₦airaland Forum

Buterflyle0:
Today Donald trump shared a tweet about the latest deal he signed with China and the new focus of his government and guess what?

This deal was not about electronics or imports but all about productions and exports of Agricultural produce.

China just signed a deal with USA to buy Agricultural produce from them.

Why then are Nigerians frowning at Agriculture?

Many have this warped sense of reasoning that farming is for the poor and its dirty and does not pay well.

This is so sad and misinforming.

According to our CBN governor, Pre 2015, Nigeria had an agriculture import spending need of $1.6b and as of today, that import need has been slashed to $160m.

This means that home grown farming and farmers have largely shared the $1.440b which is the difference.

$1.440 has gone into the pockets of Nigerian farmers. They are becoming richer while lazy people in Nigeria are becoming poor as they proudly tag farming as something for the poor and that it is dirty.

Trumps tweet shows that Buharis aggressive drive into Agriculture and desire for many to embrace it, is something that would pay much More than oil in the nearest future because as we say, MAN MUST WACK!

No human can go without food. So for every farmer, you have a potential billions of mouths to feed and billions of pockets to be paid from.

Naija youths, Get busy.

Tweet below

Mynd44 let's discuss

Why many are against focusing solely on agriculture is because modern agriculture requires a lot of technical knowledge, infrastructure, and funding. Nigeria lags behind on these issues.

Secondly, agriculture products are commodities which means the price of corn in Nigeria should be the same in America, save for transportation cost. This means that if technologically advanced countries can produce products that are cheaper even when imported into Nigeria than when produced locally here, it makes no economic sense to grow such crops.

Nigeria has lots of strengths and comparative advantage even in some agricultural products. Take cashew, cotton, rubber, and cocoa for example. The reason they are cash crops is because other countries do not have an abundance of these products. This is our Edge, our one true agriculture gift, but the government only focuses on rice because we eat rice.

Enough said.

deji17:
I am not sure whether Ghana has improved on their position or not. That is how you chose to view it. Nigeria has failed in the past because we have irresponsible leaders. That you celeberate the foundation laying of a building does not nean you will stop building.
Forward ever, backward never.

Yes, Mr President has tried in some ways but he is still a big failure.

In designing a product whether in engineering or computer science, 2 set of requirements must be obtained. Functional and non-Functional. Take a car for example, the ability for the car to move from point A to B is a functional requirement. Whereas installed headlights to enable a driver to see at night is a non-functional. As you can see both functional and non functional are important, but you can have a functioning car without headlights, right?

In governance, the functional requirements are the provision of quality basic education, quality healthcare and security. Non-functional include infrastructure such as roads and electricity. You can have good schools without necessarily having electricity.

What is the ratio of quality primary and secondary schools to our youth population in Nigeria today? How many government schools have been built by this administration. If PDP did not know how to govern, must APC be the same.

What is the ratio of hospitals to the population of Nigerians?

What is the ratio of police and military officers to the population of Nigerians.

These are the failings of Mr. president. His inability to see these issues is why I pray fervently that he does not get re-elected. By the way, Atiku is no better

deji17:
Yes, we should celebrate. We are not where we ought to be. But we are better off than where we are coming from. That we rejoice does not mean we we will stop progressing.
Have you ever wonder why some people will kill Ram / Cow, when they lay the foundation of a new building? It does not mean that the house is completed. But what they are celebrating is a milestone.
Forward ever, backward never.

Such premature celebrations is what has led Nigeria to be the country with the highest number of people living in extreme poverty and the highest number of out of school children in the world. Ghana, that is ahead of us, is not celebrating this news, why should we?

deji17:
No be for one day we carry last nau. Do you think we go from number 132 to 1st position within 4 years, even though we have been at number 132 for 12 years? When you are retrogressing, it is different from when you are stagnant. When you are stagnant, it is different from when you are making progress. Promotion from number 132 to 129 is progress. Next year, we will better that position and on and on it goes.
If we have been on the current trajectory for the past years where we climbed up 3 spots within 3 years, by now we could have climbed at least 14 spots.
When you are driving a car, you don't go from stop to 200km/hr within one second. You accelerate gradually, gather momentum until you reach your full speed.

