Scorecard on Major Policies/Reforms: Federal Government of Nigeria

* Fuel subsidy removal ❎😭😡

* Naira floatation ❎😭😡

* State police (With community police as the next level) ✅😁👍🏼👏🏼

* LGA autonomy (With functional accountability mechanisms) ✅😁👍🏼👏🏼

* Tax Reforms (With reconciliation of areas of disagreement) ✅😁👍🏼👏🏼

Of economic modellers and Naija sufferers

It's no longer a matter of technical socio-economic indicators from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) or other sources. It's a matter of practical socio-economic realities staring us in the face, banging in our ears, and inflicting injuries on our bodies and in our psyches. Even those of us who may not be directly affected are indirectly affected. We can see it! We can hear it! And we can feel it! It's the current socio-economic situation that has been hitting hard since the sudden removal of #subsidy on fuel and floating of the #Naira. It has affected almost everything including food, transport, and electricity which have been moving beyond the reach of the populace. It goes without saying that, until the Nigerian economy is brought out of the woods, the masses of the people will continue suffering, members of the seriously depleted middle class will continue struggling, and local industries will continue operating sub-optimally. 

We're undoubtedly going through another round of stringent prescriptions and conditionalities. These World Bank/IMF policies, which had come under different 'beautiful' names in the past, such as the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and the Second-Tier Foreign Exchange Market (SFEM) of 1986, have never worked for us. They're currently not working and, considering the menace of #corruption and mismanagement of paltry palliatives by public officers at all levels of government, I don't think they will ever work.

Global institutions have always advised or programmed us, especially through loans, to remove subsidies but we all know that subsidy is a vital lifeline. Subsidy is the food, water, and oxygen of the people and the industry.  They eat it in Arabia and Asia. They drink it in Africa and the Americas. They inhale it in Europe and the rest of the world. More than any other place, multi-dimensionally poor Nigerians in their millions need it for their personal and business purposes. Our international friends have always advised or programmed us to devalue our currency, which is a great strategy for an export-driven country, but a counter-productive strategy for a country like ours that massively depends on imported goods and services.

We are operating a market economy but the market must occasionally yield some space for government’s pro-people intervention and not allowed to have free rein. One wonders how long we are going to allow the imaginary forces of the market to control the market, knowing full well that the imaginary local and globalized forces can be extremely selfish, greedy, and cruel. Can you imagine the humongous supply, price, and quality challenges that Nigerians have been grappling with over the years concerning a blessing such as crude oil that the imaginary forces have transformed into a resource curse? We certainly cannot afford to continue leaving the market completely to the free reins and vagaries of extreme market forces. Doing so is dangerous for our economy. Even Adam Smith (1723-1790), the father of free enterprise, argued for the pursuit of free market system under condition of equity and justice towards public good. If we had thought that, by removing oil subsidy, the subsidy and oil sector corruption will disappear but it’s getting worse, it’s high time we restored the subsidy with strong accountability mechanisms. If we had thought that, by floating the Naira, it will not sink under huge commercial pressures of the market but it's sinking as it were, it's high time we reduced the free hands of the topsy-turvy market.

I want to believe that Mr. President, state governors, and other leaders mean well in trying to bring a new socio-economic lease of life to the people. And the least we can do as patriotic citizens is to strengthen them with technical, moral, and prayer supports. We hope that those who mean well and are endowed with position, power, and authority will fully recognize and demonstrate the importance, urgency, and seriousness of the welfare purpose of government. As the ball is in their court, we earnestly expect them to play well and score good goals for the good of all. 

This Bola Ahmed Tinubu's government has demonstrated more than once that it is a listening government by reversing policies that didn't go down well with the people. We believe that it is the same listening government that we're dealing with and that the government still has the strength of will and character to reverse these policies that have brought unintended untold hardship to the populace. We equally believe that, by the time the policies are courageously reversed, individuals and businesses that have been hiding and profiteering behind the needle of fuel and dollar prices will have no legitimate place to hide.

