₦airaland Forum

Omobola Johnson joins TLcom Capital
Venture capital firm TLcom Capital (TLcom) has announced the appointment of Omobola Johnson the ex-Minister of Communications in Nigeria, as a general Partner to open and head their new office in Lagos, Nigeria – their second in Africa.

With two profitable exits from African start ups in 2014the sale of virtual identity solutions provider for mobile operators Movirtu to global mobile communications leader Blackberry, and the acquisition of mobile marketing company Upstream on behalf of private equity group Actis, it was the obvious next step for TLcom to further strengthen their geographical footprint in Sub Saharan Africa by adding an office in Nigeria.

TLcom’s first office in Africa was opened in Nairobi to allow the launch of TLcom TIDE Africa – its new Sub Saharan Africa focused Tech fund.

“Based on my 25 year career at Accenture and my tenure as Nigeria ICT Minister, I am convinced that local entrepreneurship and private capital are vital to unleash the power of technology to create jobs and further economic and social development in the continent. My goal to assist African tech entrepreneurs’ access venture capital investment can be best achieved by joining a well-established investor such as TLcom. My main focus will be on deal flow generation, investment and value generation, and to bring industry level experience and network opportunities to support the scalable, sustainable and profitable growth of African tech companies in the TLcom portfolio” said Omobola Johnson, the new Partner of TLcom Capital LLP.

Africa has been noted as a growing hub for tech/mobile start-ups businesses, and angel investors and VC companies have been watching the developments and increasingly supporting start-ups across the African continent. TLcom has managed to choose its investments well and proving that VC exits from African start-ups are possible. Adding an office in Lagos allows TLcom to have a firmer footprint on the African continent, and work closer with its portfolio companies helping them to expand across Africa and internationally.

“We are excited about Omobola joining our team and leading our efforts in West Africa as we look forward to exploring businesses in fundamental markets such as Nigeria and finding entrepreneurs building scalable investable companies. Our main priority is to further explore Africa related opportunities associated with technology and innovation for value generation,” said Maurizio Caio, Managing Partner at TLcom Capital LLP.

“Our recent exits validate TLcom’s belief that relevant venture backed technology and innovation can accelerate inclusive access to basic services in Africa and other developing markets, while attracting the strategic interest of global technology leaders and achieving profitable investment returns,” concludes Caio.

TLcom Capital is a venture capital firm based in London, Nairobi and Lagos, managing approximately US$300 million in technology and innovation from early stage to expansion and growth.

TLcom delivers equity capital as part of a larger strategic and operational support to entrepreneurs, leveraging a senior team of business building investment professionals combining global industry expertise with local transaction and management experience.

Before joining TLcom, Omobola was Minister of Communication Technology, Nigeria from 2011 to 2015, focusing on the launch and execution of the National Broadband Plan, and the support of the Nigerian technology industry, including the pioneering involvement of the government in a local VC fund and a network of start-up incubators. Before serving in the Nigerian government, she gained over 25 years of consulting experience with Accenture including five years as Country Managing Director, working with companies in a variety of industries, transforming them into more competitive and dynamic organizations.

http://businessdayonline.com/2015/10/omobola-johnson-joins-tlcom-capital/

This is a very inspiring piece. Thank you Uncle Bruce.

I’ve always believe that the strength, pride and patriotism of our nation is depended on;
1. Our sense of history (how we capture and preserve history )
2. How we celebrate history
3. How we celebrate people that made these histories. Their characters, ideas, courage, talents, business savvy and other qualities that define their extra ordinary lives.

History they said is always the best teacher. We have Nigerians from all walk of life; Ibo, Hausa, Yoruba who have contributed immensely in their chosen career; whether in politics, sports, business, entertainments, academics, religion and other areas.