You are right, we have made progress. My point is should we be celebrating now. Is this progress enough for us to celebrate? Should we be happy? May be, should it make news as an achievement? Definitely not.

deji17:
Brother, dem say this is the first time we are moving up in the ranking since 2006, that they started ranking countries. Is that an improvement over what it used to be?

So we should rejoice because of second to the last position. We are ranked 25th in sub-Saharan Africa. That is even amongst black people, we are far behind. My brother, this is not something we should be proud of.

deji17:
If it is a negative news now, trust the hopeless wailers to be jubilating about it.
Sai Buhari!

Sai Baba !!

how is this news positive? if you come second to the last position in your class, should you be rejoicing that you did not come last? I know you to be an intelligent person so your comment is shocking to me.

Ebullience:
Nigeria recorded a leap on the 2018 Legatum Prosperity Index (LPI) of most prosperous country in the world.

At 129, the most populous black nation moved up by three points from its 132nd position in 2017. Since the inception of the index in 2006, this is the first time that Nigeria would move up.

The LPI is an annual ranking developed by the Legatum Institute, a division of the United Arab Emirates-based private investment firm, Legatum.

The index measures prosperity using nine pillars: economic quality, business environment, governance, personal freedom, social capital, safety and security, education, health and natural environment.

Of these pillars, Nigeria ranked 139, 66, 107, 111, 48, 145, 123,143, 104 positions respectively.

While the giant of Africa rose 12 places on the business environment pillar, it fell one point in safety and security.

“In the overall Prosperity Index rankings, Nigeria has climbed by three positions from 132 to 129 when compared to last year. Since the Prosperity Index began in 2006, Nigeria has moved down the rankings table by five places,” the report read.

“In the Prosperity Pillar rankings, Nigeria performs best on Social Capital and Business Environment and scores lowest on the Safety and Security pillar.

“The biggest positive change, compared to last year, came in Business Environment increasing by 12 places, whereas they dropped one place on Safety and Security.”

Despite Nigeria’s rise on the ranks, the country, however, falls among the 20 least prosperous countries (red zone) and the report says “those in the bottom 20 face significant challenges across all pillars, especially in improving Safety and Security.”

In Sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria is ranked 25th.

Norway, New Zealand and Finland topped the index, while Yemen, Central African Republic and Afghanistan came last three respectively.

“The measurement of national prosperity is an important task for governments and for those who hold them to account,” the report read.

“Prosperity entails much more than wealth, it reaches beyond the financial into the political, the judicial, and the wellbeing and character of a nation – it is about creating an environment where a person is able to reach their full potential. A nation is prosperous when it has an open economy, inclusive society, strong institutions and empowered people who are healthy, educated and safe. This leads to higher levels of wellbeing.

“The Prosperity Index covers 149 countries. The top 40 most prosperous nations are those that have demonstrated over time how to build prosperity. Those in the bottom 20 face significant challenges across all pillars, especially in improving Safety and Security.

“Prosperity has grown over the last year to its highest ever point. In the last five years, 113 countries have improved their prosperity. In many respects the world is getting better. It is now easier to start a business in many countries.”

https://www.thecable.ng/nigeria-rises-on-world-prosperity-index-first-time-ever/

Nigeria needs quality primary and secondary schools, quality hospitals, pipe borne water and electricity and a quality police force and military. none of the presidential candidates is focusing on these essential duties of government. What you hear the politicians say is: boost the economy, fight corruption, create jobs, reduce youth unemployment, and build roads and railways.

Are our leaders and people so stupid to realise that focusing on providing quality education, health and security will achieve all their other goals as opposed to coming up with vague disjointed ideas such as youwin, sure-p, npower, trader moni etc.

Me i tire for this country. The mad leading the madder.

RevenGeMission:
Those comparing minimum wages of Nigeria and other countries are ignorant of how national economies work. There is no basis comparing the salaries of one country to the other when their economies are different.

