By Oni Gbolabo
1. Appreciation and
depreciation of currency are not related to race or colour. It isn't who the
President either; be he Hausa ,Igbo, or Yoruba. It is basically about the
production of goods and services and the demand of your products in the world
market. A confused country that produces almost next to nothing will never meet
up. Policies only control your currency,
not the value of other countries' currencies against yours.
2. A country where over 500
industries died within 30 years must be stupid to complain of depreciation of
her currency. We keep killing local industries and expect policies to make it
up. It's a joke, sir. Don't use China as an example of depreciating currencies
and a strong economy. China produces and may attract more export with that
strategy, unlike Nigeria, which produces nothing.
3. A country where someone made
away with $ 2+ billion simply to be shared is already a doomed one in terms of
monetary policy and value. A country that produces a Dizeani and a Bafarawa ,
who spent billions to appease demons. Those money without economic value is an
economic waste, and poison is injected into the system.
4. A country that favours
importation over local production is doomed because it creates employment for
other countries while sacking her own
citizens. Some people are working in Michelin and Dunlop somewhere, yet we use
the tyre here. Don't tell me about the principle of comparative advantage here;
it's not applicable.
5. A country that exports all
raw materials without adding value to them, is shameless to talk of
depreciation of her currency, and will
later re-import finished products of those materials, is the peak of daftness.
A bag of cocoa will go for, like N1 million naira, but when it is processed,
its worth is around N7 million. Even
farmers who produced the raw cocoa can't buy the end product....chocolate!!
6. A country that deliberately
operates a banking system that gives loans to importers at the expense of local
industries is doomed and should say nothing about depreciation. Most of the
loans are given to senators and representatives, not industrialists.
7. A country that gives loans
in billions to the agric sector without monitoring & evaluation of such
loan on how it gets to the real farmers is a sham. A guy collected over N2
billion agric loan, he bought a jeep, built a nice house, and used the rest to
import processed pork. Meanwhile, local pork farmers are dying here. Is that
not double tragedy, stressing forex, and at the same time killing local
industries.?
8. A country that spends more
on few privileged politicians at the cost of the populace who are unemployed
should not talk about money depreciation. A country that keeps paying NNPC
staff N10 billion as salaries every month, when a single drop of petroleum products
was not processed ,should shut up about depreciation of currency. The only
value-added product to the system is rising crime and criminality !!
9. A country where it is
difficult for investors to register businesses because of the demand for bribes
by government officials. Right from the airport to the hotel; to the ministers
and to governors, investors will bribe. All these are part of the cost of
investment. A friend brought an investor on estate development just for the
state Commissioner for Lands to demand 30% of the investment ! To see the
governor in a state will cost you N2 million as a bribe before you can be
scheduled. This is a state as poor as anything.
10. A country where the cost of
travelling for treatment abroad by government officials will build world-class
hospitals and should not talk about naira against dollar parity. Money taken on
that trip is part of stress on forex. Same as forex spent on pilgrimage. Let
religion fanatics keep off me here. Without going to Mecca or Jerusalem, you
can still make heaven. Yes! You waste forex on pilgrimage and later
talk rubbish about forex. Pilgrims
get dollars for N160 while industries get it for N350 ! Is that not crazy
?
11. A country where a
few people have access to
federal reserves, and those few can get loans,
not because of what they can produce but the connection they have... Is
that country not doomed already?
12. A country where we import
what we produce because it's "cheaper" to do so is doomed.
13. A country that has arable
land and teeming idle youths but still complains of hunger should not talk
about currency depreciation. It's not only annoying but nauseating.
14. A country where free money
flows can never control inflow and outflow of forex. Imagine someone who wants
to hide his loot and went to "Aboki," the forex dealer , to buy
dollars worth $50 million just to hide it in the basement of his house. That
money has no economic value , yet it deprives those companies that needed it to
import raw material. The same companies go to "Aboki " to buy the
hard currency at exorbitant price.
15. A country where a strong
bank owner can influence shares from within the Stock Exchange floor to inflate
their shares' worth from N20 to N150, crash the same share to N30 and ready to
buy it back at N28, all within a year. Forget it. The currency will never be appreciated
in such an economy.
16. A country where banks are
involved in round-tripping and inflated cost to siphon money is doomed. A company wants to import caterpillar worth
$50,000. A bank made the forex for such imports $550,000. Meanwhile, no
caterpillar was imported at last, yet the money faded into private accounts.
Who strained the forex exchange rate in that case?
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