The Nation Newspaper

Category: Yomi Odunuga

  • A truckload of messages for Mallam Sanusi

    A truckload of messages for Mallam Sanusi

    Somehow, I do believe that all hope is not lost in our collective bid to convince the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, and the President Goodluck Jonathan-led government to apply the brakes on the printing of N5000 notes. My optimism derives not only from readers’ response to last week’s piece titled ‘Did Sanusi actually say that?’, but also from the unequivocal stance of both chambers of the National Assembly that the arguments being bandied in support of the new notes are, at best, all noise without rhythm. Like the President of the Senate puts it, this latest collaborative effort between the government and the CBN is not only curious but comes out as “highly theoretical, technical in nature and does not address any practical issues on ground.” And this is hoping that someone would not dismiss Mark as a retired military officer without the faintest idea about the dynamics of the Nigerian economy.

    But should these proponents of N5000 notes find Mark’s remarks wide off the mark and out of sync with the aggregate opinion of the men of power, it should not be difficult for them to decode the body language of the members in the Green Chamber where one of them, Patrick Ikhariale, Chairman, House Committee on Power, declared that some voodoo economic theories were being concocted to deceive the government and Nigerians into swallowing a bitter pill that bodes no good for anyone. He said: “These people are misleading Nigerians by comparing this policy with the case of the United States. But they fail to tell us the truth that, in the US, only $100 bill has been used in transaction since 1969. Any attempt to allow the N5000 note into our economy will lead to genocide and economic sabotage!”

     I am aware that, as should be expected, the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, did not waste time in reminding us that the resolutions reached by the National Assembly are not binding on the executive. They are, in the main, advisory and nothing compels the President to obey such directives. Maku was quoted as saying: “I believe we should allow the CBN to take leadership initiative on this issue. This is not an opinion poll debate but a technical matter and the heated debate will not help in the management of our economy. The National Assembly has oversight functions and the Executive takes resolutions of the National Assembly seriously. But resolutions are not Acts of Parliament. We can discuss, debate resolutions, take them seriously and factor them but they are not Acts of the National Assembly.” Hmnn, who else could have said if not the government’s paid town crier?

    But, how can that be? I ask. If what Maku is saying is that we should surrender our right to question government’s fiscal policies to a megalomaniac and a select group of businessmen in power to handle for us, then he missed the point. Even in the worst of dictatorships, people still summon the courage to tackle the government. No society is built on a remote system that is permanently on the mute mode. And so, on this matter, the National Assembly has raised germane questions in line with its constitutional responsibility. Is the CBN’s action illegal as the lawmakers have opined? Does the policy negate the apex bank’s cashless initiative? Were the hawks at the CBN aware that the money-printing binge is not acceptable to Nigerians? Was it right to side-track the leadership of the National Assembly in the processes leading to the adoption of the policy? Do lawmakers have any role to play and is the Economic Management Team (EMT) the body constitutionally recognised to approve such fiscal policy? Questions, questions and more questions.

    Beyond the lame rebuttal issued by the National Bureau of Statistics on the data obtained from its website where an opinion poll showed that over 75 per cent of Nigerians are solidly against the printing of N5000 notes, we all know the pendulum is not swinging in the direction of the proponents. In fact the NBS shot itself on the foot when it whimsically whined that the particular site is ‘‘a social interactive tool to engage users of our statistical data’’ but ‘‘it is not an official statistical tool because it is not based on any statistical methodologies or systems that formulate the basis on which all of the NBS’ surveys are developed.’’ Oh please! Wouldn’t it have been more dignifying if these folks had kept quiet? When a body trusted with the responsibility of feeding the government and the people reliable data for developmental purposes begins to tamper with the truth as seen on its website, then we can only assume that someone high up there must have questioned the rationale behind a government institution making public a data that contradicts the government’s position. Now, we do not need to set up a panel to unearth reasons behind our perilously flawed data!

    Yet, it is not all messages that can be censored. Some Knucklehead readers would want Sanusi to ponder over these posers. Kunle ( 07043537000) writes: “It is obvious that President Jonathan is helpless. This good-natured man is held captive. It is the duty of all us to collectively stand up to feudal oligarchs who are working the script to demonize Jonathan because of 2015 so that he fails. At the end of the day no one will remember their cruel policies, everyone will blame Jonathan, then they would have used us to achieve their political irredentism.”  Another reader, who sent a message from 08023157985, thundered: “I feel highly insulted. Why is Sanusi Lamido Sanusi getting away with this attitude? The president must do something fast before this sparks another crisis. By the way, knowing Obasanjo, why has he not reacted? It’s a bit weird, ominous to me and many others!” And Seye (08033894418) fired this retort: “We don’t need to bother about the introduction of the N5000 note again because I am sure that the President has given his approval and the contract for the printing awarded. But if the president knows that the people of Nigeria actually ‘elected’ him last year, and the

    members of the National Assembly are sure that they are representing us, they should allow the lower denomination to stay.”

