₦airaland Forum

By Wale Odunsi on September 3, 2016@dailypostngr
Police

The police in Kubwa have arrested a herbal medicine hawker, identified as Tayo, for allegedly duping a resident, Adebayo Ibrahim, of N20m after hypnotising him with a herbal portion meant to cure pile.
He and five of his accomplices collected the money between July and December 2014.

According to The City News, the suspect also convinced his victim to follow him to his residence in Zuba, where he allegedly operated with his accomplices.


“When they got to the house, they recited some incantations and gave him something to drink.

“They also used razor and made some marks on his stomach and rubbed some concoction into it”, a source said.

With the concoction, the victim was hypnotised and he obeyed whatever he was commanded to do.

“He sold his two cars and that of his wife, as well as his house and three plots of land that he bought for some people,” the source said, adding that the victim recalled depositing a total of N20m in their bank accounts.


The source said however, the suspect became unlucky when he was seen by the victim last Thursday around Gado Nasko Way in Kubwa.

He said that when the suspect tried to escape after the victim confronted him, some good Samaritans caught him and took him to the police station.

The Kubwa Divisional Police Officer, CSP Nurudeen Sabo, confirmed the incident, saying that the suspect had confessed to the crime and identified five others whom he said were in Ekiti State, as his accomplices.

He said that the man confessed to have used part of the money in building houses in Ekiti State. The case would be transferred to the state CID for further investigation, Sabo said.

http://dailypost.ng/2016/09/03/herbal-medicine-hawker-friends-dupe-man-n20m/?utm_source=snap_dp1&utm_medium=twitter

Shewunoshewa:
You looonatic yeasterners can so beat empty chests over nothing!

What if Lagos didn't make the list?

And how does Enugu being on the list make your life better?

You yeasterners are extremely pathetic human beings, I swear.

Lol, accept that Enugu has defeated your rusted roof junkyards and stop crying. when Nomansland joined you all went on chest beating spree until you were called to order with the fact that Enugu joined two years earlier. Meanwhile we are waiting for Ibadan to join, Ibadan's only achievement is being bigger than the whole whole world

they are not christians but they are humans.why should anybody be killed whether christian or not

zeestunner:
Charity they say begins at home. its the same way southerners mock and insult notherners most times e.g aboki,nama etc. The same attitude is wat they've taken outside misbehaving and disgracing all of us. Am pretty sure if u go thru the names of nigerians in the so called tweeter war u'll know the regions they from,the same guys doing drugs in china,thailand,malaysia ,S.a and other places,prostitution in europe.its like wenever somtin bad happpens abroad u'll already knw where the person is from. Its just sad

This is about Nigerian being below kenya in all indices, take your childish rants to appropriate threat and get the usual flogging over there

those who ridiculed this trains as locomotives now want us not to remind them that it was GEJ's legacy just because Buhari has put in recession and want to put the blame on GEJ and we refused to accept that Shyte??

Lol, your economy is in recession and you go out for an e-fight?

SONofYORUBA:
Anyway since una dry fight now, I'll be back to post more Yoruba businesses. In discussions like this, Ibos tend to want to fight because they have no business beside petty trading to talk about.

So we know Zinox. Okay. Izzz that all?

Lol, you sound as if you didn't even know about zinox before. continue your nonsense media blackmail of how igbos are only petty traders. the truth is, the yoruba equivalent of the petty traders are all motor park touts

Shewunoshewa:
@bolded Really? Please expatiate.

Abooookis were beaten in Lagos until the security personnel came to their rescue. Fact.

The Fulani leader is Lagos apologised after mile 12 was shut. Fact.

Some of them were arrested and Kwankwaso had to come and bail them with 60k each after which they were repatriated to the north. Fact.

Ijaws in SW creeks have been completely annihilated on the orders of the Yoruba CDS. Fact.

Please give me facts and not wishful suggestions.

"Your people are killing my people". This statement is credited to Buhari when he went to Ibadan to reprimand yorubas for trying some little revenge on fulani killings, of course that was far before thinubu repackaged him as yoruba savior. Later when Falae was kidnapped and Afenifere isuued a statement, Kwankwaso went to Ibadan and told the to "shut up", reminding them of "one Naijiriya"

Shewunoshewa:
Abooookis were beaten in Lagos until the security personnel came to their rescue. Fact.

