First off, the "See What Is Happening To Nigeria's Economy Under Buhari" thread--https://www.nairaland.com/2590889/see-what-happening-nigerias-economy --by Oshejoseph, and the "Re: See What Is Happening To Nigeria’s Economy Under Buhari" thread--https://www.nairaland.com/2592360/re-see-what-happening-nigerias --by Passingshot; are obviously politically motivated. While both threads hold valid points, they are mired in political ideology that are borrowed from the pre-election days of smear campaigns.

We are nearing 4 months after the swearing-in of PMB, and the campaign days are clearly over, so what the people want to know is this: Is the Nigerian economy better off under Buhari than it was GEJ?

To be fair, it may be too early to dismiss Buhari as a failure in steering the economy right, I mean the man hasn't got an economic team yet. Nevertheless, with a population of 180m+ (we actually have more population than in the entire Eastern Africa bloc), a $500b economy, and the hope of an all-black nation climbing into the league of top-grade economies; any excuse is no excuse.

Anyways, the purpose of this thread is to stir the public in the right course. THE FACT IS THE ECONOMY IS NOT DOING WELL AT THE MOMENT. NOT THAT IT WAS DOING WELL IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS OF GEJ'S ADMINISTRATION, BUT WE AT LEAST HAD SOLACE IN THE REALITY THAT THE GEJ ECONOMIC TEAM HAD A PLAN, AND UNARGUABLY GEJ'S ECONOMIC TEAM WAS THE BEST ECONOMIC TEAM NIGERIA HAD EVER PRODUCED IN ITS 55-YEARS POST-INDEPENDENCE EXISTENCE.

Without much ado, let's tackle the major indicators brought up with facts, rather than political hullabaloo.

1. The Nigerian economy operates a budget which is heavily skewed in favour of recurrent expenditure (about 90%) against capital expenses (about 10%) as represented by 2015 budget here http://www.punchng.com/news/jonathan-signs-n4-425tn-2015-budget/

Implication of this is that there will be no real development in the core areas that sustain and improve economic development.

Nigeria's major problem is not the ratio of recurrent expenditure to capital expenditure. The problem is management of available capital. Capital and recurrent expenditure are pumped into the economy to support jobs and development. While capital expenses reflect more in driving jobs, there are still a lot of jobs dependent on recurrent expenditure. You cannot strengthen the weak, by weakening the strong.

We are all also aware of the fact that the maintenance culture in Nigeria is appalling. Rather than blab about how much should enter capital expenditures that most likely would age out of neglect, why not we leave the issue completely, so we can discuss prudent financial management and ensuring timely maintenance of already existing structures. For example, when last was the Third Mainland bridge temporarily shut down for maintenance? Answer goes here _________.

2. Nigerian economy is largely dependent on crude export. Even the crude price has fallen below the benchmark price ($53 per barrel) on which the 2015 budget was based. Crude now sells at around $47 per barrel.

And so? The fall in oil price is not just affecting oil-based economies like ours, it is also affecting other economies. But then there are economies like those of Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia that heavily depend on oil but are not in free-fall like ours. How about we put off the crude price is falling crap and see how we can meander ourselves out of this shi*hole we've found ourselves. That's exactly what every right thinking government is doing rather than finger-pointing past governments and carrying on with ego-massaging.

When the US's economy hit rock bottom in 2008, and Obama inherited the mess, he got on ground and starting working. Today, the US is better off, unemployment rate is at lowest levels since 2008.

3. As at April 2015, the Federal Government of Nigeria had borrowed $4.4bn to pay salaries of its workers for March and April 2015. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3070070/Nigeria-borrows-pay-salaries-cash-crunch-worsening.html

That's what we call following an economic plan. Note that the country's reserve was at about $30b. Now by following your logic, we easily could have removed the $4.4b from our reserve rather than borrow to make the payment. But governments and businesses are not run that way. You can not fault the decision of ardent macro-economists because you happen to know how to use a calculator.

Now let us see, Buhari sent out several billions of naira from the Sovereign Wealth Fund to bailout states that hadn't paid pending salaries. Does he even know what that money was meant for? Does he have a plan on where to get the next bailout fund from, assuming things stay the same way or worse? You see, you are not exactly an economist because you can recite Adam Smith's definition of Economics, or happen to sit for Economics in your SSCE.

