₦airaland Forum

Trump is simply carrying out gunboat diplomacy. It seems to have worked with North Korea but only time will tell.

Education have been seriously neglected by the government at all levels especially at the primary schools. What is required is a holistic approach to solve the numerous problems plaguing education, some of which include:

1. Human capital development (Training and retraining of teachers with adequate salaries and allowances).

2. Infrastructure (Public schools should be built and maintained with dignity and not as poultries)

3. All politicians, civil and public servants should be compelled to have their children educated at public schools (with a view to having the right policies towards education). What's the essence of avoiding public schools and later seeking to be employed in government MDAs and/or seeking to be elected into public office. It should be considered as a yardstick going forward.

The future generation (represented by these children in primary schools) deserve the best in education or else we might be faced with greater security challenges in the future.

"The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create men who are capable of doing new things''.- Jean Piaget

''Early childhood education is the key to the betterment of society'' - Maria Montessori

These are private equity investments by the Blackstone Group ( https://www.blackstone.com/ ). Black Rhino is chaired by Sanusi ( http://blackrhinogroup.com/blackstone-and-black-rhino-announce-appointment-of-lamido-sanusi-as-chairman-of-the-board-of-directors/ )

Dangote is leveraging on private equity investments.

The infrastructural challenges in Nigeria are very good investment opportunities for these private equity firms.

One of the reasons for the mismanagement of the so-called $1.2B debt is currency mismatch. You may ask how did a currency mismatch happen? Answer: EMTS (trading with the brand name Etisalat) collected a dollar loan (foreign currency) while earning Naira (local currency).

A currency mismatch refers to how a change in the exchange rate will affect the present discounted value of future income and expenditure flows. see: https://piie.com/publications/chapters_preview/373/3iie3608.pdf

Another definition of currency mismatch: the activity of borrowing money in the currency of a country where interest rates are low and depositing it in the currency of a country with higher interest rates. The potential profit from the interest rate margin may be offset by changes in the exchange rates which increase the value of the loan in the company's balance sheet. see: http://www.investorguide.com/definition/currency-mismatching.html

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should stop banks from giving dollar / foreign currency demoninated loans to companies that earn naira (local currency) as their major source of income/revenue except for those that earn dollar/foreign currency. This is required to prevent a currency mismatch and stop the dollarisation of the Nigerian economy.

The new management / board of 9mobile (formerly Etisalat Nigeria) should leverage on their cash flow to offset their debts. However it seems Dangote may partly or fully take over 9mobile. Another treasure chest.

Perhaps the government took my advise and modified my suggestion : https://www.nairaland.com/3062189/fg-should-introduce-30-day-visa

I hereby propose that the federal government should introduce a foreign policy that grants nationals/international passport holders of the G7 countries a free 30-day entry visa into Nigeria.

The Group of 7 (G7) is a group consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The European Union is also represented within the G7. These countries are the seven major advanced economies as reported by the International Monetary Fund: The G7 countries represent more than 64% of the net global wealth ($263 trillion).[1] A net national wealth and a very high Human Development Index are the main requirements to be a member of this group. The G7 countries also represent 46% of the global GDP evaluated at market exchange rates and 32% of the global purchasing power parity GDP.[2] source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_of_Seven_(G7)

Some of the potential benefits of this policy includes, but not limited to the following:
1. Effective method of rapidly boosting our tourism industry.
2. Foreign currency receipts especially with the current scarcity of fx.
3. Potential Foreign Investments.
4. Employment creation.
5. Boosting our foreign relations with the G7.
6. Others (include yours).

The policy may be opposed for whatever reason. However with a robust policy debate, I believe the advantages of this policy will outweigh any disadvantage.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry should take note of the overriding benefits Nigeria would derive from this policy if adopted and implemented.

Kindly state your opinion. Perhaps an opinion poll may be required.

Since you are visiting New York, take a visit to the Canadian Consulate : 1251 6th Ave, New York, NY 10020, USA. and apply in person.

How do you intend to pay for hotel and flight costs to Canada?

Part of the reasons both founded and unfounded can be ascribed to the Financial Reporting Council code of corporate governance for NFPO:

1. The Code of Corporate Governance for the Private Sector is mandatory.
2. The Code of Governance for Not-for-Profit entities is “Comply or Justify non-compliance” see: http://www.financialreportingcouncil.gov.ng/news-center/frc-releases-draft-national-code-of-corporate-governance/

Interested parties/NFPO should also read the 29 pages pdf document of the FRC NFPO Governance code. It's downloadable from the FRC website

I really do not support government's unnecessary interference in spiritual and religious affairs. It becomes politicized and religious freedom and association becomes inhibited. I wonder what CAN, PFN and other well meaning christian organisations are doing to stop these unnecessary government interference. "While men slept.............".