The Fulani leader is Lagos apologised after mile 12 was shut. Fact.

Some of them were arrested and Kwankwaso had to come and bail them with 60k each after which they were repatriated to the north. Fact.

Dont be an idddiot!

of course, the security personel has been uncovered as the people killing in the name of Fulani herdsmen, the event in Niger state exposed them. But you will still die to support the Dullar.d

Shewunoshewa:
Is he alive or not?

Were the kidnappers arrested or not?

Is his life worth more than that of the parishioner, village head and all the other yeasterners in Enugu that were massacred by the Fulani without any chance of negotiating their survival?

Are you okay at all?

But there is no Emir of Enugu yet, unlike Illorin. the people of Kaduna, Jos etc siting deep in the north have resisted the jihardist with their lives but only cowardly afonjas were conqured.

SONofYORUBA:
10 more pops up, yet Yorubas are stopping you from going to Biafra.

Ibis are the most confused set of subhumans I've ever seen

Lol, what else can you do to stop it when you have already done your worst?? if you say yorubas are stopping biafra plz tell us what Obasanjo was doing in Owerri in 1970

Shewunoshewa:
Are you madd

What do you call the continued annihilation of yeasterners in Enugu without any attempt at reprisal or a prevention of a future reoccurence whatsoever?

Enugu event happen in the boarder remote village and the perpetrators vanish. this is not like a street killing in Lagos or ijaws occupying the creeks. fulani has killed more in kwara and oyo than enugu. the fulani terrorist is actually a sign of failure of security by the Dullar.d you worship

InyinyaAgbaOku:
Which igbo producers aee bemoaning?
Never. We know the game.

English can never compete with ypruba, we have moved far. Only some of your people watch your craps called movoes, no wonder, they don't make money.

As for igbo language movies, you do know that both English and igbo spoken movies have the same actors, producers, directors.
So, who is crying, exactly?

yorubas don't know business at all. igbo films sell like ppure water in the north here because its english. many chinese and indian films are english. they cant compete in nollywood and started their yeye yoruba film that does not sell. There are many igbo language films but english has to be more for wider coverage and more money

hundredhundred:
Many have been suyanized in the North but they wont just go back to there erosion ravaged beastland. They prefer to die in SW than stay in that gully dungeon. Ask them how the SW is holding them from going and they will starting foaming in the mouth.

hahaha, crying will not help you, just compete or go under. Americas has not left afganistan and iraq. chinese has not left somalia or sudan, this is the era of capitalism and aggressive expansionism

SONofYORUBA:
Don't mind them.

One illiterate keeps posting nonsense by Nkem Oluloyo as if she rep the Yoruba nation.

Lagos just took down several dirty trading shops, but still dem go say Yorubas are stopping them.

you demolish one shop, ten more shops spring up, cant you see you cant win??

hundredhundred:
They are cry babies without shame. They cry for biafra and still fighting the government for appoinment, they dont even know what they want. No one is holding them, they should just leave the SW and leave us alone.

shut up and face the war you started here. this pics posted by op was used to mock buhari on facebook but you all descended on the thread to bash igbos, now you are crying instead of facing the music

Shewunoshewa:
Come on, why is there no Igbos on Forbes' list?

Igbos redistribute their wealth. Igbos dominate forbes multimillionaires. Forbes list did not stop with the first five or first ten etc. Its better to have hundreds of multimillionaires than ten of billionaires

Shewunoshewa:
What are the looonatics from the yeast arguing about again?

Are they not happy with the Igbo technocrats that PMB have assembled at last to resuscitate the economy?

Why are you yeasterners so stubborn? Are you goats

The waste rushed to do ethnic bashing without understanding the mockery of the Dullar.d in the post.

ManMountain:
Please chase them out of Igboland

why should we do that?? you think we are low lifers like you??

ShootToKill:
Walahi, Igbo and yoruba need to stay in differrent countries independent of each other, so the true potientials of each Nations will be truly appreciated.

Igbos have dared yorubas severally to promote their own country independent of Igbo but do yorubas have balls to take up the gauntlet? No!

