HE STOOD UP TO RUSSIAN MIGHT

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is fighting the battle of his life. For the Ukrainian President, every minute unfurls with a fresh struggle; he is hard-pressed to protect Ukraine from Russian assault. The imperative for this manifested since Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, invaded Ukraine and launched offensives at specific Ukrainian targets, military bases, and public utilities, in particular.

Every bomb blast, gunshot, and destruction of lives, homes, and public utilities reverberates like a fearsome totem of Putin’s aggression. In response, Zelensky rallies Ukrainians to spurn the Russian invaders, banking on the tepid support of his immediate neighbours and foreign allies.

Ultimately, he projects rosy landscapes into the hundred-folded layers of disaster erupting through the boundaries and innards of his war-torn nation.

The Russian invasion is devastating but Zelensky leads his people to defy the siege, deploying weaponry, bromides, and supplies from his European neighbours and United States-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) sympathisers.

At every turn, Zelensky counters Putin’s bid to divide his people and separate Ukraine from its allies. His defiance becomes the symbol of Ukraine’s cohesiveness against tyrannous Russia.

Although he has received flak from certain quarters, for letting his ego and US-led NATO goad him into an avoidable war, the Ukrainian President’s resistance to his intimidating Russian neighbour asserts among other things, his political wakefulness and moral courage in the face of external aggression.

Zelensky, a former comedian and an actor with limited experience in politics had won a landslide victory in the country’s presidential election in April 2019, thus emerging as the sixth president of Ukraine on May 20, 2019.

Until he vied for the presidency, Zelensky was conspicuously absent from Ukraine’s political circuit. He was missing in the turbulence that shook Maidan Square in Kyiv in the first two decades of this century: the Orange Revolution of 2004 and 2005 that compelled election officials to scrap a fraudulent runoff, and the deadly clashes in 2014 that forced pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych from power and invited Putin’s first military intervention.

Even though he held no elective office prior to his presidential ambition, Zelensky has managed to assert himself as a President of uncommon resolve.

For instance, the world praised his bravery and determination to serve his war-torn country during the Russian invasion in February 2022. The global community hailed his valour for not fleeing the country amidst the Russian siege and he gained recognition as a wartime leader.

This certainly contradicts the initial run of public opinion about him. When he interrupted his own show, Servant of the People, on New Year’s Eve 2018, to announce his presidential ambition direct to his viewers, not a few people dismissed it as a joke.

Zelensky was an unlikely fit for the presidency; political rivals jeered at him, accusing him of draft dodging. His refusal to observe the compulsory military service exposed him to ridicule and political opponents used it as a weapon against him, oftentimes questioning his patriotism. But Ukraine elected him all the same.

During his first two years in office, critics flayed him for running a slipshod and chaotic administration that looked a lot like one more season of his popular TV show.

As an actor, Zelensky played a schoolteacher who, in very unlikely circumstances, becomes president. In real life, he gave his political party the same name as his show.

But few people took him seriously hence his first challenge in entering politics was to convince Ukrainians that he was serious. Zelensky launched his campaign with the slogan “I’m Not Kidding” and his platform featured anti-corruption pledges alongside the catchphrase “Ukrainian centrism.”

In a television debate, Zelensky pointed finger at incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s chocolate magnate, and declared himself to be the incumbent’s “verdict.”

Pundits doubted his chances of defeating an incumbent president but he did. And no sooner did he assume the presidential seat than Putin became his own “verdict.”

Despite Putin’s intimidating posturing in the months leading to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Zelensky urged calm. Amid fears of a Russian invasion, he travelled to the Munich Security Conference; he was there when Russian troops laid siege to his domain and many wondered whether he’d return to Ukraine.

On the second night of the Russian attack, however, Zelensky emerged from Kyiv’s Mariinskyi Palace, under the possible threat of Russian assassination attempts, to tell the world that he was still there. Thus showing character.

“Starting from February 24, 2022, … we have discovered a completely different Zelensky,” writes Serhii Rudenko in the first pages of his biography of the Ukrainian leader.

In the book titled “Zelensky: A Biography,” Rudenko describes the Ukrainian president as “A man who was not afraid to accept Putin’s challenge and become the leader of popular resistance to Russian aggression. A president who managed to unite in this fight his supporters and opponents, corrupt officials and fighters against corruption, adults, and children, and people of different nationalities and faiths. A head of state who is greeted with applause in European parliaments and the US Congress.”