However, any Christian Organisation or NFPO can refuse the FRC goverance code by justifying non-compliance according to the Compliance Framework on section 7.3 of the NFPO Goverance Code.

Are the Christians in Nigeria sleeping while the enemy is tactically sowing torns in the field?

He said no one was willing to lend to the Nigerian government, further stating that “if senate approved, I want to see who will lend you $30billion when you have five exchange rates”.

My main concern with the current monetary policies of the CBN is the issue of multiple exchange rates. These multiple rates gives more room for undue speculation and manipulation which further devalues the naira creating an unhealthy financial system riddled with so much uncertainty in monetary policy direction.

The multiple exchange rate policy should be stopped forthwith. How can a car (or any other vehicle) have multiple steering wheels?

I hope some discerning people can read the following:

Adeosun also said some of the unremitted surpluses of the agencies might be part of the funds in the Treasury Single Account (TSA), adding that once they present their repayment proposals, a mutually suitable window would be conceded to them.

Who controls TSA? Who is the custodian of the funds in TSA? Is this propaganda necessary? This federal government needs to get serious and stop the blame game.

This story is full of half truths. However I never liked the nomination of the present CBN governor. The guy is a misfit and a poor representation of who a CBN governor should be.

Most banks (I guess all) round-trip to make illegal profit that do not reflect in the banks books but in the personal/corporate accounts of all the individuals and officials involved in round tripping. A case in point with this story:

They called one of their foreign clients to arrange a $25m transaction at N380 to $1. They quickly bought it and then sold all the $25m to various Nigerian clients at N380.50 to $1.

From the above quote Stanbic IBTC made a profit of N12.5M on $25M??. It would be interesting to note the various individuals and organisations that bought the $25M at N380.5/$1. With the current unabated rate of round-tripping, the $25M would translate to at least N500M illegal profit (at a minimum spread of N20 per $) for all the individuals involved. The bank (Stanbic IBTC) records N12.5M profit (with the approved N0.50K spread) while all the individuals/officials involved will take their own share of the N500M (minimum) from the round tripping profit.

For Zenith bank, the $60M will also translate to the above scenario. Do the maths.

Like I stated before, the CBN is the new NNPC. Round-tripping the new subsidy scam. Same players different games.

The way forward is to abolish multiple exchange policies.

GTBank have suspended international card usage from 14/10/2016 according to http://abokifx.com/ as at the last time I checked the site. However verify from their (GTbank) website and other media channels. The suspension is directly linked to CBN inconsistent policies. While they give plausible reasons for all these policy flip-flops, the CBN, banks, bureau de change operators, IMTOs, etc are all making a kill from these financial chaos. The more fx chaos the more profit is made from fx transactions. Before it was oil subsidy fraud now its fx fraud (round-tripping) going on unabated.

However I don't think the mastercard dollar denominated cards are affected since the users fund these dollar denominated cards directly with their own fx sources. Kindly request for this dollar denominated card next time to save yourself from the current fx quagmire.

The CBN cannot feign ignorance about their complicity in the on-going super round-tripping by creating multiple exchange rates and numerous fronts as BDC operators. The fact is that this suspension (if true) will be lifted again as soon as they make another kill by the inadvertent depreciation of the naira by this suspension. They are playing high frequency forex trading with all their deliberate policy flip-flops. It's all in the best interest of a few. The "CBN is now the new NNPC".

When the Judiciary and the Legislature becomes target practice for the Executive, then we can easily come to the conclusion that we are already in a dictatorship were due process, the rule of law and separation of power is systematically eroded.

The putsch by the executive against the Judiciary and Legislature is a clear and present danger. The next step is the press and individual freedoms. All the executive needs to do now is to use blackmail (with the accusations) against the Judiciary and Legislature to have its way without proper checks and balance. The DSS/SSS is now Nigeria's Gestapo of the infamous Nazi regime.

Using corruption as a false flag and smokescreen to establish a one-man rule in a large and diverse country such as Nigeria can never be successful. Dictators have a common trend and end.

God bless Nigeria

My concern is the lack of due process, the circumvention of the rule of law and separation of power.

One of the resolutions canvassed by Mr. Lidani was that the Senate should invite Mr. Daura to explain why his agency carried out the action the way it did without deference to the constitutional responsibility of the National Judicial Council.

The "accused" Judges are not guilty until a competent court finds them guilty irrespective of the numerous charges against them. The illegal raid on their residence is tantamount to "jungle justice". The raids are the hallmarks of dictatorship and executive recklessness.

The Judiciary cannot be bamboozled to carry-out the whims, caprices and fancies of the executive arm of government.

Now the Judiciary through the NJC and NBA should ensure that they do a proper house-cleaning to rid themselves of corrupt Judges and lawyers who bring disrepute to the bar and bench. They must do this without interference from the executive or legislature.

