It is easier to destroy the economic lives of Nigerian lives than to build them. Soldiers know this but sometimes they build. President Buhari and VP Osinbajo and their team are re-building the naira. Hurray!!
Our girls are still missing since April 15, 2014. Pray.
It is six weeks to the people’s deadline for budget passage 1-1-2018! Senate: Perform now. Do not fail this exam and Nigeria!!
Nigeria shines at last in World Cup qualifiers preparations. Google the amazingly, Seun Adigun, Akuoma and Ngozi Onwumere Omeoga, American born-successful Nigerian athletes by personal struggle have qualified for the Winter Olympics – Pyeongchang 2018. Remember the Jamaican men’s bobsled team 30 years ago? Urgent Nigerian government and private support, please!! Shame!
NB: Buhari and his economic team know, if you do not, that a stronger naira is the only way to keep fuel prices affordable to Nigerians as the price per barrel goes back up to $62+ even if we refine locally.
The most glaring example of past political failure is the continuous ruining of the currency keeping the citizens impoverished and beggars reducing the fiscal achievement of every family! The continued fall in naira value from N1:$1.5 is the clearest sign that almost all presidents participated in this destruction even as Nigerians suffer under an interest rate rising from 2% to 25% interest rates and dwindling value of quality of life, investments, pensions and savings.
The pension and unpaid salaries is a measureable ‘tragedy yardstick’ of presidential and governors’ historic dishonesty and failure to provide worker’s rights and social safety net. The endless disgraceful rounds of pension verification and nonpayment of salaries would quickly end if politicians were paid last and not first in everything –a sure sign of service. A country’s currency is so easy to kill. In an instant the value can be cut by 50% by scheming and irresponsible actions and massive corruption, but the recovery may never come, especially as those responsible for protecting the naira also have ‘priority 1’ personal fortunes in foreign exchange currencies to protect.
A most successful achievement of this government is the rise in the foreign reserves to over $34b.
This confirms that President Buhari’s unhidden agenda is to make the naira great again. In this he stands against the advice of many ‘devalue, devalue’ easy way out politicians and civil servants mis-explaining to government leaders that a cheaper naira means more naira per dollar to make it easier to pay salaries in naira with fewer earned dollars from oil. They may also add that a cheaper naira makes any dollars held personally abroad, or stolen, spectacularly more valuable in naira –a win-win situation for currency thieves, speculators and of course politicians seeking to exchange acquired dollars for more cheap naira in a coming election!
No one noticed citizens committing suicide when the naira fell, but some die. If the naira rises, huge numbers will automatically be lifted above the poverty index. Also some bankers, speculators and politicians will probably commit suicide, like whenever Wall Street crashes. A cheap naira leads to a fall in ‘real wages’, purchasing power from resultant higher prices and demands for higher salaries to pay for the escalating prices of goods and services like rents, transport and bills.
See also Change Begins with Education, Minister of Education Says
Buhari has seen through this fiscal fog– a smokescreen scam at the highest political levels aimed directly at defrauding Nigerians of their just inheritance and keeping their human value down, letting only those who have foreign exchange flourish. Every salary earner and 2019 political aspirant should study economist Henry Boyo’s ignored advice. Only Buhari is anywhere near achieving what is possible. For his Presidential Naira Protection, PNP, he stands alone among our rulers. He has said that a nation’s currency is its pride even during his first term. This government means to achieve a very firm fiscal foundation before the elections and wise Nigerians should take heed and not squander the gains by wrong election decisions. Good economics does not yield fruit overnight or in one term. The usual dollar inflow pre-election will be an albatross around the corrupt politicians’ necks because they will be forced to sell dollars for N150 or less by then. Amen!!
Everyone knows that Nigeria’s rulers and politicians denied us our birthright of having $100-200b in foreign reserves in CBN guaranteeing $1.5:N1 since the naira was born. Why do we fail to add the income of Babangida’s punishing ‘Gift’ to Nigeria- the extra Monetary Policy Rate component, now 14%, added on to every loan to make Nigeria’s bank loans a punishing 25-30%. Surely any social science faculty can calculate the income of CBN since 1999 to know how much is in CBN from that double income of petro dollars and loan-naira.
Senate: What is the 2018 budget income item from MPR in 2018? The best thing for the naira this for this government is to aim for $50-70b in foreign reserves to create a ‘foreign currency crash’ to N120-150:$1 and better – an effort at achieving Goal 1 of the Sustainable Development Goals –the eradication of poverty. A reversal to N120 ASAP backed up by $50-$100b in reserves by 2023 will create a salary buying power increase. As the naira fell quickly, so can it resurrect! Sell your dollars now OOO!!!!
See also Salaries of Political Officials and the Way Forward for Nigerians