I am without doubt a friend of the government who wants the government, democracy, and Nigeria to work and become enviable success stories. And they really can be! But, as it has always been, especially in our contemporary times, governments at all levels are still full of ‘leaders’ who are dealers in private interests, ‘managers’ who mismanage public resources, and 'repairers' who bring their society to a state of disrepair. We subscribe to the notion that difficult policies sometimes bring good gains in the long run, but experientially speaking in Nigeria, the gains have always been embezzled and squandered by unscrupulous opportunists among politicians and their cronies. Such public officers have always taken control of poor people's 'breads of life', leaving them to jostle for crumbs. They've always taken control of the people's breath of life, leaving them to gasp for air. 

It is obvious that the internal havocs individuals and groups wreak against our country’s economy and development are almost as damaging as those from external entities like the Bretton Woods institutions. Our leaders therefore have an urgent duty of purging some of their current political and administrative / bureaucratic appointees, and henceforth beaming their lights on who they appoint into public positions. Putting people of competence, capacity, and character in public positions is like putting round pegs in round holes. It is an important success factor.

As far as the World Bank / IMF advisories versus the worsening socio-economic situations of the people are concerned, the success of this government will depend largely on whether our leaders are sensitive to the might of economic modellers in Bretton Woods or the plight of Naija sufferers 'in the woods'. Leaders like those of China, who have moved hundreds of millions of their population from poverty to prosperity, and Singapore, who have moved their country from third world to first world, did so by deliberately breaking the unprogressive and unhelpful chains of dependence on foreign-cooked policies and ultimately breaking the externally-propelled and self-inflicted jinx of under-development.

Your Excellency sir, Asiwaju Jagaban, you are a man of uncommon strategy and wisdom, and you have the pedigree of winning through in spite of obstacles. Kindly change gear to get better sets of outputs, outcomes, and impacts concerning the socio-economic conditions of the people and residents of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Otherwise, the present and future generations of citizens may end up remembering the current dispensation of party politics under your leadership as another ‘permissible will’ of God for Nigeria and Nigerians. However, at the appointed time, the ‘perfect will’ of God for Nigeria and Nigerians will certainly be done for the benediction of the people and to the glory of God. At the moment, eyin lokan lati se'joba daradara. Olorun a fun un yin se.

Long live, Mr. President! Long live, Naija men and women! Long live, Naija Republic!

Bolaji Oladejo

#goodgovernance #Nigeria #WorldBank #IMF

Imaginary forces of selfish, greedy, and cruel market

Back to the point we've all along been making, viz: That the idea of completely leaving the market to the free reins and vagaries of extreme market forces is dangerous for our economy.

This is because the imaginary forces of the market can be extremely selfish, greedy, and cruel. Even Adam Smith (1723-1790), the father of free enterprise, argued for the pursuit of free market system under condition of equity and justice towards public good.

If we had thought that, by floating the Naira, it will not sink under huge commercial pressures of the market but it's sinking as it were, it's high time we reduced the free hands of the topsy-turvy market.

#stopfloatingNaira #forex #exchangerate #CBN #Nigeria

Subsidy is an essential lifeline

Subsidy is the food, water, and oxygen of the people and the industry. They eat it in Arabia and Asia. They drink it in Africa and the Americas. They inhale it in Europe and the rest of the world. More than any other place, multi-dimensionally poor Nigerians in their millions need it for their personal and business purposes!!!

Bolaji Oladejo
#bringbacksubsidy #foodsubsidy #fuelsubsidy #electricitysubsidy #transportsubsidy

Nigeria: Disappointing Dividends of Democracy

What do we understand by the acronym DDD in Nigeria? With respect to the governance enterprise of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, DDD stands for Disappointing Dividends of Democracy.

Talking about DDD, there’s a new book waiting for you in bookstores. This book believes that Nigeria’s party democracy has been enriching party politicians and their collaborators but has been yielding disappointing dividends of democracy for ordinary stakeholders.

With the goal of building, by 2035, a progressive society of servant leaders expanding good governance with rule of law, inclusivity, transparency, accountability, integrity, equity, merit, effectiveness, and efficiency, the book proposes restructuring of the country’s governance systems at all levels. This includes introduction of stakeholder groups and assemblies to replace political parties, diffusion of powers, devolution of powers, fiscal federalism, part-time legislature, establishment of Council of Presidents comprising six zonally-elected vice presidents who will rotate power as president, election of a prime minister who will share power with the president, and corresponding reforms at the sub-national levels.

