₦airaland Forum

After more than 3 years of intense debate on issues CBN on NL , I have actually decided to softpedal on debates that have to do with Sanusi. Although the primary reason why I have not been so active on this currency discourse is because I have been involved in so many things of late and hardly have time for these long posts and back-and-forth debates again. But having been at the forefront of his defence in the past, I think people that sought to know my take on this issue are very right.

First, I have never hidden my fanship of SLS, far before he became CBN boss(check this March 2009 thread: https://www.nairaland.com/248924/role-model-corporate-nigeria. But our path never crossed until sometime last year. One thing you can't take from SLS is his openness and breaking down of communication. I am not the first person to publish an unofficial communication with him (one Zainab something did during the subsidy wahala, as did Tunde Fagbenle, popular Punch columnisthttp://www.punchng.com/viewpoint/sanusi-lamido-sanusi-and-me/). SLS is one of the very few public officers in Nigeria that are very accessible and breaks class barrier to interact when public officers dont shield themselves from us nobodies in the society and everyone can just literally walk up to a public officer and seek clarifications.

What I only did here was to post his response to some clarifications I sought from him over the weekend at least to raise NL profile, not necessarily to convince anyone, but to present his case. I did not record it. I just picked the main points from the 17 minutes dicussion. I did not even seek his permission to post this. In hindsight, I think I erred not seeking his permission, especially now that his critics like Pat Utomi have latched on to this largely informal discussion and circulating on his website and FB page.

My personal take: I am very much in support of N5000 note introduction, but I still have issues with the higher denominated coins. But then, what is wrong with in giving him benefit of doubt?

NB: My major take-home from this thread as an active Nairalander for more than 5 years plus now is that most Nairalanders (nay Nigerians) are actually genuine in their criticisms and not necessarily driven by sentiments in their criticism of public officers. This is why Ajanlekoko, Ekt Bear and few other top critics of SLS (including Seun)over years actually saw reason in this policy, when they are usually at the front of anti-SLS debates. I think analysis on NL will be good for it if we look at individual cases/events/policies rather than the face of the bearer. This is why I think most of us are being unfair to GEJ not seeing any good in whatever comes from his government. I have personally reviewed my assessment of GEJ based on more facts(but that is a matter for another day).

My Conversation With SLS On The New Currency Policy

Aftermath of all the issues raised on my FB wall and elsewhere, I decided to hear directly from SLS on this issue of currency introduction and others. I am publishing these relevant parts and left out private matters

ME: (by SMS) Sir, I wouldn't know if you're free now so I can call. I have some issues I want your clarifications on regarding this new currency policy. Suraj

SLS: (called immediately) Suraj, I am very busy today but...(line went inaudible)

ME: (by SMS) Let me raise my issues by SMS. MTN has been having reception issue here

SLS: (called) Suraj, I am very busy today. I have Bleep meeting tomorrow and YYY meeting on Tuesday before travelling to ZZZ on Wednesday. But we can have the discussion by phone in few minutes

ME: OK sir. I just needed your clarifications on some of the issues my friends have been inundating me on this CBN new policy. First, don't you think it is counter productive that at this time that we are advocating cashless Nigeria, we are introducing another currency, a higher one, N5000.

SLS: See, Suraj. It is not. First, know that this is not a monetary policy but just currency management. Our cashless policy never says there should not be any cash at all. It only discourages heavy cash in the system. Whether in N5 notes or N5000 notes, the limit of N500,000 will still be N500,000. So what are we saying? It also enhances operational efficiencies. The number of times banks load their ATM machines will also reduce. Banks can now load up to 5 times the value in their ATM and reduces rate of stocking and associated costs. The cost of printing and managing currency will also reduce. We

ME (cut in): But sir, don't you think this will ease corruption and movement of funds among our politicians?

SLS: Well, is there no corruption now that there are no N5000 denomination? It is not the duty of CBN to fight corruption among political class, you know. We are trying our best to block all holes of corruption, but that doesn't stop CBN from introducing a currency management policy that it deems fit. Fighting corruption is the work of EFCC, Police etc

ME: Sir, what of the issue of inflation. Is it not inflationary?

