₦airaland Forum

PMB must hear this. Probe underway....sad story, take heart

THIS IS SAD. Earlier this week, Boko haram struck at the IDP camp in Yola, Adamawa state, killing so many Nigerians - mostly children.
I am overwhelmed with sadness, just as I am livid with rage at the hypocrisy of APC members in relation to their CHANGED stance on the constant boko haram attacks in the country.
Under Jonathan, every bomb blast used to be accompanied by statements from the APC and its members condemning the government and never the bombers. We were told to look up to the Jonathan for protection.
But suddenly that has CHANGED!
APC members are now asking us to look up to Allah! Not Buhari. No longer the federal government. Just 'Allah'!
I am just coming off the facebook page of the El rufai. In announcing the bomb blast, he is praying that 'Allah' would fetch boko haram out! No mention of Buhari! No mention of the Nigerian government!
I remember vividly that this same El rufai used to lash out against Jonathan after any such attack. He used to urge us to look up to Jonathan for protection, not 'Allah' .
Once, after school children were killed in Yobe by boko haram, El rufai said, emphatically, that their blood would be on Jonathan's head. But today, school children were killed in Adamawa and El rufai is not saying that their blood will be on Buhari's head.
Instead, he is talking about Allah, as if Allah's name was on the ballot paper. As if Allah succeeded Jonathan as president of Nigeria.

..

FROM NOAH EBIJE, KADUNA

Borno State governor and Chairman, Northern State Governors’ Forum (NSGF), Alhaji Kashim Shettima yesterday lamented the perennial insecurity crisis, occasioned by bloody activities of Boko Haram as well as the rising social vices in northern Nigeria. He said that the region as a theatre of war, terrorism and poverty, is obviously dragging the entire country backward from attaining purposeful development.
Governor Shettima stated this in Kaduna during his opening remarks at the meeting of the 19 northern governors, with majority of them in attendance, including the host, Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai.
This is the first meeting of the forum in Kaduna since the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari as the leader of the country. The NSGF chairman also took a critical look at quality of past leaders of the North, saying that the present crop of leaders, including the governors from the zone, are a disappointment to the people since they are doing little or nothing to eradicate the socio-economic problem bedeviling the region.
Apparently sad and angry about negative issues hindering the development of the north, Governor Shettima described the region as a laughing stock among the comity of regions in the country.
To this end, he called on his colleagues to work in unity, despite the ethnic and religious diversity to rid northern region of all forms of negativities and social vices.
He said: “Regrettably today, our region has become a thriving nest for war, terrorism, deep seated social divisions, senseless violence, mind-boggling intolerance, injustice, destitution, joblessness, and all manners of other social vices, the height of which is the madness called Boko Haram.
“Things have become so bad, so much so that we can say without fear of contradiction that in Nigeria today, poverty glaringly wears a bold Northern face. We have turned our region into a laughing stock, derided by friends and foes alike, and, not without justification, as having dragged the rest of the country down with us.
“No amount of lamentation will, of course, solve our many problems. We need to act, and fast too. This generation of northern leaders, led by us the governors, have both a moral and constitutional responsibility as well as a historic opportunity to reverse the negative fortunes of our people. We must do everything in our power to restore and entrench the lofty values of unity, understanding, tolerance, mutual respect, empathy, justice and mutual coexistence in the minds of our people and region. We must firmly and decisively commit ourselves to fighting poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, terrorism and other forms violent crimes in the North.
“I dare say that there is no better time to do that than now, when a sequence of events over the last few months is showing that a silver lining is beginning to appear in the dark clouds that have hovered over the North for so long.
“I urge us to take full advantage of this development and dedicate ourselves to, beginning from this meeting and within the shortest possible time, developing a comprehensive blueprint that will take our region and its long suffering people out of the woods. I solemnly enjoin all of us to put our heads down, get to work and come up with an agenda for the speedy transformation of Northern Nigeria from its current travails into a well modern, well developed, prosperous, progressive, just and united polity for the good of its people and the entire Nigeria.
“The first generation of Northern leaders -May God Almighty bless them – bequeathed to us a polity, though vast in land mass and complex in its diversity, that showed enormous promise, and was indeed beginning to live to that promise: A polity where the social mantra was unity in diversity, where justice, fairness and equity reigned, where exemplary peaceful coexistence was the order of the day.
“Not only did succeeding generations of leaders including – sadly – our own, fail to sustain the benchmark handed over by our heroes, they let things to progressively and rapidly deteriorate, in the process exhibiting base irresponsibility of the worst kind. Thus, from those dizzying heights of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s when the North was the cynosure, if not the envy, of all eyes, we plunged to the nadir of the social ladder.
“On my part, I promise, as chairman of this important forum, to do everything humanly possible to ensure unity and purposefulness in our ranks by running an open and democratic system and by carrying everybody along. I promise to do my best, and with your support, understanding and cooperation, to transform this forum from a mere talk shop into an action-oriented and agenda setting platform in the interest of all our 19 Northern states and, by extension, Nigeria as whole.
“Although uncountable meetings of the Northern State Governors’ Forum (NSGF) have been witnessed here in the historically strategic city of Kaduna over the course of a period spanning no less than three decades, today’s gathering, you would agree with me, represents a significant watershed, this being so for a number of reasons.
“First, this is the maiden meeting of the forum since you, my colleagues, so graciously honoured me with the responsibility of steering its affairs as a first among equals. Indeed, a majority of members are attending the Forum’s meeting for the first time.
“Second, it is the first major meeting of the forum since the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari as the first time an opposition candidate took over the mantle of leadership as President of our great country and also the first time since 2013 crisis that nearly tore the forum apart and permanently damage it.
“Third and more significantly, this meeting is coming at critical time in the history of Northern Nigeria when we appear to be on the cusp of a new era; the promise of a transition from seemingly interminable years of hardship, poverty and turmoil – the proverbial Locust Years – to a period of hope, prosperity and calm.
“For the first time since the early 1980s, the political leadership of the Northern states seem poised to reverse the negative trends that had so readily sown the destructive seed of mutual suspicion, distrust and animosity among the teeming people that occupy the vast lands of of our states. I can see the signs of sincere effort and genuine optimism to draw strength in our diversity and change the narrative of our troubled history in the interest of our region’s history, and indeed, the rest of Nigeria.
“As leaders of our people at this crucial epoch of our history, and democratically elected ones at that, we are left with no choice but to rise up to the occasion and live up to people’s perfectly understandable expectations. We must seize this moment, for history is beckoning at us
”http://sunnewsonline.com/new/north-dragging-nigeria-backward-gov-shettima-laments/