The book uses some light poetic style in some of its sections to motivate stakeholders to arise and collaborate within extant laws to actualize the desired developmental change.

Humbly presented to you below is the book:

Get copies for yourself and others!

* Digital version available on Apple Books, Kobo Books, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and many other online channels.

* Print version available from Lulu Books and directly from the author:
Phone: 234-8037052524
WhatsApp: 234-8059659211
E-mail: bolaji_oladejo@yahoo.com

#Nigeria #nigeriansindiaspora #nigeriansinusa #nigeriansinuk #nigeriansincanada

Executive Summary of the Strategic Plan (2024-2028) by the Fed. Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs

The socio-economic challenges of low and fragile economic growth, insecurity, weak institutions, insufficient public service delivery, notable infrastructure deficits, climate change and weak social indicators that the present administration is seeking to address were occasioned by sub-optimal performance of the Nation's economy for nearly a decade. First, in 2016 Nigeria's socio-economic growth was badly affected by unprecedented shocks in terms of trade, reduced oil production and prices among other things which resulted in economic recession. The country's recovery from the recession between 2017-2019, which was facilitated by the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), was however truncated when the coronavirus disease (COVID) pandemic in 2020 hit, coupled with yet another spate of falls in crude oil prices and social conflicts. A set of fiscal and monetary stimulus packages implemented under the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) contributed to the country's exit from the COVID-19-induced recession in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The National Development Plan (NDP) 2021-2025, was developed to succeed the ESP and to put Nigeria back on a sustained path of economic growth. The NDP aimed to implement major infrastructure and other development projects across the six geopolitical zones and to open up opportunities for the rural areas to ensure balanced development and increased competitiveness.

A little over one year after the launch of the NDP, the present administration was inaugurated, thereby inheriting the myriad of challenges that the NDP sought to address. The Renewed Hope Agenda was therefore developed to build on the trajectory outlined in the NDP and the Nigeria Agenda 2050. The Renewed Hope Agenda is anchored on four pillars (Improved Livelihood, Economic Outcomes, Harnessing Human Resources, and Fairer & Safer Playing Field), which are broken down into eight (8) priority areas (Food Security, Ending Poverty, Economic Growth and Job Creation, Access to Capital, Inclusivity, Security, Fairness and Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Stance).

This Strategic Plan is developed by the Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Inter[1]Governmental Affairs (FMSDIGA) to reposition and align its activities towards the Renewed Hope Agenda of this administration as the mantra of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR for the path to national growth and development that will lead to the desired collective prosperity of Nigeria.

The FMSDIGA is among the three (3) Federal Ministries that have been saddled with the responsibility to contribute to the implementation of the eight (8) priority areas of the Renewed Hope Agenda. This five (5) year Strategic Plan (2024-2028) provides the Ministry's roadmap towards catalyzing the realization of the Renewed Hope Agenda.

 The Plan was developed through the active participation of all stakeholders in the Ministry. It is arranged sequentially into the four (4) Strategic Pillars and eight (8) Priority Areas with eight (8) goals, thirteen (13) Strategic Objectives and thirteen (13) Interventions as well as eighty-two (82) Key Activities.

The total estimated cost of the Plan of ₦178.9 billion is the aggregate of the costs of all the key activities to be carried out by the Departments, Agencies and Parastatals of the Ministry on an annual basis for the next five-year period. The plan also shows estimated cost distributions according to Strategic Pillars, Priority Areas, Implementing Entities, and based on Programme/Project Areas.

The funding gap of the Plan was estimated to be about fifty-four per cent (54%), which reflects a significant fiscal constraint to its effective implementation. Additional resource mobilisation is necessary through advocacy to increase the Government's annual budget allocation as well as increased revenue generation. Engagement with development partners, and private and informal sectors would also be important in augmenting the funding gap.

A steering committee will be established to oversee the effective implementation of the Plan. This committee will be chaired by the Honourable Minister of Special Duties and Inter[1]Governmental Affairs and will comprise representatives from departments and agencies of the Ministry, and other relevant Ministries (Finance, Budget and National Plan, Health, Education, Water Resources, and Environment etc), development partners, civil society and community organisations, and other relevant stakeholders.

