₦airaland Forum

People are reading the data upside down.

The list is basically stating that of the top 10 African cities listed, Lagos is one of the cheapest.

Many Nigerians, particularly the young ones on social media have convinced themselves that this is the worst country in the world.

In reality, that is far from being the case.

Even compared to Ghana and some neighbouring countries, petrol, gas, and several other goods are still cheaper in Nigeria.

Chief Obasanjo 'spent' $12 billion on power, yet power generation barely increased throughout his administration and for a few years afterwards.

Most of the so-called $12 billion was clearly stolen by his then PDP appointees.

PDP can't lecture anyone about corruption.

Could the trigger for the rush be the coastal road being constructed?

I suspect battles like this will rage in most states over the next few months.

Litigation and counter litigation will continue up to 2027 elections and beyond.

The party will be bogged down.

Nigerian politics ehn.

So the President puts a call to the Chief Justice and dictated the case outcome to her abi.

People just don't understand that a Nigerian President simply don't have the time for a lot of petty things.

It is also interesting that Nigerians will call for a fight against corruption, as long as it doesn't involve someone from their region or party.

Brilliant.

All those clamouring for a different President in 2027, you ask them why, and they tell you:

1. The prices of garri, beans, pepper etc are too high, as if

2. Price of Petrol is too high, even though it is still the cheapest in West Africa and one of the cheapest in Africa.

3. He should return naira 'to where he met it' The lack of knowledge is on another level.

We have the most transformative President Nigeria has ever had, but they want a new President for reasons that just makes no sense.

Even Mr Rufai's reason is 'lack of internal democracy in APC'. So your personal dissatisfaction with the internal affairs of your party is a reason we should change the government.

Every where you look, there are big road projects going on. We are now free of the evil subsidy that every previous President was too afraid to get rid off. Naira is finding its own feet. Food prices are coming down. Every university student that wants to, can now have his tuition fee paid by government (student loan) and also receive FREE N20,000 per month, our economic growth is on an upward trend, we now have a trade surplus, our debt service to revenue ratio has fallen from 95% under Mr Buhari to 63% under this government, government revenue is at unprecedented levels, State governments are receiving 3 times more revenue than under Mr Buhari, and many more achievements like that.

All of that in LESS THAN 2 YEARS.

The EU said the government is doing well. The World Bank too. Just last week, Chartham House said it has been impressed by the government's reforms. They think Nigeria is now setting itself up for future economic leadership in Africa if we maintain the pace of the reforms.

But guess what...some Nigerians want a new President in 2027 to change everything again, start his own agenda and set us back another decade or two, all because of...temporary increase in price of yam and garri or, oh, the man is appointing too many people from his tribe, or, oh they disagree with so-called ronus on twitter.

Ok na.

Zionmdde:
at a time where akwa ibom to cross rivers is a deadly venture, Eleme Road is a death trap, Warri to benin something else, Imo to Anambra, PH to Imo is hell and so on and so forth, doing a project like this is a misplaced priority.

More roads are being repaired around the country today than at any other times in recent memory. However, every road cannot be fixed at the same time. And there has never been a period in the history of Nigeria when every single road was in good shape.

That will never happen, not least because every country has limited resources and there are other spending priorities beside roads.

The USA, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Saudi Arabi, South Korea, Japan etc all have their own bad roads, and people who use those roads in those countries also complain and are also frustrated and wonder why their governments are not fixing those roads.

That's just the reality.

And no country in the world stops building new roads because some existing bad roads have not been fixed.

At the time the now hugely important and expensive network of roads and bridges called '3rd Mainland bridge' in Lagos was constructed by Mr Babangida's government, Nigeria was poor and had even fewer good roads around the country than we have today.

Then, many people criticised the 3rd mainland bridge project for the same reason you are criticising the coastal road, claiming the money should be spent on fixing existing bad roads.

However,imagine if 3rd mainland bridge had not been built how near-impossible living in Lagos would be today.

