₦airaland Forum

nobaga:
Economic Blackmail By Foreigners And Their Protegees



http://newsrescue.com/economic-blackmail-by-foreigners-and-their-protegees-by-farouk-martins-aresa/#axzz44Esly7jb

The truth is that we are operating in a global economy. Our major source of foreign exchange is oil which is subjected to a lot of geo political considerations most of which are beyond our sphere of influence. To meet up with the advancement in technology and infrastructural development we need a lot of foreign direct investment (not portfolio investors) who will be willing to stay for the medium to long term. Business is not based on nationalistic sentiments, money will always flow in the area of stability and security.

While we can blame past administrations for opportunities lost and mistakes made, we need to steer our way through based on logical and rational decisions devoid of sentiments. Let the present administration rise to the challenge and take bold decisions. Just like the surgeon who takes make or mar decisions that affect the life and destiny of people, duty beckon on PMB

GOD help us all

bolabiyi:
BSITL..holidays are over..which bus r u guys eyeing? biko, Let's guide ourselves..trying to reboot my brain..

Omo na the new BRT fully air buses ni o

The TSA =N=3 trillion war chest in itself will not solve the issue. The major challenge facing the economy is the issue of forex supply. The TSA money is denominated in naira, which is not easily convertible to forex. If the TSA 'war chest' is let loose in the economy, its glaring that the inflation rate will be on the increase and CBN will use its monetary policy tools to mop up not less than half of the money.

Another thot is that if truly the Govt sees the TSA funds as a war chest, it will be advisable for the Govt to reduce the tax burden on people. Reduce CIT and VAT, increase then tax-free threshold and grant interest free loans to critical sectors of the economy.

betcindy:
Ucap will appreciate to 2.50 next week Friday . Not a buy rec anyway

Hmmm. No deceive yourself. No way is dat possible

jauntty:
I bought at 1.99.... NSE is unpredictable, you might just be in for a surprise

I bought some Ucap shares at 1.98 today

On its part, APC said day that the pump price of a litre of petrol should not exceed N70.

The party also accused the federal government of deception by its so-called fuel price reduction, saying a 10.3 per cent slash in the price of petrol was tokenism at a time the price of crude oil had crashed by about 60 per cent.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the pump price of a litre of fuel should not be more than N70, adding that the government was forcing Nigerians to subsidise the massive corruption in the oil sector by N17 for every litre of fuel.

“When crude oil was selling at $100 per barrel, the landing cost of PMS without subsidy was N125 a litre. Now that the oil price has crashed to about $44 per barrel (sic), the landing cost without subsidy is about N65 per litre.

“The same goes for diesel which should not sell for more than N90 per litre,” it said.

APC noted that while governments of countries, which are not as economically endowed as Nigeria had reduced the pump price of fuel as far back as early January 2015, Nigeria which is the world’s sixth largest producer of oil, is just announcing a price slash that is far below those countries.

“Early this year, Zambia slashed the price of petrol by 23 per cent while Tanzania reduced the pump price of the product by 16%. In the US, which until recently was importing crude oil from Nigeria, the price of fuel has fallen for 113 consecutive days as of January 16.

“Therefore, the 10.3% price slash in Nigeria is too meagre, too late,” the party said.

It blamed the government’s delay in slashing the price of imported petroleum products following the crash in crude oil prices on massive corruption in the oil sector and lack of political will on the part of the country's leadership.

“With Nigeria depending on importation of petroleum products to meet about 90% of its domestic consumption, the country is relying heavily on term contracts entered into with petroleum product trading companies to meet its domestic demand.

“It is possible that the petroleum products pricing formulas embedded in these contracts, which generally run for up to one-and-a-half years and in some cases two years, have not anticipated these low prices.

“Therefore, unless the government moves to renegotiate the contracts now, it may not reap the full benefits of the decline in petroleum prices. But here is the catch: Since the government and its agents have skimmed off huge ‘commissions’ from the firms with which the term contracts were signed, it could not possibly go back and renegotiate those contracts or go into new forward contracts that will reflect the current reduction in crude oil prices.

“It takes a strong willed, determined and transparent leadership to immediately call in the petroleum products contracts for re-negotiations, as this will represent a huge blow on corruption in the sector since clearly ‘commissions’ would have been paid by petroleum product traders on the existing contracts.

“This explains the token reduction in the fuel price, which the government must have hoped will fool an unsuspecting public, especially a few weeks to elections,” APC said.

