A while ago, I got an education on leadership from my friends. It was a good one. Good leaders take difficult positions in times of hardship. Popular opinion is not always right. Nor is it always wrong.

That we are in an economic bind is putting it mildly. We have all become economist and advisers. I am not certain that our leaders read FB so our discussions are mostly for individual enlightenment and conversations.

One of such is the suggestion that Dangote made on selling the NLNG. Many people do not like Dangote. They believe he is an opportunist given an undue advantage. That might be true. But big business now rule the world. 100 companies contributed to 33% of USA's GDP last year. The same trend is in UK. So monopolies are in fashion. Though it is a dangerous trend.

I would like to share some facts on the NLNG and seek opinions not rooted in emotions. NLNG is profitable. Nigeria through NNPC owns about 49%. The profits from NLNG have mostly been retained by NNPC.NNPC has given reasons when challenged why that money is retained. NLNG requires massive funds for expansions. The reason for NLNG success is because the majority shares are held by IOCs. There is an existential threat to NLNG based on the gas market now. Profit is expected to decline.

We are in an economic recession. We must spend our way out of it. We must be able to attract investors. We need dollars. Plenty of it. Your reserves are a guarantee of your Naira stability. Many seem to miss that. Your Naira will continue to devalue no matter what unless you grow your reserves. Falling crude prices, reduced output are all challenges to attaining this. There are no exports.
Assets can be sold or leveraged upon to escape recession.

That is why you have them. NLNG profit in 12 years at current trends will not exceed $12b. That is highly optimistic. That is 12 years. Using discounted computations and inflation that is really about $10b or less.
Adding $20b from selling 49% gives your Naira a big bounce. It immediately gives you spending power of 4 years. It takes out the need to take a loan from China or US or IMF or WB. It will bring the Naira value up to about NGN200 to the USD using conservative calculations.


This money can then be invested in infrastructure that will lead to diversified revenue earnings and reduce import dependence. It is a foundation to build upon. What we should demand is what will be done with it.

It is foolish to have assets and the economy dies. A loan now will net off the investments returns from NLNG. Makes no sense.
Let us discuss with rationality and not emotions. Govt will still tax NLNG and therefore still make revenue. So is not a net loss.