The debate on the appropriate crude oil price benchmark for the 2013 budget has lately attracted numerous interests in the National Assembly as well as in the media. The government’s Economic Management Team (EMT) has stoutly defended the adoption of $75/barrel as proposed benchmark for crude oil sales.

In the light of the usual extended recess during the forthcoming Id el-Kabir and the Christmas/New Year celebrations, the Legislature may have, possibly less than two months within which to consider and approve the 2013 budget, which President Jonathan laid before the National Assembly last week.

In the light of the usual extended recess during the forthcoming Id el-Kabir and the Christmas/New Year celebrations, the Legislature may have, possibly less than two months within which to consider and approve the 2013 budget, which President Jonathan laid before the National Assembly last week.

A report in the October 2nd edition of the Vanguard newspaper confirmed that two men are now helping Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) operatives with information on how they came about $986,000 found on them at Lagos and Kano International airports respectively.

Nigerians breathed a sigh of relief when news filtered out on Thursday, 20th September, that President Goodluck Jonathan had directed the CBN to suspend its proposed naira restructuring programme. For the avoidance of doubt, on Friday, September 21, 2012, the CBN itself carried a timely advertorial titled Update on the Proposed Currency Restructuring Exercise, Project Cure.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ) has observed that the Central Bank’s attempt to tackle inflation with the N5000 note is misguided. OBJ also submitted that “the way Sanusi was fighting inflation by removing money from circulation was improper…, as this approach would kill production and affect small businesses negatively”.

The Central Bank of Nigeria and its agents have been very active, as should be expected, in promoting the merits of the proposed N5000 note. To this end, the apex bank also set out to dispel what it alleges to be disinformation regarding the proposed exercise.

The argument that the N5, 000 bill should not be introduced because it would spur corruption does not hold here because those that are using our currency for corruption have already migrated to the dollar because the naira has lost its value. The dollar has now become the store of value. That is why we are introducing a higher bill of value because we don’t want to dollarise our economy. We need to be in charge of the money that comes in and goes out”.

The national debt burden, which was about $32bn in 2006 was regarded as excessive and unsustainable. Consequently, we were encouraged to part with $18bn in order to cancel most of our external debt. Inexplicably, just six years down the line, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who as Finance Minister incidentally ‘midwifed’ the controversial debt payout in 2006, now confidently assures Nigerians that our current debt burden of about $45bn is nothing to worry about, since, at only 17%, it falls well below the critical debt to GDP benchmark of 40%! The Coordinating Minister of the Economy is obviously unfazed that the average cost of servicing over N6 Trillion of these debts annually is in excess of 15% in place of 1 – 7% for such risk-free sovereign debts elsewhere.

In democratic countries where utmost respect for the rule of law prevails, constitutional violations not only receive condemnations, but are also visited with serious sanctions. Indeed, even when social evolution overtime makes earlier constitutional and legal provisions redundant, the judiciary will still mete out existing sanctions provided in the constitution for such infractions. We note, for example, the inability of the terminally ill Mr. Tony Nicklinson to willfully put an end to his suffering, without the jeopardy of a life sentence for anyone who facilitates his suicide, according to English law.

One of the conclusions reached by the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on the Capital Market was the shrill alarm that the Asset Management Corporation, AMCON, was a time bomb waiting to explode. Consequently, this week’s article is a brief overview of AMCON, the ‘toxic’ bank.

The Director General of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Arunmah Oteh, returned to her post lately, after the two-month suspension from duties because of the fraud-related counter allegations between her and members of the House of Representatives Committee on the Capital Market.

Last week, CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee agreed to keep the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 12%, but decided to increase commercial banks’ Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) from 8 – 12%. In the aftermath of this decision, CBN accused the Money Deposit Banks of not lending to the real sector. CBN governor, Lamido Sanusi decried the reality that “rather than lend to the real economy, the banks have continued to take advantage of the high yields of government securities to direct credit away from the core private sector.”

Attrition, social stress and economic losses experienced during extended periods of fuel scarcity would make Nigerians pray that such traumatic situations do not arise. However, we recall the media interview with Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, in June this year; in response to a question as to whether subsidy payments were ongoing, she confirmed that out of N888bn budgeted for subsidy in 2012, N451bn had already been paid out, well before the end of the second quarter!

The probes by various committees of the National Assembly revealed the depth of the depravity and the reckless lack of accountability in the management of the proceeds from crude oil, which contributes over 80% of our national revenue.

Many Nigerians believe that the ever-present challenges of fuel scarcity and subsidy could be conveniently resolved if new refineries are built, as national demand cannot obviously be met from the antiquated facilities available in existing government refineries. In recognition of this inadequacy, 23 licences for new refineries were approved by the authorities; 20 of these went to investors from the private sector, while the federal government and Chinese investors undertook to build additional refineries in Kogi, Lagos and Bayelsa States respectively.

This week, we will provide answers to some frequently asked questions regarding inflation, interest rates, and naira depreciation. Kindly read on.

Boxing enthusiasts will associate the above with the title of a fight contest, while our learned gentlemen may expect a legal confrontation; either way, Nigerians will laugh and cry at the same time at the unfolding drama between the oil magnate, Femi Otedola, on the one hand and the consummate legislator, Farouk Lawan, on the other.

The impact of the IMF-inspired Structural Adjustment Programme during the Babangida regime fundamentally destabilized our economy, and ultimately altered the mobility of some of our brightest intellects in favour of a migratory urge to more clement pastures abroad.

It is now clear that over 150 innocent souls perished last Sunday as a result of the Dana air crash. These unfortunate souls may have since been joined by many more, who have tragically lost their lives nationwide as a result of the inertia in one government agency or the other.

The issue of fuel subsidy removal has become recurrent in our economy. The following
are answers to salient questions on the beneficent resolution of this dilemma:

The boisterous assurances by the last Governor of Central bank, Chukwuma Soludo that the Nigerian economy and banking sub-sector were firmly immune from the world’s economic meltdown still remain fresh in our memories.

Over the years, the unyielding price of fuel products in Nigeria has instigated much acrimony between the government on one side and Labour and the people on the other. Fuel prices have risen steadily from less then 50kobo/litre to the current subsidized price of N97/litre; every government, be it military or civilian, has one time or the other had to contend with the threat or indeed a successful call for strike by Labour.

In the light of the ongoing constitutional amendment by the National Assembly to whittle down the perceived excessive powers of the apex bank in the CBN’s 2007 Act, we concluded last week in this column that the issue of good governance will not depend on whether the Chairman and Directors of the apex bank were external directors.

A bill to amend the Central Bank of Nigeria Act on Wednesday passed through second reading at the House of Representatives.

In the same manner that the Judiciary is regarded as the last hope of the common man, so also the Media has often been described as the voice of the people, but the role of the Media exceeds the mere expression of public expectations.

The Nigerian government propaganda machine quickly succeeded in generating media frenzy in the campaign for our current Finance Minister, who also doubles with powerful portfolio of Coordinating Minister for the Economy.