Under GEJ, when the FG made the move to borrow, they heard from a fully functioning Ministry of Finance with a celebrated head, a fully functioning Ministry of Trade and Commerce with an equally bright head, the CBN governor, special advisers and all the top-minds that made up his economic team. And we can be pretty sure, they made a good decision judging by what was before them. Let me ask, who did Buhari (note not the FG because Nigeria does not have an FG now, we only have a President and a bunch of agency stalwarts) consult before going ahead with each of his economic decisions to date?

4. GEJ met the reserve at $47.7bn in 2010 but still managed to reduce it to $29.6bn despite that crude sold for an average of $100 per barrel (peaked at about $140/barrel). The country’s FR plays a huge role in giving confidence to foreign investors in Nigeria’s economy. The higher the value the higher the confidence in the economy and vice versa.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-3070070/Nigeria-borrows-pay-salaries-cash-crunch-worsening.html

Aren't we all comfortable with quoting numbers when it suits our selfish objectives. Was the drop necessary, maybe not. However, let us be fair here: How efficiently can you boost reserves when you're fighting a war incited to cripple your government? When you can only boost of a 4000MW maximum power production limit, when the second-largest economy in Africa (which Nigeria dethroned) produces 12 times more to serve a population that is less than one-third the population of Nigeria? When your manufacturing industry is a joke? When the Agricultural sector is nothing to write home about? When we spend more money to import fuel than it would take to feed the 5 most poorest nations? Should I stop here, or should I continue?

I should stop here, but I wouldn't. The Nigerian people have taking more than a beating since 1960, we don't want more propaganda and plenty talk, we want specifics. How does the reduction in crude oil prices correlate to farmers not receiving fertilizers which they had been receiving just barely five months ago without hitch. Or need someone remind we all that agriculture employs several millions of Nigerians who otherwise would be under the poverty line.

JP Morgan de-listed Nigeria

Good or Bad? Bad! There's no way we getting off that list is good for the economy. True, the review started under the last administration, but the decision was not made then. In fact, the decision was made before the agreed date. Can anyone read the signs, or am I the only logically-thinking Nigerian in the universe?

JP Morgan stalled at first because there was an economic team that could make an argument for our position and provide a measure of assurance that things would be handled in due course. And then they made their decision hastily, because of the exact opposite. You do not keep over $8b of someone else's money on hold who isn't even a patriotic citizen for 3 months, because you are trying "to build a firm foundation." Like an analyst said, Investors do not read body language.

Now lets see, it is not like the duo (central bank and the presidency) is taking a different stance from that of the previous administration. Let's commend their stance as well, but let's not say they couldn't have handled the situation better. It's good to be patriotic, but do not burn existing bridges trying to make a bush path.

60,000 Nigerian loose Jobs in the construction sub sector - NLC

http://www.channelstv.com/2015/09/08/nlc-says-60000-nigerian-workers-lost-jobs/

60,000 people lose their jobs, and all you can think about is capital expenditure? Haven't the capital expenditure always been a tiny percentage of the budget? Is 2015 the first year, release of budget has run late? But do we see 60k+ construction jobs lost at each of these times? Let us be realistic for a second. Or are you saying that if all 10% of N4t had been released before the exit of the last government, all 60k people would still be in their jobs.

These are 60k people for crying out loud. We all know construction jobs have decent pay, so the ripple effect is not one to be soothed by blind political hogwash like you are dishing out without a modicum of restrain.

Zenith Bank Sacks 1200 workers in a single day

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/business/4819-zenith_bank_sacks_over_1_200_employees.html

To this you reply, "Job losses are a constant part of any economy and if it’s not as a result of a government’s policy or not on an industry-wide scale, you cannot put the blame on the government." Who else should we lay the blame on, my village elders? How is the Zenith bank job loss not representative of an industry-wide layoff, don't you read the news? The Banking sector is on a thread currently, and you do not send reassurances by running a one-man show with no clear economic policy. So you are waiting for another bank to lay off another 1k workers before it gets to you that there's a problem worth solving? Are you for real? In fact, let me ask do you know anyone in the banking industry whose job is at risk?