Pressure from obj and subsidy scammers u mean?

The same looters that used their companies and ships to loot dry nigerian economy through their unsubstantiated cabal subsidy claims. Are they trying to compensate political allies?
Leme guess the deal pack.
1. The appointment u want, I can't guarantee you all slots....
How do I get my money back from investing in you....
Ans: I will lift ban on your companies to give you license to lift oil....u get paid by execess claims, agreed?
yes, agreed....Deal!
No wonder we are not hearing anything about subsidy removal again.
I weep for nigeria
I am currently wailing in key f

At least 52 people have been killed after a crane collapsed on to the Grand Mosque in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, the country’s Civil Defence Authority has said.

Some 30 people were wounded, the civil defence authority tweeted.

It is not clear what happened, but images on social media showed a large number of dead and wounded.

The accident comes amid preparations for the annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca later this month.

http://scannewsnigeria.com/breaking-news/mecca-crane-collapse-52-dead-in-saudi-arabia/

stanech:
I can't help but think this is GEJ's fault. Is he not the comander in chief of the armed forces? Otueke fisherman. Ogogoro drunkard. Clueless man. All the blood is on your head. He is wiping out the north. He wants to reduce their population




Oh but wait o GEJ is cooling off in Bayelsa.


So whom do we blame now? Buhari? NO... He is a General, an upright man, under his rule bokoharam are now on the run.
Stupid gullible senseless people.

I wish I could give your comment more than one like....OK...may likesx 1000000000000000000000000

Alas, President Buhari’s first 100 days as president of modern day Nigeria came too soon. It is now history; a figment of yesterday’s paper. It is hard to say if it came with a mournful air or a copious reverie. We may not find common lines of agreement on it being a success, failure or something in between, but we’ll sure agree on this one thing: some things happened between PMB’s 1st and 100th day in office and there is still no economic policy or framework on what he intends to do for us and how he intends to do it.



The other day, Mallam Shehu Garba, one of PMB’s media handlers almost bored us to death with his verbose and poorly written and proofread “Understanding President Buhari in 100 Days” article. A few days after, another of President Buhari’s lying machine – as they have turned out to be – regaled us with yet another 100-day rant. Rather than win sympathy for his principal, his “New Sheriff in Town” article reminds us of the need to tender hearty apologies to our immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan.

