₦airaland Forum

Meanwhile billions have already exchanged hands due to round tripping over the last 16 months. And we will turn a blind eye to that.

http://www.fxmallam.com/commentary/fantastically-corrupt-fantastically-incompetent/

Niger Delta Avengers, Tomato Ebola, economy heading full steam into a recession, incoherent foreign exchange policy, civil unrest in the southeast….the list reads like a nation in turmoil and that’s because it is.

It was only a little over a year ago that PDP and APC campaigned on differing personas to lead the country into the future. Not much differed in terms of substance but in the end, the people decided to change course and elected APC into power.

How and why did APC win? One word, Change. All promises evolved around that idea of change. Change from corruption, lack of consistent power, jobs, a plunging naira among other issues that have plagued Nigeria for so long.

One year in and even the most ardent supporters of the party in power will tell you that the change they sought is at best a little slow in coming. At worst, you hear the phrase “one chance” which basically means, they’ve been duped.

Why?

The answer is actually quite simple. Campaigning does not equal governance. APC and it’s flag bearer and now President, Muhammadu Buhari campaigned earnestly, making promises I believe they thought were achievable; well, other than the alleged dollar to naira conversion promise of $1 to N1.

However just as the US President, Barack Obama promises to close Guantanamo Bay in his first term in office, the actual situation on ground when the oath of office is taken has a way to altering the plans of incoming governments.

Basically, you don’t get to pick and choose what situations remain on ground when you take office or what situations will arise when you take office. What you can’t do is continually blame past administrations indefinitely without seeming woefully inadequate for the job.

Fantastically Incompetent

Engage the average Nigerian and you’ll hear angst in their voices. Many recognize the problems and want to be patient with the current government but they don’t see a way forward or ahead.

They remember a Nigeria not too far ago where dollar traded at $1 to N150. They remember a Nigeria not too far ago where a liter of petrol went for N97. They remember a Nigeria not too long ago where no one had ever heard of Tomato Ebola. They remember a Nigeria not too long ago where economic growth was routine year after year.

They also remember a Nigeria not too long ago where her government and its officials were reportedly pillaging the financial resources for personal gain; where political office was a means to a personal financial end; where the former CBN Governor and current Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi claimed that $20b was unaccounted for in the nation’s treasury.

The Real Question

My conversations with friends and associates led me to one simple conclusion. The previous administration was fantastically corrupt (to borrow the tired phrase from British Prime Minister, David Cameron) but quite aptly competent.

On the other hand, the current administration appears to be aptly incorrupt but (based on current mood), fantastically incompetent.

The real question is, which situation is preferable? That we have to ask that question only tells you the sad state of where we are as a country.

Unfortunately this is a question many citizens, businessmen, youths, business are struggling to answer today. Some have answered. Back on March 27th, 2016, #IStandWithCorruption (a play on the popular #IStandWithBuhari) was trending in Nigeria.

Conclusion

Competency and morality as it relates to governance should not be mutually exclusive. In the end, the current administration may have to something they would never had imagined a year ago, reach back and ask for help in how to govern and do so without looting public funds.

This woman should start business sharp sharp. I don't see women barbers anywhere. Could be novel enough to attract lots of men to her shop.

www.fxmallam.com

This woman should start business sharp sharp. I don't see women barbers anywhere. Could be novel enough to attract lots of men to her shop.

www.fxmallam.com

At the rate people are releasing their own currency, make I kukuma follow release my own. Watch this space.

www.fxmallam.com

My opinion is that GEJ won't be arrested or face any consequences. Buhari speaks glowingly of him personally when his name comes up. All the politicians involved will use GEJ as their excuse. In the end, there will be a lot of noise BUT no politician will see jail time. Ministerial heads and staffers, now that's another mater.

www.fxmallam.com

http://www.fxmallam.com/commentary/top-5-ministers-hot-seat-one-year-anniversary-edition/

By Ugo Nwagwu

Yesterday, we celebrated commemorated Democracy Day. It also marked the one year anniversary of APC and President Muhammadu Buhari’s rule.

Several weeks ago, we ranked the Top 5 Ministers on the hot seat. As you can imagine, these things are fluid. Yesterday’s prisoner can be tomorrow cup bearer. You’d understand if you read your bible.

