Dr Musa Babayo

The second day of the protests, just like the first, has ended in bloodshed and destruction. It's indeed tragic and sad that those who organized and mobilized the protesters to the streets have failed to come out and provide leadership.

Death, destruction, and bloodshed were the logical consequences of a protest without a head. We must immediately call off the protests because it is not in our nation's best interest for them to continue on this path.

Destructions and death could only serve one purpose, and one purpose only, and that’s plunging the nation into a deep valley of despair and hopelessness and slowing down the government's determination to make the economy work for everyone.

A stich in time, save nine!

The decision of the FEC to approve the sale of crude to all local refineries in local currency is a breath of fresh air to the economy and a genuine effort to reset the economic agenda of the government, with propound implications on the strength of the Naira and long-term prosperity for the Nigerian people. President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu should be commended for his leadership, and thumbs up to the government for listening to the cries of Nigerian people.

At the time when the president is working tirelessly to reposition the economy and attract foreign investment through economic diplomacy, which he personally led to different countries in the last year, it’s disheartening to listen to and read the controversies around Dangote Refinery.

Institutions of state have a huge responsibility to help the president and the nation consolidate on the gains recorded by this government in the last year on the economic front.

The controversies are demarketing the country and turning the global investors away to other investment destinations. Those who are bent on delaying the actualization of the Renewed Hope deliverables for the benefits of all must be stopped now.

The commitment of the president to good governance, accountability, and transparency in managing public sector finances at the subnational level, and more importantly, the desire to make the local government system function as a third tier of government in the most effective and efficient manner, led to the decision of the country’s highest court now in the public domain.

Political leadership at the subnational level should follow through and allow the new autonomy to work for the benefits of our democracy and the growth of our institutions. With a functional local administration in place, some, if not all, of the community-related security branches will become a thing of the past. Citizens at the grassroots will have more access to economic opportunities, and the rural economy will certainly begin to jump for the benefit of all.

The president has silently but comprehensively restructured the local government system within the federation in a most profound manner. The governors should support this development practically while enhancing the level of monitoring and oversight to ensure total compliance with all existing rules and regulations by the local councils for maximum impacts on the lives of the rural poor.

Nigeria is a heterogeneous and plural society, a thriving democracy of twenty-five uninterrupted years. In a democracy, disagreements between different tendencies are inevitable and, in fact, even encouraged in some instances.

What is not encouraged or right to do is to allow the differences or disagreements to degenerate into conflicts.

While the right to protest peacefully is guaranteed by the constitution, in our present circumstances, it may not be the best option considering the multifaceted challenges our nation is going through. It’s therefore right, and indeed legitimate, to call on organized labor and other interests and pressure groups to explore other alternatives to dispute settlement mechanisms other than street protests in the interest of our nation and its people, especially those at the lower segment of the social strata.

Democracy is a game of dialogue and sometimes even heated arguments. It’s not a game for the dumb, and therefore, all parties to the current contemporary issues should continue to talk until solutions are found. Policymakers, on the other hand, should, as a matter of urgent national importance, begin the process of major policy reviews.that may possibly lead to a partial rollback of some of the policy prescriptions that led to the present situation.

Policy review is not a somersault but a courageous and genuine attempt at problem solving—an attempt that will freeze a benign growth from metamorphosing into a malignant one. Reforms are always tough and painful, but the outcomes, when endured, will be sweet.

Ecowas was formed about 50 years ago, precisely on May 28, 1975, in Lagos. The formation of the regional block aimed to foster and expedite the pace of integration and cooperation among the member countries.

It is indeed a very sad development for Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso to withdraw their membership from the economic block at this critical period when enhanced cooperation is required amongst the nation-states to tackle the challenges of insecurity, climate change, rising food crises, etc. within the subregion.

Diplomacy, it is often argued, is an extension of war, and it is on this note that the chairman of Ecowas and Nigeria’s president’s timely appeal to the aggrieved countries to reconsider their decision and rejoin the regional body is a welcome development.

The Ecowas commission and leadership should intensify efforts to bring the three countries back to the regional block; their decision to form a confederation of Sahelian states is not withstanding.

The decision to appoint the Senegalese president to serve as a special envoy and to talk to the leadership of the three countries about returning to the block is appropriate, and it should be pursued relentlessly.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as Chairman of Ecowas should be commended for his leadership in Ecowas and for his commitment to the peace and development of the subregion.

The decision of the federal government to support subnationals with the sum of N10b each to enhance and strengthen the food and agricultural value chains is quite commendable, and it clearly established Mr. President’s commitment to addressing food inflation in the country.