Yes, the new Sheriff in town is a miracle worker. He hasn’t invested a dime, let alone wave his magic wand, and our power woes are beginning to “abracadabra style” disappear. This mystery disappearance – the reason why our power Generation Companies(GENCOs) now have an output of close to 5000mw, has been said to be due to this new Sheriff’s body language. In the words of Mr. Adesina, “Some call it the Buhari bounce, others describe it as the Buhari effect… A new Sheriff has come to town.”

But that isn’t only crass, it is idiotic. It isn’t only idiotic, it betrays zilch understanding of simple logic and makes little children sneeze derisively because of its distortedness. Come to think of it; what if the previous administration didn’t invest in the power sector? What if the Power Holding Company of Nigeria wasn’t unbundled into 18 companies for greater efficiency and effectiveness? What if GEJ didn’t create the Nigerian Bank Electricity Trading Plc(NBET)? What if GEJ didn’t launch the Roadmap for Power Sector Reform?

Will the Buhari bounce still be bouncy? Will the Buhari effect be effective enough to boost power generation from the 2200mw bequeathed to GEJ in 2012? Will it? Can it? If it will, why didn’t it stop unemployment from rising from7.5% to 8.2%? If it can, why couldn’t it stop Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) from reducing by 0.20 percent? Why didn’t it stop our Gross Domestic Product(GDP) from plummeting by 40 percent to 2.35 under the very watchful eyes of President Buhari?

He didn’t stop there. He went further to say; “even our foreign reserves know that a new Sheriff is in town, and has responded appropriately. In June, just one month into office, … our foreign reserves surged from 29 billion USD to 31.89 USD. Holy Moses!” This reveals more than you think. It is worse than you imagine.

If I were cultured to be an abusive dude, his Holy Moses crap would have made me call Mr. Adesina the Yoruba brainless name; Olodo. But I wouldn’t. Still, I strongly believe he is. If not, how will he not know that our foreign reserve rose by 10 percent to 35 billion USD, while our power generation capacity rose to a record breaking 4000mw – its highest level ever – when GEJ marked his first 100 days as a president in 2011? It beats my imagination that this “self acclaimed” veteran journalist, who also won Nigeria Media Merit Awards Editor of the year in 2007 is gifted with poor research skills and a dwarf knowledge of history. Or could he have conveniently chosen not to include it in his article? Did he forget that it behooves media practitioners to give out fair and balance reportage?

This brings his English degree from the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University under question. It also makes one wonder how he got to become the Managing Director and an Editor-in-Chief of Sun Newspapers.

He still didn’t stop there. He went further to make the most ludicrous statement of the century; “another imperceptible but momentous achievement is the faith that Nigerians now have in their leader.” Are you kidding me? Please, tell me this is a joke. Oh, it must be a typographical error. He must have meant “fate,” not faith. It can’t be faith. It just can’t be.

Before May 29, yes, there was a reasonable amount of faith in candidate Buhari. But in President Buhari? No. I’m not sure. How can we have faith in a man who, just a few days after he was sworn in as president, reneged on his promise and obligation to publicly declaring his assets? What faith should we have in a man who promised to lead the war against Boko Haram, not from the lush posh of Aso Rock, but from Borno, the war front? What faith is to be reposed in a man who denies the covenant and promises that landed him the presidency gig? What of the 20, 000 jobs he promised each state? What of his promise of making 1 USD equal 1 Naira?

Or could Mr. Adesina be disconnected from reality? Could he’s be a case of self delusion? Is there a chance he missed the #100WastedDays campaign that almost broke the internet?

Looking back, Goodluck Jonathan isn’t a kettle, after all. What has simply been playing out is simply a legendary case of pot calling kettle black. It is a typical example of a politician calling a lawyer dishonest. But sadly, we fell for it. We made our eyes gullible for them to pull the wool over. The die is however cast and the deed is done.

Last Saturday, the only urge I felt was to tender an apology – with the urgency which an Usain Bolt races to the finish line – to Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR. For shaming doomsayers and giving potency to PMB’s bounce or effect. For choosing not to go the way of Burundi’s Pierre Nkuruniziza. For making this bequest called Nigeria still inhabitable. For affording wailing wailers, the opportunity to wail, Facebookers the opportunity to Facebook, writers the opportunity to write, and readers the opportunity to read.