Now to cap the whole job loss thing, let's keep it simple. These people getting kicked out of their jobs are not sports betting agents, they are professionals who make a living keeping our country together. They thrive in two core sectors, construction and banking. And let's take a recap, we haven't heard of any large score of new job opportunities, but we are hearing of a large number of job losses. Genius right there!

Naira in free Fall - Business Day

http://businessdayonline.com/2015/09/naira-weakens-on-black-market-as-dollar-demand-grows-2/

Holding the naira hostage does not stop the free fall of naira in the black market. I have a heart, unlike you, there's little, if anything, that can be done to halt the fall. But I'm not going to write off your cheap jab on GEJ's administration -- "At some point during GEJ’s era, the naira exchanged at above N235 to a dollar. That it trades at N220 currently represents an overall gain from N235/N240." So what, Buhari made the gain. Listen to yourself. I'm sure if he did make the gain, then he could hastily ensure that $1 = N1.

Aside pissing off JP Morgan, China, other Foreign investors, thus reducing the FDI flowing in (which is essentially backtracking on 6-year achievements of GEJ's administration in 100 days); what else has Buhari done to ensure that the Naira make gains or at least hold steady without sliding to oblivion? Answer or forever remain silent.

And then you type this, "The CBN is on a mission to make it difficult if not impossible, for stolen dollars from our reserves to be easily exchanged or transferred abroad." I am continually amazed by your ignorance. The dollars you are referring to are not stolen dollars moving from politicians to Swiss bank accounts. If anything, they are ensuring that we are not overrun by dollars which would weaken the naira. Get your facts straight, or stay mute. CBN is not on some corruptocalypse-run like PMB, they have their hands full already.

Nigerian Economy slumps - NBS

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/08/nigerian-economy-slows-in-q2/

Of all the statements to rebuff the original poster's comments, I am particularly astounded by this one, "Again, the [s][fact/s] is that the economy would have collapsed completely had GEJ managed to win the last election." Where did you pull that fact from? From CIA Factbook? Wikileaks? Your ar*e? I am guessing, it's the last one, because I see no way anyone can make such an obnoxious analysis.

Now to the issue of the economy entering a downward turn. There was no other way for the economy to turn? GEJ's team managed the situation and made concrete steps to ensure that things didn't fall out of hand. Now tell me, what has Buhari done to consolidate these actions rather than run this country on auto-pilot?

The state of the local and global economy has changed a tab bit since last three months when Buhari entered, why are we still using ageing policies rather than smart new policies that reflect the changes?

CHINA : Nigeria's biggest Trading partner and Investor, Snubs Nigeria over Buhari’s Behaviour

http://uncova.com/china-snubs-nigeria-over-buhari-as-it-holds-africa-investment-summit

Wow, and to this you said, "Must Nigeria do business with China or any other country for that matter?"

Truth be told, you made a lot of dumb statements in your comment, but this statement is by far the dumbest. America owes China more than $9t. UK owes China above $4t. Let this get into your thick skull, the Western economies are afloat on Chinese money.

Not doing business with China is recipe for getting cast back into the stone age. Do you know how much of Chinese products are in Nigeria? Do you know about the dollar estimate of our exports to China?

The world is a global economy. Doing business with China is worth more to Nigeria at the moment than doing business with the US. Neither is our true friend nor foe. Why not we make the best of our relationships with both than let ourselves be used to fight a proxy war.

Nigerian Investors loose 311 Billion in 24 hours - Daily Trust

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/business/stocks-lose-n311bn-bonds-suffer-after-jp-morgan-index-expulsion/110194.html

And then you typed this, "The loss is not Nigeria’s loss but investors. When investors have gained in the past, was the gain given or shared with the country?" A word of advice mate, before you hit the submit button next time, ensure that you've taken your meds. Because it is only a person on meds that can't see how the economy shrinking by N311b affects no just the investors but also Nigerians. Investors finance ambitious projects of the coys you want to land a job at. When they lose money, they lose confidence, and then they pump their money into another nation's economy. That you can't see this connection amazes me. Now, I can only hope that the words I typed out made sense to you.

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In summary, the Nigerian economy ain't doing good, nor is it doing better than the previous administration left it.