SLS: All that are unproven talks. I have challenged people to bring any study or research that says higher denomination leads to inflation. Nobody has brought any. Look, it is inflation that brings about currency renomination, not otherwise. In the last 10 years we have been battling double-digit inflation in Nigeria.

ME: What of this scenario: an item that is worth say N4,800 will be forced to be rounded up to N5000?.

SLS: But we have not phased out N1000, N500, N200 now? So you mean it is only N5000 you can use to pay for a N4800 good? How have you been paying before? (laughter)

On coins, Suraj, at CBN we are forward-looking. Look, in the next few years, even when I must have left as governor, people will look back and realize this is a good policy. We are looking at not only currency management but also modernization. A time will come, in very near future, when we will be paying tolls, paying for newspaper vending, with just coins at vending machine points. That is why we are promoting coin culture now. Also note that, we are not cancelling the notes. We are introducing the coins side by side. So you will still have N20 notes, for example, with N20 coins, until it gains acceptability.

ME: Sir, have you been speaking to be the media on this issue?

SLS: Suraj, you know I have been on this job for more than 3 years and most times when I talk to the media, the matter is sensationalized and controverted, so I have deliberately minimized my interface with the media in recent time.

NB: He quoted some statistics at relevant points in time which I can't exactly recall and weeded out to avoid misquoting him.

Is there luck in a footballer's career? Because I always wonder why IK Uche, to me a better striker, supporting striker and winger than Moses in my books, doesn't attract interest from top clubs and Moses got.

milehigh06: malouda and kalou did not achieve their potential.malouda is the most useless winger i have ever seen play

But both were very fantastic players in Lyon and Feyenoord respectively.

Chelsea may have destroyed their career. I am not aware of any successful winger in Chelsea in recent time, from Joe Cole through Malouda, Kalou etc.
This is why I am afraid for Moses. Wingers are more successful in a club like Man u, which best players have always been wingers (Cantona, Beckham, Ronaldo, arguably Valencia now)

Jcob: Some years ago, I made a 5 year plan that expired mid 2012. Career development, marital status, networking, assets etc. Thanks to God . . . . . I ticked everything DONE, except marriage. Getting ready for the next 5 years of my life and I pray the dream of retiring in the next 10 years is achievable.


@Jarus, congrats on the new job. . . .and by the way am getting close to you. Remember Sharafadeen told you about his friend on NL.?

Thanks. Sure.

Proof that we Yorubas are respectful of people older than us, irrespective of where he comes from.

Good for Nigeria. Good for his pocket. But when Malouda and Salomon Kalou come to mind, one will think twice before accepting this as a great move for Victor, career-wise. Except he is fortunate to hit a superlative form.

phemmi: Im an Environmental officer....i work with the state government.....as a civil servant, i work the regular 8 o 4 time....most time my work is interesting but it can be pretty boring some other times.....i gotta good HOD but i had the most horrible woman as a deputy HOD who i report to directli...there are days i feel like killing her but thank God i havent done so.......you all know how it is in any establishment........

One thing about female bosses is that they are always extreme - either overly nice or extremely opposite. I have been fortunate the 2 female bosses I have had in my short career are on the positive side.

Yes. This is common knowlegde.

Continue here: https://www.nairaland.com/1026843/cbn-introduce-n5000-note

Source?

Gambo Sawaba? Not sure she's qualified for our note.

I have always known there are PDP-planted fifth columnists in CPC.

What they don't know is they tend to benefit more from this merger. ACN has better structure and not so interested in national power like CPC. ACN is the one doing them favour.

He may not be a Nigerian. This looks too amateurish for Nigeria's legion of sophisticated scammers. I guess it's from one of these West Arican countries learning the art.

