“We are not looking for a stronger currency neither are we looking for a weaker one. People want to pay fees and investors want to know if they will have returns on investments.
We will use the reserves, we will use interest rates, we have gone through difficult months; hopefully, the next few months will not be difficult. We will not allow the naira to be weakened and we are committed to that”. Governor of CBN, Sanusi Lamido, in September.

Governor Uduaghan earned my respect during his first term when he boldly warned his people about preparing for a future Delta State without oil. It was almost sacrilegious. Who ever wanted to contemplate such a future with so much oil still in the ground to be lifted? Even the Governors Commissioners, who clapped with gusto, were skeptical about such a prospect. Nationally, the Governor might as well have been talking to cows – for all the attention he received. Nigerians have demonstrated that if there is anything they don’t want to think about, it is a future without oil – because it will require a vast amount of effort to build such a future.

It would have amounted to economic self-delusion of the worst kind if the Federal government had failed to take into account the failure of this year’s budget, largely on account of the shortfall in crude shipments while preparing next year’s budget proposals. By July, revenue shortfall for 2013 had already reached N686bn and are projected to get close to N1 trillion by year end. So instead of N4.925bn proposed for 2013, the nation will be extremely fortunate if N4tn is received. Thus, while the 2014 proposed budget is lower than the 2013 appropriation, it is N495bn more than what can be reasonably expected this year.

Just in case public sector workers fail to get the point, the Federal Government went further to declare that “only actual earnings will be shared.” Again for those who might not understand the meaning of that statement, it means that the Federal Government will no longer dip into the excess crude oil to make up the difference between budgeted earnings and actual income. Typical of governments everywhere, the Federal Government failed to tell the entire story – perhaps because it might be too alarming. Yet, the truth must be told to enable public servants, at all three tiers of government, as well as creditors to government to prepare for the inevitable. And, what is inexorable?

The second story was the real wake up call to Nigerians about our dismal economic future if we continue with our over-reliance on crude oil for our survival. According to the paper, “the country [Nigeria] began a new journey into the shackles of foreign and domestic indebtedness in which by 2011, statistics indicated its total foreign debt soared to the tune of US$47.9 while the domestic debt platform rose to about US$42.3 billion, much higher than even before the debt relief”.