This will put all rivalries to rest, propose your own country and stop claiming other peoples sweat in "one nigeria" but they will run. the claimed we want oil in ND but ND declared their own republic and we support it but yorubas want genocide for them

ManMountain:
Ibos have taken their hatred to the extent of supporting a foreign country to fight Nigeria on Twitter.
Shameless people

Lol, hatred ke?? if there is anybody that hates its the dullar.d himself. lets see where his nepotism will lead him. you are free to start calling us kenyans, last time an ugandan bashed the dullar.d you all started shouting ugandans up and ddown.

SONofYORUBA:
You must also tell me how Yorubas want you to stay in Nigeria and how they're stopping you from leaving now. Let me be honest with you, Yorubas don't want your kind. Nkem Ololuyo doesn't rep the Yoruba race. Blame your people who would rather do businesses with Yorubas and stay in Yorubaland.

I can't recall a moment Yorubas held a gun to your headband told you not to move your trading shops to the East.

Even after blatantly abusing you in Akure, burning down shops in Ladipo, you still don't want to leave Yorubaland.

If Ibos like yourself wants to move back to the East, Yorubas won't stop you.

dont you think you talk too much and make little sense?? keep burning shops and abusing, only show how weak you are the face of competition. real businessmen don't bother about this childish distractions. in long run, nobody will defeat the forces of capitalism. You can only cry cry, nobody is moving nowhere except if we become different countries, but since you dont want that, then face the competition or continue burning and abusing

SONofYORUBA:
O se.

You won't see the likes of Ben Murray asking Nigerians to support these Yoruba businesses. He'll be talking about made in aba shiiit.

Non-Yorubas hate and envy Yorubas too much.

Ben Murray mentions innoson, he doesn't mention ProForce Inc.

Hr mentions Aba made, he doesn't mention Yorubas Dressme Outlet.

Yoruba ronu. The hatred is real.

The thing the pain you well well ooo. We and you na mate?? stop crying all over the thread, the thread is just a joke that actually mocks the Dullar.d, if you are good at bashing go meet the kenyans

HARUNA Y. SA’EED
— Sep 3, 2016 4:37 am | Leave a comment
Prices have continued to rise and our ability to pay for basic and essential items has continued to fall, so are our wellbeing and our prosperity. Investment for the future by firms and individual households are on the decline. Every person on the street accepts that we are faced with inflation. So, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, cannot be wrong in saying same. It is also not wrong in deciding what to do when the economy is faced with uncertainty as to affect the value of our naira as a store of the overall value of wealth. This is a key role as enshrined in the Act establishing it. We know that every player in a soccer game is expected to work toward scoring goals for his team for its pleasure and that of the team’s fans/country. A disaster sets in where we have an “own goal”, where displeasure sets in. Similarly, if a doctor gives a wrong prescription or fails to diagnose correctly, cure will fail to be achieved or even fatality, death, may arise.

We doubt not of the fact that the proper functioning of money is extremely valuable in terms of promoting economic efficiency. Thus, the CBN tries to always regulate the supply of money so that it is sufficiently scarce that it can serve as a store of value. Sometimes however, it does so forgetting that money must, yet be, sufficiently abundant that there is enough for it to service all the desired transactions. Therefore, the banking sector, the CBN system tries to regulate, must be sufficiently robust and stable. It must provide, (and be seen to be doing so) proper incentives for lending to go to viable and plausible projects, rather than wildly risky ones.

The CBN might have, or obviously, looked at the situation as resultant of cash supply, whether from the banking system or whichever source a control of the banking sector can also stem. As a cure, therefore, the CBN raised its rate from 12% to 14%. However, this prescription, we believe, is wrong. If such a prescription has any effect on our financial system, even though Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, the then President, once said that our economy has defied all economic principles, will only worsen our travails.



The source of the inflation killing us today is not money supply. It is not also prosperity. It is recession, as we see with the IMF’s forecast reversal from a positive to a negative (-1.8%) growth.

There seems to be consensus on the real causes of the current inflation, at least outside the CBN. The foreign exchange has seen changes within this period more than ever, in both official under the CBN and in the private markets; Banks and Bureau de change. The dollar has moved from N196 and N230 to about N282 and N413 respectively. With our near total dependence on imported goods, the translation in the rise in their prices is obvious. The pump price of petrol has moved from N86 to a cap of N145. Transportation of persons and goods has to absorb this through their prices. Prices for services of, even, business centres and barber shops saw rises. What we pay for electricity also moved by about 85%, affecting everything on its way. Added to this, capacity utilization in our remaining factories shrunk affecting quality supplied to the market. Again, the positive control of our boarders against smuggling meant fewer good across the border translating into higher prices to cover drop in quantity and increased risk. So, a cocktail of these factors have come together to raise our inflation level and not money supply.