But how did he become that person? What inspired his evolution from the comedian and TV actor who blundered through the first two years of his administration, into the tough-as-nails president and politician, who wouldn’t back down from a Russian bully?

The roots of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have been severally traced, from promises made to Russia in the 1990s that NATO wouldn’t expand eastwards, through the Bush administration’s flirtation with the idea of Ukraine joining, to Putin’s 2014 invasion of Crimea – which Putin insisted was to keep Ukraine out of NATO.

Putin’s purported goal in the current war is to make Ukraine declare neutrality and gloat at its major rival, the United States powerlessness to prevent it.

So far, Zelensky has held his own against the brute force of the Russian invaders. As the war persists, tragedy lurks everywhere in Ukraine with the seductive dissolution of surrender and repose. The country clearly needs a leader to fight off the invaders and Zelensky is up to the task.

He made history in more ways than one. In his historic record-setting rise to the pinnacle of British politics, Rishi Sunak, on October 25, 2022 became, at 42, the youngest Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK) since 1812, the first British Asian and Hindu to hold the internationally significant office, as well as the first Prime Minister appointed during the reign of King Charles III.

In an age of expanding globalisation, he is a towering symbol of essential diversity.   Strikingly, it took him just a little over a decade to achieve the multiple glories after joining the Conservative Party in 2010.  Five years later, he was elected to the House of Commons for Richmond in North Yorkshire in the 2015 general election. That was when his magical political story began.

After the 2017 general election, the parliamentarian got a junior ministerial position as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government following a 2018 cabinet reshuffle in the Theresa May government.

He became Chief Secretary to the Treasury in July 2019 after Boris Johnson succeeded May as Conservative leader and prime minister.  The 2019 general election led to his advancement to the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer in a February 2020 cabinet reshuffle under Johnson. He was 39 at the time, and became the fourth youngest person ever to hold the position.

A powerful political position, the Chancellor of the Exchequer is a high-ranking member of the British cabinet, third in the ministerial ranking after the prime minister and the deputy prime minister. The office holder is responsible for all economic and financial matters in the UK government. In recent times, it has come to be regarded as the most powerful office in British politics after the prime minister.

This speaks volumes about the enormous power he wielded. In this position, he notably played an important role in the British government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact in the UK.  Also, he was involved in the government’s response to the current cost of living crisis, as well as the 2021 energy supply crisis.

In July, this year, a chain of events was set in motion that would culminate in his premiership. He was the second of 61 Conservative members of parliament (MPs) to resign amid a government crisis that led to Johnson’s resignation. The crisis was triggered by a revelation that Johnson had promoted MP Chris Pincher despite knowing of scandalous sexual harassment allegations against him.

Sunak’s resignation letter, after two years as Chancellor of the Exchequer, gave an insight into his values. He said: “The public rightly expects the government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning. It has become clear to me that our approaches are fundamentally too different. I am sad to be leaving the government but I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that we cannot continue like this.”

The devastating impact of Sunak’s resignation on Johnson’s premiership was a measure of the respect he enjoyed in the government. After his exit from the government on July 5, which happened almost simultaneously with that of the then Health Secretary Sajid Javid, 36 MPs resigned from their positions in the government in the following 24-hour period.  This was the largest number of ministerial resignations in a 24-hour period since the British Empire Economic Conference in 1932, and the largest number of such resignations on record. Two days after Sunak resigned, and after more than 60 resignations, Johnson announced his decision to resign.

When he contested the July-September Conservative Party leadership election to succeed Johnson, it was a strong testimony to his political stature.  Getting the most votes in each of a series of MP votes demonstrated his acceptance among his party’s parliamentarians. But he lost the party members’ vote to Liz Truss, which some claimed had racial undercurrents, attributing his defeat to his Indian roots. His parents of Indian origin had migrated to Britain from East Africa in the 1960s. He was born in Southampton, England, on May 12, 1980.

He was ready to try again after Truss resigned unexpectedly in the middle of a government crisis, after just 50 days in office, making her the shortest-serving prime minister in the history of the United Kingdom.

In the October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, he was elected unopposed as Conservative leader. This time, it was an MPs affair, and his victory reflected his popularity among fellow parliamentarians in his party.

Sunak promised “integrity, professionalism and accountability” in his first speech as prime minister. He took office at a challenging time, with the domestic cost of living crisis and the Russian-Ukraine international armed conflict among the challenges on his plate. He approved foreign aid and weapons shipment to Ukraine in response to the Russian invasion of the country.

