of our forex restriction regime. You see, Nigerians, faced with the inability to use their ATMs abroad are heading to the Black Market, to buy foreign currency in unprecedented numbers and are then flocking to neighbouring countries like Benin Republic and the Republic of Ghana to open accounts there, because ATMs from Beninese and Ghanaian banks work overseas while those from Nigerian banks don’t. Imagine that!

Even if we must ban the use of Nigerian ATM card abroad, is it not better to take into account some realities before we implement such drastic measures? With the hugely successful Bank Verification Number (BVN) registration process, the CBN has the verified account details of all elected and appointed politicians in Nigeria. If at all we must ban, why not ban it for politically exposed people like me instead of ordinary Nigerians that depend on it? Do not punish regular everyday Nigerians for the wrongs of the political class! A lot of the small and medium scale enterprises that employ the majority of Nigerians, depend on their ATM cards to do business abroad.

What do Nigerians who are in foreign hospitals for life threatening illness do if they can’t access funds via ATM? What do Nigerian students schooling abroad and who depend on their parents to fund them via naira ATM do? How do bloggers pay for hosting if ATMs will not work on foreign sites? Is this the anti Social Media Bill via the backdoor? What do thousands of young Nigerians who promote their businesses to the world via Facebook/Twitter Ads do? #PunishpoliticiansnotNigerians!

These people are not just statistics. They are young men and women who trooped out in their millions to vote in the All Progressive Congress (APC) to power. And now how are they being rewarded? There is no fuel and when you complain you are told that former President Goodluck Jonthan is the cause of the fuel scarcity! Really? When electricity improved in June it was not Jonathan’s fault but when there is fuel scarcity in December, six months after he handed over, it is his fault. As our young people will say, issorai!

The sad thing is that while Nigerians are going through these hardships and trying to take it in their stride, their governors, who they look to for help, are threatening to reduce the minimum wage! At the time the new Minimum Wage Bill was signed into law by President Jonathan, the ₦18,000 wage was equivalent to $130. Today the minimum wage is worth only $75 and rather than thinking about how to raise it, our hovernors are conspiring on how to reduce it. It is like spanking a child and when the child is crying you begin taunting the child. How sad!

With this policy on ATM use abroad, those in power are making Nigeria into a country where the poor pay for the sins of the rich and powerful. Nigeria is going through tough times and what we need is a government that includes not one that excludes! Blaming all our woes on Jonathan is just escapism and a revision of history. If we need to conserve our reserves, there are practical and commonsensical actions we could take rather than this action, which seems rather knee jerk.

In a news story on Bloomberg, the magazine quoted Shoprite’s South African CEO, Whitey Basson, as saying the retailer’s seven stores in Nigeria sold more Moet & Chandon champagne than all the liquor shops in South Africa last year. May be you did not get me. Mr. Basson is not just saying that Shoprite sold more Champagne in Nigeria. No. He said that Shoprite sold more Champagne in Nigeria than all the stores in South Africa (including their competitors) combined! To put it in perspective, Shoprite has less than 20 stores in Nigeria and over 400 in South Africa! Now these are the foxes that spoil our economic vine!

The problem is not that we are drinking so much champagne, the problem is that we are importing the product and paying for it with our foreign reserve. I could understand if we were importing life saving medicines, but Moet & Chandon champagne is a luxury. In 2014, official records show that 768,131 bottles of champagne were imported into Nigeria at a cost of over $100,000,000. When you factor in the fact that one company, International Wine and Spirits, claims that it sold 1.1m bottles of champagne in Nigeria, it means that more of the product is being smuggled in through our porous borders than those coming in through official channels.

And who are the champagne drinkers in Nigeria? Certainly not regular Nigerians who are eking out a living using their ATM cards as a cashless form of skin business over the border.

No. It is the political elite again who are to be blamed. In the past 50 years, Nigeria has paid for maybe a million people to go on pilgrimage. Imagine if we had paid for a million people to start businesses instead! If we had done that, we would not be so dependent on oil rent. We would, like other nations, be dependent on taxes paid by a productive population who makes the things that they consume. We would have saved billions of dollars the state paid as air tickets, Basic Travel Allowance and other incidentals.

Not that I am against pilgrimages. If ones religion requires pilgrimages as a sacrifice then by all means go. But if government has to pay for your pilgrimage, then how is it a sacrifice? It is no longer a sacrifice. It becomes a holiday! I advise the present administration to swallow its pride and instead of vilifying Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, should consider consulting her for advise on how she was able to coordinate the economy in such a way that Nigeria enjoyed seven years of economic stability in which our currency maintained its value and workers were paid on time and regularly too. Propaganda can only sustain you for so long. Blaming others can only fool weak minded people for just that long. But over time, it will keep becoming clearer and clearer that the emperor is naked. May we never get to that stage.

My name is Ben Murray-Bruce and I just want to make #Commonsense!

Nkoghieri!

commonsensical

that's not an English word bro and this is not a poem or song

Ben please stop making sense on social media.



The people of Bayelsa voted you to represent them by making sense in the senate and not on social media platforms.



