ON June 23, the Central Bank of Nigeria released a circular titled: “Inclusion of Some Imported Goods and Services on the List of Items Not Valid for Foreign Exchange in the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Markets,” and listed 41 items that can no longer be imported with foreign exchange sourced from the apex bank, deposit money banks, bureaux de change and other authorised sources.

WITH the stark realities of the current economic downturn staring all tiers of government in the face, it has become obvious that something drastic has to be done to reduce the high cost of governance in Nigeria. But the question remains, how far is the country ready to go in order to achieve optimal success in this direction?

WHEN former President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari emerged as the presidential candidates of the two major political parties – the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) respectively, it was taken for granted that the government that would assume office on May 29th 2015 would start work immediately. The reason behind this was simple: both men had occupied the highest office in the land and would not need to learn from the scratch on the job.

A MAJOR challenge that change faces is the attitude of Nigerians who believe the only government in Nigeria is the federal government. We have at least 812 governments in Nigeria – the Federal Government, 36 States, the Federal Capital Territory, and 774 local government councils. In Nigeria, we have governments, not just the one in Abuja.

WHEN we read stories of the type of bank robberies that take place in Ikorodu, the most recent was last week, one gets the impression that the security agencies have conceded that part of Nigeria to armed robbers. They could rob and depart without any hindrances. It should not be so.