So I believe it’s only fair to update the list and see where we are right now.

5. Tie- Minister of State for Petroleum – Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu


Previous Rank – 2

The fuel supply situation has been resolved although at a massive inflation inducing cost. After the prices of a liter of PMS aka petrol went up from N86 to N145, every supplier all of a sudden had so much product to sell that the queues essentially died overnight. However multiple issues still plague the office, the biggest being the seemingly daily bombings of Nigeria oil pipelines. The effect is a reduced production capacity of over 50% which means Nigeria can’t even take advantage of recent spike in oil prices. Kachikwu is the face of the Oil and Gas sector and right now, he needs a lot to start going his way if he’s to hold onto this job for the long haul.

5. Tie – Minister of Petroleum – President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB)


Previous Rank – 1

Many Nigerians still don’t agree with a president Buhari filling the position with himself. That said, as Minister of Petroleum, he shoulders the responsibilty for the issues that come up. Right now, the biggest on his plate is the terrorist activities perpetrated by militants from the South-South. Oil revenues are down due to poor supply as a result of blown up pipelines. PMB is planning on visiting the troubled region which may be a first step to stemming the violence. Some say increased military action is the way to go while others advocate negotiations. Perhaps a combination of both could be the solution. Nevertheless, if the situation continues, no doubt it could devastating effects to the legacy of this administration.


4. Minister of Information – Lai Mohammed

Previous Rank – 5

The only reason Alhaji Lai Mohammed isn’t higher on the list (and perhaps the reason he still has a job) is that those higher on the list have significantly more pressing issues to deal with and are thus under more pressure. One of the knocks on the current administration is the lack of a cohesive message. It has become routine to have cabinet ministers contradict themselves when talking about the same issues. This is one of the many roles of an information minister; ensure that the administration speaks with one voice. So this marks a failure on his part. The leaked document of the minister seeking loans for foreign travel was also embarrassing if not scandalous. If such things continue, Alhaji Mohammed would no doubt find himself higher up this list and perhaps out of a job soon.

3. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development – Chief Audu Ogbeh


Previous rank – Unranked

Tomato Ebola? Considering that tomatoes are a major ingredient in many Nigerian dishes, it is unsurprising that there is a public outcry over the scarcity as well as the soaring cost of the vegetable crop due to a pest ravaging tomato farms across the nation. Chief Ogbeh is on this list because the situation has reached critical mass. The fact that this isn’t the first time this pest has been an issue and that it has been tackled without fanfare in the past under previous administrations is troubling. It also speaks to a lack of foresight by the ministry and all fingers point to the head. If this isn’t tackled with intensified efforts and the “jollof rice enjoyment index” suffers, Chief Ogbeh might want to brush up on his resume because the average Nigerian will call for blood and he may be the fall guy.

2. Minister of the Niger Delta – Usani Usani Uguru

Previous Rank – Unranked

One of the reasons for this list is accountability. Let us make famous those who appear to be incompetent at the execution of their jobs. While the apparent portfolio of the Niger Delta Ministry might not be easily accessed, it is safe to assume that what is going on in the Niger Delta should fall under his jurisdiction and it is currently completely unacceptable. Mr. Uguru should bear some responsibility for this. If a country operated as a business entity and the largest revenue source fell by more than 50%, there’s no doubt the division head would be on the outside looking in. Mr. Uguru should have been much more proactive in checkmating the source of anger in the region and at the very least found way to bridge the divide between the administration and the communities. If he’s not up to the job or doesn’t feel this is his responsibility, then it is time for him to go.

1. Minister of Finance – Folake Adeosun


Previous Rank – 4

The economy is on the verge of recession (back to back quarters of economic contraction). The nation just experienced its first quarter of contraction in over a decade. Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) are practically nonexistent. Just last week, United Airlines announced it was pulling out of Africa’s largest country, a move already made by Spanish airline, Iberia. Dozens of other foreign companies are considering pulling out. Right now, the Nigerian economy is in shambles. As such many people think that the Finance Minister, Folake Adeosun is way in over her head in this job. President Buhari recently remarked that it would be up to Nigerians to tell him who isn’t performing among his cabinet members. If one had to be chosen, many if not most Nigerians would opt for the former finance commissioner.

