According to recent media reports, almost N5tn was disbursed as subsidy payment on fuel consumption between 2006-2012? Thus, the annual average provision of about N1tn is probably equivalent to about one fifth of total annual federal budget in the same period. In effect, subsidy payments clearly exceeded the consolidated annual allocations for health, education, transport and agriculture every year.

So, where will Buhari get the additional funds to bail out the States and also remediate those critical infrastructural deficits that urgently cry out for attention on the federal level, particularly in the areas of Education, Health and Transportation. Regrettably, rather than deploy the modest proceeds of the Excess Crude Account directly to critical infrastructure, these funds were stashed away as idle deposits and then gradually, simply whittled down, as recurrent consumption expenditure.

Well, as you can imagine, if the system is already deluged with problematic surplus Naira, the infusion of any additional Naira will only worsen the already suffocating burden of too much money. Consequently, if government makes sectoral interventions with hundreds of billions of Naira when surplus cash is already a problem, you will understand that the impact of spending the additional intervention funds in any manner whatsoever, will simply ‘inadvertently’ exacerbate the threat of inflation.

One does not really have to be a medical expert to recognize that the heavy grime and dirt on Nigerian currency notes would also readily serve as vector for the spread of germs and diseases.

By Henry Boyo More Nigerians will probably consider widespread insecurity, unstable power supply and our faltering economy as the three most critical challenges for which President Muhamadu Buhari would have to urgently find sustainable solutions. Nonetheless, some critics may trace the root of insecurity to increasing desperation from unemployment and ‘forced’ idleness on a rising […]

In retrospect, the Naira was readily accepted in major cities like London and New York, ironically, at a time when our total foreign reserves hardly approached $10bn dollars! Indeed, as CBN consistently places Naira at a disadvantage in the market place against the dollar, the economy has also become dollarised by monetary strategies that weaken the Naira.

Clearly, however, the retired General certainly does not need an early confrontation with the public or indeed Labour who will as usual insist that subsidy should only be removed after sufficient local refineries can meet domestic consumption! In the event however, that refineries (depending on size) have between 18-36 months gestation, this may suggest that subsidy may not be wished away very soon!

The data released on fuel subsidy outlays from responsible Agencies of government have, overtime, regrettably remained divergent, such that, it has become a challenge to obtain definitive estimates. Nevertheless, the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala recently explained that the inconsistent figures often quoted were unavoidable because subsidy payments is a continuous, rolling process, therefore, relevant government agencies could only provide specific data relating to approved claims that have passed through each department at any point in time.

Regrettably, delayed payments of verified subsidy claims, may inadvertently also further bloat the already oppressive service charges on loans obtained to finance the 2015 budget deficit and other earlier government debts. Curiously, the imminent federal and state elections, may have forced government to accede to pressure from marketers to pay the demanded balance of N256.2bn, which they claimed included core subsidy as well as interest on delayed payments and exchange rate differentials.

The actual value of dollars deployed for this purpose is not known, but it was certainly large enough to temporarily overwhelm subsisting Naira supplies with BDC operators to make the Naira relatively scarce against the dollar. It was consequently no big surprise therefore, that the heavy inflow of dollars into vibrant black market centres in Lagos, Kano, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, Abuja etc. quickly strengthened the Naira exchange rate below the official N197=$1.

One cannot be certain whether Nigerians would celebrate or decry the recent Central Bank of Nigeria’s decision to reduce the existing limit on the usage abroad of Naira denominated cards from $150,000 to $50,000 per annum, per person. Nonetheless, the directive to banks in CBN’s circular of April 13,2015, may mean nothing to possibly over 98% of our country men, who have never seen the inside of an aeroplane.

Expectedly, goodwill messages have deservedly, poured in from far and wide to congratulate the clear victor of the 2015 elections and President Elect, Mohammed Buhari, may not be unduly disturbed that President Jonathan’s inspirational and totally unexpected early acceptance of defeat, ironically, favorably raised the incumbent’s rating as a statesman beyond the pedestrian perception induced by his performance in governance.

“….The committee observed that its previous decisions needed time for their effects to fully permeate the economy and therefore “all eleven members unanimously” voted to maintain the current position!! The above is a summary of the conclusion reached by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at its latest meeting held between 23-24th March, 2015. Incidentally, the MPC has the critical statutory responsibility for advising the CBN on an appropriate strategy for managing the supply of money at the optimal level that would progressively grow the economy.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange was founded in 1960 to provide a platform for buying and selling of shares of listed public companies. Consequently, the size and vibrancy of domestic stock markets generally provide a bird’s eye view of the degree of confidence and scope of activities in an economy.

The 2015 election is barely two weeks away and yet, not even close followers of events in the political space can satisfactorily articulate distinctive differences in the ideology of the two major contestants. Instead, Nigerians have been fêted to a reality edition of an otherwise Nollywood dramatization of a “rofo rofo fight” between two wives in a polygamous setting. Ironically, the protagonists expect the favoured husband to make the louder and less civil combatant his favorite!