We can play politics with FG appointments and allocations, but we can't with the economy. All the kids going to school, they'll rely on the economy to make a decent living when they get out. The parents need a thriving economy to put the kids through school. Do you know how difficult it is to do business in Nigeria? The World Bank says we rank 170 on a list of 189. I think we should be ranked much lower. And it's not the fault of just one administration. It is the fault of 55 years of lackluster governance.

Buhari ruled once, how well did he improve the economy in his first run? Or should we give him a pass because he was a military administrator then and Jonathan wasn't? It would be great if PMB plug the leaks in the government and runs an efficient government, but you cannot say the state of the economy in Nigeria of 2015 as at the time of GEJ's departure was worse than the Nigeria of 2010 as at the time GEJ took charge. That gain should be celebrated and consolidated upon.

Buhari should use the handover notes given him (of course that's all he has been using since he entered power, but he has to do much more than follow instructions left by his predecessor) and with the help of economic think-tanks chart a desirable course for our economy. In 2008, in the heat of the financial crisis, Nigeria was able to stay afloat while other countries including SA had it rough. The fall of the price of oil is not the worse that can happen to Nigeria. The question is how can we weather the storm while it lasts, especially seeing that the pressures show no sign of abating soon. And how do we build a stronger economy going forward, in anticipation of the better days that will inevitably come. After all, after the storm, there's sunshine.

And finally, I'm sick of having change-chanters use the excuse of "did GEJ do any better," to avoid owning up to their failures. If GEJ didn't do better, does that give Buhari free reins to under-perform. I mean, why else was PMB presumably voted in, if not to succeed where GEJ failed? For the wailers, I got nothing. GEJ has done what he could, that's in the past now. What next Nigeria?

LordAdam

CC: Lalasticlala Seun Obinoscopy

You are neither neutral nor analytical. The time you spent penning your literature is abysmally wasted; it is even punitive reading everything you wrote.

I take it that you're an astute economist and i see your neutrality, you even alluded many of our economic struggles to be domino effects of wrong leadership decisions taken over time, decades even but honestly, no sai-chanter will see any neutrality in this concise and factual analysis, they'll only admit it if they can find a way to rope in the previous administration so they can come up with one of their cherished quotes "cleaning up the mess" a phantom mess which they don't care to elucidate upon so that economic/political simpletons like me will heave a sigh and say ooooookaaaaaay!! i now understand.


Numerical diarrhoea is now in vogue

Hope your armour won't buckle, the sai-chanting masturbators are coming for your jugular

But never stop being the lone voice crying (wailing) truth at them from the wilderness

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MODIFIED
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Speak of the devil and he appears OP, did you notice the poster above me?

Honestly, I am kinda rather pissed after reading the long epistle written by the OP. And the useless person even had the guts to write a "neutral" analysis as the part of the PDP hatchet job which he just wrote. I wouldn't have minded either way which side he picked. But the deliberate misleading title is what's making mad.

ODE!!!!

DanGombe1:
Honestly, I am kinda rather pissed after reading the long epistle written by the OP. And the useless person even had the guts to write a "neutral" analysis as the part of the PDP hatchet job which he just wrote. I wouldn't have minded either way which side he picked. But the deliberate misleading title is what's making mad.

ODE!!!!

someone makes an intelligent analysis and this is the rubbish you could come up with?..calling him pdp and insults? Clap for yourself..you try.

@op, nice write up. Like I always point out and people ignore: why isn't no one talking about the rising food cost?

Nigeria is a country with huge dependancy on oil. The previous admin predicted the fall of oil prices and worked to diversify the economy by turning focus to agriculture. This admins fixation on oil is disturbing

kITATITA:
You are neither neutral nor analytical. The time you spent penning your literature is abysmally wasted; it is even punitive reading everything you wrote.

Actually, it is punitive responding to your comment, because you clearly did not read my message.

DanGombe1:
Honestly, I am kinda rather pissed after reading the long epistle written by the OP. And the useless person even had the guts to write a "neutral" analysis as the part of the PDP hatchet job which he just wrote. I wouldn't have minded either way which side he picked. But the deliberate misleading title is what's making mad.

ODE!!!!

Misleading?! Because I didn't give Buhari a garland and a plaque right? Anyways, the piece was not directed at folks like you.

So save yourself the heartache and look for the next propaganda and ethnic-bashing thread to vent your anger and frustration. Let saner minds discuss how best to support the current administration in moving the economy to higher levels.