As a country, we need to place high emphasis on celebrating these people’s achievement via biographies, documentaries, case studies and other progressive means. Our country needs this more than ever, so that our upcoming generation can learn one thing or two from their sense of ideology, sacrifice, patriotism, courage, character, accomplishment and other successful qualities worthy of emulation. We need to learn from their pain, sufferings, triumphs,

I hope in not too distant future, Nollywood and other corporate entity will be partnering to give us documentaries, movies on these worthy personalities dead or alive. I want to see movies on Rashidi Yekini, Chinua Achebe, Muhammad Buhari, Fela Kuti, Herbert Macaulay, Dangiwa Umar, Odumegwu Ojukwu, Nnamdi Azikwe, Adeola Odutola, Obafemi Awolowo, Enoch Adeboye, Wole Shoyinka and other notable Nigerians.
I hope Uncle Bruce will spear head the initiative to make movies, biographies on some of our fallen heroes to ensure their legacies lives forever.

MAKING COMMON SENSE: Ben MurrayBruce, Email: ben.murraybruce@thisdaylive.com


Last week, I was at the Ikenne home of the Awolowo’s to condole with the family on the death of the matriarch, Chief (Mrs) Hannah Idowu Dideolu Awolowo. Let me rephrase that. I thought I was going to condole with the family, but when I got to Ikenne, I found out that I was actually there to celebrate not just mama, but her husband, Chief Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo, their dynasty and the Black Race. What I saw first hand at Ikenne proved to me that the Awolowo’s do not need our eulogies and kind words. The exemplary lives lived by mama HID and her husband, the sage, already eulogised them!

At Ikenne, I was taken to a huge library in the premises that was filled with books. To my pleasant surprise, Chief Awolowo’s granddaughter, who gave me the tour, told me that her grand father had read each and every book in that library! As she told me that, I began to be inspired. That one man had read all those books was a triumph! That that man never became president of Nigeria was a disaster! He would have been Nigeria’s Philosopher king!

I was showed Chief Awolowo’s Holy Bible, which was well worn. Then I was shown his Qur’an and it was equally evident that the owner of that sacred book had thumped through it with purpose.

Today, Nigeria is going through the most radical and extreme form of religious intolerance from both sides of the great Abrahamic faiths that dominate Nigeria, Christianity and Islam.

Can you imagine the level of religious tolerance that would have been our reality today if a man who had understanding of the origins, morals, ethos and philosophy that permeate the two great Abrahamic faiths had ruled Nigeria! That journey that I thought was a condolence visit soon turned into a odyssey into the world of two people who loved each other and whose lives were so intertwined and connected to the purpose of uplifting the Black Race.

Many people erroneously think that mama HID was just a consort to Chief Awolowo who played a spectator role while he made history. Nothing could be further than the truth!

This woman, who Chief Awolowo called his “jewel of inestimable value”, proved that that praise was not empty when she carried on the battle for him when he was imprisoned by the Balewa government during which time she spearheaded the merger between the Action Group (AG) and the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), which led to the emergence of the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA), which was the precursor of today’s All Progressive Congress (APC).

I saw her pictures as a young lady and mama was a paragon of beauty, however, she was no trophy wife. She was a wife of destiny to her husband as she modelled the behaviour of the virtuous woman described in Proverbs 31 by raising an outstanding family and being very active in business to the point that she built an empire based on thrift and submitted the same to her husband. It was famously said by the late Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu that Chief Awolowo was the best president we never had. Let me add that mama HID Awolowo was the best First Lady we never had. While I was at Ikenne, I saw people come in and heard people calling to pour encomiums on mama and her husband.

The see encomiums are nice, however, what this dynamic duo need now is a preservation of their legacy. Not enough Nigerian youths know what this couple of destiny did for their parents and their nation. The duo of Chief Awolowo and mama HID are our own version of Dr. Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King. Because of what they achieved, millions of children in the Western Region of Nigeria went to school without paying a dime and have gone on to live meaningful lives that have added value to the world. This year, Scotland Yard and the Metropolitan Police announced that they were looking to hire Yoruba speaking officers to join the force in London.

Why are they doing this? Why are they not looking to employ Swahili speaking cops? Why are they not looking to employ Afrikaans speaking cops? Why are they not looking to employ even cops that speak a European language, like Russian? They are taking this unique step, because a huge proportion of the population of Greater London are Nigerians who speak Yoruba. And not only are they large in number, they are educated and landed and own some of the choicest properties in London. Included in their number was the recently departed Antonio Deinde Fernandez and Adebayo Ogunlesi, Chairman and Managing Partner of Global Infrastructure Partners, which owns Gatwick Airport and other choice property all over London, The UK and the world.

