Months after President Muhammadu Buhari initiated various policies to address the country’s economic challenges, the pains they were meant to address have continued to linger, FISAYO FALODI writes
The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari raised the hope of Nigerians when it was inaugurated on May 29, 2015. Buhari had told expectant citizens that he was set to put in place purposeful policies meant to tackle the economic challenges ravaging the country.The President, who had said that Nigerians had no reason to be suffering because of the abundant natural resources available in the country, blamed the anguish on the maladministration of previous governments, especially the 16-year Peoples Democratic Party-led administration, unleashed on the citizens.So, not long after the new All Progressives Congress-led government was inaugurated, Buhari rolled out various policies aimed at assuaging the citizens’ pains. He also emphasised the need to shift the nation’s focus from the dwindling oil price to agriculture and solid minerals as sources of revenue to breathe life into the moribund economy.
The President, therefore, started with the implementation of the Treasury Single Account to provide for proper monitoring of government receipt and expenditure, as well as block most, if not all the leakages that have been the bane of the growth of the economy.The implementation of TSA was said to be a critical step towards curbing corruption in public finance and to ensure adequate fund flow that would be channelled to the key sectors of the economy to catalyse development, including raising the people’s standard of living. The maintenance of the TSA was also expected to ensure proper cash management by eliminating idle funds usually left with different commercial banks and in a way, enhance reconciliation of revenue collection and payment.Also, Buhari introduced a flexible foreign exchange policy aimed at boosting foreign exchange supply and radically increasing its exports and productivity, as well as improving the investment climate and ease of doing business in the country.To ensure the effectiveness of the policy, the Buhari-led government included certain goods and services on the list of items not valid for foreign exchange in the Nigerian Forex market. Some of the affected goods are rice, cement, margarine, palm kernel/Palm oil products/vegetable oils, meat and processed meat products, vegetables and processed vegetable products, poultry chicken, eggs, turkey, private airplanes/jets, Indian incense, tinned fish in sauce(Geisha)/sardines, cold rolled steel sheets, galvanized steel sheets, roofing sheets, wheelbarrows, head pans, metal boxes and containers.The reason for this action, according to a letter signed on June 23, 2015, by Director, Trade and Exchange Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Olakanmi Gbadamosi, is to encourage local production of such items as well as boost employment generation.But despite this measure, the country’s business environment has continued to record hardship, leading many manufacturing firms to shut down with its attendant loss of jobs and hunger.A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, and a former Minister of Education and social critic, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, had attributed the collapse of the manufacturing firms to what they described as Buhari’s unfavourable economic policies.Sanusi was of the opinion that Buhari risked exacerbating the country’s economic woes and undermining his government’s achievements on security and corruption by endorsing exchange rate policies that were doomed to fail.Sanusi said he was disappointed to see Buhari’s strong security and anti-corruption efforts overshadowed by a monetary policy regime with “very obvious drawbacks that far outweigh its dubious benefits.”According to him, the President’s economic policies have been tried in different parts of the world and in Nigeria before and they did not work.He had said, “Unfortunately, because the exchange rate is right out there in front now, monetary policy is being seen as the barometer for broader economic thinking. It is sad that on this policy, you get it so wrong that you risk taking away attention from everything else you are doing.“Exporters and investors are holding on to foreign currency, as no one would sell at the rate the government is setting, while the government does not have the reserves to keep the exchange rate at its official level in the market.”Ezekwesili did not only say the policies were archaic and unclear, she said they were also encouraging massive corruption, abuse of power and ultimately hurting the poor they were intended to help.According to her, Buhari’s economic policies are similar to those the President initiated during the military regime he led in the 1980s.She had said, “During that era, inflation spiralled. During that era, jobs were lost. During that era, the economic growth level dipped. That era wasn’t the best of era in economic progress. What did not work in 1984 cannot possibly be a solution in a global economy that’s much more integrated.