The party also wondered why the PDP-led federal government had to wait for a widely publicised call by its presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, and some other concerned Nigerians before doing what the government of other countries in Africa and elsewhere around the world had already done.

It called on the federal government to immediately slash the price of petrol to N70 a litre and the prices of diesel and kerosene (the official price of kerosene in N50 a litre) to nothing more than N90 a litre respectively, and stop stealing from Nigerians, who have been pauperised by its bad record of governance since 1999.
APC’s call for a further reduction in the official price of petrol was supported by the labour movement, which at the same time lauded the federal government for cutting the price to N87 a litre in the first instance.

http://www.codewit.com/nigeria-news/23270-nigeria-mixed-reactions-trail-reduction-of-petrol-price

How time changes. Hope Petrol price will reduce by March ending

jp130:
HAHA,

Before u will see sale order the price will be over 2.10NAIRA

If na u get the share with a robiust dividend payout, u no go sell o

ufotty2001:
how much will ucap give to u..

Check their dividend payout. Far better than banks

ufotty2001:
enjoy those not in ucap may be too late... because nobody willingly to sell..

Any one want buy my UCAP shares for =N=3.00 I FIT SELL 30000 units for am

go....

going....

wizdonnel:
With this kind of analysis, one would simply expect Afriprud with a cool 43k dividend to have hit 4.00 by now instead of 3.30 today.

Sentiments also play a role in pricing together with issue of uncertainties

ufotty2001:
please guy explain it ... i cant download it.. is it profit warning

Its on the appointment of an independent director

ufotty2001:
dividend

The bank had already paid interim dividend , so the final dividend will be 1.52 naira, which when taken against the market price is about 9.2%, but if you compare that of UBA 40K dividend, which when taken against the market price gives a yield of about 10.7%. So expect the price of GTB to go down and that of UBA to rise. Indeed i expect GTB price to go to b2w 15.50 and 16.00

[quote author=ufotty2001 post=43789983]why is gtb not going up as we thought[/quote

why should it?

The staff stays in Ogba area n works on the mainland, that's why the driver should be around ojodu, ogba n ifako

emmavis4u0052:
Can someone dat drive only automatic apply ?

Both manual and automatic

A driver is needed for employment next month. The person is to be employed by a company for its staff. Starting salary is b2w 30 and 35k per month. In addition there is a 10k extra. Overtime will be paid. The person, who must be a male, is to be aged between 25 and 30 years. Preferably Single. Working days is normally Mon to Fri. Applicant must have SSCE and current valid drivers licence. Send mail to tunde_adeyikanmi@yahoo.com or call 07051926813.

Olarewajub:
Please i want to upgrade to Windows 10, but don't know whether the battery consumption problem has been resolved

What issues if I may ask, as my laptop didnt have battery issues when I upgraded from Win 8.1 to Win 10

Anasko:
http://leadership.ng/news/505683/excitement-borno-troops-reclaim-gudumbari

While appreciative of our gallant armed forces of the recapture of the town, it means that up till now there are some areas under the control of the BokoHaram group. That is food for thot for our dear Minister for Information and Culture. Lets be sincere and open in how we treat the issue of the Boko Haram

seunmsg:
SOME officials of the International Monetary Fund recently consulted with relevant government agencies to assess the economic impact of the crash in oil revenue and the planned responses for addressing the ‘’near-term vulnerabilities’’ and those fundamental reforms required to sustain inclusive economic growth and reduce poverty.

The team’s recommendations reflect the self-evident need for reforms, which would improve fiscal discipline and reduce imbalance between our export and import values. Also, the report of February 24 re-echoed the need to broaden the tax base and implement measures to boost the ratio of non oil revenue to Gross Domestic Product.

The IMF advised that sustained private sector-driven growth requires a competitive economy, which can evolve with an exchange rate policy that is allowed “to reflect market forces”. It recommended that ‘’restrictions on access to foreign exchange” should be removed.



Although the IMF acknowledges that the Central Bank of Nigeria “lately eased monetary conditions”, the team, however, observes that there is still a ‘’need to ensure a strong and resilient financial sector that can support private sector investment across production segments (including SMEs) at reasonable funding cost’’, these recommendations simply repeat the same old self-evident prescriptions without defining the appropriate supportive medium that would guarantee a cure. For example, if you have not identified the antidote to the poison of systemic surplus naira, how can you restrain inflation and bring down the cost of funds from a clearly prohibitive 20 per cent plus to ‘’more reasonable’’ and supportive 4 -7 per cent interest rate levels that would facilitate industrial consolidation and rapid job creation.