A big Kudos OP.

I was particularly miffed at his dismissal of China with a wave of hand . . . . . . The same China whose importance to global economy is arguably unrivalled. . . . .

LordAdam:
Truth be told, you made a lot of dumb statements in your comment, but this statement is by far the dumbest. America owes China more than $9t. UK owes China above $4t. Let this get into your thick skull, the Western economies are afloat on Chinese money.
Not doing business with China is recipe for getting cast back into the stone age. Do you know how much of Chinese products are in Nigeria? Do you know about the dollar estimate of our exports to China?
The world is a global economy. Doing business with China is worth more to Nigeria at the moment than doing business with the US. Neither is our true friend nor foe. Why not we make the best of our relationships with both than let ourselves be used to fight a proxy war.
LordAdam
CC: Lalasticlala Seun Obinoscopy

Oboi this is like going back to school. Nice one

Pedestrian analysis, meant for the gathering of bear palour and pomo pepper soup fans.

Hmmm...Naija matter...never ending.

...are obviously politically motivated. While both threads hold valid points, they are mired in political ideology that are borrowed from the pre-election days of smear campaigns.

This is the only NEUTRAL thing the OP said all through the article.

First and foremost, I was expecting the @LordAdam to objectively analyze the points raised by both @passingshot and @ochejoseph. But I observed that the OP analysed only one side of the argument and left the other. Secondly, how can the op find fault (no agreement) with ALL the points raised by passingshot, and then justifying the previous administration on EVERY of those points. I agree that some of the OP's points are valid, but that bro could not have been COMPLETELY wrong. Thirdly, the OP started his counter-argument decently, but latter his true self was revealed when he started addressing @passingshot as 'obnoxious', 'dumb', 'ignorant', etc. These are all clear indications of a BIASED and PREJUDICED person. Writing NEUTRAL in the topic could not disguise this fact for the discerning mind.

Truth be told, I am not in the mood, I would have taken you to cleaners on most of that gibberish you wrote. How can you say the bailout money was SWF? Are you not aware that it was from the NLNG payment. Have you looked at the stock market trend of most major economies in the last 6 months to see if the case of Nigeria is special? Tell me which oil dependent economy has not felt the brunt of low oil price. The only difference is that the impact is restricted due to either a diversified economy or huge foreign reserve. Do you blame PMB for our low FR and our undiversified economy? I could go on and on, but that would be a long economic epistle in itself.

For the records, Economists all over the world (even the very best) always disagree on how best to deal with the economy. Economics is not an exact science that you can claim authority over all the models and theories.

This is what is called setting the records Straight! Nigerians don enter one chance though they were warned. Let them enjoy the ride

Op nice write up.
Economic disaster is coming to Nigeria quicker.
God save us from Buhari's body Odour.

There is absolutely nothing neutral about the trash you wrote up there. First do you even understand what neutrality means? You only attacked one person(passingshot) and left your fellow pdp apologist, is that your own definition of neutrality? Anyways there is nothing different from this psychopathic jargons with the one written by ochejoseph, both of you are PDP bootlicking retards who will never see any wrong in the last administration.

This statement here even gave you away as the jonathanian that you are ;

Aren't we all comfortable with quoting numbers when it suits our selfish objectives. Was the drop necessary, maybe not. However, let us be fair
here: How efficiently can you boost reserves
when you're fighting a war incited to cripple your
government? When you can only boost of a
4000MW maximum power production limit, when
the second-largest economy in Africa (which
Nigeria dethroned) produces 12 times more to
serve a population that is less than one-third the
population of Nigeria? When your manufacturing
industry is a joke? When the Agricultural sector
is nothing to write home about? When we spend
more money to import fuel than it would take to
feed the 5 most poorest nations? Should I stop
here, or should I continue?
I should stop here, but I wouldn't. The Nigerian
people have taking more than a beating since
1960, we don't want more propaganda and plenty
talk, we want specifics. How does the reduction
in crude oil prices correlate to farmers not
receiving fertilizers which they had been
receiving just barely five months ago without
hitch. Or need someone remind we all that
agriculture employs several millions of Nigerians
who otherwise would be under the poverty line.