The implementation of this Plan will be supported with a robust monitoring and evaluation mechanism, which will help to track progress and facilitate course correction. Implementation progress will be tracked using the key results framework that has been developed for this Plan, which captures high-level performance indicators for each of the priority areas and key activities.

Overall, this Plan should be implemented through the Annual Operational Plan for each year, which is expected to guide budgeting and performance tracking towards catalysing the realization of the Renewed Hope Agenda.

Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs

Abuja

Stop hiding behind dollar and oil! Shun profiteering!

Thank you to our dear 'Mai kudi', 'Mai arziki', 'Mai jama'a' - Aliko Dangote. He has used his game-changer outfit - Dangote Petroleum Refinery - to progressively crash the price of diesel from N1,600 per litre to N1,200 per litre about three weeks ago, to N1,000 per litre yesterday. On behalf of industries and consumers, thank you very much. Not yet Uhuru though!

Before now, big players like Dangote and BUA had recently crashed the price of cement, which sold as high as N15,000 per 50kg bag in January 2024, to between N7,000 and N8,000 now, depending on the brand, location, and other factors. 

Considering the above and other recent improvements such as Naira appreciation, thank God for responsible and responsive business leadership. Thank God for the imaginary hand of the #FGN. There's however more room for improvement!

You keep asking why government after government in #Nigeria have always favoured Aliko Dangote in a big way but you never ask yourself what you do with your little space in your little corner. You keep wondering how God has been blessing and increasingly blessing Dangote but you never wonder about kingdom principles concerning being good and faithful or being wicked and slothful over a few things.

While Dangote has crashed the price of diesel and has led others to crash the price of cement, you in your little corner are still hanging on to your high old prices even though your #dollar #forex rate justification has seriously gone down. You often forget that enormous profit, by hook or by crook, may bring you wealth but it may not sustain your business or bring you blessing.

Each time your costs of production increase, you immediately increase the prices of your products / services and transfer the burden to consumers. But, whenever those costs come down, you either refuse to bring down your prices or drag your feet to do the needful. You shrug your shoulders when you hear consumers sadly saying "Whatever goes up in Nigeria doesn't come down." It's not so in consumer-centric economies. It's not supposed to be so in our economy. And, in all fairness, it's not the practice by all private companies delivering products or services in Nigeria. One of those God-fearing business outfits that have been operating with transparency and integrity particularly in the oil and gas sector is BOVAS Group. Many of their customers have testified to the image the company has built for itself. It has received many awards of excellent service. In 2018, the then Group Managing Director of the #NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Kachalla Baru (RIP), applauded BOVAS Group for transparency, integrity, reliable service delivery, and consistent selling of petroleum products at the official price.

We hereby challenge and encourage individual business operators and corporate organizations to begin to do great positive things not only for themselves but also for the people and the society at large. God bless you as you do. #ShunProfiteering

Bolaji Oladejo.

Onyema is doing yeoman's job with his Air Peace

Onyema is doing yeoman's job with his Air Peace. See how he and his airline recently crashed air fares. Other international airlines have been hiding behind dollarization and high price of dollar to allow their fares go skyrocketing. They posited that lower fares were not possible in Nigeria in the prevailing economic circumstances, but Allen Onyema does not share that extreme profiteering strategy. Those airlines have now been forced to do what they had claimed was not possible by bringing down their fares substantially. Salute to the leadership support of Mr. President @officialABAT, Hon. Minister of Aviation, Hon. Minister of Industry, Trade & Investment, Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs, and other relevant government functionaries.

Allen Onyema's feat in #aviation industry reminds us of the patriotic and strategic move by Mike Adenuga around August 2003 when his Globacom entered the #telecom market with 'per- second billing', crashed SIM card to rock-bottom price, and began to rule their world with submarine cables from United Kingdom to Nigeria. Existing telecom giants including MTN that have been going to town with federal legislators' backing with songs that "per-second billing is not realistic in Nigeria" and "low SIM card prices are not yet possible" were forced to fall in line. Yet, they never ran at loss. I recall that MTN officially reported breaking even in Nigeria within the first few years of operation as against their target of 10 years. The era preceding the per-second billing system was such a goldmine non-existent in South Africa or elsewhere that millions of Nigerians would make calls, say, for 1 minute 1 second (61 sec.) and they would be charged for 2 minutes (120 sec.).

