₦airaland Forum

fiizznation:
I don't understand what buhari is still doing with that incompetent CBN governor. I don't just get it

. I don't understand wat Nigerians are still doing with that incompetent president of Nigeria

Atiku2019:
Merry Christmas to All Nairalanders....

I have been seeing pictures of Atiku in election mode for sometime in NL and it is beginning to piss me off

Abeg na by force to like this guy?

Nigeria needs a fresh start and not all these wicked old men that already know all the corruption mechanisms in this country and beyond.

onatisi:
bros merry Xmas ,but why wasn't the situation like this then.i remember the man said that the success of all the things he is doing depends on the fg
The nation leadership simply lack economic focus or objective

I agree with you, Economic team is zero until they find a lasting solutions but I believe something is seriously wrong somewhere.

Safe

Naira had started crashing from N150 to N225 just within 5 months after Emiefele appointment by Jonathan in 2015. Go and check the records, is not too far fetched; before some people will start talking from already biased minds.

StOla:
Since the current embargo has resulted to a collapse of local industries who need to access imported raw materials, the new order by the minister should be practised so we see its own result.

It's now a trial and error thing, right?

yinkus204:
buhari only leave the cbn governor just to please the ibo if not he would have kick him back to abia where he came from the cbn guy is a slowpoke

I know u didn't read d post, be truthful did u?

Please let's enjoy the season and not allow these confusionists in power to spoil our mood.

myaokija:
sorry bro, the guy cbn governor is from Edo state. I do wonder why u guys always call him igbo. Anyway happy Christmas

Bros, emefiele is from delta state and he is never d problem rather d incompetent finance minister.

kingsamosy:
this clearly shows that 2017 will not be rossy as bubu said, if his cabinet member is busy fighting each other.

the CBN Governor is not a cabinet member.

Candyrain:
It's now a trial and error thing, right?

No! It is a case of actions and consequences. We have seen the consequences of an action having merits and demerits. The stated demerits outweighs the merits, so another course of action is not unexpected.

myaokija:
sorry bro, the guy cbn governor is from Edo state. I do wonder why u guys always call him igbo. Anyway happy Christmas

He hails from Ika South in Delta State.

Babaevans1:
Bros, emefiele is from delta state and he is never d problem rather d incompetent finance minister.

So the Minister is incompetent but the CBN governor whose money policies have had the already stated consequences is the competent one?

This is the CBN governor appointed by Jonathan who inherited $1 to N165, till it got to $1 to N240 in the same Jonathan regime. Now it is $1 to N490 under the same CBN governor.

Very soon you would claim the minister of health is responsible for the failed money policies rolled out by the CBN.

kingsamosy:
this clearly shows that 2017 will not be rossy as bubu said, if his cabinet member is busy fighting each other.

I actually dont know why they want to remove the peg on the 41 items when they are not even selling dollars to the particular ones they did not peg
I submitted FORM M since september till today they are still on it NO DOLLAR
This is one of the reason inflation keep rising,when you buy dollar through middle men from Dubai at the rate of 470 naira you have to make your profit either people like it or not

bettercreature:
I actually dont know why they want to remove the peg on the 41 items when they are not even selling dollars to the particular ones they did not peg
I submitted FORM M since september till today they are still on it NO DOLLAR
This is one of the reason inflation keep rising,when you buy dollar though middle men from Dubai at the rate of 470 naira you have to make your profit either people like it or not

our policy makers are not wise at all. business is all about profit, you must profit to buy more.

psalmsjob:
the CBN Governor is not a cabinet member.

thanks. hope kemi is. a cabinet member

If Kazakhstan and Russia, countries that have similar economic index and crisis origin with nigeria are implementing policies that seem to be working, why are we doing otherwise.
The ban on these essential commodities should be gradually eased as this policy is partially efficient and contributed to lack of confidence in our economy by foreign investors.
By the way, I have never trusted this policies of CBN and emefiele.

grandstar:
You know knowing about economics

And you Sir know a lot right?

We live in a country where we import practically everything we consumer despite an abundance of raw material input to produce local alternatives. A country where people wake up everyday to sabotage any effort to make this country great just for their selfish gains.