He came to the premiership equipped with a first-class degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Lincoln College, Oxford, England, and an MBA from Stanford University, USA, where he was a Fulbright Scholar.  He had stints at Goldman Sachs, The Children’s Investment Fund and Theleme Partners before he entered politics.

After he became prime minister, his political appeal improved. Interestingly, he has been reported to be more popular than his party, with 47 percent of Britons endorsing him, against 26 percent that approved of the Conservative Party, which is its worst rating since 2007. This is evidence of his phenomenal political presence.

Like a rainbow that represents diversity, Sunak has brought intense colour to a world struggling with the challenge of inclusivity.

Despite the release of an array of songs from different genres of music globally, every music year is defined by at least one song. For 2022, the one that has defied logic and gone ahead to break barriers irrespective of colour, race, and region is ‘Buga,’ a truly outstanding single from Nigerian pop star, Oluwatobiloba Daniel Anidugbe aka Kizz Daniel. The song, which features Tekno and was produced by Blaise Beats, was released on May 3, 2022, following the smashing success of his 2021 six-track EP entitled ‘Barnabas.’

‘Buga,’ which means ‘show off’ in local parlance, is a groovy track with a feel-good chorus and characteristic dance step by Daniels that triggered widespread appeal on streaming and social media platforms across the world.

After a blistering three-month run, ‘Buga’ successfully registered itself as the most popular song in Nigeria and by extension, one of the most popular songs in Africa and the world.

In August 2022, it was proclaimed one of the world’s top five Afrobeats songs after it created a massive buzz on Tik Tok, emerged as the most Shazamed song with over one million Shazams, and raked over 90 million views on YouTube. The song went on to become the most streamed and downloaded tune on streaming platforms, Audiomack and Boomplay, while it held number one spots on other platforms like Apple and Spotify for several weeks after release.

From house parties to concerts, musical shows, films, comic performances, political events and sporting tournaments in Nigeria, Liberia, Africa, and other parts of the world, ‘Buga’ gained prominence and became the special song for celebrating victories, successful feats, and expressing contentment or happiness.

The success of the song also had Kizz Daniel ‘showing off’ not only his musical dexterity but also boasting of his abilities to have consistently churned out hit tunes, saying he has never made bad songs since becoming famous with the release of his first single on May 1, 2014, under G-Worldwide music.

“Buga is Nigerian parlance. It means “show off”. So in this context, it means after you’ve put in the work, let your results speak loudly. Enjoy your success. Whatever you’re seeing out there, whatever results the song is generating, that’s the result of hard work and I’ve consistently put in my best in all my songs. Nothing good comes easy,” he boasted.

Speaking on the success of the song, the 28-year-old father of triplets said: “It’s a great feeling. When you put out a masterpiece and the rest of the world accepts it as one, that’s a satisfying feeling right there. And it encourages you to do more.”

“Buga, many music tasters have said “As long as people work so hard to make legit money, they should be proud to flaunt their wealth to the public.”

Interestingly, the song didn’t just blow the music scene away with soft serenity, it also came with a dance step that spurs confidence with listeners holding their heads up positively.

Several pundits admitted that Daniel, a singer, and songwriter, outdid himself when he wrote ‘Buga’ and collaborated with Tekno to release a scintillating feel-good song that is poised to remain evergreen.

Before now, the artiste who is also referred to as Vado in many circles, hasn’t enjoyed the best of times on the music scene with allegations of being cocky and egoistic.

However, after many adjustments in his management, personality change, growth, self-awareness, sense of responsibility and maturity are now palpable. Now that he’s winning, he seeks to be even more personable. Even though there remains some bits of the old him, the good traits have firmly displaced them. And now, he’s back to being the darling of Afro-pop, by creating signature hits on his terms and ruling the world in his own time.

He recently made headlines when he was announced as one of the performers at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. He performed ‘Buga’ and the follow-up single, ‘Cough’ at the FIFA Fan Festival event in Doha, Qatar, on November 23.

It would appear as though there’s something uncommon about Nigeria’s FX narrative, given the many steps and policies the CBN has introduced to address it to no avail, writes, Group Business Editor, SIMEON EBULU

Nigeria’s foreign exchange (Forex) management is one that appears bedevilled with crisis, not for any unusual challenge (there are challenges no doubt). But such challenges are common to other countries in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) and elsewhere, especially for countries that are import dependent, or have high propensity for foreign goods consumption. Forex is needed essentially to settle import bills, repay foreign loans, including outstanding, or accruing interests. Countries that generate, or earn little foreign exchange, either as export proceeds or from Diaspora remittances from their nationals residing and working overseas, would normally have challenges, if such countries have low revenue generating streams to match or offset accumulated expenses.