Or who writes when the next rocket launcher might be landing on his roof? Who uses Facebook when his above is eclipsed by sadness? Who reads when all he has around him is a bleak hill of war and an accompanying congregation of displaced persons? Who tweets when his ears are filled with rhythms that tickle sorrow? Who wails when the sporadic hoots and ratatata of gunshots rents the air like a tenant, becoming his oxygen.

Joel Pereyi is an award winning essayist and freelance writer. He maintains a bimonthly column for the Abuja-based FCT Post.

villeanns:
Ok! We don hear.

I think it will take quite some few time to see what GMB is doing.

I love the use of word 'few'.....yes few senile, sentimental, demented/brain dead buffallos

Reading through the comment, I just have to conclude that BB carries the day. Investors can use this thread as a survey.

janus05:
60,000 construction workers lose jobs in 4 months

By Oboh Agbonkhese
LAGOS—Over 60,000 workers in the construction sector have lost their jobs in the past four months, signifying a massive break in infrastructure development, which has been described as unfair on the workers who voted in a Federal Government that promised to protect their interests.

This was the position of the National Union of Civil Engineering Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers, NUCECFWW, at a briefing in Lagos yesterday.

According to Mr. Amechi Asugwuni, President-General of the union, development was on hold in the country and if government wants to remain true to its promise of creating jobs, it will make infrastructure development part of its war against corruption and a first step is to reactivate all roads and rail construction projects, which multiplier effects will boost the economy.

He said: “We urge the Federal Government to, among other moves, set up a monitoring committee that will ensure implementation of projects according to specifications and stop prospective employees from forcing workers to sign anti-unionization agreements.”

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/09/60000-construction-workers-lose-jobs-in-4-months/

The undoing so far:
Unemployment up from 21% to 66%
Release of suspected terrorist.
De-listing from JP morgan
Investors loss 1.6trn in less than 4months
Increased bombings and BH attacks/killings
Acutely loop sidedness in appointment so far....most divisive in country history.
Verbal assets declaration without any evidence
Investors selling bonds and share.
Naira now at 230 vs dollar on parallel market
Inflation skyrocketing
I read somewhere that Nigeria will soon fall into recession before december
...and now 60k jobs loss from construction sector only.
My appeal: wailers and sai buharis have to come together and tell PMB hard truth, the rate our economy is going down we will need to put aside sentiments speak/act up when need arises.
I rest my case
Long live nja

BRAVAGAD0O:
Hello friends, 1st of all, I don't want you to see me as a man that involves third party in his marrital life/affair, am not that kind of man, in fact a lot of things go on that I rather let it stay in my home for us to sort or face together than involving family or friends but this challenge is really heavy for me to bear.

I don't really know what else to preach to her that I don't like her behavior anytime am broke ,for me it's a total turn off because it always makes me feel like am not being appreciated even with all my efforts to make us happy.

My wife nag anytime am broke or notice my pay ain't coming soon, all she does is play blame game like telling me all sort of story, like she never eat since last year, like she's not happy, that the marriage is hell because of just few days broke, and the few days broke doesn't mean no food for us, the few days broke doesn't mean I won't raise money to fuel generator talk less of some more important bills. I am just 10 months old in this marriage, please, real men in the house kindly advice me on what to do, if am the one being wrong here because I don't understand why she's always like that.

Lalasticlala I wouldn't mind front page at all because I really want to learn from all other husbands out there... Thanks

Did u guys actually do courtship

I was particularly impressed when I saw the public notice today on NTA news this evening about danger of dangers of cattle rearers in fct. It was actually a clarion call on concern authorities to curtail these activities and am proud for the first time, Nigerian gov agency came on quite proactive than reactionary. Indeed social media is transforming Nigeria. Thanx to NL...see thread link below:
https://www.nairaland.com/2554108/cows-lose-abj-metropolise-since

Kindly put it on olx
Yours faithfully,

Investors lose N1.6trn in first 100 days of Buhari tenure

Investors in the Nigerian stock market lost N1.6 trillion in the first 100 days of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, going by report of activities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as at close of business last weekend.

The NSE market capitalization (total value of all shares in the NSE) closed at N10.1 trillion, down by over 14 per cent from N11.7 trillion closing value on the last day of the former President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration, May 28, 2015.

Similarly, the key performance index of the exchange, the All Shares Index (ASI), dropped by over 13 per cent to 29,511.1 points from 34,310.9 within the same period.Change-probe

Market analysts have described this development as a summation of local and foreign investors’ characterization of the economic policy environment as hazy and uncertain in the past three months.