Like the Babangida government, the current government is right to have an eye on the future. The coastal road is a game-changing road project for the Nigerian economy and its people.

Concrete power pole within a few inches of a motorway where vehicles will be travelling at high speed doesn't seem clever.

God helps the occupants of any vehicle that runs into any of those poles.

APC would be negligent if they did not take any steps to plant their people in the SDP several months ago.

Afterall, after APC, PDP, Labour Party, the next party with name recognition is SDP.

Kennyfancy:
Does its means Tinubu can't win a good opposition in a free and fair election, why all this abracadabra

To even think that same people that claim to be educated in the west are even supporting evil 😈 that is going on.

Don't be naive.

Do you know any politics anywhere in the world that is 'holy'.

Please mention the country.

Very good development.

For those who care to know, this is what most of the plastics you see around you is made off.

Nigeria used to import a lot of it from South Korea. Imports of this item will likely now stop. This is a big shot in the arm for Nigeria's industrialisation aspirations.

A refinery as big as Dangote's is more than just petrol and diesel. It is a game changer in ways that many have not realised.

I understand that tar is about 3% to 4% of the byproducts of a big refinery.

Imagine if Dangote refinery starts producing tar, which Nigeria spends tens of billions importing every year. That will be a major milestone in the history of road construction in Nigeria.

I can't wait!

As someone above me said, it is so embarrassing the way many Nigerian politicians seek whiteman's affirmation so desperately.

Nigeria 's leading election contenders will each travel to a foreign country with a retinue of more than 20 hangers-on to outline their plans for Nigeria without putting half as much effort to explain those plans to the electorate in Nigeria.

The slave mentality is so cringe worthy.

Politicians from South Africa, Indonesia, India, Ethiopian, Malaysia don't do that before every national elections.

The UK is an old, debt-ridden, clapped out country that is on long -term, almost irreversible decline. A country on the verge of needing IMF intervention.

Why have Nigerian leaders feel the need to travel there to get affirmation

Why on earth would the federal government want to allow other countries to dump their waste in Nigeria

lexy2014:
I didnt ask you for positive or negative side or all the grammar you wrote.

1. where is the "excess dollars" coming from?

which treasury are you referring to?

how is dollars entering nigeria through nigerian stocks?

how much of nigerian stocks have been purchased by this "excess dollars"?

2. if you say that "The Naira is currently operating on its own based on market forces, with little to no net contribution from the CBN", how come the same you is saying that "if the CBN has not been buying the excess dollars, the naira may have appreciated too fast, may be to N1400"?

So you didn't see where I said the excess dollars were coming from a rush of foreign buyers into Nigerian Stocks and investment instruments.

Some of you are just hapless.

lexy2014:
if you claim that the CBN is buying excess dollars, how much is this "excess dollars"?

where is the "excess dollars" coming from?

if you say that "The Naira is currently operating on its own based on market forces, with little to no net contribution from the CBN", how come the same you is saying that "if the CBN has not been buying the excess dollars, the naira may have appreciated too fast, may be to N1400"?

A lot of 'foreign investment' has been flocking into Nigerian Stocks, treasury etc. That is where the 'excess' dollars is coming from.

Have you noticed that share prices have been rising strongly on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. That's because there is a rush of foreign money buying up these shares.

That's the positive side.

The negative side is that many of the foreign investors have already made 20% or more profit on the shares they bought, but that profit increases even faster the more the naira gains value.

The fear of the CBN is that if the naira gains value too fast, for instance it drops to 1,380 or 1,400 too fast, many of the foreign investor may sell up because of their massive profit and move their money out of the country too soon.

Imagine you're an investment company in the UK, and in a typical year, you probably make 10 - 15% return.

You see an opportunity in a faster growing economy (Nigeria) where over the course of a year, you can make a 25 - 30% return if you buy Nigerian shares. And so, you invest in Nigerian shares. But within 3 months, you already have 20% profit on the shares (somethingyou can only dream of in the UK). Then the naira gains value sharply ( to about N1,350) - this naira gain will suddenly increase your profit to may 40%. In that scenario, you'll be tempted to sell those shares, take your 40% profit, and withdraw your dollars back to your country laughing all the way to the bank.