The government, right from the campaign, has made it very clear that a priority would be placed in getting cost of borrowing down, to a single digit. This, it is believed, will bring the cost of doing business and owning assets down. On the side of the banks, this will also stem the incidence of default and bad debts, thus strengthening their balance sheets and confidence in the financial institution. The economy is in recession and cash strapped. The Minister of budget and planning pledged that, with what the government has planned to do, the economy will come out of the recession by the year end. This is saying that what is contained in the budget, will, if adequately implemented, give adequate injection into the economy as to stimulate it to come to life. Therefore, stimulation is another key objective of government now. To date, what we see are only advertisements for the expansion spending. When the jobs are eventually rolled out, spending toward execution will see money changing hands, enhancing both demand and supply – leading to increased production and growth. We can then expect a resultant inflation as a result of this, as growth comes with some level of affluence. Even then, the least the CBN should do is to take action that limits availability of loanable fund. Further contraction of the financial system will further worsen the already bad liquidity contraction situation. The focus of government, and indeed, the CBN is, in the overall, and should be, to loosen the belt for people to take in air freely, or at least more comfortably.

When Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at its 251st sitting, and the CBN announced the increase of the benchmark interest from 12 to 14 percent, the governor said it was part of the measure to attract foreign capital and check headline inflation. However, it is doubtful if any of the two objectives can be met. Foreign capital is attracted to, all things being equal, profitable environment, while inflation controls are only effective if they attack the root cause of the inflation. Interest rate measures are aimed at controlling money supply – which we have seen earlier as not the cause of this inflation. Rather, we see possibility of it negatively pushing the economy in a number of ways. One such is shifting the objective of the Government in bringing the lending rate further away from the desired single digit to a likely region of 27% – 28%. This will surely bring more hardship to people and organizations already liable to banks – the practice of banks being to adjust rate without recourse to borrowers. Business will hardly cope with additional cost thus, worsening their profitability. Poor income and balance sheet affect stock price. Thus, this action will have a weakening effect on foreigners’ interest in Nigerian businesses. New loans will be less attractive (in line with the objective of the policy), thereby killing, weakening expansion and growth. Inversely, the drop in production with rising demand may push the inflation further up.

Second, as a consequence to the falling activity above, the already bad unemployment situation may further worsen as firms disengage staff while at the same time enjoying high prices for small quantity produced.

Third, jobs or contracts already executed with borrowed funds and not paid for may turn out to be unprofitable leading to possible defaults and bad debts. The spread allowable for jobs is usually around 30% and often not paid for over a period of one year. With interest compounding monthly, the final cost is better only imagined.



– Sa’eed, former Accountant General of Kaduna State and the Pioneer ES, NEITI, wrote from Kaduna
http://leadership.ng/columns/548996/inflation-nigerians-and-the-cbn-a-wrong-prescription

I still find it funny that most people don't know why Nigeria economy went into recession, they love the incompetent lies of Lai Mohammed about the past government ruining everything. It's also myopic to think that if Jonathan were to still be in power, we would be worse off.

The truth about Nigeria's recession is this; it was caused by the president's unguided rhetoric and uncultured body language.

Firstly, there is nothing we are buying today that we weren't buying 5 years ago, therefore it's not our purchase that put pressure on Naira but withdrawal of funds by foreign investors.

After the election, the president created instability with his unguided statements about how everyone is corrupt and how everyone is going to jail. The instability made foreign investors to liquidate their investment and change their money to dollars. In the process of trying to flee, they were willing to buy dollars at any price, which lead to high exchange dollar rate.

Even though some of them were not ready to run away, but want their money in dollars to save their investments from devaluation, the president gave a bad signal by banning deposit of foreign currency into dormiciliary accounts. That was enough for free market believers to see the draconian handwriting on the wall, that was the beginning of dollar rush.

To make matters worse, the president came up with another outrageous policy of rationing dollar to certain sectors and blocking many sectors out. That was the nail in the coffin which facilitated the emergence of free FALL.