They also attributed the negative turn of affairs in the stock market to the gloomy picture foisted on the economy by the combination of declining oil revenue and lack of a clear policy response to it.

In reaction to the economic developments in the first 100 days of Buhari’s regime, Afrinvest Group, a Lagos-based investment banking house, said: “Investors in the financial markets have remained on the sideline as a result of lack of fiscal policy direction from the president coupled with exchange rate uncertainty.

Equities market lost 14% since June

“The Nigerian equities market has lost 14 per cent since June till date while the bonds market (as measured by FMDQ index) shed 3 per cent in the same period.”

They added that “in the absence of clear fiscal economic blueprint, the monetary authority introduced several exchange rate policies which have continued to pressure the market, constraining foreign portfolio inflows into the market.”

Similarly, investors’ unenthusiastic expectations for first half of 2015 corporate financial reports, especially in the consumer goods sector, has further dampened investors’ sentiments. This is evident in the unimpressive earnings posted by the companies that have released their reports for the first half where almost all of them show significant decline in earnings.

According to stockbrokers, earnings results published so far underscore the tough operating environment in the economy.

Notwithstanding, Afrinvest expressed optimism thus: “The President has promised to unveil his list of cabinet members in September. This is expected to catalyze the economy and the capital market to optimizing their potentials in the medium term.

“Our position is anchored on the fact that ministerial appointments, which are set to be concluded by September 2015, are expected to give the market a sense of direction of the Buhari-led government, consequently, activating improved market performance.

“Correspondingly, we expect economic activities in the second half of 2015 to improve relative to first half of 2015; thus, corporate earnings performances should mirror the economic outlook.

“Therefore, we place a higher weighting on the possibility of a fantastic positive overall return for medium to long term investors and also preach caution on short term speculative trading.”

Afrinvest Group had earlier said the economy growth rate would be down to 3.5 per cent as against 5 per cent it had projected this year.

Updates on economy and markets

Reacting to the updates on the economy and the markets, Renaissance Capital (Rencap Group), a multinational financial institution, downgraded Nigeria’s economic growth rate expectations. According to them, Nigeria’s economy will grow year-on-year (Y-o-Y) by 2.8 per cent, down from its earlier forecast growth rate of 3.4 per cent.

In its report, Rencap Group stated: “We revise down our 2015 growth forecast for Nigeria to 2.8 per cent (from 3.4 per cent) following this week’s release of exceptionally weak growth data from Nigeria and South Africa.

Rencap was referring to the data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its latest economic statistical report focusing on the Nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for second quarter (Q2) 2015.

The NBS report indicated that the real growth rate of the monetary value of all goods and services produced in the country during the period slowed to 2.4 per cent Y-o-Y, down from 4.0 per cent in Q1, 2015 and 6.5 per cent in Q2, 2014. This was on the back of the low crude oil prices and decline in oil production to 2.1mbpd from 2.2mbpd in Q2, 2014.

Growth rate mark-down

Giving reason for the growth rate mark-down, Rencap Group said: “We revise down our 2015 growth forecast for two reasons: First, half 2015 growth of 3.1 per cent Y-o-Y came below our 2015 forecast of 3.4 per cent and second, we expect supply constraints, related to foreign exchange restrictions and the de facto import ban, to undermine growth in second half 2015.”

The impact of continued decline in the international oil price has dragged down growth indices in the Nigerian economy in the second quarter, 2015.

According to a report by the NBS, Nigeria’s GDP expanded 2.35 percent on an annual basis, compared with 3.96 percent a quarter earlier.

Reuters, world’s leading financial media, in a commentary last week said ‘’as Buhari prepares to mark 100 days in office on Saturday, his critics are now using the less flattering sobriquet, Baba Go Slow.”

Reuters said, “Chief amongst their complaints is the 72-year-old’s decision not to appoint a cabinet until later this month, putting the economic policy of the country of 170 million people in limbo, and leaving the likes of the central bank to fill the vacuum’’.

According to Reuters ‘’a Western diplomat said the last few months, in which Buhari has governed alone with briefings by civil servants, had caused a bottleneck because he had failed to delegate authority’’.

However the Reuters report quoted Mr Femi Adesina, the president’s spokesman as saying “When the ministers are appointed, some will constitute an economic team and then formulate a policy,”

Commenting on the government economy policy gaps Muda Yusuf, director general of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry LCCI) said “The fact that the CBN has been allowed to take steps that look more like fiscal policy decisions is a source of major concern. “The president doesn’t seem to appreciate the enormity of the disruption that the CBN policy on foreign exchange is causing in the economy,” he said, adding that international trade had been hit and some firms had lost their credit lines.