Let me ask you Mr Economics......do you know that there is already a silent mopping up of dollar cash by our corrupt politicians for 2019 elections? And that the depreciation of the naira against the dollar is largely driven by this.

Import bill is declining year on year which means that in theory demand for dollar to foot this should also reduce so also exchange rate should also fall but alas the exchange rate keeps going up. I guess your knowledge of economics can't explain that simply because the demand is largely driven by speculation and not based on transactions per say!

Also people are quick to draw some spurious comparisons between countries like Russia etc. One quick question what is the composition of the capital accounts of these countries compared with ours? What is their population size? What kind of bilateral and multilateral trade agreements do they have with other countries that makes free flow of capital goods and services easy between these countries?

What percentage of our foreign reserves Foreign Direct Investment as against Foreign Portfolio Investment?

IF the dollar is really allowed to free float as most are shouting here. Nigeria and Nigerians will be in for it. Inflation will be up by 1000 percent and that highly sought after foreign rice that we are all dying to eat for exams will cost 1000 times over. I think people should go and read up on what is happening in Venezuela now just to have a clear understanding.


I don't need to have any knowledge of economics all I need is common sense to understand that a country can only survive if it is self sustaining and we have all the resources to do just this.

P.S just for the record and without sound brash.....I graduated with a first class in economics from Uni Ibadan. You can take my moniker and go and ask around the Uni if in doubt.

Good CBN policy but wrong methodology of implementation he CBN gov should have taken the implementation in phases , and the CBN can technically empower manufacturing SMEs by providing manufacturing plants and letting those without financial capacity produce their proaaducts

karid:
Good CBN policy but wrong methodology of implementation he CBN gov should have taken the implementation in phases , and the CBN can technically empower manufacturing SMEs by providing manufacturing plants and letting those without financial capacity produce their proaaducts

Sensible post. God bless you. CBN is already empowering SMES through the single digit intervention loans

The only thing is that a lot of these SMES take the facility and still go ahead to import since they will make higher margins from this in the short run.

Sometimes we are the problem and not the CBN or goverment!

persius555:
If Kazakhstan and Russia, countries that have similar economic index and crisis origin with nigeria are implementing policies that seem to be working, why are we doing otherwise.
The ban on these essential commodities should be gradually eased as this policy is partially efficient and contributed to lack of confidence in our economy by foreign investors.
By the way, I have never trusted this policies of CBN and emefiele.

For the record, these countries don't have the same economic indices with ours. Get your facts right!

bettercreature:
I actually dont know why they want to remove the peg on the 41 items when they are not even selling dollars to the particular ones they did not peg
I submitted FORM M since september till today they are still on it NO DOLLAR
This is one of the reason inflation keep rising,when you buy dollar through middle men from Dubai at the rate of 470 naira you have to make your profit either people like it or not

Manufacturers who need forex to import those 41 items are responsible for this disparity. The govt denies them access which leaves them with an option of buying from the parallel market, while the operators are also exploiting this lacuna. Govt is using scarcity as a tool to force manufacturers to look inwards for a commodity we don't produce.
You spoonfeed the Nigerian population with locally made rice but you cant do that with the manufacturing sector. One of the economic index for evaluating the state of an economy is employment rate. If you stifle the manufacturing sector, you are going to have serious unemployment crises. For a country like ours that has no working social security program in place, the margin between the rich and the poor would continue to widen.

kingsamosy:


thanks. hope kemi is. a cabinet member

No she belongs to the other room. Since your ignorance knows no bounds!

psalmsjob:
No she belongs to the other room. Since your ignorance knows no bounds!

no be you be Mr. lecturer again.

kingsamosy:
no be you be Mr. lecturer again.