You were so quick to say this trash but you didn't see anything wrong with the gigantic corruption that was going on in that administration.

Nigeria was not the only country battling with terrorism during the last administration. Kenya, Israel, Egypt, USA, Russia, france, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, were one way or another battling with extremist ideologies and their reserves didn't depleted like ours. Who are you even fooling?

What power improved in the last administration when Nigerians rarely even see the electricity? Yes the country was generating about 3500megawatts in the last administration, tell me please, what has the corrupt gov't of gej did to increase our power generation in the last five years?

You don't want more propaganda indeed. So what do you have to say about all the lies the last administration fed us with?

You are just a deceitful wailer hiding under some stvpid neutrality banner. I shouldn't have even drop a comment on this stinking, smelly, disgusting and hate filled thread, but your deceitfulness was clearly dangerous that a sane mind shouldn't ignore.

You even made yourself sound more silly when you said Jonathan has the best economy team ever since Nigeria came into existence...... The "best economy team" that crippled the country abi? You are very silly and a numskull at the same time.

Kastonkastroll:
You even made yourself sound more silly when you said Jonathan has the best economy team ever since Nigeria came into existence...... The "best economy team" that crippled the country abi? You are very silly and a numskull at the same time.

Easy bro. I can feel the vexation from miles away. The @op should have done a better job in concealing his prejudice. People with half knowledge are sometimes more dangerous than people with no knowledge, because they suddenly think they know everything.

@LordAdam

What is most worrisome is the painful extent these sai-chanters are going to maintain their pride and avoid admitting they were wrong.
I applaude your self control in painstakingly responding to these delusional fellows - you have done what i find unbearable to do.

Talking about their excuse that pmb is running this country aground becos he has to first of all clean up the ambigous mess he inherited, i keep wondering what is new about inheriting a mess?? According to pmb himself, he seized power in 1984 even without getting a handover note because the country was in a mess and he couldnt accomplish anything. Today there is a mess but he even has handover note yet he is taking 6months to form a cabinet. Like you also pointed out everyone, including obama inherited a mess but they were smart enough to focus immediately on the economy to stabilize it but our man here has left the urgent and important matter to pursue his private vendatta.

As shocking as this may sound, corruption is not our biggest problem in this country now. Ido not support corruption at all but wisdom does dictate that you may have to turn a blind eye to corruption for sometime in order to secure a lifeline for the economy -think about it, if pmb manages to stop all forms of corruption today but oil price has fallen to $20 or less bc of Iran and we still do not have a viable agric sector or other income earner, how long can we survive? Not long. This is what Gej tried to do and he was villified as the most corrupt leader. Too bad

Bevista:
Easy bro. I can feel the vexation from miles away. The @op should have done a better job in concealing his prejudice. People with half knowledge are sometimes more dangerous than people with no knowledge, because they suddenly think they know everything.

lol.
The op is clearly a buhari hater and a dumb PDP goon. Ochejoseph's thread was even more analytical than this one, atleast there were some certain points he raised that I agreed with. This op's argument is just the same dumb and silly copy and paste the wailers have been pasting here.... I'm glad you also saw through his deceit.

But this lord Adam punished me sha because i had to read every single word in this his lengthy jargons.

Kastonkastroll:
lol.

The op is clearly a buhari hater and a dumb PDP goon.

Ochejoseph's thread was even more analytical than this one, atleast there were some certain points he raised that I agreed with. This op's argument is just the same dumb and silly copy and paste the wailers have been pasting here.... I'm glad you also saw through his deceit.

But this lord Adam punished me sha because i had to read every single word in this his lengthy jargons.

Oshejoseph made his analysis on credible figures, but was lopsided in his comments.

Bevista:
Easy bro. I can feel the vexation from miles away. The @op should have done a better job in concealing his prejudice. People with half knowledge are sometimes more dangerous than people with no knowledge, because they suddenly think they know everything.

You do not conceal prejudice by staying on one lane only. Actually, the saying is "Ignorance is bliss" not "Some knowledge is bliss". No one knows everything and I'm not claiming to know everything either.

Bevista:
This is the only NEUTRAL thing the OP said all through the article.