If most of the foreign investors react in a similar way, and bank their profits, that means dollar outflow will spike massively. The CBN will have to provide all that dollar immediately, thus putting fresh pressure on the naira.

In order to avoid such instability, the CBN does step into the market from time to time to buy excess dollars in order to ensure that the naira doesn't gain value too quickly.

It is like any market. For example, if there are too many tomatoes (Dollars) in a market that buyers can buy, the price of tomatoes will fall drastically. However if a big buyer (CBN) comes in and buys up most of the excess tomatoes, the price of tomatoes will rise and stabilise close to its usual price.

So, while the ordinary man on the street want naira to gain fast, CBN prefers a slow and steady process. Buying excess dollars is a way of ensuring the naira doesn't gain value too fast.


It is a complex subject, but I hope my explanation helps a little bit.

You might say, why should the City of London currency traders have the ability to influence the value of the naira.

Well, the City (as the financial quarter of London is called) is the largest currency market in the world. They work in milliseconds and on a 24 hour basis.

London is also where most government borrowings in the world are arranged.

They know Nigeria no get money. We dey borrow, borrow. On top of that, the little we have, is mostly stolen, eg through fraudulent fuel subsidy.

So, if we do anyhow, na just to press a few computer buttons and within a few hours, they can crash the naira.

Abi, we get money like Saudi or Kuwait?

Ehen na.

If na borrow borrow you they do since over 30 years, and you know still balance, will your lenders not warn you to start taking the right decisions or else?

Nigeria and Nigerians need to get working and stop expecting dollar manna from heaven. Or thinking PDP, FQP, ZZZ party or whatever will have a massively different set of policies.

Some of the policies Nigerian governments will have to implement over the next 10 years will be dictated to our government from oyinbo man offices in Washington, New York, and London.

Lenders must dictate na, so that they can get their money back. No be so?

jaxxy:
Untill the Naira gets below 700 to a dollar we are still in the eye of the storm.

There is no magic for the naira to go to 700 or any specific figure.

The CBN can't do it on a whim, neither can the President. Unless, you're North Korea, Cuba, or Venezuela. Or, you're Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar etc who have endless amount of money to fix the value of their currency and keep it there.

There is a complex range of factors that determine the value of any currency.

First, you must have credible economic underpinnings, including a credible monetary policy. The 'markets' (currency market, mostly in London) must be convinced.

Nigeria has not had either of those for about 20 years.

The naira is becoming stable because the markets now have some belief that Nigeria is finally taking 'some' right decisions.

I laugh when people think there is a politician somewhere that can magically make naira N1000, or 700. That's fanciful. It is not going to happen until we are earning far more dollars than we are spending.

So, Nigerians and the government need to get to work. There is no free lunch anywhere.

Currency traders in London can destroy the value of the naira if a new President comes in in 2027 and change some of the new and unpopular policies of the current government.

Any politician can promise what they like during campaign, but trust me no new President can bring back fuel subsidy and the profligacy of the past.

A new President that announces such reversal will wake up the next morning to see that naira has crashed massively.

Some of my friends in the City (London) tell me they are waiting

It is going to be - do anyhow, see anyhow.

Blazetrailer:
... and even in 2025 records shows they have spent nearly $2bn already in pushing forex into the markets in Nigeria......so.what are you on about??

Oh dear.

If the CBN has spent $2 billion in 2025 alone as you claimed, that still doesn't conflict with my assertion that the CBN's net contribution to the forex market so far this year has been just 3%.

You clearly are not aware that the CBN sells and also buys dollars. You people only focus on the selling part.

In my previous posts, I made it clear that the CBN has been buying the excess dollars coming in.

And that is why I used the words 'net contribution' , meaning the difference between the amount of dollars the CBN has sold since December to now and the amount it has bought.

