Ewolewoo!!

I have learnt not to speak too much grammar when someone is hungry. The solution to the hungry man’s problem is food. Get food for him and everything would be essentially fine for the gentleman. If you have been following my posts, you would notice that I try to remove the confusing blizzard and make my point as simple as I could.

Like I wrote in my last post; the problem that we have today is the unexpected fall of the price of crude oil which has turned the system into a “confused state”.  From the way I am seeing things, Government has been withdrawing from our external reserves to service normal expenses.  This is becoming more and more unsustainable. We have a situation where the infrastructure being serviced when the crude oil price was very high, is the same structure on board as the crude oil price drains. It is a very horrible situation.

Where would the dollars to sell come from?  Where? We are no industrial nation, we are naadaa!!

Yes, we can produce naira but how about the foreign currencies? During the oil boom, when oil was selling at $115/barrel, the business then was money laundering. People with access to power were just collecting the dollars at source and transferring it abroad under “bogus names and headings”.  I must confess that some of the money circulated internally too. Essentially, Nigeria economy has never been an economy that has been structured in real sense; it is an economy that has been running on money laundering.

Now that the commodity that constitutes the inflow of dollars has fallen in value with such mindless alacrity, it has been bedlam. To make matters “worse”, Buhari is interested in fighting corruption. Unfortunately, the economy has been running on corrupt money, so there’s palpable wahala. The launderers who have the money have mopped up and still mopping up  the forex and Government doesn’t have crude oil dollars to replenish it.

That there’s confusion in Government is a pure fact. The basic confusion in Government is simple: How do you manage an economy that is used to mismanaging “big oil money” but it’s now on her knees because the big oil money inflow has basically disappeared? How do you work on “high expectations” when you just don’t have the means to back up the realities being expected? Above all, you are still with civil servants who are used to the big money being chopped all along. It is a daunting task I must tell you.

The confusion has turned many to currency speculators. The economy is oil and nothing else.

Making matters further scary is the fact that the corruption and greed cannot just stop. Many Nigerians still read political meanings to people being taken to court for corruption. They still see these guys as “heroes” of some sort. This has given the accused, or corruption suspect, the belief that “notin dey happen”. The accused guys are also aware that the Judges want part of the action. It is a difficult situation I must tell you.

Soyinka wants an economic emergency which is a good idea. However, are Nigerians really ready for what the emergency would proffer?  We need to cut cost of running government. We need to merge states. We need to reduce the number of ministers and commissioners with their ministries. Many civil servants would have to be retrenched. We must reduce the number of legislators. In my opinion, we need to choose if we want the senate or the house of reps. This economy cannot sustain the 2 houses any longer.  Additionally, that Gentleman in EFCC should be allowed and encouraged to continue his work. Lamorde was a disaster.   I also agree with made-in-Nigeria only good and services for now. This should be the new reality of an economy on $30/barrel.

I know we are not ready for this drastic situation. For now, the Niara would continue to slide unless there is a “bombastic wahala” in the Middle East that would shoot up the price of crude oil. The other alternative is if there are other mineral resources that could give us “good money”.  Hoping on customs and other Government agencies in the short term would be tight, The corruption don waka far!! We are really in terrible shape.

God dey!! Ewolewoo!!