Surprisingly, the IMF report inexplicably shifts attention from the albatross of ‘liquidity surplus’ that undeniably fuels inflation well beyond best practice models below two per cent. Or is there an unwritten law that countries like Nigeria must not also enjoy minimal inflation and truly catalytic low interest rates below six per cent to facilitate inclusive economic growth? Surely, it is not so difficult to understand that all static income earners, particularly, pensioners and other lowly paid workers will expectedly lose 50 per cent of the purchasing value of their income every five years, if inflation continuously trends closer to double digit rate.

Indeed, if the IMF team sincerely expects sustainable inclusive growth for Nigeria, there is no way they would have failed to examine the persistent cause of the systemic surplus naira, which forces the CBN to regularly commit to reckless. Some would say fraudulent, financial mismanagement to fight inflation when it compulsively sets out to restrain borrowing and consumer demand by marginally reducing the persistent irrepressible liquidity challenge, with unreasonably high interest paid on funds which CBN borrows and simply stores as sterile and idle deposits.

Not surprisingly, the banks earn over N500 billion annually from this scam!

Similarly, it is the same threat of inflation that instigates the CBN’s self-flagellating double digit Monetary Policy Rates in place of more supportive rates below two per cent adopted by Monetary Authorities in disciplined and more successful economies.

Instructively, however, if IMF’s recommendation for the ‘’removal of restrictions on access to foreign exchange’’ was adopted, the naira exchange would have since plummeted below N1000 per one dollar with serious economic and social consequences. In such event, the World Bank would step up to advance Nigeria,a dollar denominated loan, with shylock terms, to defend the naira. Regrettably, the Nigerian economy would ultimately unravel and the naira rate will unfortunately track the Ghana cedi, which eventually exchanged for over 10,000 cedi to one dollar with no respite in sight.

Nevertheless, the IMF’s recommendation that the exchange rate should be allowed ‘to reflect market forces’ may seem credible and progressive. The reality, however, is that the naira rate will continue to have absolutely no chance against the dollar if the money market remains deliberately skewed, as it is, with persistently surplus naira liquidity against rationed dollar auctions. The CBN’s monopolistic dollar auctions to banks is certainly not commercial best practice and unfortunately, deliberately provides wide latitude for forex market malpractices in banks.

It is inconceivable that the counterproductive impact of the CBN’s stranglehold on forex supply escaped the notice of the IMF team, despite their advocated faith in competitive market forces for economic growth. Clearly, if the CBN retains its distortional monopoly of dollar supply, serial naira devaluation will, as usual, become inevitable, and ultimately not even a steady rise in crude prices will save us. After all, the naira rate inexplicably remained between ‘weak and static’ even when reserves bountifully approached $60 billion when the oil market was fortuitously very buoyant for several years.

Devaluation does not hold any promise for Nigeria other than the obviously misguided and unrealistic expectation that matching official with parallel market exchange rates will attract foreign investors or ensure competitiveness of the Nigerian economy. Conversely, naira devaluation from 0-50kobo before 1979 to the present N310 to one dollar did not attract much more than about $20 billion in foreign investments, that is a paltry annual average of $540 million. Worse still, foreign investors were ‘smart’ enough to invest primarily in economically and minimally impactful but high-yielding Nigerian government’s bills and bonds!

The unusually wide gap between the official and parallel naira rates may have intuitively engendered the observation that Nigeria’s economy will only become competitive if the naira is devalued and brought closer to the street market rate. Instructively, however, despite series of naira devaluation, Nigeria’s economy remains neither diversified nor internationally competitive. Maybe, as suggested, a further devaluation to N300 per one dollar may just change our fortunes. But, such an expectation must be predicated on the parallel market rate remaining stable. Consequently, if the root cause of the deliberate market imbalance against the naira is not squarely addressed, while the street market rate continues to climb, the call for further devaluation beyond N300 to one dollar will again become clarion from misguided and self-serving experts.

Fortunately, President Buhari is not fooled by the false promises canvassed by advocates of devaluation. The President is sharply aware that the intensity of deepening poverty in Nigeria correlates with the naira’s steady depreciation, even with bountiful reserves.

Buhari certainly recognises that devaluation instigated and has sustained our economy’s debilitating brain drain and the mass migration of our youths to greener pastures.