“In over one year, the President is still holding on to the premise that command and control is the only way out. In a year, we have lost the single digit inflation status we maintained in past administrations.”Like Sanusi, the ex-minister said the President’s “distortion of foreign exchange system has left the poor it was intended to support even worse off.”The President, however, absolved his administration of the blame. He attributed the crisis partly to the global downturn and the failure of past governments to save for the rainy day. He, however, said his administration was committed to reflating the economy for the purpose of improving the standard of living.But some analysts asked the President to think deeper if he really wanted to assuage the citizens’ pains.The General Superintendent, The Holy Spirit Mission Church, Lagos, and a social commentator, Bishop Charles Ighele, who appraised Buhari’s economic policies on the basis of prosperity they have brought to the citizens, stressed the need for the President to think deeper or hire people who could think for him because the economic crisis was not spiritual.Ighele asked, “Has the TSA brought prosperity to Nigerians? No. Have the forex policies brought any prosperity to Nigerians? No. Instead, Nigerians have been suffering, the type never seen. There is a drastic decline in economic activities and a runaway inflation that has also made the price of locally made foodstuff such as garri to rise beyond the reach of a minimum wage earner.“I learnt that a huge sum of the money from TSA is in the vaults of the Central Bank of Nigeria. It should not be so. This money and others that are almost idle should be returned to commercial banks. The banks should then be forced to lend out the money to old and new entrepreneurs in the productive sectors of the economy at interest rates not above five per cent.“Since the wealth of nations is determined by how they maximally utilise labour, land, capital and the entrepreneurial force, a new entrepreneurial class should be massively mobilised. This will give birth to massive economic activities spread from the poorest class to the upper class. Since a large percentage of our people are involved in agriculture, a lending policy that can enable millions of poor farmers to acquire loans and continuous agricultural education will boost economic activities and earn foreign exchange, especially when the products are processed.“Only prayers cannot solve this man-made problem. God gave Adam a spirit and a brain. God did not tell Adam to pray about the names he should name all animals on earth. God told him to task his brain.“Adam did so and he intelligently named all animals by the names we call them till date. Nigerians should think. Buhari should think. But if he is not a great innovative thinker, he should hire or borrow brains that will think for him. He does not need to know everything. That is what some leaders do.”A public affairs analyst, Mr. Victor Ihoyo, said while it might be plausible to claim that Buhari became President at the time oil price had been nose-diving, he disagreed with the President’s repeated assertion that the country’s economic crisis became worse because the former PDP-led government did not save for the rainy day.He said, “The role of a leader is to solve problems and not to play the blame game. Buhari’s government came in with a lot of goodwill and rather than take advantage of the opportunity, it squandered it.“Today, economic management has gone scientific. Therefore, a lot of dexterity is required to make any meaningful progress that will impact on the citizenry. The various economic policies of this government are either unimplementable or ill timed. Like the TSA, the banking sector was not ready for one fell swoop implementation of the policy. Hence, the adverse effects on both the banks and the larger economy. We witnessed massive job cuts in the banks and zero lending to those who need funds for business activities.“The current forex regime has further exposed this government’s ineptitude in economic management. If you just wake up one morning and tell a manufacturer, ”˜Stop importing so and so items and start producing locally’, the question now is “what did you put in place to ameliorate the transition?“Looking at this government, one won’t be wrong to say that the managers of our economy are poorly equipped. Unlike the previous administrations, where good materials were sourced from across the world to make up the economic team, one can hardly point to one of such persons in this government.“I dare say that hunger will continue to be here with us as long as we continue to buy a dollar at over N400. The rate of inflation in the last 15 months is over 300 per cent in some cases. Unless there are urgent reviews of the policies to be job creation friendly, gloomier days are ahead.“This is not the first time crude has sold for below $50 or the first time we are selling less than 2 million barrels per day. Therefore, there is no justification whatsoever to have allowed things get to this level. The previous government at one time or the other also faced challenges, but it didn’t allow Nigerians to suffocate to death.“As long as this government keeps blaming its predecessor for its failure, coming out of this mess will be the miracle of the decade.”But a political scientist, Mr. Bodunde Oladele, said though he expected Buhari to stagger at the early stage of his administration, the President ought to have added speed to the implementation of his policies after he had gained momentum.Oladele, therefore, urged the President to take diversification of the economy seriously so that the positive effects could begin to manifest as from the middle of 2017.He said, “If by the middle of 2017, there are no positive developments in the country, especially in the areas of agriculture and solid minerals, then those who have yet to be disappointed in the government will begin to be worried.”