    There was also Patrick (08036844032) who suggested that someone must be pushing for the policy because: “There are lots of international awards to be won next year by governors of central banks of developing countries especially in Africa for evolving policies as dictated by the West. Are you sure Sanusi’s aides and advisers are not whites?  Does our President truly understand these fellows with the way he buys into everything they offer? Please double check. Is it surprising that our de-facto Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is in agreement with Sanusi? Is the drum not being beaten by the West?

    Of course, there are many other reactions that could not make it to this page. What is important is that there appears to be a groundswell of opinion against the policy.  Nevertheless, if it is true that President Jonathan has promised to soft-pedal on the matter, then he should be commended for having the courage to take that bold step. Contrary to what some of his aides might tell him, it is not in any way defeatist to consent to the people’s position but rather a display of statesmanship. But it must be stressed that, just like it happened in January when the people trooped out en-masse to protest the unilateral hike in the prices of petroleum products, this President’s submission to the will of the people should not be denigrated with the slur of being obtained on a platter of bread and pure water offered by some unnamed opposition party men! If only some people can learn that, in this democratic journey, you can’t be a winner all the time, they’ll appreciate what it means to tread softly. Case closed!

  • Did Sanusi actually say that?

    Did Sanusi actually say that?

    It is manifestly clear that the only crested badge that adorns the collar of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, is wreathed in arrogance. Gosh! Does this man wear it with such riotous pride! We may not doubt the fact Sanusi is a well-rounded economist and probably the right man to handle the tempestuous volatility that has bedevilled the Nigerian currency, the Naira, for some time now. What is in doubt is his capacity to, in simple language, pass on the logic in his fiscal policies without needlessly overstepping the bounds of decency that is expected of such a high office. If anything, his interface with the public on economic matters has been nothing but a monumental disappointment, ironically, at a point when he should be receiving plaudits for his ability to rein in some big crooks in the banking sector. It is to his credit that our banking system has not gone bust regardless of what some of his critics may feel. However, to say the least, it is unfortunate that such a sound mind is adept at complicating issues that he should ordinarily simplify for the general populace. In modern day Nigeria, hardly can one get a public officer that barks and bites like Sanusi does. And that is sad!

     

    As the nation’s money manager, Sanusi reserves the right to formulate and implement monetary policies that he deems fit, to strengthen the economy. Yet, with his varied experience in fiscal matters, he must appreciate the fact that such policies would not only be subject of intense debates but would also be put under the strictest scrutiny by various stakeholders including the common man. This is because whatever decision is taken has significant impact on the people. He should also understand that the growing outrage over the CBN’s plan to print N5,000 notes and redenominate some lower currencies into coins is to open up the discourse. This is definitely not the time to keep quiet or swallow hook, line and sinker CBN’s spurious, one-sided broken lyric. We need to melt the ice and break things down. True, some of the arguments against the printing of a higher denomination of the Naira may sound trite, mundane or spurious to the apex bank’s chief pontificator, but that does not give him the liberty to throw caution to the winds and spew forth inanities – all in a bid to forcing the policy down the throat of Nigerians.

     

    That Sanusi was able to convince other highly privileged elites, including President Goodluck Jonathan and members of his economic team on the need to rush to the mint with a N40 billion bill for the production of new, N5, 000 notes does not confer on him the right to shout down those opposed to the policy. Rather than rev up the CBN’s public enlightenment unit to engage the populace, Sanusi would rather throw tantrums and abuse our collective sensibilities. That was exactly what he did when he, in his usual style, threw darts at former President Olusegun Obasanjo for arguing that introducing N5000 note at this inauspicious time would not only aggravate the inflationary trend but also impair an already wobbly production sector. Obasanjo, it must be said, was merely adding his voice to that of many others who have expressed the fears that, no matter the seeming sound economic logic behind the proposal, the common man remains the collateral damage of every monetary policy. Somehow, the rich always get themselves sorted out!