And you Mr. Wailing-Zombie common sense you no get. Ordinary government structure you don't know yet you will open stinking mouth to criticize government. Admit what you don't know there's no shame in that but covering it or diverting attention from it is shameful and only keeps you more ignorant. Prepare for end of Semester exams I don't accept bribe o

[quote author=psalmsjob post=52239352]And you Mr. Wailing-Zombie common sense you no get. Ordinary government structure you don't know yet you will open stinking mouth to criticize government. Admit what you don't know there's no shame in that but covering it or diverting attention from it is shameful and only keeps you more ignorant. Prepare for end of Semester exams I don't accept bribe o [/quote

I wonder between us who lacks common sense. I asked you because common sense says we should ask when we do not know and the same common sense says, correct with no insult. but twice you have insulted me today. where is thy common sense?

psalmsjob:
And you Mr. Wailing-Zombie common sense you no get. Ordinary government structure you don't know yet you will open stinking mouth to criticize government. Admit what you don't know there's no shame in that but covering it or diverting attention from it is shameful and only keeps you more ignorant. Prepare for end of Semester exams I don't accept bribe o

I wonder between us who lacks common sense. I asked you because common sense says we should ask when we do not know and the same common sense says, correct with no insult. but twice you have insulted me today. where is thy common sense?

Confused dumb skulls!

NIGERIA CBN GOVERNOR
Gowin Emefiele was
Quoted:

“It is either I do not understand economics and
how exchange rates work or a vast majority of us Nigerians still don’t get how we have wrecked our country with our own curious choices. Just this morning, I was listening to the radio and the lady on air went on and on about how she thought CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele was incompetent and should be sacked because the Naira was now exchanging at 309 or so to the USD.
“That view pretty much echoes the sentiments
expressed by many people I know and it amazes me that there are Nigerians who actually think there is some magic POLICY that can make the Naira strong in the near term. If my economics and my understanding of the way the world works are right, then that is as far from the truth as Jesus Christ is black.
“The simple fact of the matter is that apart from
oil that accounts for over 90% of our revenues, we really don’t have much of an economy. We hardly produce anything, we import even toothpicks, so exactly what policy is going to be implemented that will turn Nigeria into a top exporting economy in the near term? Where are our Apples, IBMs, Disneys, GMs, General Electrics, Coca Colas, Empire State buildings, Statues of Liberties, Lockheeds, Citibanks, JP Morgans, ExxonMobils, NBAs, Super Bowls etc? Let me bring that closer home.
“There was a time long ago when Nigeria had a
truly strong economy and the naira was one to
the dollar – even exchanged for higher than the
USD, but that Nigeria is not this Nigeria. Sadly
that Nigeria was laid by the British, and this
Nigeria (if you don’t believe in the nonsensical
imperialist conspiracies like me) – fueled by the
DAMAGING Indigenization Decree, has been the
creation of us Nigerians.Back then we had a booming economy. We were either the top, or among the top exporters, of timbre, cocoa, groundnuts, rubber, palm oil, etc, in the world. Nigerians not only holidayed at home in their villages, at Yankari Games Reserve, at Obudu Cattle Ranch, at Oguta Lake, at Ikogosi springs, at Gurara Falls, at Mambilla Platueau, etc, we attracted international tourists who brought in loads of foreign exchange. Even Nigerian schools were foreign exchange earners because they attracted foreign students.
“We had different car assembly plants – Peugeot, Volkswagen, Anamco etc. Nigerian government officials only bought vehicles assembled in Nigeria for official cars. We had a thriving sports industry. We were not Man United or Chelsea fans, we were Rangers or IICC fans. We had the Nduka Odizors, people made money from sports. We also had companies like Lennards and Bata producing school shoes in their thousands, we had the thriving Nigerian Airways and the Aviation School in the north that produced some of the best pilots in the world. In those days if you were brilliant you were respected much more than the crass money-miss-road contractors of today.
Most of the Aje Butters I knew had fathers who
were university dons. Back then it meant
something to ‘know book’. Our textile industry
was alive and well. Just recently I watched a
news report on the textile industry in Nigeria on
CCTV News. Though the main focus was on the
comatose status of the industry, I was stunned by the gigantic Kaduna Textile Mill built in 1957. I could go on and on. “Today however, no thanks to our parents (and we must call them out the way Wole Soyinka did his generation) and many of us (and we should be remembered for failing our children if we continue like this), we have destroyed everything.
Today for instance Nigerian football (which comes easy to me obviously) doesn’t appeal to us, we have to fly across thousands of miles to watch ‘our’ clubs play. Every year we collectively burn billions of Naira being fans of clubs that give us nothing back, but some ‘entertainment value’ –simple pleasures for which we are ready to destroy the future of our children.
“Well people, payback time is here. Even with our ta-she-re money we all want to wear designer clothes and carry designer bags, Armani, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton etc. We all want to drive jeeps with American specs, our children must now school overseas and acquire the necessary accents to come back home and bamboozle their ‘bush and crass’ contemporaries that they left behind. Who holidays in Nigeria anymore, is there Disneyland here? No one buys made-in-Nigeria school bags for their children, after all no Superman or Incredible Hulk or Cinderella on them.“We are no longer top exporters of anything and the demise of oil means we have zilch… zero.
A country of 170M fashion-
conscious people has no textile industry. We take delight in showing how our made-in- Switzerland Aso Ebi is different class to everyone else’s. When we help our musicians grow and pay them millions, they repay us by immediately shipping the monies overseas to produce their “i-don-dey- different-level” music videos. It makes no difference that distinctly Zulu dancers are dancing to a Nigerian highlife song. “As stars concerned they also wed and holiday overseas to impress us all. All the musicians who acknowledge their Ajegunle roots now speak in a cocktail of strange accents to symbolise how much they have blown their monies overseas. Were we a more serious people, the highly popular Kingsway Stores of the past would probably have a thousand outlets pan Nigeria today supporting a massive agriculture industry among others, but today we have the likes of SPAR, Shoprite, dominating the retail industry while Kingsway is dead. “And we Nigerians make it a special point to shop from the Oyinbos who have ‘cleaner shops’, ‘better this and better that’. For our personal pleasure we don’t mind them dominating us in our own backyard and shipping proceeds overseas. I could go on and on, but I don tire. Even as you are reading this, stop for a moment and look around you. What you see will probably explain why we are lucky it is not N1000 to the USD yet. And don’t think for a moment that it cannot get there. “Just continue to wear your Armani gear and Swiss-made lace, continue to spend your money on Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Barca and encourage your children to do same. (My article tomorrow in my Saturday column in This Day is on the Nigerian champions Enyimba FC –
Nigeria’s most successful club – not having a
sponsor, yet Nigerian brands pay over N600m to
Man United and Arsenal for sponsorship to
impress us.) Ehhh, no problem, continue to tell
me the NPFL is rubbish or the clubs should clean up their act if they want sponsorship, mo gbo . “Don’t curtail your interest in choice wines ( we were the number one champagne
consumers in the world in 2015), continue to love your American specs, cheer the education ministry for letting schools sink to pitiable levels, don’t fight them to improve our schools, don’t chide them for letting schools drop Nigerian history and embrace British, America and whatever else curricular. “Carry on with your love of French wines and Chinese silk, don’t bother about Jamiu Alli when there is Roger Federer. Stock up on your Italian, American, British products which you cannot live without, including the ‘baby soft’ toilet rolls produced only in that small unique village in England – the days are long gone since you were a broke student who used wet newspapers to wipe your butt. “Don’t even consider holidaying in Nigeria, it’s too dangerous – you have to fulfill your dream of being Nigeria’s Henry Ford. Don’t listen to people like me who have a wardrobe full of only cheap adire that is actually cheaper than just one of your Tom Ford blazers. Please keep dressing in fine silk made in some exotic place so you can be addressed accordingly.
“Finally keep letting corrupt leaders who have looted your commonwealth and shipped all the monies overseas get away because to attack them does not fit your political narrative. Let us continue with the fine life, let us all continue to work for Oyinbo. But don’t forget that there is a payback time: Worth sharing again. I must equally add, there is nothing wrong in wearing designers but it's the misplaced priority over the lives of children and the economy of a whole nation. Remember that Because you can afford it, doesn't make it compulsory to have it.