Nigeria needs strong institutions and not strong men because strong institutions outlive strong men.

I guess an upward revaluation of their fixed assets is required. It will give a fair market / current market price of their fixed assets which will lead to capital gains (though an analysis should be carried out on the effects of capital gains tax on upward revaluation).

They may not have declared a loss if an upward revaluation of their fixed assets was carried out, since they still had an operating profit of N4.4Billion.

PS: I have tried to download their audited financial statements to buttress my points but to no avail.

ericeben:
I wish I was in Lagos I wld hv needed him to help enhance my project to international standard..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHhALGz3Ro0

You need not wish to be in Lagos. Visit https://andela.com/ if you feel you have got innovative tech skills. He paid a visit to the Lagos office of the company he partly funds, Andela (Google also funds this company).

Andela recruits from the top 1% of untapped tech talent from the world. You may just be one of those top 1% they are seeking to match with top tech firms such as Microsoft, IBM, 6sense, Payoff, etc.

Let me inspire you a bit. If you get recruited by them, you will be flown to the HQ of the firm they match you with for two weeks to connect with the culture of the company. So hit the ground running......................and see yourself flying to silicon valley.

The banks must also heed this advise by Mr Otti:

All told, I must also remind banks that it is unacceptable in banking to engage in mismatch of any form, be it tenor or currency. Lending short term funds for long term projects is a ‘no no’. So is lending foreign currency for projects that can only generate local currency.

Good to know that Mr Otti (former Diamond bank MD) shares the same opinion I have concerning the TSA. The TSA can still be implemented with the banks as custodians of the funds.

My opinion on this issue earlier on a similiar thread: https://www.nairaland.com/3309485/nnpcs-dollars-fully-disclosed-cbn/1#48798221

If we really think out of the box, the TSA can still be implemented by making the banks the custodians of the funds. Mopping up over two (2) trillion naira from the economy was ill-timed without a counter balance policy by the CBN.

When the TSA policy was being fully implemented I was expecting the CBN to infuse at least two trillion naira into the banking system by its monetary policy framework because of the sudden withdrawal of government funds (over two trillion naira) from the banks/economy but surprised they (CBN) never did but were interested in creating multiple exchange rate system (N197/$1 for some few beneficiaries, floating rates for others, black/parallel rates for the majority).

My suggestion for the way forward:
1. Let the banks be the custodians of TSA funds. This will improve liquidity in the economy.
2. Abolish the multiple exchange rate system. This will reduce round-tripping.

If we really think out of the box, the TSA can still be implemented by making the banks the custodians of the funds. Mopping up over two (2) trillion naira from the economy was ill-timed without a counter balance policy by the CBN.

When the TSA policy was being fully implemented I was expecting the CBN to infuse at least two trillion naira into the banking system by its monetary policy framework because of the sudden withdrawal of government funds (over two trillion naira) from the banks/economy but surprised they (CBN) never did but were interested in creating multiple exchange rate system (N197/$1 for some few beneficiaries, floating rates for others, black/parallel rates for the majority).

My suggestion for the way forward:
1. Let the banks be the custodians of TSA funds. This will improve liquidity in the economy.
2. Abolish the multiple exchange rate system. This will reduce round-tripping.

The naira will continue to lose value if our balance of payment remains negative. However, a turnaround will occur if:

1. There is a consistent increase in crude oil prices.

2. We achieve our OPEC quota by stopping crude oil theft and vandalisation of pipelines, hence the need to dialogue with the militants in the Niger Delta.

3. Stop the importation of diesel and petrol which are the major forex outflows. The government needs to fix the refineries and/or wait for Dangote to complete his mega refinery in Lagos by 2018.

4. Stop the importation of other goods/products that can be produced in Nigeria. An example is rice.

5. Stop forex round-tripping, especially by banks.

6. Improve power supply to boost our manufacturing capacity.

7. Start the exploitation of other mineral resources for additional forex inflows.

Without these and other sound fiscal policies then the monetary policies will continue to hit a brick wall.

Nonetheless it is better for the naira to be floating than to be artificially fixed since it is antithetical to capitalism. We currently live in a world were capitalism rules.

In summary, the MPC voted to:
(i)Retain the MPR at 12.00 per cent;
(ii) Retain the CRR at 22.50 per cent;
(iii) Retain the Liquidity Ratio at 30.00 per cent; and
(iv) Retain the Asymmetric Window at +200 and -500 basis points
around the MPR
13
(v) Introduce greater flexibility in the inter-bank foreign exchange
market structure and to retain a small window for critical
transactions.

Thank you for listening.

Godwin I. Emefiele
Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria
24th May 2016

Source: https://www.cbn.gov.ng/

The CBN should let us know the items that are still considered as critical transactions. Transparency is required. Who and which organisations/transactions are the beneficiaries of these (N199/$) so called critical transactions.