The foremost challenge confronting the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in its management of the forex market is inadequate supply of the Greenback, the US Dollar (USD) against the overwhelming demand from several sectors. These include demands from industries and manufacturers that require forex to import feedstock, or raw materials for their production lines. Also included are importers of other consumables, including foods, medicaments and finished goods. Added to the list are school fees and medical tourism. Unfortunately, crude oil export has for years remained largely the main source of Nigeria’s dollar supply. That source is marginally supported by a percentage of forex receipts from non-oil export proceeds.

Being the institution saddled with the management of the nation’s forex proceeds, the CBN, had over the years put guidelines in place that govern the allocation and rationing of the available foreign exchange to ensure that at all times, Nigeria has enough foreign reserves to pay for its imports, as well as attend to the other demands that must necessarily be met.

In doing this at one breath, it curtailed the number of entities that can access forex through the official window, and the strategy it adopted to attain this, was to restrict official forex access to manufacturers of about 43 items that it adjudged can be manufactured in-country.

Also, to ease access to forex,especially for those requiring it to travel in pursuit of businesses overseas, attending conferences, family holidays and all such trips, the Bank created forex access through the Bureaux De Change (BDCs) operators. The BDCs are financial institutions licensed to carry on small scale foreign exchange business on a stand-alone basis in Nigeria and serve as tools for the management of exchange rate and provide economic data for monetary policy decisions.

In addition, the CBN embarked on a full scale import substitution drive, thus requiring manufacturers to embark on backward integration with a view to sourcing and producing their raw materials locally. To actualise that, the Bank devoted (by way of strategic sectoral intervention), several billions of naira in a series of interventions across the sectors, including agriculture and manufacturing, among other areas. At other times, the CBN introduced the I&E FX window market segment for Investors, Exporters and End users for FX trade at market determined exchange rate. Despite these measures by the apex bank, the FX market continues to experience hick-ups and remains in turmoil.

And now the big bang. In the face of the lingering scarcity of the USD, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), by far the major source of FX supply to the CBN, announced, or rather surreptitiously has stopped to transmit dollars to the CBN on the excuse that its present status bestowed on it by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), precludes it from being subservient to the Federal Government, or any other entity. The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said at the 57th Bankers Dinner in Lagos that crude oil sales proceeds into Nigeria’s foreign reserves was down to zero.

Another sore point of Nigeria’s forex management policy which remains a mystery to many, is the existence of the dual, or multiple exchange rates regime. There’s the official and the parallel rates which the Monetary Policy authority has yet to address. the over N300 margin between the official and parallel market rates is part of the argument many adduce for the unending crisis in the FX market.

Reacting to this development, Emefiele, in his keynote address at the 57th Bankers’ Dinner that held in Lagos, spoke to the other contentious issues in the FX management space. Hear him:

“The drop in oil receipts along with tightening of global financial market conditions have weighed heavily on our foreign exchange market. The downward short-run trend of the external reserves reappeared at the beginning of 2022. Accordingly, after recovery from US$33.7 billion in March 2020 to US$41.6 billion in September 2021, official reserves fell to about US$37 billion as at October 2022.

At approximately 6.4 months, import cover in October remained above the traditional 3-month threshold. This reflected the massive demand pressure mounted on the foreign exchange market, as import appetite remained high vis-à-vis available foreign reserves.

” During this period, the foreign exchange market development exerted considerable pressure on the naira-dollar exchange rate, notwithstanding the enormous effort of the CBN to stabilise the exchange rate. Over the medium-term, the incessant demand pressures at the foreign exchange market moved the exchange rate from about N381/US$ at end-2020 to N416/US$ in January 2022 and further to N440.9/US$ today, representing a cumulative 5.6 percent depreciation year-to-date.

“With the upsurge in global inflation, which have reached record heights in advanced countries, the ensuing global monetary tightening is threatening global macroeconomic conditions. In Nigeria, this threat is considerably muted due to a low amplitude of capital flows since 2020.

Monthly average capital outflows from Nigeria year-to-date is less than one-third of its value in 2019 having declined from US$1.37 billion monthly to US$0.58 billion monthly in 2022. It is thus imperative for us to ensure, through innovative inward-looking structural policies, that we find sustainable ways of adequately insulating the economy from the volatility associated with foreign portfolio flows”.