Living Through The Uncertainties Of 2016

by: Ayo Olukotun

“Nigerians still go through all kinds of trauma in their daily lives because of the comatose nature of our leadership, so people look for areas in life where they can find succor and that is why comedy shows are sold out” – Ezechi Onyerionwu, December 5, 2015

Literary scholar, Prof. Ezechi Onyerionwu’s remark, quoted above appeared in a recent edition of the New York Times. Onyerionwu spoke to Japanese writer, Norimitsu Onishi, author of the article, who informs that the soaring popularity of stand-up comedy in Nigeria indexes the several ways in which a traumatised citizenry is coping with the rigours of daily existence. Nigerians, we are reliably informed, are escaping the scramble for survival, typified by the relentless search for fuel, broken down infrastructure, and the terrors of Boko Haram, by laughing harder than usual in order to stay afloat.

Although 2015 brought in celebrated political change at the centre, in the shape of a reformist government led by President Muhammadu Buhari, it ended pretty much like 2014, for the average Nigerian. Buhari may have reduced the defiance and bravado of the insurgents, who as 2014 closed unleashed a horrific massacre at Baga.

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The Politics And Economics Of Fuel Subsidy

by: Basil Enwegbara

That fuel subsidy is not the problem and inevitably necessary is never in doubt. What made fuel subsidy seem unwanted as it is being advocated by the same cabal and politicians whose partnership sabotage and milk the country is their readiness to use its absence to unleash economic hardship on the weakest members of the society. And that damaging blow will come as soon as the cabal arms itself with such a dangerous monopolistic weapon as price fixing.

One of the benefits this will guarantee this thieving cabal is the very fact that it will give the Nigerian government and people a new set of problems to be preoccupied with to the extent that no one should be talking about the trillions of naira that they stole from us in the name of fuel subsidy. In other words, what in reality they are trying to remove from our attention is the very fact that the failure of fuel subsidy policy happens because of the immense corruption smuggled into the fuel subsidy regime.

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Education And Buhari’s 2016 Budget

by: Abimbola Adelakun

How much of Nigeria’s budgetary allocation should go to the education sector? The answer should be a 100 per cent – and that is only a start. This, of course, is not practicable for obvious reasons. Besides, we know that reducing the problem with education in Nigeria to funding is dubious diagnosis. Notwithstanding, education in Nigeria – at the federal, state and local levels – needs every kobo it can get. 

It is heartening that education is getting a sizeable chunk of the 2016 budget – N369bn – but other factors considered, this is short compared to the past few years when the sector received more: 2011-N306bn; 2012-400bn; 2013-N427bn; 2014-N493bn; 2015-N492bn. Worse is consideration that the depleted value of the naira makes the amount worth far less than in 2014 when allocations to education peaked. We should therefore expect to be squeezed around the belt area in every sector of the economy in 2016 due to further anticipation of fall in the price of oil.

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Of ‘Buharists’, ‘Wailing Wailers’ And A Divided Nation

by: Bayo Olupohunda

It took just one Christmas message tweet by Femi Adesina, President Buhari’s special adviser on Media and Publicity, to re-ignite what has been a brewing online war between the so-called “Jonathanians” or the latter day, “wailing wailers” and the “Buharists”, a band of combative, fiercely loyal post-2015 election supporters and defenders of the President. For those new to the ongoing “roforofo” fight, perhaps an introduction will suffice.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan, (the most criticised president in the world, in his own words) had in sympathy, gathered a crowd of virtual and street sympathisers who had coalesced under the name “Jonathanians”. For them, Jonathan was the best president Nigeria ever had. They became aggrieved after his defeat and were quickly labelled the “wailing wailers” by the “Buharists” who still taunt them for being sore losers.

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Can Buhari Be For Everybody, Really?

by: Bisi Olawunmi

“I am for everybody, I am not for anybody”, so rang out what became the defining words of Muhammadu Buhari at his inauguration as President on May 29, 2015. It was a quotable quote, an emotive sound bite that stood out in the inaugural address and got everybody’s attention. It apparently sought to sell a populist myth of a President beholden to no one.

However, there is also the interpretation that it is a targeted statement aimed at a political financier and aspirant godfather. An extension of the President’s “I am for all and for no one” is the populism of non-interference with the two other arms of government – Legislature and the Judiciary – as demonstrated by his laissez faire attitude to the National Assembly leadership crisis that saw Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara romping to the Senate Presidency and House of Representatives Speakership respectively against the position of their party, the All Progressives Congress.