First and foremost, I was expecting the @LordAdam to objectively analyze the points raised by both @passingshot and @ochejoseph. But I observed that the OP analysed only one side of the argument and left the other. Secondly, how can the op find fault (no agreement) with ALL the points raised by passingshot, and then justifying the previous administration on EVERY of those points. I agree that some of the OP's points are valid, but that bro could not have been COMPLETELY wrong. Thirdly, the OP started his counter-argument decently, but latter his true self was revealed when he started addressing @passingshot as 'obnoxious', 'dumb', 'ignorant', etc. These are all clear indications of a BIASED and PREJUDICED person. Writing NEUTRAL in the topic could not disguise this fact for the discerning mind.

Truth be told, I am not in the mood, I would have taken you to cleaners on most of that gibberish you wrote. How can you say the bailout money was SWF? Are you not aware that it was from the NLNG payment. Have you looked at the stock market trend of most major economies in the last 6 months to see if the case of Nigeria is special? Tell me which oil dependent economy has not felt the brunt of low oil price. The only difference is that the impact is restricted due to either a diversified economy or huge foreign reserve. Do you blame PMB for our low FR and our undiversified economy? I could go on and on, but that would be a long economic epistle in itself.

For the records, Economists all over the world (even the very best) always disagree on how best to deal with the economy. Economics is not an exact science that you can claim authority over all the models and theories.

I will give you a pass there. It is often possible to not fully comprehend the message in a thread. This thread is a neutral response to Passingshot's thread. Read the thread title again.

I gave the previous administration the benefit of a doubt. I wasn't far out of line with my remarks. If I were I apologize to him, alone, but I really to do deal the low blow as a cautionary measure. It is dumb to say China is not important in a public forum. A lot of people bought that lie.

About the downturn in the trend of major economies, I believe I made it clear that "there is little, if anything, that can be done by Buhari to change the current trend". The question is not the trend, the question is how the trend is handled. No one can reverse the current trend of the economy, but we can at least put in measures that can check the fall... That is the whole point. Buhari has not placed in checks except those left by the last administration. How do you keep that going for 100+ days, tell me? Does a new captain after the demise of an old captain leave the control room during the storm because it wasn't his fault that the ship was ill-equipped to deal with the storm? Again, I refer you to the Obama 2008 takeover, and Nigeria's handling of the financial crisis in 2008.

Kastonkastroll:
There is absolutely nothing neutral about the trash you wrote up there. First do you even understand what neutrality means? You only attacked one person(passingshot) and left your fellow pdp apologist, is that your own definition of neutrality? Anyways there is nothing different from this psychopathic jargons with the one written by ochejoseph, both of you are PDP bootlicking retards who will never see any wrong in the last administration.
This statement here even gave you away as the jonathanian that you are ;
You were so quick to say this trash but you didn't see anything wrong with the gigantic corruption that was going on in that administration.
Nigeria was not the only country battling with terrorism during the last administration. Kenya, Israel, Egypt, USA, Russia, france, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, were one way or another battling with extremist ideologies and their reserves didn't depleted like ours. Who are you even fooling?
What power improved in the last administration when Nigerians rarely even see the electricity? Yes the country was generating about 3500megawatts in the last administration, tell me please, what has the corrupt gov't of gej did to increase our power generation in the last five years?
You don't want more propaganda indeed. So what do you have to say about all the lies the last administration fed us with?
You are just a deceitful wailer hiding under some stvpid neutrality banner. I shouldn't have even drop a comment on this stinking, smelly, disgusting and hate filled thread, but your deceitfulness was clearly dangerous that a sane mind shouldn't ignore.
You even made yourself sound more silly when you said Jonathan has the best economy team ever since Nigeria came into existence...... The "best economy team" that crippled the country abi? You are very silly and a numskull at the same time.

Again, I should make it clear, that the thread is a reply to Passingshot's thread (read the thread title). I do see things wrong with the last administration, but it is not anything we haven't seen before. Corruption, fund mismanagement, insecurity, dilapidated infrastructure; we have been singing that song since 1960.

A lot of Nigerians make it appear, especially change-chanters, like GEJ's government in 6 years created all the problems Nigeria currently have.

GEJ could not have eliminated all the rot in the government in his 6 yrs nor will Buhari be able to in his next 4 years. We should thrive on ensuring sustainability, small gains on small gains lead to huge gains. This is no rocket science.