However, it’s important for the government to direct subnationals to submit a plan on how the funds allocated will be deployed for maximum impact before disbursements are made. A robust and effective monitoring mechanism should be established by the federal government to monitor the utilization of allocations made and report to the government periodically. This is to ensure that funds allocated are used judiciously and in the most ethical and effective manner, consistent with the renewed
Hope policy initiative of Mr. President.

The management of special intervention funds disbursed by the government to subnationals in the past was not efficiently utilized by some of them, hence the need for close monitoring of the present disbursements.

Eid al-Adha is an occasion for us to remember the sacrifices the prophet Ibrahim (AS) made in obedience to the will of Allah. I wish all that Allah accepts our noble deeds and sacrifices, allaviates our sufferings, and helps our nation pull through its present challenges.

May Allah's grace continue to bless all Nigerians with peace, happiness, and prosperity this Eid. I wish all Nigerians a blessed Eid-al-Adha, filled with laughter, joy, and precious moments with family and friends.

Eid Mubarak.

The bumpy ride notwithstanding, the democratic journey has been quite exciting and rewarding. While congratulating Nigerians on 25 eventful years of democracy, the political leadership at both national and subnational levels should rededicate themselves to serving our fatherland. Some of the rough edges observed in the course of policy implementation should be smoothened to reflect the hopes and aspirations of our people. We pray for peace, effective governance, and continuous stability in the nation. Congratulations once more to Mr. President and all Nigerians on Democracy Day.

The Governor of CBN was right when he declared recently that the Naira was grossly undervalued, and he was also right when he mentioned during his confirmation hearing at the Senate that rebuilding trust and confidence in the local currency is one sure way of helping the Naira navigate towards its true value. The invisible hands of monetary authorities the world over guide and support their local currencies towards a realistic and fair value. In a market-driven economy, the forces of demand and supply should not be left alone to determine the price of the naira, as no market anywhere in the world is perfect, and therefore the government must always be there to enforce compliance and smooth the rough edges to remove greedy players.

The CBN was right when a few weeks ago it sold $ to BDC’s at rates slightly above N1000 to $1. We witnessed an exponential appreciation of the naira on the parallel market as a direct consequence of that development, to the benefit of the economy and our hard-core poor. The CBN should ignore the views of those who are advocating for N1500 to 1$ as unrealistic and devoid of any sensible economic arguments to support it, as the guest of Seun Okinbalowe on Channel Politics Today on May 15, 2024, was advocating. The greatest beneficiaries of the massive Naira devaluation are both the licensed and unlicensed BDCs, the Deposit Moey Banks, with some of them already declaring unprecedented gross profits of more than 3/4 of a trillion Naira because of the revaluation of assets arising from FX gains.

The efforts of the intrusive agencies to deal with market saboteurs are highly commendable, and these efforts should be supported and sustained by the monetary authority and government in defense of the naira. Expanding the productive base of the economy, which is a key policy goal of the renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President, is ongoing and would ultimately lead to enhanced revenues for the government and additional support for our FX reserve. Connecting policy and politics is a critical success factor in a democratic environment, and the economic team has a responsibility to come up urgently with specific key action plans to support the CBN and government to fix this problem.

Brettonwoods institutions, with their age-long traditions and policy of pure structural adjustments, should not be allowed to dictate the phase and speed of our reform initiatives. After all, in a democratic environment, there must always be a connection between policy and politics.

A fundamental change of attitudes by all of us is key to our early exit from the valley of despair, where our economy is now, to that of sustained growth and development in line with Mr. President's commitment to nurse the nation back to health for the benefit of all.

From the courts to the mainstream media, the agitation for controls to regulate the prices of goods and services has been on the increase. In a deregulated economic environment, market forces are generally allowed to determine the prices of goods and services. The government is required to guide and create the enabling environment for businesses to thrive. Price control stifles competition and economic growth by suffocating the productive sectors of the economy from being efficient in the production value chain.

The governor of the CBN recently informed the nation that the naira is undervalued. The CBN should, therefore, move quickly to peg the exchange rate of N750 to $1, and follow that with strong enforcement of all the existing rules and regulations to prevent abuse by deposit money banks and non-bank financial institutions in the country. Close monitoring of diaspora remittances should be stepped up; Western Union and MoneyGram should be monitored more closely to ensure prompt transfer of all FX.

In respect of remittances to Nigerian banks, they are not to be kept abroad as they are currently. Beneficiaries in Nigeria should be paid in dollars and not in the local currency, the naira. This would increase the inflow of FX into the country for both balance of payment support and to reduce volatility in the foreign exchange market. The current policy directive issued by CBN for the benefits of diaspora remittances to be paid in Naira instead of USD should be discontinued and reversed. A nation hungry for foreign exchange cannot afford to keep billions of dollars remitted to it in foreign banks, at the expense of the nation's economic health.