Before we go back to the airline issue, it is pertinent to digress a little more and make the point here that Nigerians are seriously yearning for serious entrepreneurs who, with necessary executive and legislative supports, will introduce and force Multichoice (DSTV and GoTV), Startimes, and others to adopt pay-per-view billing system as it obtains in other economies.

Let's come back to our airline matter. Now that the airlines that were previously charging exorbitantly high fares have decided to reduce their fares and their home government authorities are deploying stifling anti-competition strategies, Air Peace and other interested airlines must not be allowed to die. We want to believe that the rule and the end game of fair global business is shared prosperity for a fairer and more peaceful world. All necessary government-to-government (G2G) and government-to-business (G2B) interventions must continue to be deployed towards achieving mutually-beneficial and win-win environments of international business in aviation and all other sectors. God bless #Nigeria. God bless international community: #WTO #GATT #MIGA #UNCTAD #UNIDO
Bolaji Oladejo

AEDC Customers: Want to Know Your Electricity Meter Band Classification?

Do you want to know your electricity meter band classification as an AEDC customer?

It's very simple and immediate. Just a few steps:

(1.) Click on the link below or Copy the link and paste it in your web browser

(2.) Select Meter Number (or Account Number) 

(3.) Enter Meter Number (or Account Number) 

Voila! Your band classification will be displayed.

Here you go:

https://infocheck.abujaelectricity.com/

Imaginary forces of the market

The imaginary forces of the market can be extremely selfish, greedy, and cruel. The point we've all along been making is that the idea of completely leaving the market to the free reins and vagaries of extreme market forces is dangerous for the economy. Even Adam Smith (1723-1790), the father of free enterprise, argued for the pursuit of free market system under condition of equity and justice towards public good.

If we had thought that, by floating the #Naira, it will not sink under huge commercial pressures of the market but it's sinking as it were, it's high time we reduced the free hands of the topsy-turvy market. If, as nature abhors vacuum, the vacated role of the #CBN has been surreptitiously hijacked by #binance, it's high time the CBN resumed its statutory role.

It is in this wise that we welcome the on-going interventions by the central bank especially in #forex market and in #cryptocurrency market which must be sustained for them to be effective. 

The government seems to be listening and paying more attention to well-meaning critiques of stakeholders. The strength of great leaders is not in being infallible but, when they make mistakes, they take corrective actions.

Bolaji Oladejo.

Still on the need for policy reversal by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Thumbs-up 👍 👍 👍 again for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the chairman of #ECOWAS, for the reversal of sanctions against B'Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Niger. It remains to be seen if Niger, Mali, and B'Faso will reciprocate the olive branch offered them by dropping their immediate withdrawal from ECOWAS.

In justifying his proposal for lifting of the sanctions during the Extraordinary Session of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS Member States held on Saturday, 24th Feb. 2024, President Tinubu declared, inter alia, that: “..... However, the sanctions that we contemplated might help lead our brothers to the negotiating table have become a harsh stumbling block. In my mind and heart, that which is hurtful yet ineffective serves no good purpose and should be abandoned.” I would like to use this opportunity to implore Mr. President to also summon courage in his characteristic style to reconsider and abandon his well-intended policies whose implementation modalities are hurtful yet ineffective. Your Excellency, we're talking about the floating of the #Naira, the removal of fuel #subsidy, and proactively the impending removal of #electricity subsidy.

The nation awaits your strategic and humanitarian direction sir.

Bolaji Oladejo.
#cbn #nnpc #nerc

Thumbs-up for Mr. President, State Governors, and the National Assembly

Thumbs-up 👍 👍 👍 for Mr. President, State Governors, and the National Assembly for being on the same page and reading the same paragraph about the establishment of state police. 

Your Excellencies, Distinguished Senators, Hon. Members of House of Rep. and State Houses of Assembly, I humbly wish to propose that the next logical paragraph to be read loud and clear in unison should be #LocalGovernmentAutonomy and #CommunityPolicing. 

History beckons at you to have your name written in gold.

Bolaji Oladejo.