The CBN governor Mr. Godwin Emefiele's has absolve himself of any
complicity or incompetence for the way country's currency has fallen
which has seen prices of goods sky rocketed in the market.
Godwin Emefiele stated this after many Nigerians have alleged him for
incompetence and has urged President Buhari to remove him with
immediate effect.
SOURCE:-Oluniyi Hisamotu | Topup9ja Staff
However the apex bank governor has said he is not to blame for the
higher exchange rate between dollar and the naira but rather the lack
of investing in Nigeria products by Nigerians.
He quipped "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."
He continued "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 payback time and Emefiele is not your
problem. Time for us all to
look in the mirror and take responsibility" he concluded.
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