In the end, foreign investors took over $80B out of the economy within a short period and everything went down to free fall.

To those who believe it will be worse if Jonathan is still there, you are all wrong. Policy continuity and political stability will not let billions of dollars leave our shores within such tiny time frame. Even though the government might have income shortage, the private sector will weather the storm by their confidence in the market.

The fear of the unknown created by PMB is responsible for the economic downturn not low oil price. Interest rate in America is currently at 0.5% while it is 12% in Nigeria. JP Morgan Chase will not mind borrowing $50 billion from Feds at 0.5 and put in Nigeria for return of %2000 profit. Citi bank will do the same, likewise US Bank Corp. Chase gave Buhari warning about the repercussions of his fixing policy before they pulled out, but his illiterate cyber warriors and misseducated e-soldiers said JPMORGAN can go to hell, they no longer believe in economic metrics since their messiah is in charge. Funny enough they are all suffering today because of the stupid policy, but they find relief by blaming it on past administration and Gucci appetite of average Nigerians.

For your information, if your president "kontunu" with his unguided rhetoric, Naira will go down to N1000/1 $. But we thank God, he is no longer talking.


Source: Facebook post

Analysts and socio-political groups on Friday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to heed the call for the restructuring of the country.

They told Saturday PUNCH in separate interviews that with the current economic crisis facing the country, restructuring was inevitable.

The National Bureau of Statistics had, on Wednesday, released the Gross Domestic Product figures for the second quarter of 2016 with the GDP growth rate sliding from -0.36 per cent in the first quarter to -2.06 per cent year on year.

It also released the capital importation report for the second quarter, the unemployment statistics report, the inflation report for the month of July and the labour productivity report for the month of July.
The reports, according to analysis, painted a negative picture of the Nigerian economy with inflation rising as high as 17.1 per cent from 16.5 per cent; unemployment rate increasing to 13.3 per cent from 12.1 per cent and investment inflows dropping to its lowest levels at $647.1m from $710m.

The National Publicity Secretary of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, said except the country was restructured, the recession could not be addressed.

He said, “Nigeria has entered a terminal crisis as it is now on irreversible journey to Venezuela. The Naira is on a free fall; inflation has torn the roof and suicide is now the option left for the hapless which we are already harvesting.

“There is no way out of this crisis except we restructure and release the creative energy in the federating units to retool. If we continue on this beaten path, our spring looms.”

A Lagos-based lawyer and human rights activist, Ebunoluwa Adegboruwa, said the problems in Nigeria were beyond the economy.

According to him, they are fundamental and can be traced to the root of the country’s existence.

He said, “I believe that we should restructure peacefully and upon terms agreeable to all the constituent units of the lopsided federation called Nigeria.

“The 1999 Constitution, which was enacted against the will of the people, should be dismantled and power and resources should be given back to the regions where they belong and are located.

“This style of dolling out bailouts to states and local governments from Abuja cannot continue.”

Also, the Head, Banking and Finance Department, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Uche Uwaleke; a former Managing Director of Unity Bank Plc, Mr. Rislanudeen Muhammed; and a former Managing Director, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, Mr. Ganiyu Ogunleye, said restructuring would help address the socio-economic challenges facing the country.

Uwaleke said that once the federating units were given the powers to control their resources, it would help promote economic competition.

According to him, with competition, the federating units will come up with innovative ways of stimulating their respective economies.

Uwaleke said, “Restructuring is the panacea for many of the socio-economic challenges facing the country. This much came to the fore in the last constitution conference put together by the previous administration.

“The seemingly endless crises in the Niger Delta region will substantially abate if the country is restructured in a way that allows greater control of resources by the federating units.”

Muhammed agreed with Uwaleke. He said restructuring would make all the states compete for economic development and as such uplift the lives of their people.

He said, “Nigeria has huge economic potential outside the oil sector which is largely untapped due to the so called Dutch Disease that has for years made us lazy and always relying on mono product commodity called oil as the source of income, notwithstanding the fact that oil constitutes only 10 per cent of our Gross Domestic product.

“Economic restructuring will make all the states compete for development and uplifting the lives of their people. There is potential for growth in non oil export in most states and virtually all the states have one form of economic competitive advantage or the other.