When you begin to trace the timelines of when Nigerians and particularly Yoruba speakers started their ascendancy in the UK and the rest of the world, you will find that it started in 1955 after the Western Region Government of Nigeria headed by Chief Awolowo initiated free education in Western Nigeria. Now that they papa and mama are both gone, it is time for Nigeria and the men and women who benefited from their visionary leadership to preserve their legacy. How you may ask? There are a variety of ways to preserve their legacy. As I sit here typing, the image of Chief Awolowo’s library continues to flash in my mind and a good place to start will be by getting the Federal Government of Nigeria to push for that library to be declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

If the federal government initiates the process, it will be successful and will cement Chief Awolowo and HID Awolowo’s image in the world’s memory. Concurrently, the federal government should declare the library as a National Heritage site. Also, the states that now comprise the former Western Region of Nigeria could consider instituting a fund for the preservation of the ideals the Awolowo’s stood for. Individuals of means, particularly from the Western Region, should be invited to contribute to such a fund. I am sure if the six states of the former Western Region along with the two states that came out of the Mid West Region (Edo and Delta) constitute a committee for such a purpose, then individuals like Mike Adenuga, Adebayo Ogunlesi, Femi Otedola and Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija will be willing, even eager to contribute to it. It is a worthy cause. The monies from such a fund could then be managed by the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation to be used to advance the legacy of the late sage and his wife through whatever vehicle they deem fit.

Nollywood should not also be left out. Industry veterans should produce documentaries or biographies of Chief Awolowo for our youths to watch so that they know what the man did to plant trees whose shades they are now enjoying. When such movies or documentaries are made, I make a solemn promise to air it repeatedly on Silverbird Television for free. I also covenant that all Silverbird Cinemas will show it for free to members of the public. Come on guys, we have to promote and preserve our own if not their memory will die! Nigeria’s founding fathers were Sir Ahmadu Bello, Owelle Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Awolowo.

Today all three are dead but what do our youth know about them? Virtually nothing!
Our youths know about John F Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Mungo Park, David Livingstone and even oppressors like Cecil Rhodes but they do not know about our founding fathers.

One of the first history lessons all American children learn about is the founding fathers. They learn about who they were, what they did and what route they took to getting to their enviable heights in society. There is even a larger than life national monument carved into the face of a mountain to commemorate the founding fathers at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.
Nations like America take the pains to commemorate their founding fathers and other important heroes in order not to forget their national purpose and their collective vision.

If they do not do this, in time their memories will fade away and they will not be accurately represented in contemporary life.

A good example of this is Chief Moshood Abiola. When Abiola died on July 7 1998, students of the University of Lagos shut down Akoka in Lagos and insisted that Nigeria must immortalise Abiola. They stopped motorists and made them chant anti federal government slogans and pro Abiola messages. Fast forward to May 29, 2012 when former President Goodluck Jonathan renamed the University of Lagos the Moshood Abiola University of Lagos. On that day, it was the students of the University of Lagos, whose predecessors once demanded that the federal government immortalise Abiola, that trooped out in large numbers to condemn the renaming of their institution after Abiola. So intense was this demonstration that the University of Lagos had to be shut down the next day on May 30th 2012. What had happened in the intervening years to douse the enthusiasm of the students over the immortalisation of Abiola?

You see, because the government and the larger society did not make enough conscious effort to remember Abiola’s legacy by teaching it to our youth, our youth forgot and with the passage of time the memory became dimmer and dimmer. Yet this very Abiola once donated a fortune to the University of Lagos and sponsored many events and activities in that institution. We cannot afford to fulfil the derisive slur of racists that if you want to hide anything from a Black man you do it by putting it in a book! We must capture the legacy of not just our founding fathers but also our national heroes in books, films, buildings, holidays and monuments.

Chief Awolowo’s contemporary, Owelle Azikiwe, died on the 11th of May 1996. Till today, the federal government has yet to fulfil its pledge to complete a mausoleum for him. Nigerians do not even know what Azikiwe’s wife’s name was and if not that we had a president whose middle name is Azikiwe, the memory of the great Zik of Africa was almost fading away from our political life.