Besides, another major devaluation will only precipitate Labour’s agitation for wage increases, while pension incomes will invariably gradually become valueless. Furthermore, the inflationary spiral instigated by a major devaluation will further reduce consumer demand and adversely affect investment decisions, with collateral damage for job creation; increased raw material costs and high cost of funds will similarly make imports cheaper than Nigerian products.

Additionally, Nigerian holders (including government) of dollar denominated loans may require 50 per cent more naira to service and repay their debts, while the increased cost of critical plant and equipment will adversely challenge the implementation of the capital budget and may further deepen the projected over 30 percent 2016 budget deficit. Invariably, the operations of critical subsectors such as power, aviation, oil and gas will also be severely challenged if the Naira suffers further devaluation.

If the dollar sells officially for N300 to one dollar and above, fuel price will spiral beyond N130 per litre and make deregulation and the saving of over N1trillion annual fuel subsidy impossible. Sadly, Nigeria’s celebrated Gross Domestic Product of $510 billion will invariably also shrink below $300 billion, while the current stock market capitalisation of about $42 billion will similarly recede below $25 billion and make the market vulnerable to an easy take over by foreign portfolio investors. In short, poverty will deepen nationwide.

In the above circumstances, Buhari must be encouraged to resist further devaluation and save the naira by finding an antidote to the poison of Excess Liquidity.

http://www.punchng.com/devaluation-imf-versus-buhari/

I sincerely appreciate the article, I believe we are between two 'evils' - devaluation or status quo. To me, there is no one way solution to this matter. We should recognise that we have a low manufacturing/industrial base, we are a highly import dependent country (even depending on imported PMS) and finally the price of our main foreign exchange earner is not subject to our control with short/medium term projections indicating a price of between US$30 to 35 per barrel (making a 15% short of our 2016 oil receipt estimate assuming production/exportation targets are attained.)
so the way forward
1. Govt should drastically reduce its high spending (Leadership is by example)
2. Appropriate fiscal policies need to be put in place, with milestone goals to reduce our reliance on rice sugar and wheat imports (within the next one year)
3. diversification of electric power supply source from oil and gas
4. Part privatisation of NNPC n outright sale of our refineries subject to a transparent and open bidding together process
5. Infrastructural development together with a massive agricultural programme
The proposed summit on the economy should be open to all and closed to none
Ultimately we will weather the storm

GOD bless Nigeria

tuale4u:
Those promises were made at $100 dollar oil. Not realistic at $30 dollar oil. Leadership must evaluate its decisions at every moments.
Kudos PMB. Yes it is a failed promise. But it is better to make d right decision even though it may lead to failed promises. Even though oil price have started falling during the election, it was still above $60 then which is twice what it is today.

This post is not to defend PMB. This post is to support him for making the right decision. I never agree to the 5000 naira stipend to unemployed graduate. It would have be a waste. But 5000 naira for the most vunerable 1million nigerians (Mostly widows and physically challenge) is welcome if we can fund it. 5k to unemployed graduate is a no no no.

PMB did not deny the promise was made despite the fact that he never personally made d promise. He is only saying on his scale of preference, that is not among top priority. PMB is a firm and sincere leader. He speak his mind straight up. No president in the world including United State of America, have ever succeeded in fulfilling all campaign promises.

At every point in time, a leader must evaluate what he consider most important to d nation and make a bold decision. Leadership is dynamic. It is better to be criticise for not achieving a campaign promise than implementing a promise that is unrealistic just to save face. Even if it means losing the next election,or losing popularity, a leader must put the country first.

The funny thing is dat those wailers who never supported the idea, who said it will promote laziness, will still be the one to condemn and criticise him for not prioritising it instead of commending him for doing d needful.

I am living in governance mode. I dont care about what campaign promise were. I only care about good governance. Any campaign promise that is not realistic today can go to hell. For those who cares so much about campaign promises, you can use ur PVC in 2019 and vote what u want.For those who claim Buhari won the election because of 5000 naira stipend for unemployed are not saying the truth. More than 99% of people who voted for Buhari voted for him because he was seen as much better to fight corruption and boko haram. Not because he promised 5000 naira. I am not even sure he got 100 votes because of the 5000 naira stipend promise.

For that primary reason of fighting corruption and Boko haram, he may not have done it perfectly, but he is clearly better than GEJ. And he was voted because he was considered better in fighting it than GEJ and not because he will be able to fight it perfectly. That is progress, Reduction of negative is positive. For that, he has fulfilled his top two campaign promises.