“The states do not have to grow at same pace but hard work will make all the difference. For example, virtually the whole of Zamfara State is sitting on gold and diamond, largely untapped with little going to illegal miners.”

Ogunleye described the restructuring of the country as a necessity, adding that it held the key to the economic development of the people.

He said, “Restructuring is a necessity and it is what the people have been advocating over the years, but the challenge is that it is either there is no serious commitment to it or the political will to implement it is lacking.

“Otherwise, when you talk about diversification, it is almost the same thing as restructuring the economy. Over the years, we relied on oil revenue and now we can appreciate the risks of relying on one source of revenue.

“We are not a manufacturing country and so most of the things we use are imported. So, there is the need to restructure the country in such a way that we can develop manufacturing capacity.”

According to Ogunleye, while a lot of emphases have been placed on agriculture, the country is just focusing on the primary aspect of the sector.

He said, “There is no linkage in our agriculture. When we produce our raw cocoa, we export it only to import chocolate. Imported products are expensive to the economy and they affect our foreign exchange.

“So with proper linkages in our agriculture sector, the pressure we are having now on foreign exchange will be reduced.”

The President, Campaign for Democracy, Abdul Usman, said with restructuring, no region would be dependent on others.

He said, “Restructuring can, as a matter of fact, make most of our clueless leadership in our various regions to sit up. The fact remains that our leaders are lacking in economic potential and are not willing to learn from some of their colleagues.”
http://punchng.com/restructure-now-experts-afenifere-others-tell-buhari/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

A rights activist and former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Ogun State, Dr. Niran Malaolu, has said that the ruling All Progressives Congress will labour in vain in its efforts to bring the desired change to Nigeria unless the country is restructured.

Malaolu asked the APC-led Federal Government to look beyond the political change which he said the ruling party achieved in the last general elections to social change by putting in place policies that would ensure equitable distribution of resources.

Malaolu, who was a guest speaker at the exploratory conference heralding the third Lagos Open Parliament organised by the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders in collaboration with People’s Action for Democracy during the week in Lagos, said the current structure of Nigeria gave room to a situation “where Peter is robbed to pay Paul.”

He, however, said until the defect was addressed, Nigeria would not develop as expected.
Malaolu said, “With the way Nigeria is currently structured, real change is not possible. Whatever any governor is trying to do will only amount to event, which cannot last. Change within any state or section of the country can only be cosmetic under the existing structure of the country.”

He used Lagos State as a case study to buttress his point.

Malaolu said Lagos State, known to have the largest population in Nigeria, generates the highest Value Added Tax among the 36 states in the country, but expressed concern that Sokoto State, which banned the consumption of alcohol, shared from the VAT.

He said, “We are in prison structurally in Nigeria, and this is why the APC change won’t work. The nation cannot continue like this or we will not have our freedom. The state governors know this, but will not talk because they want to be seen as being politically correct.”
http://punchng.com/change-not-possible-nigerias-current-structure-malaolu/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Dayo Oketola, Nike Popoola, ‘Nonye Ben-Nwankwo, Fisayo Falodi, Gbenro Adeoye, Tunde Ajaja, and Jesusegun Alagbe

Hit by the current economic recession in the country, most money deposit banks and insurance firms have slashed their workers’ salaries by between 20 and 50 per cent.

Investigations by Saturday PUNCH revealed that Diamond Bank Plc, Heritage Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, First Bank Plc and Wema Bank Plc have reduced their workers’ salaries as of August 31, 2016. This has also been confirmed by management sources and workers in the affected banks.

While Diamond Bank was said to have slashed salaries by 30 per cent, Heritage by 30 per cent, First Bank and Wema Bank workers’ salaries were slashed by 20 per cent each.
It was learnt that the banks tied the decision to cut salaries to workers’ ability to meet deposit targets, which have become unrealistically high in recent time. Hence, workers who failed to meet their targets had their salaries slashed.

Investigations also revealed that some insurance companies have extended the targets of premium generation to their employees.

Before, the marketing departments of the underwriting firms and insurance agents were responsible for generating premium for the companies.

Due to the economic crisis in the country, many insurance firms increased the targets for their marketing departments’ workers with threats of not paying them salaries if they failed to meet it (targets). As such, insurance workers who failed to meet their premium targets, according to industry sources, also had their salaries slashed.