By contrast, Baroness Margaret Thatcher died on the 8th of April 2013, yet even before her death, the British Government consulted her on how she would like to be buried and remembered in the event of her death and ultimately spent £3.6 million of tax payers funds for that purpose. Two years before she died, Hollywood made a $13 million biography about her entitled The Iron Lady to capture her legacy. So good was the movie that Meryl Streep, who played Mrs. Thatcher, received an Oscar for her portrayal of Baroness Thatcher. Since her death, Parliament, 10 Downing Street and various British institutions have preserved her legacy by building institutions and endowing centres to study her ideas and philosophy. Only on July 13 this year (2015), her successor, Prime Minister David Cameron, unveiled the Thatcher Business Education Centre.

More than 100 books have been written about the life, legacy and personality of Thatcher and it is safe to say that she would never be forgotten. Now let us compare the remembrance given to Azikiwe to that given to Thatcher and we will understand why Britain, a country with only a third of our population, wields more influence than us on the world stage. When we do not value our own heroes, we are communicating to the world that we do not value ourselves. I mean who would want to be the hero of a people that according to the late Bob Marley, “kill their prophets”?

We were all in Nigeria pretending that someone like Fela was not a prophet. It took two Americans, Billy T Jones and Jim Lewis, to write the book Fela! It also took three Americans, Jay Z with Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett, to bring the book to life on Broadway, and an American, Sahr Ngaujah, was cast as Fela. All because we do not value our prophets!
I guess all I am trying to say is that the value of each individual Nigerian is tied to the value we attach to our founding fathers and other heroes who sacrificed for us to get to where we are.

You cannot divorce yourself from Nigeria. Even if you immigrate, change your name and pick up a new accent, it will still come out that you are a Nigerian. That being the case should we not learn to like being Nigerians and teach the world to like Nigerians? In achieving this, we must borrow a verse from the George Benson song made popular by Whitney Houston, ‘The Greatest Love of All’. A verse in that song goes ‘Learning to love yourself. It is the greatest love of all’. What an awesome message to Nigeria and Nigerians.

In conclusion, I beg Nigerians. We should not just gather and spend billions to throw a big owambe party in honour of mama HID Awolowo as she is buried. All the champagne, meat, rice, pounded yam and soup we will eat, plus the aso ebi we will purchase, will not last. We will either pass them away or the cloth will fade after washing. But if we document her and papa’s life, the document will last and help us produce modern day Awolowos who can take us to our Promised Land. And God knows we need them!
My name is Ben Murray Bruce and I just want to make common sense!

• Senator Murray Bruce is the senator representing Bayelsa East in the National Assembly and is Chairman of the Silverbird Group

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/hid-awolowo-the-best-first-lady-we-never-had/221322/

I'm surprised Aganga has not been poached yet by one private equity or hedge funds firm. I'm 95% certain this is going to happen, its just a matter of time.

All these student union should not in any way allow themselves to be used for selfish motives. Solidarity March my foot.

United we stand, divided we fall. "A house divided against itself cannot stand".

Say no to divided Nigeria. Say no to disintegration.

Long live Nigeria

Interesting

cornwall:
Not impossible, but with what is starting to unfold in syria (middle east) you know with the US and it's allies last minute intervention "airstrikes against ISIS targets" and Russia's sudden military buildup; in a couple of months we might see the crisis escalate and won't this cause a sharp increase in oil price

Oil at $20, impossible. During the financial crisis, the lowest price was around ~$29. I don't see it going lower.

double0seven:
Soludo created a lot mess in the Banking Industry that Sanusi had to come and clear up. He was just like the Jonathan of the Banking Industry. During his reign, bank MDs were perpetrating a lot illegalities and amassing riches and the expenses of depositors fund. Cycylia Ibru, that Access Bank MD reddemite, I've forgotten his name, there were all products of Soludo's reign of impunity .

Thank God Sanusi brough back Sanity.

therefore, I don't think Soludo was a good CBN governor.