Thanks boss. Muchas gracias

It's been happening here annually since 2010: https://www.nairaland.com/501813/happy-birthday-jarus/4#11906078

fstranger: A brief profile of our one and only Jarus:

Basic info

Birthday 23 August 1982
Relationship Status: Married
Languages British English and Yoruba
Religious views: Islam
The oneness of Allah is not negotiable
Political Views: Conservatively radical


Worked at Oando PLC
Studied at Edinburgh Business School, graduated
Married
From Offa, Nigeria

Work and Education

Oando PLC
June 2008 to April 2012

Edinburgh Business School
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Obafemi Awolowo University
School year 2006 · Ogun, Nigeria
2006

Offa Grammar School, Offa
School year 2000 · Illorin, Kwara, Nigeria


Chartered Accountant. Public Affairs Commentator. Writer. Blogger. Teacher.
Born on 23 August 1982
Knows British English, Yoruba
2012:Left Job at Oando PLC
2012: Started MBA @ Edinburgh Business School
2008: Started Working at Oando PLC
2006: Graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University with first class from the Department of Economics.
2000: Graduated from Offa Grammar School, Offa
1982: Born on 23 August 1982



Birthday Message: Just a pre-emption to the avalanche of Birthday wishes that will surely inundate my wall here later today, I thank everyone in advance for the wishes. From my lovely wife who reminded me first based on Nigerian time, even though it's not 12 am yet in this part of West Africa, to every other person, especially my friend of priceless value, who had been reminding me for over 3 days now. Although some exigencies have necessitated my calling off my plan to do a brief memoir as I hit this age - a special one because it ushers me out of that evergreen bracket of twenties. I thank everyone, from my family to real life friends to the cache of friends I have made overtime through the social media. Big thanks to you all. And most importantly, thanks to almighty Allah that has made one come this far. We can only pray that this be the curtain raiser to better things - for me, and for you all.

Current Location: Golden Tullip Hotel, Accra, Ghana




On behalf of everyone on NL, happy Birthday Jarus. You are indeed the best poster on NL.
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I know you follow me on FB and elsewhere, but still trying to figure who you are from my friend's list and when I accepted your request, despite my caution at accepting requests from Nairalanders (except very few)


Well, no big deal, actually; most of these info are available in the public space already. Happily, the most important - my current place of work - is still unknown to you.

Whether stalking, trolling or pulling of legs through your various attacks at me on NL, one thing I know for sure is you dont hate me! One love, still.

Thanks for the birthday wishes all the same.

My mind is usually more at rest when on air than when traveling by road. I hardly sleep when traveling by road but sleep in as short as 45 minute flight.

Total E&P, as far as I know, is the highest paying at entry level in Nigeria. NLNG is also not bad; in the region of 6-8m per annum at entry level.

Total Nigeria Plc, their downstream entity, however pay around 4m at entry level.

Look, he is not saying driving job should be a first choice job for a graduate, but his take is that it is better than sitting at home idly.

FYI, Bello did mowing job in US when he couldn't get a better job while schooling. He resigned(or took study leave) from Chevron Houston for his current Oxford programme. So he doesn't need the graduate driver job today. He has other jobs. But when he needed one, he almost applied for commercial cab driving in US(limited by commercial driving licence).

Signing in

Another endorsement article by a Nairalander:

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/opinion/46221-dangotes-drivers-academy-i-beg-to-apply

Dangote’s Drivers’ Academy: I beg to apply

| Print | E-mail
Written by Idris Bello
Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Several years ago in Nigeria, I came across a job application, and in true Naija lingo, the guy had begun the application with those exact words “I

beg to apply for the job of ....” I am sure some of you have also come across similar applications, and it is from that perspective that I choose to comment on the brouhaha concerning the plan by the Dangote Group to hire graduates into the Dangote Academy to become professional articulated trucks drivers.

“What was he thinking of? The indignity! The shame! After four or more years within the walls of a university, Dangote expects me to work as a driver? Aha, he has no degree, which is why he can even think of such!”

The responses I have seen on this seemingly simple issue have ranged from the sensible to the ludicrous. As I am otherwise occupied with other things, I had refrained from making comments until now.

