…Nigerian currency heading towardsN1000/$1
By Dr Nnaemeka Onyeka Obiaraeri,
Why are we screaming and feigning surprise that the dollar is today exchanging for N560 in the parallel market?
What do people expect Godwin Emefile to do to stop the free fall? We saw it coming. We warned you all.
Just within the half year of 2021 alone, the people at the NNPC spent over N1.47trillion /$3.6billion to import Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS ) alone. We have not yet factored in the cost of subsidy on this import volumes that is almost N750billion.
By the time you add the import cost of the Gasoil, DPK, and other mineral oil, the import value of the white petroleum products may hit a half year value of over $5billion, and $10billion by year end.
The same country that is expending this huge volume of dollar importing white petroleum products , has a President, who doubles as Petroleum Minister. A President and his minders, who have against all superior reasons and common sense, obstinately refused to privatize or scrap the four refineries that they used to misappropriate and lose over N803billion in 6 years. Refineries that refines no single drop of white petroleum products, but annually pay salaries of N67billion to people, who are producing nothing. What a country. What manner of Criminal profligacy and wanton value destruction is this?
The same country, with an arable land mass of 64million hectares and working population of over 110million still waste over $11billion annually importing food and food related commodities that it can easily produce here.
The country engage in this lousy and avoidable food commodity imports, because the able bodied adults cannot go to the farm due to the heinous carnage being executed by strange Fulani terrorists, nicknamed Bandits, who migrated from outside NIGERIA. These killers, alongside Boko Haram and ISWAP have made the land insecure for farmers to go near their farms.
The same President, who is a former General, rather than, send in his military men to crush these killers (even after Nigeria has wasted over N10trillion/$25billion in 6 years as security expenses, wants us to gift the killers with grazing path and reserves across Nigeria to make their killing passage to other unreached parts of Nigeria easier.
As if all these grave matters above are not enough, the thieving political bandits, across the three arms and tiers of governments, at every month end, will convert the large cache of naira they loot every month from shared FAAC, JAAC, IGR etc into dollar through BDCs at the parallel market at whatever rate they can lay hand on.
As if this is not enough, our education system and health services are decrepit and most of the elites have flown their families abroad for comfort, security, education and medical tourism. That is added pressure on our dollar reserve.
To complicate matters, Nigeria only source of major dollar earnings, the crude oil is in low demand globally. Even earnings from this source cannot cover 20% of our dollar demand in the land.
Finally, most foreign direct investors, diaspora Nigerians and those, who would have brought in dollars, are staying away from Nigeria. And because of the free fall of the naira, even private sector entrepreneurs are hedging their savings in dollar and other safer assets because no one knows the fate of Nigeria. Everyone is scared that the burst may happen soon because of the atrocious state of insecurity in the land.
All manner of non state actors have taken over the land shooting out orders and counter orders because the thieving political bandits have lost credibility and legitimacy with the people.
So can someone just read through this issues above and tell me the magic they expect Godwin Emefile and those at the CBN to do to save the naira from further free fall.
All the major causes of our woes listed above are fiscal and falls within the direct responsibilities of Buhari, the NASS and the states.
See folks, it is just drizzling. As long as we continue on this fiscal path created by the 1999 constitution, it will soon pour … it will get to N1000/$1. Brace up for a more bumpy ride.
*WHAT ARE THE SOLUTIONS?*
Restructure Nigeria back to her 1960/1963 constitutional, fiscal , regional, security, governance, socio-economic, autonomous and resources production and control framework, and watch things take a new turn for good. Continue on this destructive path we are in now and march straight to Golgotha. Prayers cannot save us. What will save us, is for us to depart from this evil path and foundation created by the 1999 constitution.
Privatize or scrap those 4 refineries, that they used to misappropriate N803bn in 6 years and reported it as losses.
Totally deregulate the downstream oil and gas sector and remove the criminal subsidies that influences the NNPC to report daily import and consumption figure of 103m liters of in a country, whose actual pms consumption numbers is between 38million to 42million liters a day (Sources : DPR)
*Dr Nnaemeka Onyeka Obiaraeri, FICA*