I disagree with you on that. Nigerian banks are better today because of policies instituted by Soludo. Their growth within and outside Africa was made possible because of Soludo's policies. They've regressed because of policies instituted by Sanusi. While i have big respect and admiration for Sanusi's intellect and accomplishment, I disagree with how he handled the banking saga. I think the mess he made of the crusade will continue to haunt us for a long time.

Let me state here that i have no problem with prosecuting corrupt executives and making them face the wrath of the law. My problem lies in the strategies employed to tackle the problem at hand then. My believe is that public policies, financial policies such as that should be implemented to strengthen institutions, orchestrate growth and improve social vices. When policy implementation undermines the institution the institution its protecting, then we have a problem. When the implementation leads to significant loss of investors confidence on the industry and economy, when it leads to major asset depreciation and write downs, we have a problem.

Right now, the country need economic growth. It makes sense to bequeath the country with the personalities that have the antecedent of formulating, implementing and managing growth policies. I'm convinced Soludo fits that profile.

rebranded:
An economist like soludo will be a major game changer to the Nigerian economy at this point.

We can expect a different Nigeria with 4-8years of soludo heading the economy team

I agree with you. Soludo should be part of the economic team. Judging from his antecedent; his vision, objectives and decisions made during his reign as CBN Governor, I'm convinced he will be a great addition to the team. The financial reform orchestrated under his watch was one of the best thing that ever happened to our economy. Raising the financial size and standards of our banking system, setting African Finance Corporation (AFC) and other progressive reforms. The core objective then was for banks to be able to finance big ticket projects, without recourse to international banks. For Nigerian banks to be among top banks in the world. Years after, we can all witness the results of those policies.
While I like and appreciate Soludu's efforts in turning our economy around, i also believe that the best of us should get the job based on integrity and competency. If we have other personalities that rank higher on scale of integrity, character and competency. Then, the job should go to them.

This is brilliant, epic reply. JP Morgan, hedge funds, bankers, speculators and all these other asset managers cannot be dictating the pace of our economy. We will not be coerce or cajole to take inimical decision at the expense of our own economy.

CBN head office, Abuja
By Obinna Chima 


The presidency has thrown its weight behind the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on its decision not to devalue the naira and lift its currency curbs, which culminated in the decision on Tuesday by US investment bank JP Morgan & Chase to phase out Nigerian government bonds from its Government Bond Index for Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) by the end of October.

Speaking on the issue to THISDAY on Wednesday, a top presidency official who preferred not to be named, said the CBN, Federal Ministry of Finance and Debt Management Office (DMO) had the endorsement of the presidency in their joint statement reacting to JP Morgan’s announcement on the delisting of Nigeria’s bonds from its indices starting from September 30.

The official while acknowledging that JP Morgan had raised concerns over liquidity in Nigeria’s currency market, he argued that the joint statement by the finance ministry, CBN and DMO showed that the federal government was not in support of the devaluation of the naira as this would lead to a further spike in inflation and to the export of jobs.

He quoted JP Morgan as stating that “foreign investors who track the GBI-EM series continue to face challenges and uncertainty while transacting in the naira due to the lack of a fully functional two-way FX market and limited transparency”.
“However, CBN, the finance ministry and DMO made it clear that it introduced an order-based, two-way forex market,
resulting in the stability of the exchange rate in the interbank market over the past seven months and largely eliminated speculators from the market.

“The CBN also enhanced transparency by mandating that all forex transactions are posted online on the Reuters trading platform so that all stakeholders could easily verify all transactions in the market.

“All this was done to ensure that participants are not allowed to simply trade currencies, speculate against the naira and engage in round-tripping, but are only in the market to fulfill genuine customer demand to pay for eligible imports and other transactions.

“Yet, JP Morgan’s preference is for Nigeria to devalue its currency in the face of falling oil prices and dwindling reserves in order to satisfy foreign portfolio investors who do not have Nigeria’s interest at heart,” he said.

The official said if the central bank had succumbed to JP Morgan and foreign investors’ sentiments, this would have led to a massive depreciation of the Nigerian currency, leading to import-induced inflation, exporting jobs, and the continued depletion of Nigeria’s foreign reserves.