The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari raised the hope of Nigerians when it was inaugurated on May 29, 2015. Buhari had told expectant citizens that he was set to put in place purposeful policies meant to tackle the economic challenges ravaging the country.The President, who had said that Nigerians had no reason to be suffering because of the abundant natural resources available in the country, blamed the anguish on the maladministration of previous governments, especially the 16-year Peoples Democratic Party-led administration, unleashed on the citizens.So, not long after the new All Progressives Congress-led government was inaugurated, Buhari rolled out various policies aimed at assuaging the citizens’ pains. He also emphasised the need to shift the nation’s focus from the dwindling oil price to agriculture and solid minerals as sources of revenue to breathe life into the moribund economy.
The President, therefore, started with the implementation of the Treasury Single Account to provide for proper monitoring of government receipt and expenditure, as well as block most, if not all the leakages that have been the bane of the growth of the economy.The implementation of TSA was said to be a critical step towards curbing corruption in public finance and to ensure adequate fund flow that would be channelled to the key sectors of the economy to catalyse development, including raising the people’s standard of living. The maintenance of the TSA was also expected to ensure proper cash management by eliminating idle funds usually left with different commercial banks and in a way, enhance reconciliation of revenue collection and payment.Also, Buhari introduced a flexible foreign exchange policy aimed at boosting foreign exchange supply and radically increasing its exports and productivity, as well as improving the investment climate and ease of doing business in the country.To ensure the effectiveness of the policy, the Buhari-led government included certain goods and services on the list of items not valid for foreign exchange in the Nigerian Forex market. Some of the affected goods are rice, cement, margarine, palm kernel/Palm oil products/vegetable oils, meat and processed meat products, vegetables and processed vegetable products, poultry chicken, eggs, turkey, private airplanes/jets, Indian incense, tinned fish in sauce(Geisha)/sardines, cold rolled steel sheets, galvanized steel sheets, roofing sheets, wheelbarrows, head pans, metal boxes and containers.The reason for this action, according to a letter signed on June 23, 2015, by Director, Trade and Exchange Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Olakanmi Gbadamosi, is to encourage local production of such items as well as boost employment generation.But despite this measure, the country’s business environment has continued to record hardship, leading many manufacturing firms to shut down with its attendant loss of jobs and hunger.A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, and a former Minister of Education and social critic, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, had attributed the collapse of the manufacturing firms to what they described as Buhari’s unfavourable economic policies.Sanusi was of the opinion that Buhari risked exacerbating the country’s economic woes and undermining his government’s achievements on security and corruption by endorsing exchange rate policies that were doomed to fail.Sanusi said he was disappointed to see Buhari’s strong security and anti-corruption efforts overshadowed by a monetary policy regime with “very obvious drawbacks that far outweigh its dubious benefits.”According to him, the President’s economic policies have been tried in different parts of the world and in Nigeria before and they did not work.He had said, “Unfortunately, because the exchange rate is right out there in front now, monetary policy is being seen as the barometer for broader economic thinking. It is sad that on this policy, you get it so wrong that you risk taking away attention from everything else you are doing.“Exporters and investors are holding on to foreign currency, as no one would sell at the rate the government is setting, while the government does not have the reserves to keep the exchange rate at its official level in the market.”Ezekwesili did not only say the policies were archaic and unclear, she said they were also encouraging massive corruption, abuse of power and ultimately hurting the poor they were intended to help.According to her, Buhari’s economic policies are similar to those the President initiated during the military regime he led in the 1980s.She had said, “During that era, inflation spiralled. During that era, jobs were lost. During that era, the economic growth level dipped. That era wasn’t the best of era in economic progress. What did not work in 1984 cannot possibly be a solution in a global economy that’s much more integrated.