* Just missed joining the ranks

– Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment: Okechukwu Enelemah

– Minister of Labour and Employment: Chris Ngige

– Minister of Budget and National Planning: Udoma Udo Udoma



** Dropped off from last ranking

– Minister of Power, Works and Housing – Babatunde Raji Fashola

To me, these are just words. No one except some NIMASA boss has been convicted or gone to prison and 25% of the president's tenure has elapsed. My prediction? Not one single politician will be convicted or spend one minute in prison due to corruption. And until that happens, we will be having this same conversation in another 4 years.

He should surrender himself first.

http://www.fxmallam.com/commentary/cbns-new-forex-policy-leaves-room-sharp-practices/

By Ugo Nwagwu

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday announced plans for a flexible exchange rate regime aimed at increasing foreign currency accessibility. This move had been expected and predicted by many economists for weeks. Even the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has hinted at a rate of N285 per $1 as a guideline for oil marketers setting fuel pump prices at N145 per liter.

Addressing reporters at the end of the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele said,

“In a period of stagflation, the policy options are very limited. To avoid complicating the conditions, the committee decided on the least risky option to hold. With the foreign exchange market framework now ready, the MPC voted unanimously to adopt greater flexibility in the exchange rate policy to restore the automatic adjustment properties of the exchange rate. Consequently, all nine members voted to hold and introduce greater flexibility in managing the foreign exchange rate. The bank would however retain a small window for funding critical transactions. Details of operation of the market would be released by the bank at an appropriate time.”

Lack of Details

Perhaps just as important as what was said by the Governor, was what wasn’t said. And that is any substantial details, only speculation. The governor mentioned that details would be released at an appropriate time.

While this move was expected, the lack of details wasn’t expected and as a result, the parallel market rates remain unchanged. In fact, as of the close of the trading day, the Naira fell slightly from where it opened yesterday.

Details needed include, the interbank rate, regulation of the parallel market, plans to support new forex prices, implementation of two separate rates and most importantly what constitutes “critical transactions” and qualifies for a subsidized rate by CBN.

Therein lies the problem.

Avenues for Corruption

Financial Analysts have piled on that phrase “critical transaction” and warned that it could lead to abuse in the system. Mr. Emefiele tried to shed a little more light on this. He said,

“There are people who would want to import plant and equipment to produce goods where raw materials are almost 100 per cent available locally. We would support such attempts by people to set up factories, foreign direct investment coming in, or even local direct investment coming in, if they want to import plant and equipment and their raw materials are almost entirely available locally. We will look for an opportunity to provide the incentives that they need to import the equipment so we can produce locally and stimulate growth.”

In my opinion, this is misguided. Using a two tiered foreign exchange regime that rewards one particular group of investors at the expense of others in a country where corruption isn’t controlled is basically asking the fox to guard the hen house.

During the height of the fuel subsidy regime, there were allegations of oil marketers without depots or tank farms going through the trouble of bringing in vessels laden with fuel products and going through all the due diligence using forgery, bribery and false documents to file subsidy claims. Only to then send the cargo to neighboring countries and selling the product to the open market.

In this forex subsidy regime, what stops similar subsidy thieves from forging documents or even the prices of machinery (an example used by the governor) to obtain several millions of dollars only to sell the excess in the parallel market and make a fortune?

For example, $1m obtained at N200 per dollar would today yield a profit of N120m sold at a wholesale price of N320. This can be accomplished in minutes and requires less gravitas than bringing in cargos of fuel to docks only to then send it to Ghana.

Conclusion

I am 100% in favor of subsidizing the industrialization of Nigeria. But going about that this way is not just short sighted but it’s prone to massive amounts of sharp practices. The same goals can be accomplished through tax subsidies, public private partnerships, grants and low interest loans.

Freeing the dollar from its N197 peg is a welcome move. Freeing the dollar completely and without prejudice is the only way to operate a free market economy that is just and fair for all while limiting avenues for government officials and their friends to line their pockets even further. In other words, we need to stop giving government officials opportunities to be 'fantastically corrupt'.

Venezuela is on the brink to total collapse. Venezuela as of now is a failed state. And that’s just the beginning because unfortunately, things are actually going from bad to worse. Venezuela’s GDP is expected to plunge by and additional 8 percent this year, and inflation is set to rise even more by 720 percent according to projections.