I will not attempt to reel out all the reasons why I think the idea is a welcome one. Yes, I believe there is nothing wrong with it. My Great Ife friend and blogger, Suraj Oyewale has already done an excellent job analysing all the issues logically in the Nigerian Tribune of Friday, August 10, 2012. You should read it. But permit me to quote him, “a lack of analytical review of policies and events, is at the root of the pervasive bolekaja criticism that has made public debate an exercise in waste of time and resources in Nigeria.”

Hence I choose to write from a perspective most of us rarely consider, from the viewpoint of empathy, putting oneself in the shoes of the people affected. Trying to understand what it is that will make a graduate ‘stoop’ to the level of applying for the job of a driver.

Let me share with you a personal story.

A few years back, I had left a comfortable job in Nigeria for what I had imagined would be a fully-funded Masters programme in the US, but surprisingly all my expected sources of funding suddenly dried up.

Armed with a First Class degree in Computer Engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University, I had quickly begun looking for a temporary job during the summer to hold body and soul together. However, my job search was encumbered by two things; first, I was on a student visa, which meant I could only work for 20 hours weekly, and I did not have permission to work outside campus. Second, I had not managed to shake off even the tiniest bit of my Nigerian accent in the six months I had been in the US. But those two facts did not stop me from trying.

Interview after interview, one written test followed another. I did not discriminate in the kinds of jobs I applied for. It ranged from

applications to teach in Kaplan GRE classes, to jobs as a delivery guy for parcels on the university campus. I was interviewed for the position of an administrative clerk on the same day as I applied to work at a day-care. I even considered that exclusive preserve of Nigerians in the USA-cab driving, but without a commercial driving licence, even that was off-limits. If my culinary expertise had not been limited to boiling eggs and making eba (the kind that bounces back when you throw it at the wall), I would have applied for a job in a restaurant.

Just as I was about giving up, and few days after I had run out of the last five dollars I needed to buy a calling card to call my folks back in Nigeria, I managed to secure a job.

It was a job with a landscaping company. No, not as a manager. I was to join the other members of staff, mostly undocumented immigrants from across the Mexican border in mowing lawns. But at this point, I had gone past caring about the nature of any job that comes my way.

I remembered mowing large patches of grass growing up in Nigeria. Not the kind of manicured lawns that abound in Houston. Rather it was the kind of grass we called ‘stubborn’ grass or ‘elephant’ grass; tall wicked patches of grass. I had no fear of wielding the cutlass again if that was what it required to make some money legally while I waited for school to start again in Fall.

However, there were some problems I did not think of. First, no one used cutlasses here. I had to learn how to trim grass using string trimmers. Being the most junior and inexperienced member of staff, I was also responsible for using the forced air from the blowers to blow leaves or debris into piles after the day’s work , before packing them into large black refuse bags we always carried for that purpose.

After some weeks on the job, and with the addition of some new employees, I was to move up the lawn-mowing food chain. I started using the gasoline-powered mower to cut the lawn, and also became responsible for giving the flowers a nice manicure. I no longer had to blow refuse, or use the string trimmer.

However, what made this even more difficult was that it was summer! In Houston!

Temperatures above a hundred degrees Fahrenheit (close to 40 degrees Celsius) were normal. And day in, day out, I was out there each day, in the hot sun, from sunrise till sunset. All for a paltry daily salary of $40!

Why? Because I needed a job!
And that is what a lot of folks who have cried themselves hoarse on this Dangote issue do not understand. When you are at that point, it is no longer about a ‘befitting’ job. The so-called ‘dignity’ that makes you think you are above the job of a truck driver because you have spent five years moving from one university lecture hall to another (sometimes without absorbing anything) will not pay your transport fare from Oshodi to Ojota! Neither will it buy a recharge card for your fiancée!

A few years ago, a friend of mine in Nigeria could not find a job despite having a Masters degree from the University of Ibadan. She had to resort to teaching at a ‘private’ secondary school in Lagos for a paltry salary of N6000 which barely covered her transport fare. Today, she is a lecturer in a Federal institution. But at that point, she did what she had to do!