In Germany minimum wage is 1498 Euro equivalent to N626,000. You need 860 euros to cover your monthly rent and utility. That is N360,00,the price of two bedroom flat in a whole year in Nigeria. And how much does it cost to cut a hair in Germany? 50 euros,the equivalent of 20,500 while in Nigeria you can cut your hair at N200 at most,and N1000 in expensive salons in Abuja or Lagos whose counterparts in Hamburg or Frankfurt will chare 1500 euros,the equivalent of N627,000. In Nigeria, even with that meager amount, the man with 30,000 will get along fine. In UK a tiny hotel room that can accomodate 4 inches bed cost 120 pounds,equivalent of N60,000 when its equivalent in Abuja will cost mere N5000. Fuel in Germany is 1.8 eurosnper liter the equivalent of N752 per liter. In Nigeria fuel is fixed at N145 per liter. Basically the German average income earner cannot afford full tank when his Nigerian counterpart should be able to fill his tank with N7000. To mend trousers in Germany, a tailor charges 40 euro,equivalent of N16,000 to fix button, and a Nigerian tailor can take N50 for the service, some may even wave it off.

The only thing absent that makes life difficult for Nigerian worker is the failure of government to complement his income with basic social amenities like cheap food,portable water, public transportation, free education,cheap and available electricity, affordable housing and mortgage and healthcare.

That is what makes the difference between life in Nigeria and Germany or South Africa to an average income earner and it is the area labour leaders should concentrate their demands not salary increase that will be swallowed by inflation.



Copied from NOGOPAN FORUM

the highlighted issue is what makes Nigeria a shit-hole. non of our leaders are interested in solving any of these issues, so Nigeria will remain a shit-hole for a long time to come.
if you ask them why we don't have portable water, they will say they lack the funds to carryout such projects. Is there any country that does not have scarcity of funds? the difference in Nigeria is that our leaders must travel in convoys, must employ all their relatives into unproductive civil services roles and must travel abroad for their healthcare and education.

ManirBK, according to the world poverty clock, at this very moment, 5.5 Nigerians are entering into extreme poverty. Understanding of economics is very difficult. GMB employed a lawyer as minister of national planning, an accountant as minister of finance, a banker (as opposed to an academic as CBN governor), a lawyer as minister of power, and a doctor as minister of labour. Even NNPC is headed by an engineer and the ministry is headed by a lawyer. How does he ever hope to understand the complexities of managing an economy?

In 2015, the IMF adviced the FG to raise taxes, reduce government workers, operate a open system of currency management and invest in the health and education of the Nigerian masses. Buhari took their advice as nonsense and thought he could personally micromanage an economy of 190 million people. Today, poverty is rife in Nigeria, from the North East to the south west all because an uneducated man thought managing an economy means giving out handouts to the poor.

The problem with Nigeria's economy is the great disparity between the rich/middle income from the poor. The only way to solve this disparity is through quality basic education and healthcare for the poor. As in any society, funding is an issue as resources are always scarce( any economists would have made this clear to him) . As oil prices have entered into a new market phase, buhari had only two options, reduce government workers and invest in the masses or keep government workers and ensure the Nigerian masses suffer a form of poverty never before seen. We all know the choice he made.

When a middle income/rich person receives his/her salary, he/she purchases food stuff primarily grown in Nigeria, but still has some savings. That savings may go to the puchase of clothes, phones, electronics or other consumer goods. All these products are not manufactured in Nigeria so dollars are needed to make these purchases by the initial retailer. This puts pressure on national resources when dollars are scarce due to the fall in oil prices, which will invariably lead to the fall in the naira resulting in inflation and mass poverty.

a poor person has only enough money to feed so reducing the number of wealthier people and increasing the incomes of poorer people in recessionary times is a great way to grow an economy. Too bad Buhari does not understand any of this.

omohayek:
While Atiku says all the right things, the big question I have is whether he can be trusted to do all these things without slyly undermining them for his own benefit. For instance, what is to stop him selling off the privatized assets at a huge discount to shell companies controlled indirectly by him through cronies?