An insurance employee, who spoke to one of our correspondents, said, “Before, it was only the marketers that they used to give targets to. Now, some of us also have targets ranging between N40, 000 and N100, 000 monthly and our promotion and salaries are tied to our performance.”

A Zenith Bank worker, who simply identified herself as Nkem, confirmed the slash in salaries.

Nkem said she resumed work after her annual vacation only to discover that she didn’t get the same salary that she had always received.

Similarly, another Zenith Bank employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told one of our correspondents that there was eight per cent cut in their salaries, beginning from August.

The source said the reason given by the bank was that the workers had not been paying the correct tax, hence, the bank had to start the deduction to regularise the tax payable.

On the fear that some workers could be sacked, the source said such fear had always been there, but the current one was beyond description.

He said, “The problem now is that there has not been any promotion since last year, which seems strange.”

An employee of First Bank, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he had been sleeping and waking up in worry in the past two weeks due to fear of being sacked.

The banker, who just got married in Lagos, said workers had received an email from the bank’s Managing Director about a “new development soon.”

He said, “We have been receiving hints of more lay-offs due to the economic recession in the country, which has deeply affected the banking sector. Some employees lost their jobs two months ago. We also learned that another set of people will be laid off between September and October.”

Saturday PUNCH learnt that Ecobank has yet to slash its workers’ salaries, but there is apprehension among the bank’s employees that their pay might be slashed any moment from now.

One of the bank’s senior members of staff, who preferred to be addressed as Handsome Guy, said it had become a tradition among Nigeria’s banks to be imitating one another’s policies, especially those affecting workers’ welfare.

A worker with First Bank Plc, who simply identified himself as Jimson, confirmed to one of our correspondents on Thursday that most bank workers now go to work with the fear that they could be sacked anytime.

“There is perpetual fear in all banks. Every category of workers in the banks is affected by the economic crisis,” he said.

He, however, noted that some bank workers had been resigning and travelling abroad, especially the United States and Canada, to avoid being sacked.

Jimson said, “One of my colleagues just resigned last month because of the fear of losing his job and travelled to the U.S to seek greener pastures. But those who are not interested in leaving Nigeria have devised many means to survive the harsh economy should their letters of sacking come anytime. They are setting up small scale businesses.

“The most common ones are laundry services and restaurants which require capital outlay of N500, 000.

“The academically-sound ones among them have been moving to private universities to take appointments there. The problem is on the high side now. There is perpetual fear among bank workers that they can be fired at anytime.”

The National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions’ Employees confirmed the development in the banks to Saturday PUNCH.

NUBIFIE Secretary General, Mohammad Sheick, said the issue had become a serious concern to the union.

Sheick said, “There is apprehension in the banking sector. Recently, there was mass sacking by banks and the Federal Government directed that those who were sacked during that period should be recalled.

“We have had about two meetings with the Federal Ministry of Labour on the issue and we are hopefully looking at the possibility of the ministry calling us to another meeting so that we can have an understanding on how to respond to the emerging issues like economic recession and other factors that are affecting the operations of banks.

“Even before the economic recession, the banks have always responded to any policy of the government negatively. The first thing that came to the mind of the banks’ management, which the union has always disagreed with, is to lay off workers.

“They (banks) have to think outside the box and objectively. If they want to cut cost or reduce certain expenditure because of certain government’s policy, then the reality is that they should know where they should direct their attention.

“I can volunteer to say that the thing that eats deep into banks profit and loss is nothing other than the kind of lifestyle of the management staff of the banks. For example, the monthly salary of one executive director is more than the salaries of 100 workers. This is apart from other privileges and perks attached to him as an executive director.”

The Head, Corporate Communications, First Bank, Mr. Babatunde Lasaki, denied that the lender cut its employees’ salaries.

In a response to an emailed question, he said, “This is totally incorrect and unfounded. First Bank staff salaries, allowances and bonuses are being fully paid as and when due.”

The spokesperson of Zenith Bank, Mr. Akin Olaniyan, could not be reached on the telephone. Text message and email questions sent to him were not responded to.

The spokesperson, Diamond Bank, Mike Omeife, denied that the bank had cut the salaries of some of its workers.