“Lest we forget, there is a high possibility that the US Federal Reserve could raise interest rates very soon and with the economic problems in China, foreign portfolio investors will exit the Nigerian economy without a second glance.

“Should we deplete our reserves now, how will we meet their demands when they elect to exit the Nigerian market in droves for other destinations?” he asked

The presidency official added that another major concern for the federal government was the fuel subsidy regime.

“Devaluation at this time will be disastrous because since the fall in the price of crude oil over a year ago, foreign exchange differentials alone today account for almost 50 per cent of the subsidy bill that is paid by the federal government to oil marketers.

“Bank charges and interest rates account for another 25 per cent while the difference between the actual market price of petrol and the official price stipulated by government, which is the real subsidy element, accounts for another 25 per cent of the total subsidy bill.

“So should the CBN devalue, the foreign exchange differential will rise and put more pressure on the government’s finances,” he explained.

The official added that going back to the two-way quote system demanded by JP Morgan would have adverse consequences on the little foreign reserves Nigeria has, which provide cover for only five months of imports.

“So we are concerned about all this and will continue to support the CBN to encourage market stability over a sustained period and meet demand for only legitimate transactions,” he said.
He noted that whilst the federal government considered the inclusion of Nigeria’s bonds on the JP Morgan GBI-EM index good for the integration of the Nigerian economy with other global markets, “but if remaining on it would amount to devaluing the naira, increasing inflation, exporting jobs and depleting our reserves, it is not worth the bother. It would amount to a vanity project not in Nigeria’s best interest”.
He assured THISDAY that as the federal government moves to block more leakages in the public sector and unfold its economic agenda in the weeks ahead, Nigerians would begin to feel the gains of its policies.

“The government and CBN’s primary responsibility is to enunciate policies that would reverse the decline in the country’s GDP, create jobs and keep inflation low.
“A devaluation of the currency will hamper these objects. So if the price we have to pay for this is our ejection from the JP Morgan index, it is a temporary price we will have to live with until our finances improve,” he said.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/-why-fg-is-against-devaluation/219852/

hinwazaka:
An economist who does not know the true debt service ratio in the country from 1960-2007 is no economist. Imagine an economist saying that we had paid our debts several times over before 2007. Henry Boyo is nothing but a fraud. As at 1997, our official external debt stock, stood at $27.012 billion. How in gods name, Mr boyo said we have serviced all our debts, with a sober mind is puzzling. He is in no way of NOI's standard. Why doesn't he go and get an appointment in world bank. If he could not see the brilliance behind, Madam NOI's economic strategy, then he should ask for a refund from his alma mata. What a joke.

This article is not an academic / professional comparison between Henry Boyo and Okonjo Iweala. Its more of sober reflection and criticism of decisions that were made under the watch of Iweala. Please, kill the message and not the messanger.

FranklinRich:
Interesting times ahead. I can't wait to see how this all plays out especially from the FX perspective.

If this leads to another bear run in the markets, I Will be waiting for Flourmills at a sub N20 price level.

I expect a Naira appreciation tomorrow or by the end of this week.

CBN just solidify its stand on stable and appreciated Naira. I pray this new style of communication becomes the new standard on how we drive home the point to foreign countries and investors; that we will not be coerce to take decisions that'll continue to regress our economy.

presiade:
Any news on UBCap?

My thought exactly...its been on high demand in the past couple of days. Interim dividend?

989900:
Indeed, some financial interest groups have uncharitably engaged in an open smear campaign to rubbish CBN’s efforts to maintain sanity in the forex market; for example, “The Economist” brazenly questioned the competence of Godwin Enefiele as CBN Governor and in a venomously simplistic article titled “Nigeria’s Currency: Toothpick alert”, also ridiculed his attempt to control forex demand.
The overriding message, nonetheless, is loud and clear; speculative overseas investors and their media organs are in agreement with the movers and shakers in Nigeria’s banking industry to demand further reduction in the Naira’s exchange rate beyond N199=$1; additionally, these interest groups want CBN to also instigate higher rates of interest within the Nigerian economy, so as to promote the profitability of speculative foreign investors.
But the question is, what would happen to Nigeria’s economy and the social welfare of our people, if Emefiele and the CBN are intimidated and stampeded by the clarion call of these financial hawks, to further devalue the Naira and also increase domestic rates of interest, for government borrowings and real sector credit?
Indeed, Naira devaluation is probably the most potent weapon against the prosperity of Nigerians. Nigeria’s migration from a potential industrial power house with bustling social affluence, to a subdued and stumbling economy clearly began with the adoption of IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programme during Babangida’s regime: the chorus from International Agencies, at that time, was also that falling oil prices with an unserviced debt burden and the consequent restriction of trade credit to Nigeria, were the products of an allegedly overvalued Naira exchange rate.