We've already seen how selling assets to under-capitalized local buyers with political connections can lead to disaster - just look at the power sector after GEJ sold it to local favorites who lacked the resources to meet their investment requirements. In addition there's Atiku's own shady track record with Halliburton and assorted schemes to consider. The man could easily follow in Suharto's footsteps by turning the entire country into the personal property of himself, his family and their hangers-on.

Buhari is utterly incompetent, and the economy has no serious hope of recovering while he remains in charge, but competence is of little use when possessed by thieves like Atiku and Saraki, another man whose sterling educational credentials have resulted in zero net benefit to his record of governance. If all it took to govern well were knowing the right things to do, Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe would have become a paradise instead of turning into the shithole he made it.

I get your point. You're right in many ways. The problem is a complex one with no perfect solution. I wish Nigerians would support Mughalu's candidacy, but our people do not understand how the world works.

I heard on TV the other day that Nigeria wants to build a helicopter. West Africa produces 70 percent of the world's cocoa. The value of the unrefined cocoa industry is 2.1 billion dollars, whereas the chocolate industry is valued at 130 billion dollars. This year, one of this government's achievement is in cutting our rice import bill of 1.9 billion, which in reality may not be true because a lot of rice is smuggled into the country.

Imagine if Buhari had focused on refining cocoa from its base level to an intermediate level. Our mechanical engineers would be focused on building machinery to process cocoa rather than building a helicopter. Nigerians across the whole country would have been planting cocoa trees to feed to the processing plants. Processing cocoa may even be as profitable as selling crude oil but all Nigeria is focused on is in selling primary mineral resources. Why are we trying to build a helicopter? Why? Who could have come up with such an idea?

Imagine if we processed our cashew nuts too. There is a lot of opportunity in this country but we unfortunately have dull and bad leaders.

If you can suggest who I should vote for with good reasons, I will certainly vote for the person.

Gboy101:
Nigerians need to be worried of atiku plan to sell Nigeria biggest assets. sentiments aparts I'm one of them that is supporting atiku but his recent remarks to sell of critical National assets and Nigeria biggest assets. the NNPC called for concerned. everyone should be worried is this why atiku have been fighting to become Nigeria president at all cost?

we need to watch out why atiku want is not talking about restructuring anymore. because we are seeing that his want to build rail and more roads. by this statement there won't be any different from atiku presidency. the same old northerners and former head of states will buy up these assets.

I do not like Atiku as a person but his knowledge of economics and what is hampering Nigeria's development is on point. In fact of all the candidates including Ezekwesili and Sowore, Atiku is making the most economic sense.

Let me try to explain. Nigeria faces internal problems caused by our culture which focuses on tribalism and cronyism over competences. This stifles all areas of decision making in government instutions as most heads have one interest or the other that does not promote development.

Nigeria also faces external problems caused by our over dependence on crude oil sales which is a very volatile commodity with prices constantly swinging between 80 USD and 40 USD. We have bad leadership and at the same time an unreliable source of government revenue.

These issues have resulted in Nigeria becoming the country with the highest poverty rates and also the country with the highest number of out of school children in the world. That is, we are bleeped now, and we are still bleeped in the future.

From what I have read, Atiku plans to shift governments focus from mineral resources to human resources. This is very interesting because if you look at every region on earth, countries that focus on developing their people's productivity are always richer with higher quality of life than mineral resource rich countries. Even in Europe Sweden and Denmark are considered equal or better countries than Norway. In the middle East, many would argue that Israel is the richest of all the nations. Within the emirates of the UAE, Dubai with only 7 percent of that nations crude oil is considered much richer than the mineral rich ABU Dhabi.

In developed countries, the government provides quality primary and secondary school education for all of its people. It sees education as an externality, an economic good that benefits everyone in the country and not just the person getting the education. Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, was abandoned by his Syrian father, yet he built a 1 trillion dollar( about 3 times Nigeria's gdp) company. Without quality education, would there have been a Steve Jobs?