According to the World Bank, over $20 billion was remitted to Nigeria in 2023 as diaspora remittances. Unfortunately, most of these amounts were retained by Western Union and MoneyGram abroad on behalf of the Nigerian banks, while the beneficiaries were paid the equivalents in Naira.

What is further required to support the turnaround initiative of the economy by the president is an urgent need to have a fundamental change of attitudes by all state and non-state actors. No amount of regulation or deregulation of the economy supported by appropriate monetary and fiscal policies could cause a meaningful change to happen if citizens and operators refuse to work with integrity, transparency, and commitment to change the ways of doing business.

We all have to love and support our country and government in their determination to resolve the challenges facing the nation. Patriotism is a critical success factor in any turnaround initiative, and we should all work together to promote a high level of ethical standards in all our business dealings. The Asian tigers followed that pathway to greatness, and I believe we too can, if we play by the rules. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Central Bank of Nigeria

The nation is facing multifaceted security challenges. Security experts have advised the amendments of relevant laws to allow for the establishment of state police as an appropriate step in strengthening the security architecture of the nation.

The attitudes of subnational administrations in managing joint accounts and local government finances, along with the suboptimal conduct of local government elections, are often cited by opponents as reasons for caution. This does not give citizens hope that state police, when established, would be managed in the most fair, just, and transparent manner.

The security agencies should be supported in every way possible to enable them to do more in securing the nation and its people.

Inflation is a major economic issue in the country today. Most mainstream arguments suggest that there are only two unsatisfactory options to control inflation. First, the central bank can raise interest rates, increasing the cost of borrowing money and decreasing economic demand. While rate increases tend to slow inflation eventually, they also risk causing a recession and major job losses. The second option is for the central bank to do nothing or too little. This could avoid a recession, but it risks allowing inflation to become entrenched as wages and prices spiral upward in a vicious cycle.

As the CBN sets to hold its first monetary policy committee meeting under the Cardoso-led executive later in the month, it's important for the MPC to conduct a detailed diagnostic study of the nation's fiscal, monetary, and political environment before making decisions that would have profound impacts on peace, stability, and prosperity in line with the Renewed Hope policy thrusts of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu

In May 2023, the country was approaching the future from a position of significant weakness. Nigeria was technically insolvent, and what stopped the country from going down into a valley of despair and hopelessness was the bold, courageous, patriotic but politically unpopular decision of the government to withdraw subsidies on PMS and FX, which were benefiting only the privileged few at the expense of the nation and its people. The outcomes of these policy initiatives would result in a more sustainable, resilient, and robust economy less vulnerable to surging prices.

Subnational administrations should continue to allocate financial resources to critical areas of the needs of their people to cushion the effects of inflation on basic consumer goods and foodstuff, allowing the poor to breathe. Major spending on roads and bridges, even though essential for rapid economic growth, should not be at the expense of food and prompt payments of salaries and pensions at this critical period of economic turmoil. Fewer people would be on the streets protesting for a just and fair economy if funds allocated by the center are justly and fairly deployed to the people by the states and local administrations.

I congratulate the Super Eagles for their victory over Angola. I implore all of us to learn from the national team. We should close our fault lines, be more patriotic, and together confront the challenges facing our country. All of us, working together, can.

My sincere condolences on the passing of Sulaiman Kabir Abdullahi, a profoundly loyal individual. His absence will be deeply felt. May Allah grant him Aljannatul Firdaus and bring solace to his family and friends.

Inna Lillahi wa inna Ilayhir Raji’un.

President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive for the CBN to take over crude sales from the NNPC is a commendable policy initiative. The oil and gas sector, being the nation's cash cow, has unfortunately resisted ethical reform for reasons not hard to understand. The National Petroleum Company acts as the judge and jury of its own case, controlling everything from production to sales and revenue collection.

An independent body, serving as a catalyst and beyond the control of the company's bureaucracy, would undoubtedly bring about positive change. To prevent potential lateral and vertical conflicts, a well-defined delineation of responsibilities between the two agencies is necessary. This precaution is vital to maintain harmonious relationships and ensure the timely achievement of the core objectives of the reforms.

This policy option inspires hope that addressing revenue leakages will occur progressively. Blocking these leakages is crucial for the President's turnaround initiative, as the savings generated can be directed towards funding development projects for the benefit of the people.

