Beyond curses and destructive criticism; A public policy analyst and real estate expert’s contribution to Platforms Africa’s “Helping Nigeria to Succeed Series.”
The opinion in this write-up is entirely mine, and it is based on my personal understanding and study. It is STRICTLY for minds that are devoid of bias, election hangover & bitterness. I am not oblivious to the fact that some are hyperventilating out of negative enthusiasm of “their eyes go/don clear”‘ ; for such, this post is not for you but for the open and objective minds.
I supported the present government, and my personal conviction is that supporting a government gives you more reasons to constructively criticize it as well as help proffer solutions to the myriad of problems facing it. I did not support Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 but after his victory, I was responsible enough to concentrate on governance provided by him, enjoy any dividend of democracy provided and move on till the time to be presented with choices in another election. However, it is obvious that some are still in the election mood.
Having said that, this post is about now and not about the past, so let me forge ahead.
The country we have is a unique one where a good chunk of the citizens who love the nation are the average citizens, with the leaders being the albatross to the nation’s progress. Nigeria has enough for the citizens’ needs but not enough for the citizens’ GREED. Have you asked yourself why the rate of our forex keeps plummeting when countries that are seemingly poorer than us (and even produce less) have had a stable rate for ages? I am here to tell you for free that the $ will rise to N5000 if we continue in our ways.
A few problems identified:
1) Leaders & the elites
These sets of people are our friends, and we have all shared in the proceeds of corruption. Can someone share his/her testimony when they visited their big uncle/sister and were given money in dollars, not in naira. You were happy and prayed for the giver. You are part of the problem. The elites and leaders have been amassing this currency for ages, putting strain on the naira. To them, it is a status thing. A lot of these elites have their families domiciled abroad, and they use money earned or stolen here to fund the lifestyles of their family abroad.
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The average hardworking Nigerian has also joined in amassing and stockpiling the dollars. Can you blame him/her? No, you can’t. Nobody likes to see his/her hard earned money being devalued every day.
(2) BANKS
Nigerian banks are the best in the world. They even made money during covid, unlike banks in other parts of the world. Why will they not? From service maintenance charges, ATM card maintenance charges, stamp duty charges, money transfer charges, etc. I have been to a few countries in the world, but out of the few, Nigerian banks are the only ones charging for funds transfer. Someone even joked that if you keep transferring a million naira from a Nigerian bank to another, you will end up with 0 naira after a while. As if this was not enough, dollars that should be sold freely to customers in the bank were warehoused by the banks. They will usually direct you to an Aboki (mallam selling dollars) that will help you out. Dollars they got from CBN at 450 were sold to customers at double price (minimum).
(3) The politicians
Add this factor to the first two, and you have just discovered the reason for 60% (if not more) of the problem. A reputable journalist affirmed that SOME governors convert 25% of their states’ monthly allocation for personal keeps. I cannot argue this as a former governor is in EFCC’s net at the moment for converting the state’s (apologies, I mean the governor’s, since they view it as their personal entitlement, courtesy of former President Obasanjo) security vote to dollars and pocketed it. Imagine what strain this is causing on the naira with the new BOGUS FAAC ALLOCATION in town. Also, do not forget that senators, representatives, SAs, PAs, chairmen of LGs, DAs, treasurers, MDA heads, etc, are not left out.
(4) JAPA
This is really a big challenge, especially with those who take the education route. The minister of Finance reported $ 40 billion was spent on this over the last few years.
(5) Consumption to Production
So many analysts have touted this as a major reason. I agree and disagree. It is one of the reasons, but I do not think it has the effect we attribute to it. Dubai, as an emirate, imports almost all their consumables, and the dirham has been stable for years. We can say they benefit from the oil export from Abu dhabi but what about smaller nations around us (especially the francophone ones) that are also import dependent and poor, their currencies have been stable as well.
(6) DIASPORA
A lot of our people in the diaspora are patriotic and really helping the country with needed forex. However, some are hardened speculators whose stock in trade is to see the naira slide for their personal benefit. They even say to our ears that “the rate should go up soon” and, therefore, will send funds when it is high. Added to this group are the set suffering from election hangover, they would rather see the President (in this case Nigeria) fail than wait for the next election cycle. We have heard how they plan to stifle the economy of forex. This, to my understanding is however a negligible factor.
(7) Domiciliary Policy
The person who legalised the domiciliary account in Nigeria should be hanged, same as the person that legalised dollar sale on the street. Please can you show me a country where dollars are being hawked on the streets like ours? Travel to any Western world (and stable African countries) and request to open a domiciliary account in a currency different from the country’s currency. They will never oblige you. They all protect their currency, but here, the reverse is the case.
SOLUTION
The solutions are not far-fetched when you take a view at the problems. I will mention a few that should be far-reaching.
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(1) Stop giving states extra money, e.g., palliatives fund (their statutory allocation is enough) as we can not see most governors utilizing it judiciously. Focus on agricultural revolution; use the extra money to buy tractors and let us embark on massive mechanized farming.
(2) Expedite action on state police and pending the establishment across states, establish the forest guards unit (you can draft personnel from the military formations) and arm them to the teeth. Security is very vital for the agricultural revolution envisaged.
(3) The most important for me is the ban of all dollar accounts, dollar sales, transactions and possession in the country. Every Forex transaction must go through the bank. All domiciliary accounts should be changed to naira.
(4) The CBN must fiercely monitor banks and axe any bank MD, and the bank found culpable of racketeering. The CBN must always publicize forex released to banks weekly, and the banks must publicize dollars sold to recipients with names published weekly.
(5) Add your own solutions and let us help our nation.
The only person who can veto these (especially numbers 3 & 4) is the president. Can he do this? This will affect him, his friends, and the elite. A friend said he may not even survive it, but my candid opinion is that he either bites the bullet and leaves a legacy or follows the path of the previous. Based on his antecedents to make the difficult decisions, I hope and believe he does the needful.
Sijibomi Adebiyi Benet, a policy analyst, is a member of Platforms Africa forum