However, a look on the apex bank official website, www.cbn.gov.ng has shown the naira is still pegged at N197.

Which rate will the FG use to implement the budget and share its Fx revenue to all the three tiers of government? N197, N285, N?.

The various States and local governments must ensure that the allocation given to them is based on N285 or the average floating rate. Anything short of this means that they are being short-changed by the FG.

If the FGN still insists on maintaining the official Fx rate at N197/N199 to the dollar then I suggest they create ''An Excess FX Account" accruable to the Consolidated Revenue Account.

However creating ''multiple official Fx rates" is never the solution.

The Ponzi Scheme.

The scheme is named after Charles Ponzi,[3] who became notorious for using the technique in 1920.[4] The idea, present in novels (for example, Charles Dickens' 1844 novel Martin Chuzzlewit and 1857 novel Little Dorrit each described such a scheme),[5] was actually performed in real life by Ponzi who with his operation took in so much money that it was the first to become known throughout the United States. Ponzi's original scheme was based on the arbitrage of international reply coupons for postage stamps; however, he soon diverted investors' money to make payments to earlier investors and himself.[2]

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme

The Ponzi Scheme.

Ponzi schemes occasionally begin as legitimate businesses, until the business fails to achieve the returns expected. The business becomes a Ponzi scheme if it then continues under fraudulent terms. Whatever the initial situation, the perpetuation of the high returns requires an ever-increasing flow of money from new investors to sustain the scheme.[2]

These fraudulent schemes keep evolving in several ways.

The Ponzi Scheme.

A Ponzi scheme (also a Ponzi game or a Ponzi)[1] is a fraudulent investment operation where the operator, an individual or organization, pays returns to its investors from new capital paid to the operators by new investors, rather than from profit earned through legitimate sources. Operators of Ponzi schemes usually entice new investors by offering higher returns than other investments, in the form of short-term returns that are either abnormally high or unusually consistent.

PS: Double Post. Modified the earlier post. However they both suffice.

The refusal to devalue since last year (especially before the 2016 budget proposals) has done more harm than good. The 2016 budget is predicated on an exchange rate of N199/1USD. Hence, oil and gas receipts (our major source of forex) will be converted at this rate and shared amongst the three tiers of government. This is government clearly shooting itself on its foot.

However this new forex policy will create an excess/illegal profit for the federal government except it is officially acknowledged and/or there is a review of the official rate from the present N199/1USD. The state and local governments will get the short end of the stick as the FG have created a back channel window (funds) for itself.

This reminds me when Abacha fixed official dollar rates to N22/1USD. The banks, bureau de change operators and others who accessed the official rates then really profited massively through round-tripping. Abacha while prosecuting and persecuting some banks and bankers under the failed banks tribunal was also busy looting the CBN through his cronies, one of which is a governor today. The rest they say is history.

My advise to the FG is to devaluate without any further delay instead of creating multiple "official rates".

The refusal to devalue since last year (especially before the 2016 budget proposals) has done more harm than good. The 2016 budget is predicated on an exchange rate of N199/1USD. Hence, oil and gas receipts (our major source of forex) will be converted at this rate and shared amongst the three tiers of government. This is government clearly shooting itself on its foot.

However this new forex policy will create an excess/illegal profit for the federal government except it is officially acknowledged and/or there is a review of the official rate from the present N199/1USD. The state and local governments will get the short end of the stick as the FG have created a back channel window (funds) for itself.

This reminds me when Abacha fixed official dollar rates to N22/1USD. The banks, bureau de change operators and others who accessed the official rates then really profited massively. Abacha while prosecuting some banks and bankers under the failed banks tribunal was also busy looting the CBN. The rest they say is history.

My advise to the FG is to devaluate without any further delay instead of creating multiple "official rates".

Onegai:
Peterwins in every other climate, getting investors into your business won't be a tough thing. But this is Nigeria, where there is little legal recourse. Nor everyome can run into business themselves. People have a right to be sceptical. I'm currently speaking to someone whom her job is to invest on behalf of her clients (she's handled large portfolios and her last big investment was in Mining and Solid Minerals) and I've been looking for some agro businesses to invest it and help expand the business by linking them to my contacts. Nothing has come up clean. I guess I'll keep looking.

Good, keep looking. I understand the restraint of trade. It's important for people to understand certain business dynamics. What if he (Ymodulus) suffered a serious loss as a result of a sudden tomatoes glut in the market or an accident. The story will change, people will call him a fraudster.

Most people want a safe investment. However, the greater the profit potential the greater the risk. This should not be a get-rich quick scheme (agric business is not one), hence my advise to the Op to restrain himself from collecting money from anyone.

PS: Potential fraudsters are also viewing this thread to take advantage of gullible people.