Pls pass round until it sinks

kingsamosy:
I wonder between us who lacks common sense. I asked you because common sense says we should ask when we do not know and the same common sense says, correct with no insult. but twice you have insulted me today. where is thy common sense?

You are just being mischievous and not asking a question with obvious answer shows you don't have common sense that not me insulting you but your foolish shading you. Besides in this naija anybody that claims he doesn't know what "Mr. Lecturer" that you called me means is as clueless as GEJ.

Such a write up will not get many likes or share see why from the perspective of our youths:

1. It's too long someone should summarize it for me!

2. He is not insulting Buhari or telling him to show us his 'UN' certificate!

3. His an "Afonja's" slave of the Fulani master or a "Igbo" from the land of the rising "Yeast" and all he is trying to do is traffic drug and promote is Industrial Igbo brothers.

4. He is not one of the experts we are calling for; if it's not Oweala then no one can do it.

5. He is an old school man and doesn't know what's up and trending now. Who all this him grammar epp? Does it make rice cheap?

6. You please add yours if you understand how our youths reason and behave now....

tainot2002:
NIGERIA CBN GOVERNOR
Gowin Emefiele was
Quoted:

“It is either I do not understand economics and
how exchange rates work or a vast majority of us Nigerians still don’t get how we have wrecked our country with our own curious choices. Just this morning, I was listening to the radio and the lady on air went on and on about how she thought CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele was incompetent and should be sacked because the Naira was now exchanging at 309 or so to the USD.
“That view pretty much echoes the sentiments
expressed by many people I know and it amazes me that there are Nigerians who actually think there is some magic POLICY that can make the Naira strong in the near term. If my economics and my understanding of the way the world works are right, then that is as far from the truth as Jesus Christ is black.
“The simple fact of the matter is that apart from
oil that accounts for over 90% of our revenues, we really don’t have much of an economy. We hardly produce anything, we import even toothpicks, so exactly what policy is going to be implemented that will turn Nigeria into a top exporting economy in the near term? Where are our Apples, IBMs, Disneys, GMs, General Electrics, Coca Colas, Empire State buildings, Statues of Liberties, Lockheeds, Citibanks, JP Morgans, ExxonMobils, NBAs, Super Bowls etc? Let me bring that closer home.
“There was a time long ago when Nigeria had a
truly strong economy and the naira was one to
the dollar – even exchanged for higher than the
USD, but that Nigeria is not this Nigeria. Sadly
that Nigeria was laid by the British, and this
Nigeria (if you don’t believe in the nonsensical
imperialist conspiracies like me) – fueled by the
DAMAGING Indigenization Decree, has been the
creation of us Nigerians.Back then we had a booming economy. We were either the top, or among the top exporters, of timbre, cocoa, groundnuts, rubber, palm oil, etc, in the world. Nigerians not only holidayed at home in their villages, at Yankari Games Reserve, at Obudu Cattle Ranch, at Oguta Lake, at Ikogosi springs, at Gurara Falls, at Mambilla Platueau, etc, we attracted international tourists who brought in loads of foreign exchange. Even Nigerian schools were foreign exchange earners because they attracted foreign students.
“We had different car assembly plants – Peugeot, Volkswagen, Anamco etc. Nigerian government officials only bought vehicles assembled in Nigeria for official cars. We had a thriving sports industry. We were not Man United or Chelsea fans, we were Rangers or IICC fans. We had the Nduka Odizors, people made money from sports. We also had companies like Lennards and Bata producing school shoes in their thousands, we had the thriving Nigerian Airways and the Aviation School in the north that produced some of the best pilots in the world. In those days if you were brilliant you were respected much more than the crass money-miss-road contractors of today.
Most of the Aje Butters I knew had fathers who
were university dons. Back then it meant
something to ‘know book’. Our textile industry
was alive and well. Just recently I watched a
news report on the textile industry in Nigeria on
CCTV News. Though the main focus was on the
comatose status of the industry, I was stunned by the gigantic Kaduna Textile Mill built in 1957. I could go on and on. “Today however, no thanks to our parents (and we must call them out the way Wole Soyinka did his generation) and many of us (and we should be remembered for failing our children if we continue like this), we have destroyed everything.