The Washington Post writes,

“According to the International Monetary Fund’s latest projections, it has the world’s worst economic growth, worst inflation and ninth-worst unemployment rate right now. It also has the second-worst murder rate, and an infant mortality rate that’s gotten 100 times worse itself the past four years. And in case all that wasn’t bad enough, its currency, going by black market rates, has lost 99 percent of its value since the start of 2012. It’s what you call a complete social and economic collapse.”

Earlier this week, President Nicolas Maduro declared a state of emergency to combat the economic war he blames on “foreign powers and right-wing forces” in Venezuela.

Currently, there is a recall effort on the way to oust President Maduro and that effort is gaining steam. 70% of Venezuelans want him out.

Food shortages are prevalent leading to long queues that start at dawn and looting has become rampant. In Venezuela’s hospitals children are dying for lack of medicine.

So how did the country with the world’s largest oil reserves get to this point? What can other oil producing nations especially Nigeria learn from it?

All this began with socialist policies of the past President Hugo Chavez who came into power in a socialist revolution that was very popular. Chavez imposed heavy taxes on business and redistributed the wealth to reduce poverty, a move welcomed by the people. Several businesses were nationalized and price controls drove many others out of business.

Here are some quick hits

Venezuela depends on its vast oil reserves so much so that it counts for 96% of her exports and 50% of the government’s budget
According to Transparency International, it is the 9th most corrupt country in the world and several politicians are and having accused of enriching themselves with sovereign funds
Venezuela has the second highest murder rate in the world at 90 per 100,000 people
Venezuela’s budget was pegged at $40 to the barrel for oil. The excesses rather than being saved over the years was blown due to corruption and high subsidies on nearly everything from groceries, to fuel (lowest fuel prices in the world) and power.

So does any of this sound familiar? Currency controls, crime, subsidy, dependency on imports, dependency on oil prices for a budget…stop me when you’ve heard enough.

It is easy to say that several of these don’t apply to Nigeria. But as the labor unions continue to protest the removal of subsidy from fuel, it is important to note that petroleum was easily the largest single item in the budget for Nigeria until this year.

Our population is 180 million and projected to reach 400 million by 2050. Opponents of subsidy removal have also championed subsidies in other avenues such as food, transportation, power e.t.c. But even if we only subsidized fuel consumption, that level of population growth would put significant strain on the coffers of the country.

But the solution to moving Nigeria forward long term has to be private industry. We can’t continue to subsidize consumption in whatever form it exists.

Instead, Government should subsidize production. I am not advocating that the federal government give actual cash to business owners. I do advocate lower business taxes, public private partnerships, stronger intellectual property protections and incentives to aid companies who choose to start manufacturing companies and create jobs.

We should seek a reduction of our dependency on oil exports. Venezuela as I mentioned earlier depends on its vast oil reserves so much so that it counts for 96% of her exports and 50% of the government’s budget. It stands at 80% and 40% respectively for the Nigerian government.

We should also at all cost look to ways to shrink the size of our government. Say what you want about dictatorships, at least there was only one mouth to feed. Today, we have umpteenth amounts of senators, representatives, state governors, state senators, state representative and numerous duplicated ministerial feeds with each individual with endless amounts of commissioners and assistants.

We should also pass laws to curb the way the government spends not just how much. If we make civil service an actual service and reduce the glam and corruption in politics, it will reduce the attractiveness to higher office to people who want to actually serve.

One can at least make the argument that Venezuela reduced poverty of her citizens when things were good. All we did was line the pockets of the elites.

Now is the time to make the tough choices and avoid a similar fate to Venezuela. It has started with the removal of fuel subsidy. That should only be the beginning.

http://www.fxmallam.com/commentary/venezuela-brink-nigeria-can-learn-collapse/

According to UNAIDS, the number is 1.7m. That certainly doesn't equate to 58%.

http://www.unaids.org/en/regionscountries/countries/nigeria

www.fxmallam.com

There's no source. It's idiotic to report that. If 58% of women over 15 years old in Nigeria have HIV, that would be an epidemic of significant proportions. It would be front page news everywhere.