I am not saying that oil is not important to Nigeria's future, I am saying that tailors, cobblers, and factory workers are much more important to the growth of Nigeria and the reduction of poverty. This may sound strange to you but realise that it is only in Nigeria that a craftsman is a poor man.

TonyeBarcanista:
@Explorers

Your analysis didn't factor the fact that no civil servant remains in a single position for 35 years.

Beside, the problem is that this country is highly unproductive, the revenue we get in government coffers is relatively scarce to take care of this new wage bill. In fact, my fear is that many states may not be able to keep up with this new proposed/agreed minimum wage of 22/30k.

Let us not forget that States started owing workers and pensioners their legitimate earning since the revenue from petrodollars dropped and our governments couldn't keep up with the 18k minimum wage that was approved in 2011. How much more 22/30k?

It is also unfortunate that at the moment most States aren't even executing projects, all they do is wait for allocation to offset workers' salaries and pensioners entitlements.

I will always maintain that increment of minimum wage will not solve the problem of workers welfare, the only way out is to have a productive civil service and a favorable environment for the private sector to thrive.


God bless Nigeria

At the onset of this administration, many of us were against an increase in the minimum wage. We understood that it's increase will only lead to inflation. Seeing that Nigeria was heading towards a recession, our hope was that PMB would cut down the cost of governance, restructure the MDA'S , and invest in housing, education and health care. The salaries and extra chopping of the top 10,000 civil servants will provide a stable income for over a million Nigerians. Imaging the government using those funds to build new classrooms, chairs and tables across the nation. So many low skilled workers will get jobs. But unfortunately, this government decided to simply do nothing. After the naira fell and the price of fuel went up to 145, transporters were not able to raise their fares. Barbers, hairstylist, tailors, even mechanics were not able to raise their fares. These people all had to face the full effects of the recession. As the price of oil started to rise, government offered no safety net to the common people. Is government only concerned with paying civil servants their salaries? What about the 90 percent of Nigerians that do not work for the government?

I feel the minimum wage should be increased now even if it means the further devaluation of the naira down the line. Nigerians are suffering like never before. With my small salary, I know how many people I am supporting. I even had to move a man I have known all my life into my parents house to prevent him from being homeless. Hardship is real.
The Federal government most make hard decisions. Either restructure the MDA'S to reduce the recurrent expenditure or continue to allow the masses in Nigeria to suffer. The last Joker the Unions have is the 2019 elections. I say aluta continua, victory a certa.

I do not think people in Kaduna state really care about the religion of the candidate. No one ever votes for a deputy. The main candidate always carries the weight.
Kaduna Christians will be okay voting for any Muslim candidate so far the candidate is since to be tolerant towards Christianity.

It is very hard to tell how this election will go, but El rufai seems to be very unpopular with the poor masses and more popular with richer people in the state. I personally think he has failed as a governor because Kaduna has not had functioning street lights in the last 3 years. The roads are also in terrible disrepair. Kaduna has always been lucky to have good governors. El rufai seems to be the odd one out.

The 2019 question is simple. Are the masses in Kaduna suffering from Stockholm syndrome or not. Will they vote based on logic or will they vote for their oppressor.

Buhari's number one failure was his failure to fire government workers. As oil prices fell, the government had few choices, either to protect public or private sector workers. Buhari chose to protect the civil servants. For an entrepreneur to employ a person, they must need the worker, and the worker must benefit the business. On the other hand, the government can use as many people as it can afford to give the money available to pay the workers. This makes it easier for the government to employ workers than the private sector. Yet, for diplomatic reasons, most governments fail to fire workers when they cannot pay them.

The government would rather borrow money, which leads to higher interest rates, devalue the naira by printing more naira, or sell government properties to raise funds to pay workers. All these actions end up destroying the private sector and eventually leading to mass poverty.

