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Tag: Moghalu

  • Moghalu: Nigeria needs clear economic vision

    Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Deputy Governor and Founder, Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation (IGET), Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, has advised Nigeria to establish a national vision for the country.

    The vision, he said, should be driven by leaders with sustainable plan to transform the economic structure and the lives of Nigerians.

    Joining other influential leaders at the 5th Goddy Jidenma Foundation Public Lecture held at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos, the former United Nations official emphasised that Nigerians should stop underestimating the sheer scale of the challenge to the country’s economic growth.

    With theme: ‘The Challenge of Economic Growth in Nigeria’, the public lecture was organised by the Goddy Jidenma Foundation (GJF) to celebrate the legacy of the late Arc Godwin Nwaolisa Jidenma, with Moghalu as the distinguished guest lecturer. “Nigeria has failed to achieve intensive and effective economic growth because the country’s economy is managed mostly on an ad-hoc, reactive basis. It is a ‘survival’ economy in which most governments have had no real economic vision or a strategy to execute such a vision successfully. Most damaging, there is little interrogation of either received wisdom based on global economic policy “fashions” or of the country’s own policy assumptions that are consistently long on populism and short on substance”, Moghalu said.

    He further reiterated that Nigeria’s fundamental problem lies in striking a balance between the role of the state and the market in a quest for sustainable economic growth and development.

    “Our path to economic growth is challenged by the failure to build the necessary foundations for prosperity in a liberal capitalist economy. Nigeria moved into financial liberalisation without achieving the required minimum threshold of industrialization, which is what drives economic transformation. Finance does not play the optimal role it should in Nigeria’s economic development and the three factors of production – land, capital, and labour are out of synchronisation in our economy”, he emphasised.

    The Goddy Jidenma Foundation Public Lecture, which is meant to elevate public speaking, includes other activities to promote ethical leadership initiatives and self-discovery among Nigerian youths, including thought-leadership discussions that would contribute significantly to the socio-economic development of Nigeria and Africa.

  • Moghalu: Incumbency factor ‘ll fail in Anambra

    Moghalu: Incumbency factor ‘ll fail in Anambra

    Chief George Moghalu is former National Auditor of the All Progressives Congress  (APC). The governorship aspirant in Anambra State spoke with TONY AKOWE on why he wants to be governor, his chances at the primary and other issues.

    What are those things you feel are not properly done in Anambra state that you want to correct?

    I tried to use an analogy to explain the situation in Anambra state. When you have a very dark room and you come in with a candle, there will be light. If you bring in a bulb, there will be an improvement on the candle light and if you bring in a flood light, you have created a brighter atmosphere that looks like the day light. That is exactly the situation in Anambra state. What some people see is a candle light because I believe that we have greater potentials in Anambra state than what we are seeing. We need to create an  enable environment for all sectors in the state to thrive, build on our potentials and try to change the narratives. For me, there is quite a lot to be done in Anambra state in terms of governance, infrastructural development, expanding our agricultural base to address our development issues. There is quite a lot to be done and that is why I am taking time to clean up my manifesto so that we can get what something good to sell to the people. There are issues that have to do with the power sector, industrial base, development of our infrastructure and our agriculture well as  education. We must look at our education critically. As a result of the kind of attention given to certificates today; people obtain certificates which they cannot defend. We must change the narratives; we must change the education curricular, we must target a situation where products from our schools are employable. In the area of infrastructure, let me say that Infrastructure is in a state of total decayed. Irrespective of what you see on television, there are quite a lot to be done to change the narratives. With good governance and because of the untapped potentials, Anambra should be a reference point for other states.

    What is your view on the Biafra agitation?

    The issue of whether election will hold or not in Anambra has already been addressed by Ohaneze N’digbo who have made the position clear. What message are we saying by these claims? For me, there will be election and ohaneze N’digbo and other stake holders have come out to say election must hold in the south east and we are going to implement that. I am sure the federal government has the capacity to organize the election and protect lives and properties in the state.

    Will there be consensus candidate?

    The APC South-east leadership set up that committee to look at how to run the Anambra election and to interface with all the aspirants with a view to making sure that we have a common relationship and understanding that it is not a do or die affairs and to maintain a relationship that is beyond election. So far, so good, I have met with them and others have been invited. We also met together and I think they are sincere and are committed. They all wish that we will win the Anambra election and they took the assignment given to them as a serious one. I wish them well and I want to assure everyone that with every support required, the committee will succeed in its assignment.

    Does the zoning arrangement favours you?

    We have tried to address this issue of zoning for many years. First, Anambra state leadership has never liked zoning in the state. I happen to be a leader that has been around in the political sphere for sometime and can be identified when it comes to politics in the state. Somebody asked me this question, why can’t the northern part of the state do two terms? And I said why? Did the South do two terms? Mbadinuju did one term and he is from the South. After four years, he was not allowed to do a second term and the position was given to our brother and leader in the state, Senator Chris Ngige. Thereafter, from Ngige it went to Peter Obi and between Ngige and Peter Obi, they did almost twelve years and it left the Central now to the North.