So even if your $2 billion figure of dollar sale is correct, it means the CBN has also bought $1.94 billion during the same period. That is why I said its net contribution to the market is about 3%, which has a negligible impact on Nigeria's Reserve balance.

I have been consistently correct.

You just need to calm down and read to understand things.

Given where we were coming from, the CBN is doing a great job. There is no perfection anywhere, except may be, you are Switzerland.

Ask Turkey.

They were in a similar situation as Nigeria found itself, but they went through 4 different central bank Governors in 2 years. Yet the Turkisk lira has not recovered, and their economy is still in a mess.

These things are not easy.

Blazetrailer:
Fact 1: CBN still remains the largest supplier ofnForex in Nigeria. In 2024, CBN supplied $11.4bn to the Nigerian economy,mostly from tbe foreign reserves and other Capital importation means. This can be verified on any website on Internet. The 3% this dude below mentioned is a bloody lie. He doesn't know anything near what he is referring to.

You abuse and denigrate instead of addressing issues correctly .

I don't know if your '$11 billion' for 2024 is right or wrong, but either way it doesn't conflict with my thesis since my reference point is '...from December to now...' meaning, in the last 3 months.

So, even if your figure for the whole of 2024 is correct, how does that conflict with my own assertion.

Is it not possible that none of your $11 billion figure applies to December 2024 where my reference period starts?

Please provide your own data for December 2024 to now, let's see if I am right or wrong.

Economics is about trends.

And the trend since December 2024 till now is that the net contribution of the CBN to the forex market has reduced dramatically to just 3%.

A massive reduction from about 65% under the previous government.

Fact.

Every time the Reserve goes down, Nigerians scream that it is due to the CBN using dollars to subsidise the naira.

That is not true.

On a day to day basis, money comes into and leave the Reserve. That is how a Reserve operates.

Do people even know that the government's foreign obligations are met from the Reserve, and that includes loans taken by previous governments.

World Bank loans can be for 20 years or more. So Nigeria still has to be paying back loans taken as far back as Mr Obasanjo's , Jonathan and Buhari governments.

These are being paid back from the Reserve.

The recent purchase of 8000 tractors from Europe will have been paid for from the Reserve, like many other obligations.

The balance in the Reserve will go up and down from day to day, week to week etc It is normal.

When it goes down, it does not automatically mean the CBN used the money to support the naira!

Ah, Nigerians.

The naira is not even being subsidised now.

Some of this so-called experts don't even know what is going on.

1. During Mr Buhari's regime, the CBN was supplying about 65% of the total dollars sold in Nigeria.

2. As of today, that figure has fallen to around 3%!

3. Since December up to now, the CBN has been stepping in to buy dollars because more dollars have been coming into Nigeria than the market can absorb. If the CBN has not been buying the excess dollars, the naira may have appreciated too fast, may be to N1400. That would have created a new period of instability. The CBN prefers the naira to gain or lose very slowly. That is what businesses and investors prefer. They don't want drama.

That situation can change but for about 3 months now, the net contribution of the CBN to the forex market is only about 3%.

That is a fantastic development.

The Naira is currently operating on its own based on market forces, with little to no net contribution from the CBN.

Most of these industrial parks will not benefit Nigeria much in the long run.

These people just want to take advantage of these parks' tax free status.

For example, as huge as Dangote refinery is, it doesn't pay a kobo in corporate income tax to the Federal Government. That robs the government (and the people of this country) tens of billions of naira in tax earnings.

You can't blame Dangote refinery for taking advantage. Previous governments set up the tax free zones.

Thankfully, the new Tax Bills will correct some of the anomalies of these tax free zones going forward.

That said, Lagos State is a major beneficiary of Dangote Refinery, through PAYE tax. I believe the Federal Government also receive VAT (not sure).

N700 Billion!

That's the total budget of Ekiti State for the last 10 years.