CBN, in the wake of sustained demand pressure on foreign exchange reserves and exchange rate, had introduced several demand management policies that has equally restricted transaction leverages.

The results have been mixed but key amongst them was stabilization of the foreign reserves at above USD31 billion for over two months now as well as stabilization of the exchange rate at the official windows at about N199/USD1.00. But the parallel market has fluctuated widely between N210/USD1.00 and N230/ USD1.00 while the premium has been very high, an indication, according to market operators, of a fundamental distortion.

But CBN appears to be having its own peculiar challenges with the policy situation in the country. The apex bank has indicated that fiscal policy gaps resulting from absence of functional government economic policies and other factors outside its control have constrained the ability of its policies to rein in on price stability in the economy.

In its post Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) report CBN expressed worry at the developments in the inflationary pressure since this year amidst its monetary policies aimed at curtailing excess liquidity, one of the main drivers of inflationary pressures.

It stated ‘’the drivers of the current upward inflationary spiral were of a transient nature and mostly outside the direct control of monetary policy. Consequently, the opportunity for further policy maneuver remains largely constrained in the absence of supporting fiscal measures’’.

The general statement of the MPC signed by the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, therefore, urged for coordination of monetary, fiscal and structural policies to stimulate output growth, and stabilize the exchange rate.

Economy observers believe that emplacement of a functional federal executive council especially the finance minister and other ministers in the economy segment would have helped the situation in the area of policy formulation and strategy as well as implementation of the 2015 budget and formulation of 2016 budget and medium term expenditure framework (MTEF).

A top executive of the ministry of finance told Vanguard last weekend that the ministry has existing economic policy framework part of which was in the 2015 budget but lamented that the policies have to be stepped down following the outcome of the last presidential election lost by the federal executives that created the policy.

Though he defended the absence of a replacement or modification three months after the take off of the new regime he however stated that the President Buhari would task the in-coming economy sector ministers to rework the policies or create new one.

He defended the present regime’s apparent delay in making policy pronouncements in the backdrop of rising apprehension over the economy, saying the new regime needed time to settle down before making major pronnouncements.

As a result of this situation many investors especially multinationals, are holding back major investment decisions. One of them in the oil and gas sector told Vanguard last weekend that his company in the United States of America still believes Nigeria is a good space for their overseas expansion programme but they have decided to wait until a clear policy is announced before they can make concrete moves towards committing resources.

Members of the House of Representatives last week summoned Finance Ministry, Budget Office, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, National Planning Commission, Debt Management Office and Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission to explain why the 2015 Appropriation Act is not being implemented.

Also, the ad-hoc committee set up by the 8th House of Assembly last week commenced a public hearing over non-implementation of 2015 Budget. It was reliably gathered that officials of other agencies related to finance may also be summoned to appear before the ad-hoc committee headed by Rep. Ahmed Pategi, Kwara APC, at the public hearing.

Officials of the MDAs are expected to come with enough evidence to convince the lawmakers that the 2015 Appropriation Act is on course.

The House, at plenary on August 13, 2015 had constituted an ad-hoc committee to investigate the non- implementation of the budget following a motion promoted by Rep. Patrick Asadu, Enugu PDP, under matters of urgent public importance.

Asadu had accused the Federal Government of abandoning the implementation of the 2015 budget and capital projects, almost mid way into the third quarter of the financial year.

He submitted that the non release of the funds deprives the country of highly needed basic facilities and subjects its citizens to infrastructural and economic hardship, stunting the nation’s economic growth.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/09/investors-lose-n1-6trn-in-first-100-days-of-buhari-tenure/#sthash.7Q7E2qNq.yYyGKqCG.dpuf

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Investors lose N1.6trn in first 100 days of Buhari tenure

Investors in the Nigerian stock market lost N1.6 trillion in the first 100 days of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, going by report of activities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as at close of business last weekend.

The NSE market capitalization (total value of all shares in the NSE) closed at N10.1 trillion, down by over 14 per cent from N11.7 trillion closing value on the last day of the former President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration, May 28, 2015.

Similarly, the key performance index of the exchange, the All Shares Index (ASI), dropped by over 13 per cent to 29,511.1 points from 34,310.9 within the same period.Change-probe

Market analysts have described this development as a summation of local and foreign investors’ characterization of the economic policy environment as hazy and uncertain in the past three months.