Realdeals:
Nice idea! The issue remain with the marketers, they will still smuggle bulk of the product to other countries to sell at a higher price if NNPC sell cheap.

The major downside to this plan is corruption. That's it in a nutshell in my opinion. But my rationale is that if we are using a single payer system, it will be easier to track leakages and activities of those who aim to scuttle this process. Secondly, this is a short term plan that only exists till we sort out our long term problems. And at open market, between Dangote's refinery and the state owned refineries, we shouldn't be importing finished products by the end of 2018.

I was reading this news brief and saw something towards the bottom - 58% of Nigerian Women over 15 have HIV. How's that even possible?! And where the hell did they get that kind of information.

ABUJA, Nigeria, May 19 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The rescue of one of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by the Islamist group Boko Haram from a secondary school in Chibok in northeastern Nigeria two years has thrown global attention onto Amina Ali.

But what is known about the girl who was found two days ago near Damboa in Nigeria's northeast with a four-month-old daughter and a suspected Boko Haram fighter claiming to be her husband?
ADVERTISING
inRead invented by Teads

President Muhammadu Buhari vowed at a news conference on Thursday that Ali would continue her education and condemned the brutality of forced marriage.

Here are some facts about Ali, the first of the missing girls to be found, and about the health, education and rights of girls in Nigeria:

* Amina Ali was one of 13 children in her family of whom only three survived (Source: The Murtala Muhammed Foundation)

* Women on average give birth to six children (source: World Bank)

* 117 children from every 1,000 live births die under the age of five (source: UNICEF)

* Ali is one of 219 schoolgirls missing since April 2014 when they were kidnapped from a secondary school at Chibok by Boko Haram militants

* The female secondary school net attendance rate is only 29 percent in Borno state in northeast Nigeria compared to a national average of 53 percent (source: www.epdc.org)

* She was found with a four-month-old daughter

* About 43 percent of women aged 20 to 24 years are first married or in union by age 18 (source: UNICEF)

* Nigeria has one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates with women dying in 814 of every 100,000 live birth (source: World Bank)

* Around 40,000 pregnant women died in Nigeria in 2013, according to the World Health Organisation

* A survey of 15-24 year-old women found the majority think it is reasonable for husbands to beat their wives if they burn food, refuse sex or go out without his permission (www.gov.uk)

* 58 percent of Nigerian women aged over 15 have HIV

* Life expectancy for a woman at birth in Nigeria is 53 (source: World Bank)

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Ros Russell.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)

Dudeweedlmao:
With the fall in oil price, i think this is the next best alternative.
Fantastic article.

Thanks!

It's one man's opinion.

http://www.fxmallam.com/commentary/nigerian-government-can-solve-crises/

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has put the national daily consumption of petrol at 40 million liters per day. The ‘barrel of crude’ equivalent is 478,068. That is to say that 478,068 barrels of crude should be able to supply the demand of petrol every day in Nigeria. Nigeria’s peak production and the 2016 budget is based on 2.2m barrels of crude daily. Basically 22% of Nigeria’s peak capacity can take care of the Nation’s demand.

Even with the diminished supply due to militant pipeline attacks, Nigeria’s capacity is 1.6m and demand is 30% of that locally.

Currently, according to NNPC, Nigeria’s refineries have the capacity to take care of only 17% of the total demand. There are discussions to increase the capacity of Nigeria’s refineries through public means (NNPC) and through private investments most notably that of Nigeria’s wealthiest individual, Aliko Dangote. Dangote’s refinery is projected to refine 650,000 barrels per day and is currently scheduled to come online in 2018.

The Problem

In simple terms, the current problem is that, the lack of FOREX has caused NNPC to lift the cap on fuel prices from N86 to N145. Many have called this subsidy removal but that is simply not the case. What has happened is that since the Central Bank is (at least they claim to be) unable to supply the requisite dollars to pay suppliers at N200 per $1, they are leaving it to marketers to buy at the parallel market. NNPC estimates that marketers would be able to source US Dollars at N290 per $1 and by adjusting the cap, they can sell and make a profit.

The issue with that is twofold; a drastic increase in pump prices which among many effects will boost inflation and hurt the pocket books of the average Nigerian. You could make the argument that due to fuel scarcity, market forces have already caused pump prices to go up.