Was there massive looting under GEJ, yes. Can we say the magnitude is of the same magnitude as Abacha, maybe but I don't think it is a fair description. I am not going to pretend that GEJ's government did not irk of all the wrong things we complain about or that he contributed his fair share to the problem.

But will we throw all the strides he gained because he was unable to solve 5 decades old problems. Now we have Buhari, would we all be contented in him eliminating Corruption and insecurity, but then leaving our economy and infrastructure in comatose situation, no? There must be appropriate gains in the vital sectors of the economy.

Most of us are aware of the fact that terrorism under GEJ was politically motivated. Also, look at the scale of the insecurity problem, which country had as many attacks and casualties as Nigeria apart from war-torn countries like Syria, Iraq, Pakistan?

I'm not going to make excuses for the last government about the power situation. But let's see. The manufacturers' association has estimated the power needs of Nigeria to be above 100,000 MW. Right now we are at a paltry 3500 to 4000 MW range. I'm not even going to fault Buhari if he is unable to meet that target, because it is virtually impossible to meet that target in a 4 yr period from where we are now. Also, the power situation is a complex one because of the vested interests in there. Discos are running at a loss and yet trillions have been spent on the sector. That is another example of gross mismanagement, that yes happened under GEJ management but didn't start with him. And to think of it, can you remember how many strikes and the huge fund that was used to make severance payment for staff of the now defunct PHCN before it was successfully unbundled? How much of this can you blame on GEJ? Was it not Prof Nebo who in his time as Minister of Power made mention of materials needed for electricity transmission being holed up in the ports for 14 years?

Actually, if you want to rebuff my statement about the economic team of GEJ's administration being the best, please tell me which economic team of a previous administrator was better? The economy was not run aground by GEJ's government. It was not the best, but it wasn't the worse progress we made. Give credence to who credence is due and stop hating.

If there's anything about the emergence of Buhari that I'm happy about, it is that impunity and magnanimous corruption in the Civil service and the government is about to hit the back burner. That is a gigantic step in the next direction. Funds will be efficiently managed and accountability will be celebrated.

Now we cannot make a big break in this aspect and backtrack on the economic gains already made. Let us see the progress of this country as a journey not several journeys. If the economic team of Buhari will deliver, when they are announced, only time will tell. But as at today, the Buhari presidency has done a poor job of stirring the economy right and that is a fact. That is what this thread is about.

The economy is a camera that's always rolling. Why was the selection of an economic team not expedited citing the importance of making decisions in this aspect? We all can wait for 1 yr maybe for a Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, but of finance and trade, that is a disaster.

H

You said you were neutral but so biased, your silly analysis is worse than that of oche. No blame for the dwindled reserves during the last oil boom we had or any blame for what corruption had caused the economy and its effect on investors' confidence.

OP is not neutral ooo

He is a seafarer

Great write up. @op ....Looking at the current sitiations on ground, this write up should be revisited to re access your position on some of the issues you raised as against current statistics.

I wish it were possible for people to state their views on these issues raised which may help drive the conversation constructively without resorting to inter party bickering


It should also make fp; @ seun, lalasticlala

FredN:
Great write up. @op ....Looking at the current sitiations on ground, this write up should be revisited to re access your position on some of the issues you raised as against current statistics.

I wish it were possible for people to state their views on these issues raised which may help drive the conversation constructively without resorting to inter party bickering


It should also make fp; @ seun, lalasticlala

If there is the demand for my views, I will revisit the myriad of issues. However, I think people are still giving Buhari (me inclusive) a benefit of doubt.

The FG recently decided to stimulate the economy with N350 less than $2b dollars. For a $500b economy, that's not exactly encouraging. But it is something. Coupled with the $30b budget, and the rising oil price, we should get somewhere or at least prevent the recession that should hit later in the year.

However, if with all these things, nothing meaningful happens, then my disappointment in Buhari would reach a new high. From when I wrote that piece to now, things had gone worse. Yet, I'm not making a verdict yet. I'll make a verdict after this fiscal year is over.

And when I do, it will be justified, because oil prices are above the benchmark, they have the largest budget till date to use for just 9 months, insurgency is being managed, and the opposition is not as strong/vocal as in the last administration; if Buhari screws up with all this pluses, then there's no hope for the APC presidency.

-Lord