The Director-General, Nigerian Insurers Association, Mr. Sunday Thomas, said everybody is a marketer in the insurance firms because they need the premium to operate all the departments.

“It will not be out of order for the companies to give employees targets except the target is unrealistic,” he said.

However, economists said the high deposit targets and the attendant fear by bank and insurance workers could be a strategy by the two industries to survive the current economic reality in the country.

A renowned Economist and Managing Director, Cocosheen Nigeria Limited, Ikeja, Lagos State, Mr. Henry Boyo, agreed that such a measure could be a strategy by banks to remain in business.

He said, “Every sector in the country is affected by the economic crisis, not only the banks. For instance, if a company asks you to pick between being sacked and your salary being reduced, I think most people would prefer the latter option. This could be what is happening.”

Another Lagos-based economist, Dr. Babatunde Abrahams, predicts the mass sacking of workers in banks and insurance firms going by the latest development.

He said, “If anyone has been watching economic trends for a while in the country, you will discover that the sacking of workers is inevitable. Banks trade with customers’ deposits, but I can tell you that very few people have money in banks in this harsh economic period.”
http://punchng.com/economic-recession-banks-insurance-firms-slash-workers-salaries/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Meanwhile, OP read this:
I still find it funny that most people don't know why Nigeria economy went into recession, they love the incompetent lies of Lai Mohammed about the past government ruining everything. It's also myopic to think that if Jonathan were to still be in power, we would be worse off.

The truth about Nigeria's recession is this; it was caused by the president's unguided rhetoric and uncultured body language.

Firstly, there is nothing we are buying today that we weren't buying 5 years ago, therefore it's not our purchase that put pressure on Naira but withdrawal of funds by foreign investors.

After the election, the president created instability with his unguided statements about how everyone is corrupt and how everyone is going to jail. The instability made foreign investors to liquidate their investment and change their money to dollars. In the process of trying to flee, they were willing to buy dollars at any price, which lead to high exchange dollar rate.

Even though some of them were not ready to run away, but want their money in dollars to save their investments from devaluation, the president gave a bad signal by banning deposit of foreign currency into dormiciliary accounts. That was enough for free market believers to see the draconian handwriting on the wall, that was the beginning of dollar rush.

To make matters worse, the president came up with another outrageous policy of rationing dollar to certain sectors and blocking many sectors out. That was the nail in the coffin which facilitated the emergence of free FALL.

In the end, foreign investors took over $80B out of the economy within a short period and everything went down to free fall.

To those who believe it will be worse if Jonathan is still there, you are all wrong. Policy continuity and political stability will not let billions of dollars leave our shores within such tiny time frame. Even though the government might have income shortage, the private sector will weather the storm by their confidence in the market.

The fear of the unknown created by PMB is responsible for the economic downturn not low oil price. Interest rate in America is currently at 0.5% while it is 12% in Nigeria. JP Morgan Chase will not mind borrowing $50 billion from Feds at 0.5 and put in Nigeria for return of %2000 profit. Citi bank will do the same, likewise US Bank Corp. Chase gave Buhari warning about the repercussions of his fixing policy before they pulled out, but his illiterate cyber warriors and misseducated e-soldiers said JPMORGAN can go to hell, they no longer believe in economic metrics since their messiah is in charge. Funny enough they are all suffering today because of the stupid policy, but they find relief by blaming it on past administration and Gucci appetite of average Nigerians.

For your information, if your president "kontunu" with his unguided rhetoric, Naira will go down to N1000/1 $. But we thank God, he is no longer talking.


Source: Facebook post

slimfit1:
If you can't find opportunities as a result of this situation we are in you will never be successful no be lie. However, Buhari has always come out victorious with all the challenges. Look at the petrol situation, tomatoes light etc.

We have suffered before and we got no tangible result. We don't have patients for people or leaders who have us in mind. The people who deceived us get more time to cause more damages.

LMFAO, Buhari's strategy is to make thing extremely bad so that when it improves slightly it will look like he has triumphed. this will be his strategy for the next election, thing will improve slightly though worse than he met them, due to long period of suffering people will start showering praises and demanding for more tenure.

which party did sokoto vote for??

you keep shouting EBELEMI up and down, hmmm, was he forced to use EBELE in all his official documents at gunpoint?? this ijaw lowlife