Mr. Godwin Emefiele’s Report:
Quote
“It is either I do not understand economics and how exchange rates work or a
vast majority of us Nigerians still don’t get how
we have wrecked our country with our own curious choices. Just this morning,
I was listening to the radio and the lady on air went on and on about how she
thought CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele was incompetent and should be
sacked because the Naira was now exchanging at 309 or so to the USD.
“That view pretty much echoes the sentiments expressed by many people I
know and it amazes me that there are Nigerians who actually think there is
some magic POLICY that can make the Naira strong in the
near term. If my economics and my understanding of the way the world works
are right, then that is as far from the truth as Jesus Christ is black.
“The simple fact of the matter is that apart from oil that accounts for over
90% of our revenues, we really don’t have much of an
economy. We hardly produce anything, we import even toothpicks, so exactly
what
policy is going to be implemented that will turn Nigeria into a top exporting
economy in the near term? Where are our Apples, IBMs, Disneys, GMs, General
Electrics, Coca Colas, EmpireState buildings, Statues of Liberties, Lockheeds,
Citibanks, JP Morgans, ExxonMobils, NBAs, Super Bowls etc? Let me bringthat
closer home.
“There was a time long ago when Nigeria had a truly strong economy and the
naira was one
to the dollar – even exchanged for higher than the USD, but that Nigeria is not
this Nigeria. Sadly that Nigeria was laid by the
British, and this Nigeria (if you don’t believe in the nonsensical imperialist
conspiracies like me)– fueled by the DAMAGING
Indigenization Decree, has been the creation of us Nigerians. Back then we
had a booming
economy.
We were either the top, or among the top exporters, of timbre, cocoa,
groundnuts, rubber, palm oil, etc, in the world. Nigerians
not only holidayed at home in their villages, at Yankari Games Reserve, at
Obudu Cattle Ranch, at Oguta Lake, at Ikogosi
springs, at Gurara Falls, at Mambilla Platueau, etc, we attracted international
tourists who brought in loads of foreign exchange. Even Nigerian schools were
foreign exchange earners because they attracted foreign
students.
“We had different car assembly plants – Peugeot, Volkswagen, Anamco etc.
Nigerian
government officials only bought vehicles assembled in Nigeria for official cars.
We had a thriving sports industry. We were not Man
United or Chelsea fans, we were Rangers or IICC fans. We had the Nduka
Odizors, people mademoney from sports. We also had
companies like Lennards and Bata producing school shoes in their thousands,
we had the
thriving Nigerian Airways and the Aviation School in the north that produced
some of the best pilots in the world.
In those days if you were brilliant you were respected much more than the
crass money-miss-road contractors of today. Most of the
Aje Butters I knew had fathers who were university dons. Back then it meant
something to ‘know book’. Our textile industry was alive and well. Just
recently I
watched a news report on the textile industry in Nigeria on CCTV News.
Though the main
focus was on the comatose status of the industry, I was stunned by the
gigantic Kaduna Textile Mill built in 1957. I could
go on and on.
“Today however, no thanks to our parents (and we must call them out the
way Wole Soyinka did his generation) and many of us (and we should be
remembered for failing our children if we continue like this), we have destroyed
everything. Today for instance
Nigerian football (which comes easy to me obviously) doesn't appeal to us,
we have to fly across thousands of miles to watch ‘our’ clubs play. Every year
we collectively burn billions of Naira being fans of clubs that give us nothing
back, but some ‘entertainment value’ – simple pleasures for which we are
ready to destroy the future of our
children.
“Well people, payback time is here. Even with our ta-she-re money we all
want to wear
designer clothes and carry designer bags, Armani, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton etc.
We all want to drive jeeps with American specs,
our children must now school overseas and acquire the necessary accents to
come back
home and bamboozle their ‘bush and crass’ contemporaries that they left
behind. Who holidays in Nigeria anymore, is there
Disneyland here? No one buys made-in-Nigeria school bags for their children,
after all noSuperman or Incredible Hulk or
Cinderella on them.
“We are no longer top exporters of anything and the demise of oil means we
have zilch… zero. A country of 170M fashion- conscious people has no textile
industry. We take delight inshowing how our made-in-
Switzerland Aso Ebi is different class to everyone else’s. When we help our
musicians grow and pay them millions, they repay us
by immediately shipping the monies overseas to produce their “i-don-dey-
different-level” music videos. It makes no difference
that distinctly Zulu dancers are dancing to a Nigerian highlife song.
“As stars concerned they also wed and holiday overseas to impress us all. All
the musicianswho acknowledge their Ajegunle
roots now speak in a cocktail of strange accents to symbolise how much they
have blown their monies overseas. Were we a
more serious people, the highly popular Kingsway Stores of the past would
probably have a thousand outlets pan Nigeria today supporting a massive
agriculture industry among others, but today we have the
likes of SPAR, Shoprite, dominating the retail industrywhile Kingsway is dead.
“And we Nigerians make it a special point to shop from the Oyinbos who have
‘cleaner
shops’, ‘better this and better that’. For our personal pleasure we don’t mind
them dominating us in our own backyard and
shipping proceeds overseas. I could go on and on, but I don tire. Even as you
are reading this, stop for a moment and look
around you. What you see will probably explain why we are lucky it is not
N1000 to the USD yet. And don’t think for a moment that it cannot get there.
“Just continue to wear your Armani gear and Swiss-made
lace, continue to spend your money on Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea and
Barca and
encourage your children to do same. (My article tomorrow in my Saturday
column in This Day is on the Nigerian champions
Enyimba FC – Nigeria’s most successful club – not having a sponsor, yet
Nigerian brands pay
over N600m to Man United and Arsenal for sponsorship to impress us.) Ehhh,
no problem, continue to tell me the NPFL is
rubbish or the clubs should clean up their act if they want sponsorship, mo
gbo .
“Don’t curtail your interest in choice wines ( we were the number one
champagne consumers in the world in 2015), continue to love your American
specs, cheer the education ministry for letting schools sink
to pitiable levels, don’t fight them to improve our schools, don’t chide them
for letting schools drop Nigerian history and embrace British, America and
whatever else curricular.
“Carry on with your love of French wines and Chinese silk, don’t bother about
Jamiu Alli
when there is Roger Federer.
Stock up on your Italian, American, British products which you cannot live
without, including the ‘baby soft’ toilet rolls
produced only in that small unique village in England – the days are long gone
since you
were a broke student who used wet newspapers to wipe your butt.
“Don’t even consider holidaying in Nigeria, it’s too dangerous – you have to
fulfill your dream of being Nigeria’s Henry Ford. Don’t
listen to people like me who have a wardrobe full of only cheap adire that is
actually cheaper than just one of your Tom Ford
blazers. Please keep dressing in fine silk made in some exotic place so you can
be addressed accordingly.
“Finally keep letting corrupt leaders who have looted your commonwealth and
shipped all
the monies overseas get away because to attack them does not fit your
political narrative. Let us continue with the fine life, let us all continue to work
for Oyinbo.
But don’t forget that there is payback time and Emefiele is not your problem.
Time for us all to look in the mirror and take
responsibility" SENT AS COPIED

Nice though.

davidodiba:
Nice though.

Yeah, but he was talking too much about the problems rather than about solutions. That almost counts for nothing