Leadership is about optimising available resources for the best of the country. Not wasting it on project in order to look good and save face

While I appreciate the fact that present administration is facing a deluge of inherited problems, the truth is that the 5k stipend was used as a campaign strategy even when it was glaring that the price of oil will continue to decline.

The APC should have known better when the promise was made. Yes Nigerians wanted a change, we want a change based on realistic projections and not wild wishes

In conclusion, I also expected that such a major pronouncement like that should be made in Nigeria. Let our President speak to us here in Nigeria and not from outside the country.

This na superlative super. Wonderful. I doff my hat

MeloGist:
Ooni of Ife, Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi Ojaja ll, who was appointed as the new Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), by President Buhari, was present at the Tertiary Institution's 45th convocation ceremony and was also officially sworn in as the new chancellor.

http://www.melogist.com/ooni-of-ife-sworn-in-as-the-chancellor-of-the-university-of-nigeria-nsukka/

I believe that a Chancellor of a university is installed not sworn in

Josh121:
What do you need dollars for that you can get it in Nigeria ?
Start thinking about Naira and stop thinking about dollar

We need dollars o. Let's not deceive ourselves.

What do you need dollars for that you can get it in Nigeria ?
Start thinking about Naira and stop thinking about dollar[/quote]There are many legitimate and necessary needs for foreign currency if not the Govt itself will not be seeking foreign loans, abi na Naira those countries or bodies go give us.

Springz:
Is the windows 10 compatible with other anti virus software other than the Windows defender?

Yes I use Kapersky 2016

I am surprised at the learned Professor's comments. Violence took place in other parts of the nation before during n after elections. Many lives n properties were lost in those areas. Therefore by the professor's comments, it means many elected officials in the country climbed in over dead bodies.

From my reading of the daily telegraph PMB never used the word criminal but it can be inferred from the way the paper headlined the interview


The lesson here PMB should talk more to Nigerians in Nigeria. Grant more interviews to Nigerian media.

Nigerians' reputation for crime has made them unwelcome in Britain, says country's president
Muhammadu Buhari tells Telegraph that too many Nigerians are in jail abroad - and that they shouldn't try to claim asylum

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari Photo: Paul Grover/The Telegraph
By Colin Freeman, Chief foreign correspondent7:44PM GMT 05 Feb 2016Follow Comments
Nigeria's president has warned his fellow citizens to stop trying to make asylum claims in Britain, saying that their reputation for criminality has made it hard for them to be "accepted" abroad.
Muhammadu Buhari, the tough ex-general elected last year, said those who had joined the migrant exodus to Europe were doing so purely for economic reasons rather than because they were in danger.
He added that because of the number of Nigerians imprisoned for law-breaking in Britain and elsewhere, they were also unlikely to get much sympathy.
• Telegraph interview with President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria - full Q&A
"Some Nigerians claim is that life is too difficult back home, but they have also made it difficult for Europeans and Americans to accept them because of the number of Nigerians in prisons all over the world accused of drug trafficking or human trafficking," he told The Telegraph.
"I don't think Nigerians have anybody to blame. They can remain at home, where their services are required to rebuild the country."

While the Minister of State Petroleum correctly said that the Govt paid no subsidy in January, he forgot to add that Nigerians are paying petrol tax of about 9 naira per litre

As per PPPRA website, the total cost of a litre of PMS with all margins included is 76.9 naira and we pay 86.5/86 naira

http://pppra.gov.ng/pricing-template-pms-2/

A thot just came into me. I may be wrong though. While the FG in its 2016 budget proposals in the NASS has no provision for oil subsidy I think the subsidy is still on albeit in another way
By pegging the Naira / dollar rate at about 197-199, the FG is ensuring that petrol price is kept low. If the CBN/FG allow the naira/dollat go to about 240, it means invariably the price of PMS will increase (our refineries are virtually on shut down) to about 100 naira.
So by not yielding to pressure to devalue the naira, Govt is indirectly subsidising the price of PMS

As I said just a thot

Over to you guys

In the interest of the public and as a sign of good faith with the Nigerian Populace, let the budget office or Federal Ministry of Finance or NASS upload IMMEDIATELY the 2016 Budget proposals and its entire breakdown on their website. That will tell us that there is no missing budget #uploadourbudget

In the interest of the public and as a sign of good faith with the Nigerian Populace, let the budget office or Federal Ministry of Finance or NASS upload IMMEDIATELY the 2016 Budget proposals and its entire breakdown on their website. That will tell us that there is no missing budget #uploadourbudget