     If Sanusi is finding the drumbeats of opposition against the N5, 000 note frustrating and discomfiting, then he had better enlist for a crash course in leadership considering his lifetime ambition of becoming a high-ranked chief in his home state, Kano. Yes, Obasanjo’s brashness may be legendary but, on this matter, Sanusi completely missed the point by dismissing him as a successful farmer who is bereft of any economic idea. Coming from a well-bred technocrat with the noblest of upbringing, that was harsh and, I dare say, irresponsible.

    Listen to him: “”This is an interesting country because my uncle or my father, who is our former Head of State, Gen. Obasanjo, you know he is a very successful farmer, but he is a very bad economist. He stands up and says that this higher denomination (N5,000 note) will cause inflation and improve hardship. Gen. Obasanjo did N20, he did N100, N200, N500 and N1,000. He introduced higher denominations in Nigeria than any other head of state. He did a N100 note in 1999, he did N200 in 2000, he did N500 two years later and in that period, inflation was coming down because it was accompanied by prudent fiscal and monetary policy.

     “For somebody (Obasanjo) who had done this to stand up and say introducing a higher denomination will cause inflation must be an empirical, most important determinant of inflation in our country given the number of notes he had printed. We all know that we cannot have inflation by printing higher bills if you don’t increase money supply and this is simple economics.”

     Truth is: today’s Nigeria does not need the services of an economist, not the least, one that attends to the very exclusive and insensitive taste of the rapacious elite, to forecast the inglorious direction the latest menu about to be served by Sanusi CBN may likely lead us to. If all that is required for rapid economic growth is the expertise of an economist, most western countries including the United States of America will not be swimming in recession waters today. Unfortunately, they are in deep mess because the economic theories that the CBN chief is making a song and dance of are not sacrosanct. There are other variables and the X factor lurking in the corner. And so, economic theories are mere projections that could fail at any time. That is why the populace, including several members of the elite like Obasanjo, are a bit nervous about Sanusi’s prognosis that all it takes is the application of “simple economics.” How simplistic? That Obasanjo did it with lower denominations and was able to back it up with prudent fiscal and monetary policy does not mean that it can be done under the present arrangement where the President has farmed out issues concerning the economy to a team of technocrats, capitalists and friends of power. In any case, Obasanjo did not print higher denominations solely to satisfy the demands of heavy cash users as the CBN plans to do. The Ota farmer, it must also be stressed, did not print the higher denominations in era when the CBN was planning to go cash-less.

    It is obvious that it was not only Obasanjo, the successful farmer but ‘bad economist,’ that has questioned the rationale behind the N5,000 note. Prominent Nigerians and professional bodies have also raised intelligent questions and given reasons why the printing of the notes would impact negatively on the economy and further impoverish about 70 per cent of Nigerian citizens whom Sanusi’s CBN and the Federal Government have consistently failed to extricate from the malevolent grips of dreadful poverty. As I write this, the CBN and its publicity unit are yet to win the argument; rather, they are boasting that the matter is a fait accompli since the President’s approval has been secured. Not that fast sir! That is where they miss the point. Sanusi and his league of voodoo economists need to tread softly before they push this country down the ladder with their streak of untamed arrogance.

     At the base of this argument is the plight of over 160 million Nigerians, majority of who have no opportunity to lend their voices to the debate. Still, some questions need to be answered. Will Sanusi’s textbook economic theories address our peculiar case of a total disdain for coins? Will a pack of sachet water still sell for N20 when the smallest denomination note is N50? What is Sanusi’s response to Alhaji Aliko Dangote’s opinion that the new policy would enable manufacturers to increase the prices of goods minimally? When commercial bus drivers hike fares simply because they do not want to be bugged down with bearing heavy coins, is that not a basis for inflation? Why should these heavy cash spenders require a higher denomination in a supposedly cash-less regime? By labelling those opposed to the new policy as ignorant people, is Sanusi claiming to be wiser than every other person on this matter?

     Pride, the sage says, comes before a fall. Sanusi has to be careful with the reckless manner he has been casting stones from the 11-storey glasshouse called the CBN Headquarters in Abuja. I am yet to fathom the logic of his subtle but rabid affront against the opinion of millions of Nigerians, including former President Obasanjo. A successful farmer but bad economist! Did Sanusi actually say that of a man he called an uncle and father? Well, if that is the despicable opinion he holds of a father figure, then we ought not to fret if he sees the rest of us as a bunch of ignorant whiners who should be shouted down when policies that would affect our collective existence are being discussed. So much for arrogance and government elites’ preference for top-down decision-making, that negates the spirit of participatory democracy and inclusive governance! Shweeee!