[b]Ultimately, the overwhelming pressure from International Finance Agencies, with the governments’ craving for international support for an illegal military junta, precipitated serial Naira devaluations from less than N2 to over N22=$1 by 1993. This rash decapitation of the naira exchange rate pauperized Nigerians, including University professors and technocrats and tragically triggered the brain drain to more stable economies in Europe and America; sadly this disenabling phenomenon has gathered speed and persists till date, as beneficiaries of our individual and collective sacrifices still abandon serving their country in preference for dollar pay packets abroad.

Indeed, wages soon became decimated by unyielding devaluation, such that it became necessary for most Nigerians, particularly civil servants to make awkward adjustments and engage in ‘Extra-curricular’ activities to supplement their paltry incomes; although the impact of Naira devaluation may not have been the origin of corruption in Nigeria, it certainly contributed to its spread and public apathy to the disease as more Nigerians became beneficiaries of the wages of corruption.[/b]

Clearly, Babangida’s decision to drastically devalue the Naira did not recognize its impact on fuel price; indeed, the notion of fuel subsidy apparently became inevitable with Naira devaluation. Regrettably, successive administrations have remained in denial of this relationship and the most recent devaluations from N155 to N199=$1 within 4 months also triggered another 20% rise in fuel prices despite the irony of prevailing lower crude oil prices.
Consequently, additional Naira devaluation above 20% as demanded by overseas ‘investors’ would only stoke fuel prices and make subsidy removal a major challenge for Buhari’s administration; ultimately, fuel subsidy will exceed the alleged burden of about N1tn annually and account for over 20% of expenditure, if Federal budgets remain below N5tn.

Furthermore, an additional 20% devaluation, will also reduce minimum monthly wage to about $75, down from almost $120 only 5 years ago; indeed, with inflation consistently nearer 10%, the current minimum wage undeniably buys much less than was earlier possible, with a collateral reduction in consumer demand.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/08/the-poison-in-further-devaluation/

I appreciate this piece. Sometimes I am forced to conclude that Africans (policy makers) are cursed based on some of the decisions we make.

How can Nigerian CEO's be in support of devaluation of Naira at the expense of their own economy, and at the expense of their own global valuation. While I understand that they make easy money from short term foreign exchange arbitrage and interest rate mix-match, but this is at the expense of their growth opportunities, valuation and market stability.

Devaluation of one currency without proper economic structure to stimulate exports, will only lead to a poorer nation. Empirical evidence shows that our economic problems started and has been compounding based on our decision to accept the tenets of Structural Adjustment programmes (SAP); devaluation of Naira, removal of subsidy, increase interest rates and others. We've experienced more job losses, brain drains and other progressive benefits due to this single decision. Why toil this path again.

I don't support devaluation of Naira in any form. I believe devaluing Naira will further deteriorate our economic conditions and global competitiveness. It means we will have to pay more for imported raw materials and final products, more for education abroad, more for health care abroad, more for tourism abroad, more for international government and corporate debts. This also means reduced GDP, reduced per capital income leading to lower global purchasing capability.

We need to change this argument from current speculative agenda, to an objective agenda using real data to justify economic benefits and consequences of devaluation/ revaluation of Naira.

This is nice. We need more credible people to come out and call into question the credibility, character and intellectual capacity of all these appointees.

I hope next level of appointments will follow a well balanced representation of Nigerian. While I value and crave inclusive representation, competency and character should not be compromised in any way.

PaulSteve:
With the appointment of an Engineer as SGF months after your statement above sir one can't but ask how you came about such accurate,emphatic and prophetic statement?