Today for instance Nigerian football (which comes easy to me obviously) doesn’t appeal to us, we have to fly across thousands of miles to watch ‘our’ clubs play. Every year we collectively burn billions of Naira being fans of clubs that give us nothing back, but some ‘entertainment value’ –simple pleasures for which we are ready to destroy the future of our children.
“Well people, payback time is here. Even with our ta-she-re money we all want to wear designer clothes and carry designer bags, Armani, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton etc. We all want to drive jeeps with American specs, our children must now school overseas and acquire the necessary accents to come back home and bamboozle their ‘bush and crass’ contemporaries that they left behind. Who holidays in Nigeria anymore, is there Disneyland here? No one buys made-in-Nigeria school bags for their children, after all no Superman or Incredible Hulk or Cinderella on them.“We are no longer top exporters of anything and the demise of oil means we have zilch… zero.
A country of 170M fashion-
conscious people has no textile industry. We take delight in showing how our made-in- Switzerland Aso Ebi is different class to everyone else’s. When we help our musicians grow and pay them millions, they repay us by immediately shipping the monies overseas to produce their “i-don-dey- different-level” music videos. It makes no difference that distinctly Zulu dancers are dancing to a Nigerian highlife song. “As stars concerned they also wed and holiday overseas to impress us all. All the musicians who acknowledge their Ajegunle roots now speak in a cocktail of strange accents to symbolise how much they have blown their monies overseas. Were we a more serious people, the highly popular Kingsway Stores of the past would probably have a thousand outlets pan Nigeria today supporting a massive agriculture industry among others, but today we have the likes of SPAR, Shoprite, dominating the retail industry while Kingsway is dead. “And we Nigerians make it a special point to shop from the Oyinbos who have ‘cleaner shops’, ‘better this and better that’. For our personal pleasure we don’t mind them dominating us in our own backyard and shipping proceeds overseas. I could go on and on, but I don tire. Even as you are reading this, stop for a moment and look around you. What you see will probably explain why we are lucky it is not N1000 to the USD yet. And don’t think for a moment that it cannot get there. “Just continue to wear your Armani gear and Swiss-made lace, continue to spend your money on Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Barca and encourage your children to do same. (My article tomorrow in my Saturday column in This Day is on the Nigerian champions Enyimba FC –
Nigeria’s most successful club – not having a
sponsor, yet Nigerian brands pay over N600m to
Man United and Arsenal for sponsorship to
impress us.) Ehhh, no problem, continue to tell
me the NPFL is rubbish or the clubs should clean up their act if they want sponsorship, mo gbo . “Don’t curtail your interest in choice wines ( we were the number one champagne
consumers in the world in 2015), continue to love your American specs, cheer the education ministry for letting schools sink to pitiable levels, don’t fight them to improve our schools, don’t chide them for letting schools drop Nigerian history and embrace British, America and whatever else curricular. “Carry on with your love of French wines and Chinese silk, don’t bother about Jamiu Alli when there is Roger Federer. Stock up on your Italian, American, British products which you cannot live without, including the ‘baby soft’ toilet rolls produced only in that small unique village in England – the days are long gone since you were a broke student who used wet newspapers to wipe your butt. “Don’t even consider holidaying in Nigeria, it’s too dangerous – you have to fulfill your dream of being Nigeria’s Henry Ford. Don’t listen to people like me who have a wardrobe full of only cheap adire that is actually cheaper than just one of your Tom Ford blazers. Please keep dressing in fine silk made in some exotic place so you can be addressed accordingly.
“Finally keep letting corrupt leaders who have looted your commonwealth and shipped all the monies overseas get away because to attack them does not fit your political narrative. Let us continue with the fine life, let us all continue to work for Oyinbo. But don’t forget that there is a payback time: Worth sharing again. I must equally add, there is nothing wrong in wearing designers but it's the misplaced priority over the lives of children and the economy of a whole nation. Remember that Because you can afford it, doesn't make it compulsory to have it.

