₦airaland Forum

Fall In Value Of Naira: Ben Bruce Blasts Nigerians

We're to Be Blamed, Not Buhari
Senator Ben Murray-Bruce is bruised and this time he wants you guys to see how far he has
gone to GrowTheNaira. He thinks we are fooling ourselves by
blaming the government for our woes.

See His CommonSense rants below:

Many Nigerians are complaining about the constant fall in the value of the Naira and they blame
the Government.

But is the government really to blame? In truth, our insatiable appetite for all things foreign is to
blame.

I always fly Arik Business Class whenever I am traveling abroad except Arik does not fly on that
route.
Not only is an Arik ticket a fraction of the cost of a British Airways ticket, but the money I pay to
Arik circulates in Nigeria and helps firm up the Naira’s value.

As I speak to you today, a British Airways Business to London is ₦2,103,666 while Arik Business
is ₦551,545 yet our elite still fly BA But though Arik offers an affordable alternative to British Airways and other foreign airlines,
our big men prefer to pay double what Arik charges to BA and other foreign airlines for the same
services and yet they complain about the value of the Naira.

I have Nasco cornflakes and I have eaten Kellogs cornflakes. In terms of nutrition and taste they are
almost indistinguishable. Yet our elite who will rather eat Kellogs than Nasco cornflakes, wonder
why the Naira is falling!

Even something like Quaker Oats can be substituted with corn meal known locally as pap.

Obasanjo Farms of Nigeria and other large scale poultry farms have the capacity to provide
chicken for the entire nation. Since that is the case, why are we even buying imported chicken?

In fact what is wrong if every family in Nigeria has a poultry in their backyard to give them eggs and meat?
My steward went to Makoko, which is one of the largest fishing communities in Lagos. He wanted to buy fish and they were selling imported frozen fish!
Yet in the very waters in front of them, there exist fresh fish that is more nutritious than the cheap
frozen fish they were selling.

We keep spending over 1 Billion Naira importing rice when our own farmers are capable of
meeting our national demand for rice. But for some reason,

Nigerians just prefer to buy imported rice. The imported rice we buy in Nigeria is not as good
as our local rice because it has been stored for years in silos and treated with chemicals.

Moreover, every time you buy it, your money is going out of Nigeria to service an economy
in Asia. The end result is that their currency gains value while ours loses value.

Have you ever wondered why European Premiership Clubs are so interested in Nigeria? It is because
Nigerians spend billions traveling to Europe to watch their games, buy their merchandise and
promote their leagues.
Yet, back at home, we would not be caught dead watching our own local league.

If we will not spend money on made in Nigeria goods and services, how can we expect our
Naira to hold its value and appreciate?

Obviously we can not cut ourselves off from the world. No nation is an island, but at least we
can fly Nigerian airlines, eat locally produced food and patronize our football league.

If we do this, not only will our economy grow and produce jobs for Nigerians, it will also make
our goods and services improve in value such that they will be attractive enough to be imported.
I bought Innoson vehicles as official cars for my staff. I have never lived to regret it one day.
They are comfortable and durable. But most of all, I know that my purchase helps to keep jobs
in Nigeria and improve the value of the Naira.

I urge you to do the same. We have no other country but Nigeria and it is you and I that will make it what it is. If we buy Naija We Will Grow Naira.

My name is Ben Murray-Bruce
and I just want to make Commonsense!

For the first time he's making common sense

yeah. I am going kunu and wara too

3 gboza for Ben
I couldn't agree less
Common sense

Common sense senator, making real sense!

Correct

This man is indeed a COMMON SENSE ADVOCATE.

This is the solution to Nigeria's problem in its entirety.

APC yet to fulfill their Promises, at least in this regards.

In this time, this is one of the few politicians with common sense. He has shown that he cares about Nigeria's present situation, and is constantly proposing reasonable methods to improve it.
Is this not the kind of person that should be ruling Nigeria?

The first time he's spoken as a patriotic Senator of the federal republic of Nigeria.

How about those cars for the senate?

The PAF?

The villas' budget?

Re: Senator Bruce: As much as I admire his 'new-found' vigor and enthusiasm about the whole 'buyNaija' awareness, it's just a fraction in the scheme of things!

While importing palm oil from the same Malaysia we introduced palm oil plants to, importing eggs from South Africa we fought and paid to liberate, importing rice from a politically unstable Thailand, or toothpicks from hell are all 'weirdos', they account for far less than what
importation of refined petroleum products cost us; then we have the importation of aircrafts and parts and servicing which costs us hundreds of millions of dollars annually -- but Bruce believes it's about our average $20-$50 shoes or bags, $100 phones, or what-not (roughly 10-20 percent of our forex demand), or about our cheap $5,000 cars which by the way generates income for customs when they 'land', while gov't and it's officials are actually the ones bringing the forex gulping machines (probably without paying custom duties).

NBS just released a report indicating between January 2010 - September 2015, we spent over N20 trillion (roughly $130 BILLION . . . 2014 dollar) on just importation of PMS, AGO, and DPK alone!

Same refined products we mine from our backyards, same refined products we were net exporters of (raking in millions of dollars from), 25 years ago! If this is not madness, what is?

#stopblamingthemassesforthefailuresofgovernment

https://www.nairaland.com/2949997/dollar-vs-naira-done

This is not common sense but real, undiluted and economic sense

It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority. - Lord Acton

JusticeSeeker:
The first time he's spoken as a patriotic Senator of the federal republic of Nigeria.

Hypocrite full Nigeria. Lord Help us.
Just because he speak without bashin Buhari , he now make CommonSense but the time he bash Buhari/APC he will be a bad person.

Purge yourself of hate Bro.

JusticeSeeker:
CC: Sowl and eduSwisz

These are the reason why Wailers call you guys Zombies... You agree when it favours but call him names when it doesn't favour you

so?

I will still blame the Government.Nigerians can't stop the consumption of foreign goods if the importation is not stopped..................So stop the importation,let's deal with d locals

Fault*

Our farmers are not capable of feeding the nation with their local rice.
Rice produce in Nigeria cannot feed 1/3 of Nigeria population.

Why is nobody thinking about our population?
Even if $=N,our problems still remains.
Our uncontrollable population growth is a MAJOR concern.
A policy of maximum of 3 child per couple will save our future.

lwisee:
Fault*
Our farmers are not capable of feeding the nation with their local rice. Rice produce in Nigeria cannot feed 1/3 of Nigeria population.
Why is nobody thinking about our population? Even if $=N,our problems still remains. Our uncontrollable population growth is a MAJOR concern. A policy of maximum of 3 child per couple will save our future.

Birth controls comes in handy, increase local rice production.

Real Deal......

You have my support,