He was talking about Dr. Onu,

Chemical Engineer

Oando has only one direction to go tomorrow, thats up.

Brent up $4, to $47 per Barrel
WTI up ~ $4, to $42.56

Structure is very important in every thing we do and based on the structure that is been put in place, one can analyze and then conclude what direction the leadership might toil.
I am a big supporter of GMB; I'm convinced that he has the discipline, zeal and patriotism to move Nigeria to a greater heights. I believe he possessed the fundamental qualities needed to solve our security, corruption, economic, ethnic and religious challenges.

Seeing some of the decisions, structure and sectional appointments that are being made, makes me question my earlier conviction on Buhari's ability to solve the ethnic problems clouding our economic landscape.

While I have my reservations, I will give the president the benefit of doubt. He need to succeed, not only for my sake but also for the sake of the poor and future generations.

This is a great policy.

Private citizens of the state who makes a living outside government patronage can take their kids to any school of their choice, private or public.
This policy only applies to primary school teachers, head teachers and other public officers working under Kastina's state government.

Nice one

segello:
But that is not the same as saying that Nigeria is any more corrupt than any other country and that such corruption is the cause of its poor economic development.

I disagree with this conclusion. I believe corruption is responsible for our poor economic development.

Corruption pervades every economy and countries, and Nigeria case is any difference. Where ever there's money to be made, there you will find corruption. We need to understand that we have 2 types of corruption, progressive and regressive corruption.

Progressive corruption achieve results and increase the economic performance of nations while regressive corruption takes resources from nations without any added values to show for it. As the name implies, regressive corruption stagnates economy, it rubs them of resources meant for national development, it rubs economy infrastructure development, health care and other social infrastructures meant for growing nations. It also institute the culture of free for the elite, which kills the innovative and the competitive expectation of a growing society.
Nigeria practice regressive corruption, while all the developed and developing economies practice progressive corruption. For Nigeria to grow and improve its economic performance ten fold, we need to kill regressive corruption completely and reduce progressive corruption to manageable level.

I'm of the opinion that government should not in any way operate any business. Empirical evidence shows that government have always been bad managers of businesses. Going that route again is a recipe for disaster. While I do agree that we need a national airline, I disagree with it being 100% government operations. I think government can help with the set up and initial lift off, and there after, pave way for strategic public listing.

The strategic industry can help reduce pressure on our foreign exchange, create local jobs and help improve our human resources (management experience).

Action speaks louder than words...

If this report is true, the government should see this for what it truly is; positive criticism, problem identifications and an opportunity to proffer solutions. This is the time to stop playing to the gallery of politics, solve problems and let history be the judge.

A lot of work need to be done to revamp and restart the Crude Distillation Unit, FCC Unit and other Unit operations required for efficient operations of the plant.

Also, the all the pipelines established to transport crude oil to this refinery should be fixed immediately and the security system strenghtned to checkmate further vandalism. There is no reason why this refinery should be closer to crude oil terminal/depot, and still be accessing its crude via tanker. Thats unacceptable.

sellydion:
Thanks, O jere, I don't have liver for financial services and oil companies. I prefer food ( Manufacturing) companies, any good ones?

What about Nascon. I like their diversification strategy; Dangote seasonings, tomato paste and vegetable oil.

Hello all,

What are the cumulative short and long term effect of the Treasury Single Account policy on banking stocks? How exposed are these banks to government money?

This is exactly what needs to be done. To grow any corporation, there has to be a vision, mission follow by concrete plan of action. I expect the new administration to follow this path;
1. Leadership restructuring
2. Assessment of current system, structure and culture. 3. Implementation of new system, structure and culture. 4. Hiring phase.
5. Growth

More importantly, all stakeholders has to be carried along in all these stages and decisions. There has to be full communication. Without communication, NNPC risk alienation and backing of stake holders. Hence, jeopardizing the results.

I think decisions made so far has been on point. They have my full support.

I support this. Kudos to CBN

Nice

I think the objective of this policy is really to cajole Nigeria into signing the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA). I pray that our policy makers are able to discern their strategy, and not give into the partnership. EPA is bad for Nigeria's industrialization, its bad for our social and financial developments.