They also attributed the negative turn of affairs in the stock market to the gloomy picture foisted on the economy by the combination of declining oil revenue and lack of a clear policy response to it.

In reaction to the economic developments in the first 100 days of Buhari’s regime, Afrinvest Group, a Lagos-based investment banking house, said: “Investors in the financial markets have remained on the sideline as a result of lack of fiscal policy direction from the president coupled with exchange rate uncertainty.

Equities market lost 14% since June

“The Nigerian equities market has lost 14 per cent since June till date while the bonds market (as measured by FMDQ index) shed 3 per cent in the same period.”

They added that “in the absence of clear fiscal economic blueprint, the monetary authority introduced several exchange rate policies which have continued to pressure the market, constraining foreign portfolio inflows into the market.”

Similarly, investors’ unenthusiastic expectations for first half of 2015 corporate financial reports, especially in the consumer goods sector, has further dampened investors’ sentiments. This is evident in the unimpressive earnings posted by the companies that have released their reports for the first half where almost all of them show significant decline in earnings.

According to stockbrokers, earnings results published so far underscore the tough operating environment in the economy.

Notwithstanding, Afrinvest expressed optimism thus: “The President has promised to unveil his list of cabinet members in September. This is expected to catalyze the economy and the capital market to optimizing their potentials in the medium term.

“Our position is anchored on the fact that ministerial appointments, which are set to be concluded by September 2015, are expected to give the market a sense of direction of the Buhari-led government, consequently, activating improved market performance.

“Correspondingly, we expect economic activities in the second half of 2015 to improve relative to first half of 2015; thus, corporate earnings performances should mirror the economic outlook.

“Therefore, we place a higher weighting on the possibility of a fantastic positive overall return for medium to long term investors and also preach caution on short term speculative trading.”

Afrinvest Group had earlier said the economy growth rate would be down to 3.5 per cent as against 5 per cent it had projected this year.

Updates on economy and markets

Reacting to the updates on the economy and the markets, Renaissance Capital (Rencap Group), a multinational financial institution, downgraded Nigeria’s economic growth rate expectations. According to them, Nigeria’s economy will grow year-on-year (Y-o-Y) by 2.8 per cent, down from its earlier forecast growth rate of 3.4 per cent.

In its report, Rencap Group stated: “We revise down our 2015 growth forecast for Nigeria to 2.8 per cent (from 3.4 per cent) following this week’s release of exceptionally weak growth data from Nigeria and South Africa.

Rencap was referring to the data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its latest economic statistical report focusing on the Nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for second quarter (Q2) 2015.

The NBS report indicated that the real growth rate of the monetary value of all goods and services produced in the country during the period slowed to 2.4 per cent Y-o-Y, down from 4.0 per cent in Q1, 2015 and 6.5 per cent in Q2, 2014. This was on the back of the low crude oil prices and decline in oil production to 2.1mbpd from 2.2mbpd in Q2, 2014.

Growth rate mark-down

Giving reason for the growth rate mark-down, Rencap Group said: “We revise down our 2015 growth forecast for two reasons: First, half 2015 growth of 3.1 per cent Y-o-Y came below our 2015 forecast of 3.4 per cent and second, we expect supply constraints, related to foreign exchange restrictions and the de facto import ban, to undermine growth in second half 2015.”

The impact of continued decline in the international oil price has dragged down growth indices in the Nigerian economy in the second quarter, 2015.

According to a report by the NBS, Nigeria’s GDP expanded 2.35 percent on an annual basis, compared with 3.96 percent a quarter earlier.

Reuters, world’s leading financial media, in a commentary last week said ‘’as Buhari prepares to mark 100 days in office on Saturday, his critics are now using the less flattering sobriquet, Baba Go Slow.”

Reuters said, “Chief amongst their complaints is the 72-year-old’s decision not to appoint a cabinet until later this month, putting the economic policy of the country of 170 million people in limbo, and leaving the likes of the central bank to fill the vacuum’’.

According to Reuters ‘’a Western diplomat said the last few months, in which Buhari has governed alone with briefings by civil servants, had caused a bottleneck because he had failed to delegate authority’’.

However the Reuters report quoted Mr Femi Adesina, the president’s spokesman as saying “When the ministers are appointed, some will constitute an economic team and then formulate a policy,”

Commenting on the government economy policy gaps Muda Yusuf, director general of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry LCCI) said “The fact that the CBN has been allowed to take steps that look more like fiscal policy decisions is a source of major concern. “The president doesn’t seem to appreciate the enormity of the disruption that the CBN policy on foreign exchange is causing in the economy,” he said, adding that international trade had been hit and some firms had lost their credit lines.