My post is a fictional story by Leo Tolstoy, written in 1886, called “How much Land Does a Man Need”. The protagonist is a poor farmer named Pahom who dreams of becoming a wealthy landowner. “If I had plenty of land,” he muses early in the story, “I shouldn’t fear the Devil himself!”. The devil, however, is listening. Seeing in Pahom’s craving a chance to gain power over another soul, the Devil orchestrates a series of events.

At first, everything seems to go well. Pahom borrows money to buy more land. He raises cattle and grows corn and becomes prosperous. He sells his lands at a profit and moves to a new area where he can buy vast tracts for low prices. He’s briefly content, but as he grows accustomed to this new prosperity - he’s ten times richer than before - Pahom becomes dissatisfied. He still must rent land to grow wheat, and there are quarrels with poorer people who want to use the land or leave it fallow to regenerate.

Owning more himself would make everything easier.
He soon hears of a distant tribe called the Bashkirs, who live on a fertile plain by a river and will sell huge parcels of land for almost nothing. He buys tea and other gifts and travels to meet them. They welcome him warmly, giving him drinks and killing a sheep to share the meat with him. After he presents them with gifts, they ask which of their possessions he likes best so they can reciprocate his generosity. “What pleases me best here”, he says, “is your land. Our land is crowded, and the soil is exhausted; but you have plenty of land and it’s good land. I never saw the like of it.”

Their chief explains that they sell land by the day. For a small price of a thousand rubles, he can have as much land as he can cover in a day of walking. Starting at sunrise from a small hill, he can walk the perimeter of the land he wants, marking boundaries by digging small holes. If he returns to the starting point before sunset, the land is his. If he does not, he forfeits the thousand rubles.

After a sleepless night, Pahom sets out the next morning through the high grass of the steppes. In the cool of the morning, he makes good time, pausing periodically to dig holes and look back at the tribe on the hilltop. The farther he goes, the better the land seems. He slips off his uncomfortable boots to walk even faster. By noon, he is hot and tired, but after a brief rest for some water, he continues. If he can just suffer through one day of pain, he thinks, he will have the rest of his life to enjoy the benefits.

He pushes through the afternoon heat and his growing fatigue to another side of an envisioned square. He is about to return when he sees an appealing hollow of lush land. He marks it and starts back to the hilltop. The sun is already sinking toward the horizon, and he is still miles away. His bare feet are cut and bruised, he’s exhausted from the heat, and the muscles in his legs are faltering. He starts to realize he should have returned sooner. But he manages to quicken his pace, tossing aside his boots and water flask.

Soon, he is struggling to breathe. His shirt and trousers are soaked with sweat, his heart is hammering, his chest, and his lungs are heaving like the bellows of a blacksmith. The sun, huge and blood red in the evening mist, is almost completely below the horizon. From where he stands, it appears to have vanished, but on the hilltop, he sees the Bashkirs still illuminated by light. With a final ferocious push, he charges up the hill, reaching the point from which he started just as the sun dips below the edge of the sky. “He has gained much land,” the chief exclaims with admiration.

Pahom collapses with hands outstretched. A stream of blood flows from his mouth. His servant takes the spade and digs a simple grave six feet long. With Pahom’s death and humble burial, the question in the story’s title is answered: that’s all the land a man needs.

Northern Nigeria is undergoing a cycle of great upheaval, marked by high levels of insecurity, poverty, and youth restiveness, along with a substantial number of out-of-school children. More importantly, there is widespread dissatisfaction with the quality of governance in most states within the region.

There is an urgent need to build a more equitable economy and society, especially for the benefit of the rural poor. The hope, however, does not lie in grandiose dreams of constructing iconic roads, bridges, and skyscrapers. Instead, the focus should be on implementing policies, actions, and strategies that create opportunities for people to work, be productive, earn incomes, and consequently, foster prosperity for their families.

The leadership in the region must be held accountable, and state budgets should be discussed at town hall meetings, mirroring the transparency of the National Assembly. Citizens should be invited to listen to budget defenses by commissioners at respective state assemblies within the North. A significant push is required from political leadership in the Northern region to bring about meaningful change, emphasizing openness, inclusiveness, and transparency in the budgetary process.

It is crucial to encourage the leadership of states within the region to prioritize the well-being of the people over self and family. Everyone should contribute to changing the narrative of the region – promoting hope instead of despair, peace and prosperity instead of bloodshed and destruction, and unity, love, and brotherhood instead of divisions.

The ongoing debate should shift towards these critical issues, rather than focusing on the current noise surrounding the locations of federal agency head offices. The vicious cycle of poverty is engulfing the North at an exponential speed, demanding collective action to reverse the movement for the benefit of both present and future generations.

It's much easier to criticize and condemn than it is to try to understand the other person's viewpoint. It's frequently easier to find fault than to find praise. It's more natural to talk about what you want than to talk about what the other person wants.