I am a big advocate for people creating their own opportunities and not waiting to seek employment, but I am also realistic that not everyone is cut out for that. And I also think the habit of thinking some jobs or professions are beneath a graduate is the same pride that does not allow a lot of graduates to become entrepreneurs because they think they are too educated to run a restaurant or a food delivery service, or worse even, a sanitation business! Several of my colleagues in graduate school in the US worked in stores and shopping malls during their undergraduate years doing jobs that Nigerians would have considered ‘below’ them, learning skills that proved to be useful later in life!

Now, I also believe most of the people arguing against the Dangote decision have not read the vacancy notice from the company. He has not made being a university graduate a condition for hiring. All he has done is to include BSc holders along with NCE, OND, HND holders in the list of those who can apply. Do you wish he had excluded the millions of jobless university graduates from applying for a job that will pay a N50,000 salary? How many other jobs in Nigeria pay that kind of salary without the requirement that you must not be older than 23 years old, have a 2:1, and have five years of experience?

I know of many people who hide their degrees when applying for jobs meant for school leavers and OND holders. Why? Because it is simply a matter of demand and supply! When you have a country with millions of graduates and very few jobs, even Ph.D holders will write aptitude tests to drive trucks! Let Dangote be!
•Bello wrote in from the University of Oxford, UK.

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lacuna: The pertinent question to ask is whether the source of such stupendous wealth and display of affluence is legitimate

If the house was owned by Nuel Ojei, then thre is no reason to suggest the money is illegitimate.
$any people may not know because of his quiet, old school wealth style, but the man has been around for long and until recently always rated among the Top 10 richest Nigerians. His wealth model is noit like that of the 'new money' guys (Dangote, Otedola etc) but 'old money' school (Razaq Okoya Eleganza, Folawiyo, Samuel Adedoyin etc). The guys have been multi-millionaires(compare to billions today) since 70's and they've investment heavily in assets among oother investments. This is why Okoya's Ajah house is arguably also the biggest private mansion in Lagos, bigger than those of richer folks like Dangote(in Karimu Kotun & Muri Okunola in VI) and Otedola. That's these guys forte - storing their wealth in heavy landed properties all over the world.

If the house was built by Tony Elumelu, well, it may be difficult to stick one's neck out for a bank CEO in Nigeria, but I don't think it is totally inconceivable if someone that had been Bank CEO(and co-founder) since 34 years of age for more than 15 years to be able to afford such property not in Dubai or Abuja, but his village.

oyb: looks like boiz are even moving up sef

Boss, e ja misi. Are you the new Engineering Manager?

Abeg collect my new no from TJ make we yarn asap

ayox2003: Hopeless man! I knew you were gonna sub my page.

Very jobless fellow u are!!!

Ur mates are getting promoted at work and getting better jobs while u police everyone's post in here.

Take a cue from Jarus and AJ, Mr Nairaland Police.


I know u must be digging my post now. Bring it on, Okay?



Frawzey.

Thanks for the compliments, bro.

But a quick clarification: oyb was and still remains my boss.

Good one, Mr President.

Good one, guy.

It's been a cool experience in my new place so far.
A major difference is I am more involved in transactions here than in my former place. I have learnt probably more in these 4 months than a year in my old place, although what I do here is just one of the 2 branches of accounting I was handling in my former place, but its deeper and I have learnt more.

Like my 2 previous employments, I've got a wonderful boss here too(a female).

I also enjoy working with these British and American expats and compared to my former place of work, this has made my work easier. Unlike my previous place of work with all the bureaucracy of getting information from top management staff(Nigerians), here is a place you can just walk into VP's office(compare ED or DMD) and ask him any question or seek any clarification/document, making the job easier and enjoyable. Even the Nigerian top guys, having seen it all from the Shells of this world for 20-30 years are very great to deal with.

I'm currently typing from a training course in one of these West African neighbours of Nigeria.

AjanleKoko: Na Lie.
I can't allow this Jarus new job to kill the thread. Wetin

How has the office been o jare

Reporting for duty, boss!

I will be welcoming you all to my new office(still new after 4 months?) soon.