₦airaland Forum

By NarrowGate (imasuen@narrowgateit.net)

It is fast becoming a matter of regret that we massively voted in the last general election to usher in ‘an expected period of relief’ in the never ending suffering of the masses in Nigeria. It is now evident more than ever that a great mistake has been made, judging from the current direction of affairs relating to the well-being of the Nigerian people. We have basked in the euphoria that a ‘Daniel is come’, only to be constantly shown the path that spells doomsday for the enterprising and hardworking Nigerians.

With new leadership comes the expectation of policy direction by investors, so as to map out new strategies to grow businesses that will benefit all, via the trickling down effects. We were unjustly robbed of this through the elected arrow head’s hiding of the mandate in his underpants, all in the name of searching for the right people for ministerial positions. When the list was made known, after a prolonged and unwarranted delay, the nation was thrown into confusion as those who made the list after such a ‘great’ search were not different from the street corner rogues we have grown accustomed to.

The Nigerian leadership has never had the interest of Nigerians at heart. In a country where there is so much hype about empowerment, the government has always shied away from the actual empowerment of the people through ease in the issuing of C of O to land owners in order to help them as collateral in their drive to access funds for investment purposes. Within the tenet of entrepreneurial capitalism, this is the first step toward empowerment. Instead, our leadership is busy getting itself buried in the corrupt opening of empowerment centres to validate its vanity ridden philosophy of showiness. The other opportunity for real empowerment that the government has constantly toyed with is the time it takes to get a business registered. CAC, entrusted with this task is in no way ready to free itself from ineptitude. Those employed there are clueless of the fact that, that agency plays a crucial role in the government’s revenue drive. If there’s no reasonable increase in the number of businesses, how will there be growth in government revenue via taxes? They are oblivious to the fact that they are an important player in the government revenue generation effort. What do they care? Thirty days make one salary anyway! What can be so frustrating is the ignorance of those who establish CAC as per its revenue generation capacity.

For crying out loud, what is the CBN governor up to? Devaluing the Naira when Nigeria wasn’t experiencing balance of payments problems? Economics 101 will tell any lunatic that this wasn’t the correct thing to do, when Nigeria is not pursuing an export-led industrialization strategy. Which export product is the CBN promoting its sale abroad by way of reduced prices via devaluation to have occasioned such irresponsible policy? What a pity! Not everyone who wears a school uniform is a good student. One will hardly expect something different from a Nigerian banker. It is a known fact that Nigerian banks are not banks in the sense of the word. They are ‘collection centres’. Who would bother to go to banks, if not for fear of armed robbers coming to cart away one’s hard earned money from our respective houses? One who rose through the rank in a Nigerian banking outfit lacked the monetary policy ideas that can rescue a bastardized economy like ours with all its complexities. These guys don’t see beyond their nose. They are perpetual bootlickers, licking the rulers of the day in spite of the autonomy enjoyed by the CBN; there are a few exceptions, though. One is lost as to why the CBN governor is now running after Naira credit / debit card holders for solutions to the nation’s foreign exchange squeeze. Does he or his team or employer know that the best way out of falling foreign exchange earnings is to increase export? Promote non-oil export and ensure earnings return to the country. An attempt to stop the use debit cards in making online purchases abroad will not provide the intended solution. The only thing you will ‘succeed’ in doing is to ruin e-commerce in Nigeria since web developers will not be able to register domains or pay for hosting plans. The future of the internet is also threatened as resellers will not be able to make payments. Mr. CBN governor, you and your masters are clueless when it comes to basic economic principles to rid the nation of poverty. You and your masters have set Nigeria on a path to economic doom. How can Nigeria improve its international competitiveness if you shut her out of the world of information technology! We are not living in some stone age! Little is there to wonder when our petroleum minister, hoping to get rid of petrol black marketers decided to forbid the purchase of petrol in containers/kegs. Little did he know or even thought of people in frozen food business who would lose income because of lack of electricity to power their freezers. If we don’t buy petrol in containers/kegs, how can we fuel our generators to power our homes? When you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can hardly be called a leader at all. Instead of creating employment, you have chosen to mount the horse dragging Nigeria to mass unemployment and darkness.

Mr. CBN governor, retrace your steps backward and go back to the drawing board in terms of the management of foreign exchange regimes. If you know the right thing to do, advise your employers accordingly. If they refuse, do the honourable thing and resign your appointment. How has your stoppage of the funding of our domiciliary accounts helped in increasing the value of the Naira? No benefit recorded so far. You only succeeded in sending the wrong signal to the economic system, thereby putting more pressure on the Naira, further weakening an already over-weakened currency. You had wanted to reduce the pressure on the Naira in the parallel market, but ended up with disastrous consequences. Speculation plays an important role in the determination of the value of a particular currency in the foreign exchange market. The undue reliance on oil earnings for foreign exchange is the source of your woes; then set the nation free from being a mono-product based economy using our vast natural resources through a genuine programme of diversification, not the one that draws applause in front of television cameras and end up there. This has never been possible in Nigeria because people who get elected here or impose themselves do not have what it takes to outline and execute meaningful development plans (medium term and long term). The sale of oil in its crude form is much easier for them to do. A clear testimony to this is reflected in the almost non-existent capacity to refine oil for local consumption. We have been plagued by this malaise since the first shipment of crude oil from Oloibiri in 1958. Suffocating local businesses to death, with all the attendant consequences of unemployment, civil strife and others will not bring about the embrace of the mantra –change- that shot the current leadership to power. Sitting on a keg of gun powder is not a game to be played at this time when the nation is seething in a pressure pot. Mr. CBN governor, we are in a democracy. Let your employers and Nigerians know what is the right thing to do, -like Sanusi-, instead of licking boots in order to keep your job at the expense of professionalism. Developing other sources of foreign exchange, through a meaningful and consistent policy devoid of politics will lead us to the promised land. The cluelessness of the leadership is the goliath standing in the way of development in our country - the unfortunate leadership that can’t differentiate between economic growth and economic development -.

Mr. CBN governor, how do you intend to court inflow of foreign exchange to Nigeria? For economic survival, it is inflow that we need, not the banning of outflow! That is a dumb approach. Inflow will help to foster the much needed development while the ban in outflow will cripple development efforts in the face of the absence of essential inputs, technology and others. Do you want to turn Nigeria into the federal republic of Caveland? Expect the incidence of a stiff resistance. To curb the undue outflow of foreign exchange in importing refined petroleum products, why haven’t you and your employers gone after oil multinational companies asking them to establish mega refineries in Nigeria? Securing such agreement is as easy as ABC! No will to do it? Ah, the ocean of corruption in that terrain will dry up! No wonder. People have been clamoring for the CBN to allow us receive money through our PAYPAL accounts, but to no avail. What is your explanation to this? We can send, but we can’t receive.

Leave our cards alone. Darkness is not our portion.

This deserves FP.

Chubhie:
This deserves FP.

Thank you for your concern about the problem of the country.

How do we get the clueless leadership to do what is right and put an end to this continual struggle in poverty and deprivation?

#SaveNigeria #LeaveOurCardsAlone

In other news, N3.1 trillion naira was stolen under Jonathan administration. Yes Apc may not be getting it right yes I agree - but anybody that is still praying for Pdp to return to power should be taken to the market and be stoned

Jokay07:
In other news, N3.1 trillion naira was stolen under Jonathan administration. Yes Apc may not be getting it right yes I agree - but anybody that is still praying for Pdp to return to power should be taken to the market and be stoned

No political party is mentioned here. The issue is moving Nigeria forward.