The issues of the contracts awarded to a company, where the honorable Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, once served as a director, are in the public domain. The minister did a very good job when he appeared on Channels TV. It's very clear, based on the facts on the ground, that no law was violated, and the minister did no wrong as there was no case of insider-related abuse.

I will say no more, other than to urge all concerned to keep their eyes on the big picture and refuse to be distracted. The minister has done reasonably well, from our distant assessment of his performance as the Minister of Interior. Instead of condemning him on what we now know as false accusations or criticism in this recent incident, we should try to understand him and figure out exactly the sequence of events from 2019, when he resigned as director of the company, to the time he was appointed minister.

As Dr. Johnson said: "God himself, sir, does not propose to judge man until the end of his days." Why should you and I?

When a responsibility is given to a person who cannot discharge it or to a person who can but refuses to discharge it, then expect suboptimal performance from MDAs and other government agencies where such individuals are placed to manage and supervise. One cannot give what one does not have. A person who does not understand the basic workings of government and/or lacks the humility and modesty to learn and commit themselves to selfless adherence to existing rules and regulations, guiding the management of assigned MDA's.

Very often, leadership at MDA’s level uses the rule of thumb approach to problem-solving instead of using their laws and operational manuals, which clearly define the roles, functions, and powers of organizational actors as their basic guides. How many MDA’s today have their boards fully established? Probably very few, and how many MDA’s without boards have their functions taken over by their parenting ministries, in complete contravention of their establishment acts and other extant rules and regulations issued from time to time by the government? Probably all.

How many of those newly inaugurated boards are being allowed to function fully without interference by their supervising ministries? Probably very few. Impunity, it’s often argued, is the worst form of corruption, and those who are involved in it are solely responsible for weakening our institutions, diluting corporate governance, and promoting financial crimes in the process.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has clearly demonstrated, in the last seven months, the capacity to reset this nation and place it on a path of sustained economic growth and development. Our institutions will be more effective and efficient in carrying out their mandates, as embedded in their respective establishment acts, by simply keying in to the president's resolve to strengthen our institutions and promoting strong corporate governance.

Corruption thrives better where you have weak institutions. Some MDA’s and agencies of government, in the immediate past dispensation, have had their boards disabled, in some cases for more than four years, and their supervising ministries have taken over their functions and managed the agencies like private limited liability companies, in complete contravention of the Acts establishing them. That’s impunity.

The government should sanction MDAs and public officers who are subverting our institutions through non-adherence to existing rules and regulations. The president has the skills, capacity, and competencies to fix this nation and restore its lost glory. The Renewed Hope is a policy document for all, and in it are the major policy prescriptions that will resolve most of the structural distortions in our economy and, in the process, create prosperity for all citizens in a nation that’s peaceful and politically stable. We should all key in and support the president in discharging this heavy responsibility placed on him by destiny through the instrumentality of our votes. May God help this nation and the president to lead us well.

The year 2023 has been a very tough and eventful year for the nation, and indeed for all of us. I wish all of us Allah’s blessings and prosperity in 2024. May Allah keep the nation and all of us safe in the new year.

Nigeria is in a deep valley of despair, and all of us, yes, all of us, are patiently waiting for the renewed hope, under the able command of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to pull it up from where it’s today into a future full of promise and hope.

Our economy in 2015 was vibrant and fairly strong, with all the major economic indicators moving in a positive direction. Today, our debt profile is at its worst time ever in the political history of our nation. Strong inflationary pressures, mostly attributed to unguided printing of the Naira and borrowing through the ways and means, a high level of insecurity and youth restiveness,over 20 million out-of-school children, decaying infrastructure, low levels of industrial production, interest and exchange rate crises,low levels of crude oil production and high levels of crude oil theft, derailed and unfocused educational policies, suboptimal management of the nation, scarce financial resources, etc. The list is endless.

President Tinubu took over the mantle of leadership in the midst of these monumental challenges negatively impacting the Nigerian state. To smooth the rough edges and place the nation back on a path of sustained economic growth, it requires skills and competencies, which the president has in abundance. But time is not the best friend of an elected political leadership, and to fix these tragedies, time is key and a very strong success factor. The president needs the support, patience, and prayers of all to accomplish these challenges.

Those who pushed our country to this level, either through an act of commission or omission, should feel ashamed that, when they were trusted, they betrayed the trust of our people. The price of freedom is vigilance.

Going forward, we should all rise up and collectively resolve to make our nation great again and prevent the past from repeating itself. We have a moral responsibility to do that in order to safeguard and secure the future of our children and generations yet unborn.