Pls pass round until it sinks

tainot2002:
NIGERIA CBN GOVERNOR
Gowin Emefiele was
Quoted:

“It is either I do not understand economics and
how exchange rates work or a vast majority of us Nigerians still don’t get how we have wrecked our country with our own curious choices. Just this morning, I was listening to the radio and the lady on air went on and on about how she thought CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele was incompetent and should be sacked because the Naira was now exchanging at 309 or so to the USD.
“That view pretty much echoes the sentiments
expressed by many people I know and it amazes me that there are Nigerians who actually think there is some magic POLICY that can make the Naira strong in the near term. If my economics and my understanding of the way the world works are right, then that is as far from the truth as Jesus Christ is black.
“The simple fact of the matter is that apart from
oil that accounts for over 90% of our revenues, we really don’t have much of an economy. We hardly produce anything, we import even toothpicks, so exactly what policy is going to be implemented that will turn Nigeria into a top exporting economy in the near term? Where are our Apples, IBMs, Disneys, GMs, General Electrics, Coca Colas, Empire State buildings, Statues of Liberties, Lockheeds, Citibanks, JP Morgans, ExxonMobils, NBAs, Super Bowls etc? Let me bring that closer home.
“There was a time long ago when Nigeria had a
truly strong economy and the naira was one to
the dollar – even exchanged for higher than the
USD, but that Nigeria is not this Nigeria. Sadly
that Nigeria was laid by the British, and this
Nigeria (if you don’t believe in the nonsensical
imperialist conspiracies like me) – fueled by the
DAMAGING Indigenization Decree, has been the
creation of us Nigerians.Back then we had a booming economy. We were either the top, or among the top exporters, of timbre, cocoa, groundnuts, rubber, palm oil, etc, in the world. Nigerians not only holidayed at home in their villages, at Yankari Games Reserve, at Obudu Cattle Ranch, at Oguta Lake, at Ikogosi springs, at Gurara Falls, at Mambilla Platueau, etc, we attracted international tourists who brought in loads of foreign exchange. Even Nigerian schools were foreign exchange earners because they attracted foreign students.
“We had different car assembly plants – Peugeot, Volkswagen, Anamco etc. Nigerian government officials only bought vehicles assembled in Nigeria for official cars. We had a thriving sports industry. We were not Man United or Chelsea fans, we were Rangers or IICC fans. We had the Nduka Odizors, people made money from sports. We also had companies like Lennards and Bata producing school shoes in their thousands, we had the thriving Nigerian Airways and the Aviation School in the north that produced some of the best pilots in the world. In those days if you were brilliant you were respected much more than the crass money-miss-road contractors of today.
Most of the Aje Butters I knew had fathers who
were university dons. Back then it meant
something to ‘know book’. Our textile industry
was alive and well. Just recently I watched a
news report on the textile industry in Nigeria on
CCTV News. Though the main focus was on the
comatose status of the industry, I was stunned by the gigantic Kaduna Textile Mill built in 1957. I could go on and on. “Today however, no thanks to our parents (and we must call them out the way Wole Soyinka did his generation) and many of us (and we should be remembered for failing our children if we continue like this), we have destroyed everything.
Today for instance Nigerian football (which comes easy to me obviously) doesn’t appeal to us, we have to fly across thousands of miles to watch ‘our’ clubs play. Every year we collectively burn billions of Naira being fans of clubs that give us nothing back, but some ‘entertainment value’ –simple pleasures for which we are ready to destroy the future of our children.
“Well people, payback time is here. Even with our ta-she-re money we all want to wear designer clothes and carry designer bags, Armani, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton etc. We all want to drive jeeps with American specs, our children must now school overseas and acquire the necessary accents to come back home and bamboozle their ‘bush and crass’ contemporaries that they left behind. Who holidays in Nigeria anymore, is there Disneyland here? No one buys made-in-Nigeria school bags for their children, after all no Superman or Incredible Hulk or Cinderella on them.“We are no longer top exporters of anything and the demise of oil means we have zilch… zero.
A country of 170M fashion-
