The incumbent Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi, has stubbornly decided to continue the destructive and suicidal monetary and foreign exchange market policies of his predecessor. In this event, this article, which was first published in 2006, with progressive supplementary comments in this column on 23/3/2009, is today 18/1/2010 reproduced for objective public evaluation!

It would be mischief on the part of this column if we subscribed to the bandwagon of those elitist Nigerians whose stock in trade is the creation of false hope of a better year ahead at the end of every dismal year in the past two decades or so.

In the wake of the recent Central Bank’s pseudo liberalization of dollar supply to the foreign exchange market, naira rate tumbled from over N140=$1 to today’s rate of about N130=$1 in the black market, leaving a spread of just about N2 from the official rate.

The question on the lips of all concerned Nigerians lately is whether or not the abysmal decline in our economy can be arrested by the measures currently adopted by our Central Bank. My usual response to this question is that you cannot sow rice and hope to reap cassava (a la Majek Fashek)!

The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) concluded its 15th Annual Summit last week in Abuja. As is the custom, the heavy weights of industry and commerce and other representatives of the major stakeholders in the Nigerian economy and public sector were well represented.

An idle mind is the devil’s workshop’ or ‘the devil finds work for idle hands’ are popular aphorisms which have equivalence in several languages and cultures.

“In spite of the effusive enthusiasm of this Administration, some Nigerians refuse to celebrate the recent debt relief conditions granted by our major creditors of the Paris club. “Under the terms of the Paris club deal, Nigeria will see $18bn of its total debt of $30bn canceled on condition that it pays the remaining $12.4bn between now and March 2006.

President Yar’Adua, on Tuesday 24/11/2009, by proxy, laid before the Legislature the 2010 National appropriation Bill. In view of the results and products of our national budgetS over the years, it has become patently obvious to even a blind man that in spite of abundant resources at government’s disposal, the annual budget rituals of the three tiers of government have had little or no positive impact on the welfare of majority of our people.

Before this Bill became public knowledge, Dabiri-Erewa had been one of the federal legislators who always stood on the right side of every issue or controversy, be it the Ettehgate, the Freedom of Information Bill or the Diaspora issues. In fact, only last Monday, a young man from my hometown who is languishing in a Benin Republic prison on drug offences, called me requesting that the plight of people like him should be brought to the notice of Hon Dabiri.

Currently, the CBN is annually responsible for about 70% of all dollar revenue that enters into the domestic forex market. The balance 30% or less is supplied by oil companies and a few exporters outside the oil sector! While these private dollar suppliers are legally permitted to approach the banks directly for the exchange of their dollars to naira, the owners of public sector dollar revenue in our reserves are not so lucky!