The second problem is that the pressure on forex rates will increase because now that markets will be sourcing for dollars through the parallel market, it would increase demand and force prices up. By my calculation, it will cost roughly $6b annually if all of Nigeria’s fuel supply were to be sourced externally.

The Solution

Nigeria has a long term solution in the works. If NNPC can boost capacity to 25% from 17% of demand and Dangote’s refinery comes online as scheduled with the ability to supply 130% of demand; and even with accounting for population growth, you can see that we could be heading towards a market driven solution in the long run.

However, we need a short term solution. Here’s my solution –

Crude Swaps for 100% of demand made entirely by NNPC. Stay with me. Crude swaps would eliminate the need for FOREX to source products. NNPC can then sell products for a minimal profit to marketers and allow markets to set their own prices. When those marketers compete with each other, it will regulate prices without subsidy and minimal price gouging.

What of the loss of revenue the FGN will sustain? Simple, with a foreign reserve of $26b, we would be budgeting $12b over a two year period. Moreover, the FG wouldn’t actually be losing money, they would just be converting USD to petroleum and then to Naira because they would be selling the petroleum swapped at a profit.

What of corruption such as that sustained in such deals during the past regimes? According to Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Nigeria lost $966 million to crude oil swap deal between 2009 and 2012. So that’s a real concern and a real threat to this plan. However, this is a new regime which has promised to tackle corruption. Also, the loses aside, this actually worked quite well in the past. But back then, no one was paying attention to back room deals. We are not so oblivious now.

Conclusion

Such a move will leave the $20b estimated that Nigerians from the Diaspora to serve other forex demands. Others will come from Foreign Direct investments and whatever sources they currently come from since the FG has limited its supply.

I am sure much smarter people can offer even better solutions and some might even disagree.

What we can all agree to is that we need both short and long term solutions. What we can agree to is that we need to be having these sorts of discussions to come up with those solutions. What we also need is the political will to do something to ease the pressure on Nigeria citizens at the pump and in their pockets.

It appears that other long term plans may be in place to help Nigerians economically in the long run such as the Naira/Yuan swap agreement. But we have to provide short term solutions to allow Nigerians survive to the point they can also benefit from these long term plans.

http://www.fxmallam.com/news/britain-pledges-fight-graft-revealing-owns-properties-reuters/

LONDON May 12 (Reuters) – Prime Minister David Cameron pledged on Thursday to set up a public register to show who owns properties in Britain, in an effort to stop stolen funds being laundered through London’s property market.

Cameron made the announcement at the start of a global anti-corruption summit he is hosting in London, but critics said the proposed register may not be enough to make a meaningful impact on the scourge of graft.

The build-up to the event was marred by Cameron being caught on camera describing Nigeria and Afghanistan, which are both taking part, as “fantastically corrupt”, but he later said that the leaders of both countries were tackling the problem.

“We are making some real progress at this summit,” Cameron told a plenary session to open the event.

“Crucially, there are country-by-country commitments … to tackle the issues of corruption that people will be able to check up on and report back on,” he said.

Cameron put tackling corruption, including tax avoidance, at the heart of his agenda when he hosted a summit of the Group of Eight leading industrialised democracies in 2013.

He has sought to present the summit, which brings together leaders such as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and a deputy foreign minister from Russia, as a milestone in that campaign.

Under the new arrangement announced on Thursday, any foreign company that wants to buy property in Britain or bid for a central government contract would have to join the new register of beneficial ownership.

The register, which London said would be the first of its kind in the world, will include companies that already own property in Britain, not just those wishing to buy.

The aim is to expose individuals who hide behind shell companies with obscure names to own properties, a particularly acute problem in London’s luxury real estate sector.

SCANDALS

The capital has been hit by repeated scandals involving luxury homes owned by corrupt politicians from countries such as Nigeria or Libya.

The release of the “Panama Papers”, leaked documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca that named many British businessmen and politicians among the list of clients, put tax avoidance at the top of the global agenda.

Some critics said they doubted that Britain’s new register would make much impact unless overseas tax havens cooperated by also making public the names of those who own companies.

“The devil will lie in the detail,” said Margaret Hodge, a member of parliament from the opposition Labour Party who has specialised in the issue of tax evasion.