What I am trying to say is that the op is making Atiku's point. If you look at the economy during Obasanjo's tenure, more private companies and businesses were opening, and many more Nigerians were getting employed as their government was carrying out the privatisation. Most of the government-owned businesses were running at huge losses and were a drain on national resources.

einsteine:
Your ideas here show a tremendous deal of naivety. The average people eventually suffer excessive taxes. When businesses are forced to close through excessive taxes, the average workers would lose their jobs. I leave you to research what happens when the government "taxes richer people more". They would take their money and leave the country.

The government is at fault, not some "rich people".

I am against high taxes on businesses. I would rather have companies pay as little tax as possible on their revenues. I am, however, for higher income taxes and higher taxes on properties, cars and luxury items. Sorry for not stressing this point in my earlier post. As for Alakija, she should pay a hefty tax on the building based on its total cost, and she should also pay taxes hefty taxes on our oil resources since the oil belongs to Nigeria, and the only value she is adding is in its extraction. If she decides to start a refinery, Nigeria should not only give her tax breaks, as her refinery will be employing a lot of Nigerians but also provide her with as much assistance as it can give her.

I am highly business-friendly and a believer in capitalism. I don't like the cronyism we practice here.

PS.
I just read that an oil tycoon, Abiodun, is running for governor of Ogun state. Are you seeing what I am talking about? How much tax has this Abiodun man been paying? Have you seen the images of his house and his cars? His wealth is primarily from rent-seeking from the government. What do you think he is going to do once he gets elected? Should Nigeria continue like this? Extreme wealth in the presence of extreme poverty. Don't you think a civil war may soon occur?

einsteine:
Companies in Nigeria pay a 2% education tax. Are you not aware? She pays tax. It would be best if you blamed your government, not private individuals.

Funny comment.
Listen to yourself, 2 per cent, and you could even type that out. The elite class and the government are raping Nigeria. We need to find ways to cause friction between them. If not, Nigeria will never move forward. We have the highest number of out of school children, we have the highest number of people living in extreme poverty.

If you have ever been to a public primary school in Europe or America, you will understand that we are getting shafted. Governments everywhere are run on taxation. Why should Nigeria be any different? Oil revenues are to benefit all Nigerians in things like education and healthcare and not pay workers' salaries. We need to move the government to tax wealthier people more, as this will cause a division among them. They ( as in the elite) will be forced to improve our society if we do this, but if we keep looking up to them and do not demand that Nigeria be run like a normal country, things will never work.

Owutuotuo:
Sorry. It's a capitalist system here. You'd do the same if you were in her shoes.

No developed country in the world practices the type of capitalism practised here. Every developed country provides at least quality education for its population, and funding for such education comes mainly from people as rich as Alakija.

Please expose yourself and get a better education. Oops, I forgot, Nigeria doesn't offer you this opportunity.

Poor education is truly Nigeria's biggest problem.

A former fashion designer turned oil tycoon is sinking billions of naira into a building no one needs in a country with a minimum wage of about 50 dollars a month and the highest number of extremely poor people on earth. Yet our youths are shouting "Is it your money?"

If you suggest that the rich should be taxed to pay for education and healthcare, like in other countries, these same illiterate youths who are to benefit from this policy will be the first to complain. I am so confused at the foolishness of my people. You'll think everyone is as rich as Dangote.

I understand that adding up all our federal, state, and local government revenue streams will only equal about 6 per cent of our GDP. This is abysmally low.

When people like me suggest that the government increase taxation, we are not calling for increased taxes on businesses. We would even suggest that the government reduce the tax rates on businesses.

We are saying that the government should increase taxes on luxurious lifestyles like people's houses, cars, watches, gold and other things rich people covet. This will force people with ill-gotten wealth to either invest their funds in businesses in the country, pay higher taxes or move their wealth out of the country. It is way easier to convict someone on money laundering charges than official corruption.

Again, a tax policy will discourage people from accumulating wealth for their children.
.
A sincere government will implement this policy, but unfortunately, Nigeria has never had one.

Nigeria is the country with the highest number of people living in extreme poverty today, not because our people are lazy or are more corrupt than other people, but because the current system allows a few people to take advantage of the rest of us.