You have the opportunity now that you are a senator, pls use it very well.

Really this great man is making common sense , this the type of president Nigeria need now, his common sense alone can move a country forward. Senator Ben Bruce for president, defender of the poor masses and common sense

Proud wailer like myself

Common sense isn't even that common.

Let it not be too late before we pay close attention on this man's intentions..
Commonsense is what Nigeria needs now.

"Propaganda can only sustain you for so long. Blaming others can only fool weak minded people for just that long. But over time, it will keep becoming clearer and clearer that the emperor is Unclad. May we never get to that stage" senator Ben Murray Bruce.

@SilverbirdTV, which I founded (now run by others) uses Innoson official vehicles, helping keep money & jobs in Nigeria #PaySalaryBeforeCar

Oga common sense,u are on point o,hope someday wen we vote u as d president of d our great country,u will execute ur plan 4 d masses.

obasiken:
But over time, it will keep becoming clearer and clearer that the emperor is Unclad. May we never get to that stage

I am not sure abt that...maybe we should unclad the king ourselves..

Here is the solution we all have been clamouring for;

wiseabuo:
Oga common sense,u are on point o,hope someday wen we vote u as d president of d our great country,u will execute ur plan 4 d masses.

Dear Mr Common Sense,

All that common sense gibberish na wash. I think as a true leader, you should take a holistic view at national matters. You don't just throw punchlines at different actions/initiatives taken by the government which you oppose. You oppose a government not because you have the interest of the people at heart, but because you are nurturing your own aspirations.

If you are a true economist, please come out and talk intelligently on economic plans and not just fire rejoinders against whatsoever comes out of Aso Rock. I don't consider your approach as making common sense.

You may hold the media, but you don't have control over the minds of everybody.

Until he starts saying something reasonable at the red chamber,I won't take him serious...nobody voted for an e-senator

Please don't be '#bruise
Did Ben bruise think that politics is philosophy? He better be a practical hands than making a philosophical common sense.

As soon as the mod sees this nonsense, it will make front page immediately

Yet a thread that exposed pdp social media propaganda has been ignored

Sai Baba

U can make him president of IPOB land

He was DG of NTA for over 4 years, can you kindly list his achievements during his term as DG so we can access his capabilities

All these ekpas and their #PDPHouseofHunger comments sha

Smh

Luckylife:
Really this great man is making common sense , this the type of president Nigeria need now, his common sense alone can move a country forward. Senator Ben Bruce for president, defender of the poor masses and common sense

Zombie when we are moving forward in common sense system your are still thinking like a caved monkey .

asEdeyHOT:
U can make him president of IPOB land

He was DG of NTA for over 4 years, can you kindly list his achievements during his term as DG so we can access his capabilities

All these ekpas and their #PDPHouseofHunger comments sha

Smh

So you cannot list any of his achievements during his tenure as NTA DG ?

And you call me a Zombie?

IPOB oooo

Lolzzz

Luckylife:
Zombie when we are moving forward in common sense system your are still thinking like a caved monkey .

Am astonished by ur low level of IQ when we had presidents,governors, even senators that are elected with huge monetary allocation for development are accused of looting, you low life is hear waiting for the list of development a appointed DG that you can't tell if adequate money was enough to pay his workers then. Am not against your reasonable point but when u include sentiment on text I equates With zombies.

asEdeyHOT:
So you cannot list any of his achievements during his tenure as NTA DG ?

And you call me a Zombie?

IPOB oooo

Lolzzz

Bruce and his fans are Descendants of Orubebe . They can cry a river

BenBruce4Presdt:
...I advise the present administration to swallow its pride and instead of vilifying Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, should consider consulting her for advise on how she was able to coordinate the economy in such a way that Nigeria enjoyed seven years of economic stability in which our currency maintained its value and workers were paid on time and regularly too...

Sometimes I heap praises on this man for being able to stand out from the rest and reason progressively, but other times I'm just left at a loss for words at the way the man reasons like a basic unenlightened person. How can a man who claims to make common sense think that economic growth when oil sells above $100 would be the same as when oil sells at ~$30?? Probably he would tell us NOI was the reason why oil sold above $100 very soon.

Meanwhile when the oil prices began to crash and was still even above $60, almost all economic indices tumbled right under the nose of almighty NOI, the GDP growth which he brags about fell to its lowest ever since 1999 of 2.3% in the 2nd quarter of 2015 and the FG even had to borrow to pay workers salaries at the time. Today even though oil prices have dipped to even less than half of what it was as at the 2nd quarter 2015, the government is not borrowing to pay salaries and the GDP growth rate has risen to over 3%. Yet Ben Bruce who brags about common sense thinks NOI is an omni-science demi god who should be consulted?

Ben bruce spoke well but spoilt the article with " consulting NOI part " i dont want to believe he does not no that allocations to state reduced drasticaly late 2014 immediately oil price went down n he also wasnt aware that FG had to borrow to pay salary early 2015.

Now he wants us to consult her now that oil price is even lower

Na to sell aso rock take pay salary go remain now