For NBC, a time to rise above the puddle, by Okoh Aihe
The bell for political campaigns for the 2027 Elections went off last week. Already cauldrons of political abracadabra are boiling over. Surrogates and infradigs down the political ladder have started throwing stones, giving clear but ominous signals that things could get a lot messier and the air more fouled up in the days and months […]
Interrogating the budget of Buharinomics
IF there is anybody I can vouch for in Buhari’s Cabinet, it is Senator Udoma Udo Udoma. I have known him, and his best friend Keem Bello Osagie, for 30 years. All three of us are graduates of Oxford University, England, although I was there before him and Keem. Udoma is as sharp as a razor; he is one of the most intelligent people I know. Better still, he is a man of unimpeachable integrity. Udoma cannot be bought. He has a very successful law practice; the last thing he would do is fiddle public funds.
2016 budget: Bani changi!
MALLAM Audu used to have a kiosk as you crossed from Moremi Hall to Awolowo Hall in Ife in those days. We bought little items from from the wares he displayed close to the health centre. After payment was made, Audu was usually not so quick with giving out the change, so, we would yell at him in our smattering knowledge of the Hausa Language: “Mallam,bani Changi!
New Year in Fort Wayne
MY family journeyed some 390 miles (about 630 kilometres) in roughly six hours to visit with and welcome 2016 in the company of my long-time friend, Tony Aduro, and his wonderful family in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Tony and I go way back to our days in Nairobi, Kenya, in the 1990s when we served as officers in the Association of Nigerians in Kenya. Fate brought us back together in the United States and we have kept in touch.
Banking blues in 2016
When oil companies fail to pay, bankers are in a fix. But, not just bankers; we are all in a fix. Shareholders of Nigerian banks, already waving off a bad 2015, will again have to endure two economic woes – low or no dividends and plummeting share prices. Currently, only two banks shares are above N15 per share: ECOBANK and GTB. None of the others is above N6 per share.
An unusual austerity budget for 2016
Ironically, despite his well attested frugal administrative style, President Buhari has unexpectedly, pumped up recurrent budget from N3.97Tn in 2015 to N4.28Tn in 2016. The downside of this expansion is that the additional borrowing will certainly increase government activity in the capital market, so that government will invariably continue to outbid and crowd out the real sector from access to cheap loans.