CBN, in the wake of sustained demand pressure on foreign exchange reserves and exchange rate, had introduced several demand management policies that has equally restricted transaction leverages.

The results have been mixed but key amongst them was stabilization of the foreign reserves at above USD31 billion for over two months now as well as stabilization of the exchange rate at the official windows at about N199/USD1.00. But the parallel market has fluctuated widely between N210/USD1.00 and N230/ USD1.00 while the premium has been very high, an indication, according to market operators, of a fundamental distortion.

But CBN appears to be having its own peculiar challenges with the policy situation in the country. The apex bank has indicated that fiscal policy gaps resulting from absence of functional government economic policies and other factors outside its control have constrained the ability of its policies to rein in on price stability in the economy.

In its post Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) report CBN expressed worry at the developments in the inflationary pressure since this year amidst its monetary policies aimed at curtailing excess liquidity, one of the main drivers of inflationary pressures.

It stated ‘’the drivers of the current upward inflationary spiral were of a transient nature and mostly outside the direct control of monetary policy. Consequently, the opportunity for further policy maneuver remains largely constrained in the absence of supporting fiscal measures’’.

The general statement of the MPC signed by the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, therefore, urged for coordination of monetary, fiscal and structural policies to stimulate output growth, and stabilize the exchange rate.

Economy observers believe that emplacement of a functional federal executive council especially the finance minister and other ministers in the economy segment would have helped the situation in the area of policy formulation and strategy as well as implementation of the 2015 budget and formulation of 2016 budget and medium term expenditure framework (MTEF).

A top executive of the ministry of finance told Vanguard last weekend that the ministry has existing economic policy framework part of which was in the 2015 budget but lamented that the policies have to be stepped down following the outcome of the last presidential election lost by the federal executives that created the policy.

Though he defended the absence of a replacement or modification three months after the take off of the new regime he however stated that the President Buhari would task the in-coming economy sector ministers to rework the policies or create new one.

He defended the present regime’s apparent delay in making policy pronouncements in the backdrop of rising apprehension over the economy, saying the new regime needed time to settle down before making major pronnouncements.

As a result of this situation many investors especially multinationals, are holding back major investment decisions. One of them in the oil and gas sector told Vanguard last weekend that his company in the United States of America still believes Nigeria is a good space for their overseas expansion programme but they have decided to wait until a clear policy is announced before they can make concrete moves towards committing resources.

Members of the House of Representatives last week summoned Finance Ministry, Budget Office, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, National Planning Commission, Debt Management Office and Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission to explain why the 2015 Appropriation Act is not being implemented.

Also, the ad-hoc committee set up by the 8th House of Assembly last week commenced a public hearing over non-implementation of 2015 Budget. It was reliably gathered that officials of other agencies related to finance may also be summoned to appear before the ad-hoc committee headed by Rep. Ahmed Pategi, Kwara APC, at the public hearing.

Officials of the MDAs are expected to come with enough evidence to convince the lawmakers that the 2015 Appropriation Act is on course.

The House, at plenary on August 13, 2015 had constituted an ad-hoc committee to investigate the non- implementation of the budget following a motion promoted by Rep. Patrick Asadu, Enugu PDP, under matters of urgent public importance.

Asadu had accused the Federal Government of abandoning the implementation of the 2015 budget and capital projects, almost mid way into the third quarter of the financial year.

He submitted that the non release of the funds deprives the country of highly needed basic facilities and subjects its citizens to infrastructural and economic hardship, stunting the nation’s economic growth.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/09/investors-lose-n1-6trn-in-first-100-days-of-buhari-tenure/#sthash.7Q7E2qNq.yYyGKqCG.dpuf

ideology:
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How about akwa ibom state?

How about akwa ibom

You remiind me of shit-tima and Adams oshit mole

Bubu pls stop making more promises....before u'll come say someone hacked your mouth, that you know nothing about it

If this is true, then its the saddest thing moment for democracy and freedom of press

.

Taylor86:
She came bk after 3months and said she's pregnant after a bloww job quickie we hard

exactly my case

mianyaegbu:
Where is my body language abi body odour lemme use it to increase power generation and supply

Bruv ....walaihi u wickedt fah

missKiffy:
Only in biafruad this can happen

ETHNICENTRIC ba§πard

Thanking God for making front page