Capitalism worldwide is suffering right now because people will always find ways to game the system. Unfortunately, Nigeria happens to practise the worst form of capitalism. In fact, calling this capitalism isn't right. This is Kalo Kalo. The more we look, the more our government confuses us with ways to cheat us.

The op says the Federal government's component of the external debt was about 7 billion dollars and is currently 17 billion, implying an increase of about 142% in 3 years. This explains why the international banks are warning us about our debt levels.

eph12:
Government can borrow enough to repair old roads and build new ones. Heck, they can even form a partnership with some companies to construct roads, and taxes are collected by the companies for several years. I read that it's done everywhere, but the insincerity and small-mindedness exhibited by our leaders won't allow us to see or consider this opportunity. Private companies can construct and maintain roads, and make their money back through toll gates, especially the major roads, while the government can focus on the smaller roads.

We live in a country where contracts are awarded to companies that are either nonexistent, have no previous track record of success or belong to government officials. Some of these contracts still find a way back to the official awarding of the contract as cut back, incentive, appreciation or whatever. When we look at the amount of money budgeted and the work done, we see that we should be getting much more than that for that amount. In this same country where we don't have money, websites have been created for 100+ million, boreholes sank for 100s of millions, and recently the amount it cost the Federal Republic of Nigeria to create a logo. We don't have money, but we spend much more than what other countries spend on the same thing.

Yes, we have one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in the world, and it's justified. Are you comparing our tax with countries that provide everything for you? Do you mean we should be taxed more than what we're taxed so the government can spend millions on designing logos? The citizens of those countries are paying for what they use; what exactly are we paying for?

I don't get your last paragraph. Is the loan supposed to be interest-free before?

I get your point. Why should we pay more when we currently get nothing? I mentioned in my post that the government does not even want to tax people because most people who should pay taxes are directly beneficiaries of the federal government. In my post, I argued for low business taxes but high estate and income taxes. Raising income taxes has a psychological effect on a population. People will start to demand for services. People will be more willing to protest corruption. When the government says it wants to lay off unproductive workers, people will cheer the government.

It takes more than good roads to grow an economy. One of the most significant expenditures developed countries make is providing quality primary and secondary school education to all citizens. Education in Nigeria is atrocious at best.

Nigeria has very high interest rates compared with other countries,, which stifles local productivity. During periods of high oil prices, the naira is relatively stable. Our high local interest rates entice foreigners to bring in dollars to buy government treasury bills/bonds to make a quick return on capital. On the other hand, the government gets more dollars to fund its budgets.

When oil prices fall, foreigners will only borrow from the federal government in US dollars to protect themselves from the erratic naira. If the naira falls further, Nigeria will have to use more to pay off its debts. Even the IMF advised the government to raise taxes rather than seek loans. Bill Gates said the same thing. I don't have all the answers. I know things are not working, and deliberate actions must be taken to move this country forward.

eph12:
Not true. You can borrow to provide those fundamental factors, such as production and tax. It will be much easier this way

Funny comment. You know the factors of production are land, labour, capital, and entrepreneurship. Land involves infrastructures like roads, power, communication, etc. Labour involves well-trained citizens from the primary school level to at least secondary school. Capital involves low interest rates to enable people to fund a business. And finally, entrepreneurship, which is the desire to better oneself.

How much money will the government borrow to provide all these things for its people?

Nigeria has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in the world. There is money in Nigeria, but the problem is that the government refuses to collect taxes. Why should another country tax its citizens to fund another man's country? Does this make any sense? The only way people will provide funds for you is if it will benefit them more.

KINGinVAHALA

I cannot say I know people who lost their jobs, but I can categorically state that Nigerians have gotten much poorer, and I can explain what mistakes President Buhari has made. By the way, my logic is based on sound economics, not simple-mindedness.

First of all, the Nigerian Naira is backed by US dollars. What this means is that the government converts US dollars into Naira to pay its debts.

When oil prices fell, Buhari had many options.