“I can’t tell until I’ve seen the detail whether this is a PR stunt or a serious policy which will reveal the true ownership of properties here in the UK,” she told Reuters.

Hodge said she was concerned that the British Virgin Islands and other tax havens under ultimate British control were not present at the summit, and that until such territories also had public registers of beneficial owners the problem would remain.

Britain has acted in the past to impose bans on capital punishment and on anti-gay discrimination on its overseas territories, and Hodge said that if it chose to do so the government could do much more to force tax havens to open up.

LAGOS May 11 (Reuters) – Nigeria’s government will seek to improve household consumption and boost hard currency supply, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said on Wednesday, as Africa’s biggest oil producer faces an economic crisis.

He also told a business conference that boosting agriculture production and providing affordable housing were other priorities.

Source: Reuters

http://www.fxmallam.com/news/nigeria-aims-stimulate-consumption-boost-fx-supply-vp-osinbajo/

Thanks to him or his cohorts and supporters, we can't take advantage of rising oil prices especially in a time when we desperately need the revenues.

http://www.fxmallam.com/news/w-africa-crude-nigerian-supply-disrupted-reuters/

You lost me at "beating you up". Walk away from any and all physically abusive relationship. No matter how much you "love" him. God forbid you have kids together and then they become part of this cycle of domestic violence we've turned a blind eye to in this country. SMH

Going to need a better legal defense or a really good lawyer. I am sure it'll be very difficult to get God on the stand during trial.

Another opportunity for FRSC to collect. Silliness. Tires don't expire. It isn't a food product or a drug. They get old and worn out. They don't come with expiry dates. I suspect these guys would prey on people who aren't as educated.

http://www.fxmallam.com/commentary/particular-president-not-corrupt/

By Ugo Nwagwu

Earlier today, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron was caught on camera in a conversation with her Majesty, the Queen of England saying,

“We’ve got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain… Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world.”

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, said he was “shocked” when told of the remarks.

This is a classic definition of a “gaffe”. The term gaffe often refers to a politician carelessly saying something publicly that they privately believe is true, but would ordinarily not say because it is potentially politically destructive.

The Fallout

Well, the fallout of such a remark is not likely to be significant, it has drawn a lot of comments from Nigerian from all over the globe. Some have even cited David Cameron’s implicit association with the Panama Papers (amid reports that his father opened a shell corporation for him) as reasons why his statements are hypocritical. Others have pointed to Transparency International’s 2015 corruption perception index which places Nigeria at 136 (the higher the number, the more corrupt you are in ranking among other countries).

Good News?

Lost in the shuffle in large part is a comment, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby made shortly after Cameron’s statement, “But this particular president is not corrupt… he’s trying very hard,” right before Speaker John Bercow said: “They are coming at their own expense, one assumes?”

The prime minister appeared to agree with the Archbishop of Canterbury indicating that Nigeria’s current president is working hard to fix the reputation, which was one of the anchors of his campaign for President. That mantra is widely attributed to bringing about the first party regime change since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999.

Conclusion

There’s little doubt that every major player in Cameron’s statement comes out looking bad including Cameron himself. But maybe these are the kind of moments to should cause Nigeria and Nigerians to look in the mirror and work together towards fixing our reputation abroad and maybe the next time a comment like this is made, more people like the Archbishop will chime up in defense of the progress we have made.

ooshinibos:
the David Cameron is not lying and being transparent actually .. I bet he knows more than most of us , he has access to all the deposit of Nigerian govt looters and co ..the deposits actually help the UK economy via the tax collected on the interest the Nigeria money generates ..Nigerians you don lose again ..keep bring the money here

No disagreement however, the hypocrisy in all of it is that, they collect the money knowingly because it helps their economy. If he is really concerned, they can pass laws that audit accounts of known politicos or make it more difficult to use their country as a storage shed for looted funds. IMO, the guy was just chyking the Queen to show that he's working.

Wake me up when one, and I mean just one politician actually gets convicted and imprisoned for corruption. Chances are that the individuals doing the arresting and questioning are even on the take to make the process easier on the politicians, bankers etc. Convict and imprison just one high ranking politician and the rest will adjust.