KaptainAfrika:
SHEY I TOLD YOU PEOPLE TO BUY DOLLARSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! I HOPE YOU DID ?

I personally wouldn't buy dollars to keep. That's not the best option this year.

Nigeria's economic fundamentals are a lot stronger today than they were last year when the naira was all over the place.

Naira is standing on a stronger footing now. Barring any calamitous economic or political event, naira will remain stable for most of this year.

Any fall in Naira this year is likely to be moderate. There is far greater chance of naira gaining to around N1450 later this year, than it falling to N1650/N1700 for example.

You're better off putting your money in Nigerian Stocks than buying dollars with the hope of a big drop in naira value.

Crude oil price at the international market has been falling in recent days and weeks.

Good news - Dangote and other refineries will probably reduce petrol price again within the next 2 - 3 weeks.

Bad news - Naira will start falling (slowly) because falling crude oil price means Nigeria's crude related earnings will fall.

The United States economy is also weakning and may go into recession. A weakened US economy combined with warmer weather in the US and Europe will likely mean less demand for crude and continuing reduction in crude oil prices in the coming weeks and months.

If crude oil price hits $65 per barrel, petrol prices in Nigeria could fall to around N750 per litre.

But naira may fall to around N1600.

Hmm

Very good.

The most reformist government since Nigeria's independence.

If you dispute it, name a government in the history of this country that has done so much in less than 2 years.

What is shocking is that some Nigerians want another new government come 2027.

A new government will come with another set of new policies and may abandon some of the transformational policies of the current government.

A new government will set this country back so many years as it tries to introduce its own policies.

The current government has only been in office for just 2 years, and made so many changes which are changing the structure of our economy for good.

These changes need to be in place for at least several years for it to become irreversible and set us up for a new level of future prosperity.

Nigeria is advancing.

Stop judging the success of a government by how much a kongo of garri or rice costs.

Smh.

hopexter:
You no get sense just like Goodluck Jonathan who is bowing and greeting Atiku with two hands.

Northern politicians seem to have the kind of self-confidence that many of their Southern counterparts lack.

When Mr Jonathan was president, several Northern House of Rep members and Senators, even from PDP, were openly antagonistic towards him.

But throughout Mr Buhari's 2 terms, you couldnt point to a single Southern House of Rep member or Senator who was consistently and openly critical of Mr Buhari.

Mr Atiku should have stood up to handshake Mr Jonathan.

One, a former President, the other a former Vice President.

This man lives in Dubai or somewhere abroad, and thinks his opinion matters.

GOFRONT:
Akpabio must resign........He don cast!!!

..

I think 3 things will save Mr Akpabio.

1. The Supreme Court judgement on Rivers State came just as Ms Akpoti's allegations hit the media.

The judgement and reactions to it is taking so much of the media space that Mrs Akpoti's allegations would have taken. Mrs Akpoti's allegations are fizzling out in the media.

It is mostly young women on social media that are still pushing the Senator's matter. Most men are more interested in the Rivers matter.

2. Most male Senators probably don't see much of a big deal in the sexual allegations made against Mr Akpabio. I suspect many of them are into that sort of behaviour anyway, so they are not likely to go after Mr Akpabio for this reason.

3. Mrs Akpoti's overreaction to the decision to reallocate her seat will have robbed her of support amongst most Senators. Many of them will turn their nose up at the idea of removing Mr Akpabio because of her.

In my opinion, the following outcomes are LIKELY (not certain) to happen:

1. Mr Obasa will remain the Speaker, one way or the other, and possibly resign later on his own terms.

2. The powers supporting Mr Obasa will, over the next few weeks, peel off a few of the rebel House members to Mr Obasa's side with money and promise of a ticket in 2027.

3. The rest of the rebels who refuse to budge, including the lady Speaker, will not get APC ticket come 2027.

Some of the rebels will already know this, hence why they will feel they may as well fight to the end.

4. APC Lagos State branch will keep out of the crisis so as not to give the rebel House members a legal justification to decamp to another party.