The first was to fire government workers, enabling the government to use the less US dollars it was earning to still pay its remaining workers. The economic negative of this is that fewer people will be able to purchase goods and services, so the economy would still fall into a recession. The positive, however, is that the government would have become more efficient. People in government who actually provide no services to the Nigerian population would have been laid off, saving the government money. Another positive is that Nigeria would not have had to raise fuel prices, and the Naira would not have been depreciated to this level. This strategy would have protected the common man on the street from the direct impact of lower oil prices.

The second option was to raise Taxes on the rich to reduce the amount of Naira in circulation, thus reducing the demand for dollars. This would also provide the federal government with revenue to pay its debts. The second option has similar positives and negatives to the first option.

The option was to devalue the Naira, blame the past government and push the suffering to the Nigerian masses. This was the option he decided to take. He even went as far as borrowing money to pay workers he should have considered firing. Now, we are in debt. For poverty to be reduced, the minimum wage needs to be increased. To increase the minimum wage, Nigeria either needs to earn more money or devalue the Naira further. We are in a circle of pain at the mercy of oil prices. To make matters worse, as oil prices go up, the government must pay more in subsidies to maintain the cost of petrol, or else poverty will only increase.

Atiku is a bad man, but he is talking about privatisation and free market economics. Atiku understands that the one and only path to mass prosperity is free market economics.

EternalTruths:
Forget tax.

The more & diverse goods/services produced for export and to minimize import, the richer a country becomes.

How do you increase productivity without providing infrastructure and funding? This is a Hen and an Egg situation.
Without taxes, you can't provide the essential factors of production.

Rossikki, this is the first time you have written something I wholeheartedly agree with. You have hit the nail on the head. What you may not understand, however, is why our revenues are so low.

You mention diversification as a way to increase revenues, but governments worldwide primarily earn revenues through taxation. Are you calling for an increase in taxation?

Nigeria's problem is steeped in our culture, affecting our political climate. We operate an ideology known as patron-client relationship. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clientelism

Politicians will only want to collect taxes from independent business people and not from their rich proxies. This prevents the government from raising revenues. Nigeria is a give you; you provide me with backcountry, and not a let me work for the people, and God will bless me for my efforts country. By the way, richer countries have low business and high taxes on estates and personal incomes.

Our tribalism and religious crisis are also tied to our culture of clientelism. We only want to help people we believe we can gain from in the future.

In developed countries, the government provides quality primary and secondary school education for all its people. It sees education as an externality, an economic good that benefits everyone in the country, not just the person getting the education. Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, was abandoned by his Syrian father, yet he built a 1 trillion dollar( about 3 times Nigeria's GDP) company. Without quality education, would there have been a Steve Jobs?

Another funny aspect about humans is that we tend not to appreciate things we did not merit. This means that when a person is favoured because of his language, religion, or other reasons apart from effort, such a person is much more likely to fail in his duties.

In summary, Nigeria is in deep shit and would have to pass through a lot of hardship before its people and leaders realise that they need to change their mentality. The government must provide services for all citizens and not a selected few.

Rhetorical question to everyone asking for subsidies to be removed to save the country money and also stop corruption.

When Obasanjo was president, crude sold for about 70 dollars per barrel yet the landing cost was less than 70 naira so the price of a litre of fuel was 75 naira. Today crude oil is around 70 dollars, yet the landing cost of petrol is 200. Why is this the case?

The increase in the landing cost is as a result of the weakening of the naira and not an increase in crude oil prices.

Who is responsible for ensuring our exchange rate remains strong? The Federal government.

If you call for total deregulation, one day Nigerians will buy fuel for 500 naira per litre as a result of further weakening of the naira. Even now, because of this government's incompetence, the naira would need to be further devalued to ensure Nigeria returns to a growth path.

mynairaland2018:
They can't touch their private accounts/property except they are a product of embezzlement of company money. Or were collateral for the loan obtained. These are PLC's. The individuals dt own them have limited liability.

but they can be imprisoned. One way or the other, they must have committed a financial crime. The problem is that in Nigeria, a big man can never go to prison.