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Dasukigate And The Hypocrisy Of Nigerians

by: Niran Adedokun

Recently, I had the privilege of the company of one of the most accomplished Nigerians I know. Now approaching 80, the man told a story, which I crave your indulgence to share.

According to him, decades back, he was in a position to influence the businesses of a lot of contractors. One particular Christmas season, a contractor gifted him with an item made of gold. He took this gift with all joy and went home on holiday. On the day that the company resumed early the next year, he went into the office of his European superior and they shared stories of their individual experiences while on vacation.

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Is The Economy Poisoned By CBN’s Dollar Hoarding?

by: Henry Boyo

The crash in crude oil prices from over $145 in 2008 to below $40 per barrel presently has invariably reduced Nigeria’s export earnings by over 50 per cent. Consequently, the significant deflation in dollar income is commonly blamed for the persistent intense market pressure on the naira exchange rate. Interestingly, this perception is, ironically, against, the actual reality that the naira exchange rate remained static between N152 and N160/$1, even when the foreign reserves in the Central Bank of Nigeria’s custody exceeded $60bn. Indeed, with the prevailing euphoria of a presumed strong reserve base, the apex bank’s challenge appeared to be how to spend/invest all the dollars!

Incidentally, after 2006, the International Monetary Fund’s “Policy Support” recommendation to liberalise dollar supply and stabilise naira exchange rate soon became an article of faith in the CBN’s monetary policy management. Ultimately, almost 3,000 Bureaux de Charge became licensed to sell weekly dollar allocations supplied from the CBN’s reserves. Curiously, dollar allocations to the BDCs often exceeded the monthly provision for the real sector, despite their indisputable role as engine of economic growth and prime creators of employment opportunities.

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Buhari And The Drums Of War In The East

by: Niran Adedokun

The most debilitating of evils beset men and nations in the exultance that trails their periods of victory. The joy of the exploit of such moments exposes people who do not employ wisdom to two ultimately destructive tendencies.

The first is that they forget where they are coming from, the mistakes that they made yesterday and the weight of repercussions that they suffered from those errors. They move on without any lessons learnt and dap themselves in revelries of their new, if you like, hard won victory. They lose their guard, let their hair down and get vulnerable and penetrable.

In addition, men, when they get the upper hand, momentarily get busy with what they consider to be the important things without attending to the little things. Unfortunately, when such little things are ignored, they gain space; they fester and like little foxes which spoil the vine, little things, when ignored, congregate to destroy the essence of men and nations, unless heed is expeditiously taken.

This is the light in which I see the Nigerian government’s handling of recent agitations led by the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra and the Indigenous People of Biafra. The protests, which have now been suspended, followed the arrest and continuous detention of London-based Nnamdi Kanu.

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Biafra Agitation And Divide-And-Rule Antics

by: Nwobodo Chidiebere

“I freed a thousand slaves; I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” —Harriet Tubman

For weeks now, the issue of Biafra agitation has been at the front burner in the polity. Every vendor’s stand has been turned into a theatre of arguments by free readers and potential customers, who spend hours analysing the fresh Biafra movement being propelled by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB and Movement for Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, via peaceful protests.

The social media was not spared as it has been inundated with intellectual fireworks by proponents and opponents of the Biafra struggle. Almost every known and unknown columnist has written in support or against Biafra’s resuscitation by the promoters of IPOB led by the illegally detained Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

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Why Is Buhari Not Talking To Nigerians?

by: Bayo Olupohunda

Prior to his assumption of office on May 29, President Muhammadu Buhari had a reputation that preceded him. Beginning from his first stint as a military head of state, the President’s public image as a tough, taciturn and unsmiling soldier with a Spartan personality has over the years helped create the Buhari myth. Now, three decades after as an elected President under a democracy, Buhari is still as solitary as ever. Even as a “born again democrat”, (his own words), the President still struggles to engage with the public and the media.

In a democracy where the electorate are increasingly becoming participatory and yearning to engage with governance and the leadership, Buhari’s taciturnity may yet turn out to be this administration’s Achilles heels. But it seems Nigerians may have to live with the stoicism of a President who even in his second coming may not easily shed the toga of mystery that surrounds his personality. As a military ruler, Buhari rarely spoke to the media and when he chose to do so, he picked his words.

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