“In over one year, the President is still holding on to the premise that command and control is the only way out. In a year, we have lost the single digit inflation status we maintained in past administrations.”Like Sanusi, the ex-minister said the President’s “distortion of foreign exchange system has left the poor it was intended to support even worse off.”The President, however, absolved his administration of the blame. He attributed the crisis partly to the global downturn and the failure of past governments to save for the rainy day. He, however, said his administration was committed to reflating the economy for the purpose of improving the standard of living.But some analysts asked the President to think deeper if he really wanted to assuage the citizens’ pains.The General Superintendent, The Holy Spirit Mission Church, Lagos, and a social commentator, Bishop Charles Ighele, who appraised Buhari’s economic policies on the basis of prosperity they have brought to the citizens, stressed the need for the President to think deeper or hire people who could think for him because the economic crisis was not spiritual.Ighele asked, “Has the TSA brought prosperity to Nigerians? No. Have the forex policies brought any prosperity to Nigerians? No. Instead, Nigerians have been suffering, the type never seen. There is a drastic decline in economic activities and a runaway inflation that has also made the price of locally made foodstuff such as garri to rise beyond the reach of a minimum wage earner.“I learnt that a huge sum of the money from TSA is in the vaults of the Central Bank of Nigeria. It should not be so. This money and others that are almost idle should be returned to commercial banks. The banks should then be forced to lend out the money to old and new entrepreneurs in the productive sectors of the economy at interest rates not above five per cent.“Since the wealth of nations is determined by how they maximally utilise labour, land, capital and the entrepreneurial force, a new entrepreneurial class should be massively mobilised. This will give birth to massive economic activities spread from the poorest class to the upper class. Since a large percentage of our people are involved in agriculture, a lending policy that can enable millions of poor farmers to acquire loans and continuous agricultural education will boost economic activities and earn foreign exchange, especially when the products are processed.“Only prayers cannot solve this man-made problem. God gave Adam a spirit and a brain. God did not tell Adam to pray about the names he should name all animals on earth. God told him to task his brain.“Adam did so and he intelligently named all animals by the names we call them till date. Nigerians should think. Buhari should think. But if he is not a great innovative thinker, he should hire or borrow brains that will think for him. He does not need to know everything. That is what some leaders do.”A public affairs analyst, Mr. Victor Ihoyo, said while it might be plausible to claim that Buhari became President at the time oil price had been nose-diving, he disagreed with the President’s repeated assertion that the country’s economic crisis became worse because the former PDP-led government did not save for the rainy day.He said, “The role of a leader is to solve problems and not to play the blame game. Buhari’s government came in with a lot of goodwill and rather than take advantage of the opportunity, it squandered it.“Today, economic management has gone scientific. Therefore, a lot of dexterity is required to make any meaningful progress that will impact on the citizenry. The various economic policies of this government are either unimplementable or ill timed. Like the TSA, the banking sector was not ready for one fell swoop implementation of the policy. Hence, the adverse effects on both the banks and the larger economy. We witnessed massive job cuts in the banks and zero lending to those who need funds for business activities.“The current forex regime has further exposed this government’s ineptitude in economic management. If you just wake up one morning and tell a manufacturer, ”˜Stop importing so and so items and start producing locally’, the question now is “what did you put in place to ameliorate the transition?“Looking at this government, one won’t be wrong to say that the managers of our economy are poorly equipped. Unlike the previous administrations, where good materials were sourced from across the world to make up the economic team, one can hardly point to one of such persons in this government.“I dare say that hunger will continue to be here with us as long as we continue to buy a dollar at over N400. The rate of inflation in the last 15 months is over 300 per cent in some cases. Unless there are urgent reviews of the policies to be job creation friendly, gloomier days are ahead.“This is not the first time crude has sold for below $50 or the first time we are selling less than 2 million barrels per day. Therefore, there is no justification whatsoever to have allowed things get to this level. The previous government at one time or the other also faced challenges, but it didn’t allow Nigerians to suffocate to death.“As long as this government keeps blaming its predecessor for its failure, coming out of this mess will be the miracle of the decade.”But a political scientist, Mr. Bodunde Oladele, said though he expected Buhari to stagger at the early stage of his administration, the President ought to have added speed to the implementation of his policies after he had gained momentum.Oladele, therefore, urged the President to take diversification of the economy seriously so that the positive effects could begin to manifest as from the middle of 2017.He said, “If by the middle of 2017, there are no positive developments in the country, especially in the areas of agriculture and solid minerals, then those who have yet to be disappointed in the government will begin to be worried.”Discover more from NewsBreakers
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