conscious people has no textile industry. We take delight in showing how our made-in- Switzerland Aso Ebi is different class to everyone else’s. When we help our musicians grow and pay them millions, they repay us by immediately shipping the monies overseas to produce their “i-don-dey- different-level” music videos. It makes no difference that distinctly Zulu dancers are dancing to a Nigerian highlife song. “As stars concerned they also wed and holiday overseas to impress us all. All the musicians who acknowledge their Ajegunle roots now speak in a cocktail of strange accents to symbolise how much they have blown their monies overseas. Were we a more serious people, the highly popular Kingsway Stores of the past would probably have a thousand outlets pan Nigeria today supporting a massive agriculture industry among others, but today we have the likes of SPAR, Shoprite, dominating the retail industry while Kingsway is dead. “And we Nigerians make it a special point to shop from the Oyinbos who have ‘cleaner shops’, ‘better this and better that’. For our personal pleasure we don’t mind them dominating us in our own backyard and shipping proceeds overseas. I could go on and on, but I don tire. Even as you are reading this, stop for a moment and look around you. What you see will probably explain why we are lucky it is not N1000 to the USD yet. And don’t think for a moment that it cannot get there. “Just continue to wear your Armani gear and Swiss-made lace, continue to spend your money on Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Barca and encourage your children to do same. (My article tomorrow in my Saturday column in This Day is on the Nigerian champions Enyimba FC –
Nigeria’s most successful club – not having a
sponsor, yet Nigerian brands pay over N600m to
Man United and Arsenal for sponsorship to
impress us.) Ehhh, no problem, continue to tell
me the NPFL is rubbish or the clubs should clean up their act if they want sponsorship, mo gbo . “Don’t curtail your interest in choice wines ( we were the number one champagne
consumers in the world in 2015), continue to love your American specs, cheer the education ministry for letting schools sink to pitiable levels, don’t fight them to improve our schools, don’t chide them for letting schools drop Nigerian history and embrace British, America and whatever else curricular. “Carry on with your love of French wines and Chinese silk, don’t bother about Jamiu Alli when there is Roger Federer. Stock up on your Italian, American, British products which you cannot live without, including the ‘baby soft’ toilet rolls produced only in that small unique village in England – the days are long gone since you were a broke student who used wet newspapers to wipe your butt. “Don’t even consider holidaying in Nigeria, it’s too dangerous – you have to fulfill your dream of being Nigeria’s Henry Ford. Don’t listen to people like me who have a wardrobe full of only cheap adire that is actually cheaper than just one of your Tom Ford blazers. Please keep dressing in fine silk made in some exotic place so you can be addressed accordingly.
“Finally keep letting corrupt leaders who have looted your commonwealth and shipped all the monies overseas get away because to attack them does not fit your political narrative. Let us continue with the fine life, let us all continue to work for Oyinbo. But don’t forget that there is a payback time: Worth sharing again. I must equally add, there is nothing wrong in wearing designers but it's the misplaced priority over the lives of children and the economy of a whole nation. Remember that Because you can afford it, doesn't make it compulsory to have it.

Pls pass round until it sinks

Pls spare me this stale tale this season of good chèer. Was it not one designer item after another displayed during the recent wedding of the President's daughter. Does that symbolize faith, passion, honesty in the very things they preach. Does that show leadership in any form or is this message for the faithfuls while sin rages on in the household of the messenger. If our leaders are the last to comply, the last to be patriotic, the last to be honest and forthright then there is very little hope at all for recovery.

I am not a child to swallow their spiced baloney time and again. I look at WHAT THEY DO!! as a marker to project the future and from what I have seen these two years and counting there is no difference whatsoever in attitudes which leads to habits, which leads to experiences. It is one hypocritical latrine after another opened up. My expectations have not changed. The best we can get from this government will be superficial. They cannot change this country, they cannot even scratch the surface.

psalmsjob:
You are just being mischievous and not asking a question with obvious answer shows you don't have common sense that not me insulting you but your foolish shading you. Besides in this naija anybody that claims he doesn't know what "Mr. Lecturer" that you called me means is as clueless as GEJ.

Have your self a Merry Christmas Sir. No love lost.