“Soft loans must be made available to young graduates and I advocate interests rate which is as low as 2 or 3 percent. There should be a moratorium of 2 to 3 years before commencement of repayment.”

Everything happening in the world right now pinpoints the many failures of capitalism. The white underclass, betrayed by an economic system which promised a trickle-down effect if trade managers were allowed to operate without much challenge to conglomerates’ bottom line, opted for a world of barriers and suspicion, one which rejects the “other”, the migrant and “job thief”.

HALF of students who went to the University (University of Ife and later Obafemi Awolowo University) in the late 70s up till the early part of this millennium would not forget the name Dr. Dipo Fashina, that legendary teacher of Logic in the philosophy department and a rare gift to humanity.

The increasing gap between official and parallel market naira exchange rates has lately propelled a fresh call from corporate financial establishments and diverse speculators (both local and foreign) for CBN to unhinge naira from the purported present ‘flexible’ peg of N305=$1, despite the horrendous social and economic deprivations which such a humble exchange rate has already precipitated nationwide.

LAST year, the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, emerged as the worst global exchange, shedding a little bit over N1 trillion. Those who lost money on the exchange last year have only themselves to blame because they can now add that loss to the list of “everything that could have been avoided”.