    By November 18, the North must have done four years. If you must talk about equity, Justices and fairness, then, it should return to the south for them to complete their term, then it goes back to North after 8 years in the south for them to do their eight years. After that, all the zones would have done 12 years and be the same position. At that point, we can now agree on zoning. You know you cannot shift the goalpost at the middle of the game. If we must talk about zoning, we should have started from day one and the south should have been compensated by allowing them to finish their 8 years. The South was not allowed to finish its 8 years and by November 18, the south will come to the same level with the North and so in the forthcoming elections, it should be either South or North and if it has to be taken in terms of first come, first serve, it should go to the South to complete their term before the North is allowed to complete its own term. That brings me to the fact that we never had any zonal agreement in Anambra state. But I have no problem with it. If we have to start it, let us do that with equity, fairness and justices. Someone once said that says it is not good not to find a mad man in a village, but he should not come from his family.

    So, I ask; from whose family should the mad man come from? But it will be good since we need a mad man in the community. That is the situation we have found ourselves. So, by the time we finish this election, I am sure this issue of zoning will be finally resolved and at that point, we will now hold a meeting to agree to adopt zoning as a principle. But to me, I see nothing wrong in that.

    Would you say, you have what it takes to wrestle this ticket considering the status of other aspirants?

    Elections are not about you and I. It  is about the people of Anambra state, the individual and his capacity, his credibility and character and his ability to serve. These are the things that should concern us. If you talk about war- chest, I don’t know which one. One thing I know is that, if I am not ready for this election, I will not come to run. That is the truth; I cannot start what I cannot complete. I value my name and integrity so much and I do not gamble with it. It is the Anambra people who will decide who will rule them at the appropriate time. They will speak at the primary and the general election and comments made will be respected.

    What are your plans for the youths when you become governor?

    The point is that in looking at every scenario, we must first identify the compartmentalisation. When you say youths, are we looking at the employable youths or the unemployable youths. Are we looking at youths who have gone to school and do not have jobs or the ones who did not go to school and does not want to go and not ready to be employed? We must be able to categorize these youths so that we do not run into trouble.

    When you say youths, you must separate the serious minded ones from the unserious minded ones because in addressing the challenges, you must look at them critically. As a government, we must look at our youths because it is our tomorrow. We must look at our graduates, the unemployed youths and look at how to engage them and get them involve. The federal government has programs to address these challenges, but we must look at expanding our operational base to the private partners as government alone cannot address the issue of unemployment. Government must target to empower the private sector to make them strong enough and expand it so that they can accommodate our esteem youths and population of graduates.

    What is your position in the Igbo presidency?

    Why not? By the time the presidency leaves the North after 8 years, what it would have meant is that every zone in this country has produced the president of Nigeria without the South-East. The leaders from the South-East should be thinking towards how to produce a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction. For us to achieve that, we need to talk to the northerner, Southerner and every Nigerian to see it from our perspective, then it will be easy for us. If we can be talking about that, I don’t think it makes any political sense to be talking about secession alongside because two are two straight lines that can never meet.

    How do you intend to handle the power of incumbency in trying to actualise your dream and how you think you will carry the people along knowing the versatility of the state?

    Incumbency has been demystified. I don’t think we should be talking about incumbency anymore because it is sufficiently demystified. In Ekiti, an incumbent governor lost election. In Ondo, an incumbent lost election and the country generally, an incumbent president lost election. So, why do you think the incumbent in Anambra will be an exception? It’s about the candidate, it’s about the message. The campaign trend today is no more I will for any incumbent governor or president. It is about I have. Any incumbent that tells you I will do this when re-elected, that person has no message. Every incumbent should be saying, I did that, I said this and I delivered. This is the only way you can consider the person, not I will. We are through with incumbency. We are going to the field, come to the field and set your report card, and if the Anambra people think that you have done well they continue with you. If they are dissatisfied with you, they stop you.

  • Moghalu cautions against monetisation of politics

    Moghalu cautions against monetisation of politics

    One of the governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief George Moghalu, has called on Nigerians to replace politics of religion, ethnicity and money with steadfastness, dedication to well defined principles, consistency and commitment to choose political parties.
    He said the era of mortgaging values and virtues at the altar of money, lust for power and recognition must be abandoned.
    Moghalu, who is the APC National Auditor, spoke in Awka, the Anambra State capital, recently while delivering a lecture titled: “Political ideology and consistency in party Politics: A case study of contemporary  Nigeria”.
    The forum was organised by the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Anambra State chapter.
    He said the poverty of political ideology seen in the political sphere has reflected on both the political parties and the country at large.
    He said: “The project of national rebirth has been most hit, because rather than consolidating development, parties have been used to promote sectionalism and opportunism.
    “A typical example can be seen in the last general election where the polity was reduced to personal attacks and politicians called regions vicious names from opposing camps, while electorates were turned against each other and seeds of discord were sown along religious lines.
    “Political parties have been reduced to being used to promote personal and sectional interest at the expense of national integration and development.
    “It is often this personal pursuit that results in perpetual cross carpeting, also known as defection and an absence of consistency and continuity in party politics.
    “Once it has become impossible to continue promoting personal interest, politicians begin to move from one party to another, abandoning ideologies once held with such quick succession that can be compared to the frequency of the lightning that accompanies a thunderstorm”
    Moghalu, who traced the history of political parties in Nigeria to 1923, frowned at the kind of defections in the country’s political system, adding that it was so because of selfish interests.

  • Moghalu bags honorary doctorate degree

    THE Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, formerly Anambra State University, Igbariam, has conferred the honorary doctorate degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) Honoris Causa on former Central Bank Deputy Governor Prof. Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu.

    It was at the university’s eighth convocation.

    Moghalu is the founder of Sogato Strategies LLC and a professor of Practice in International Business and Public Policy at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Massachusetts, United States (U.S.).

    The institution’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Fidelis Uzochukwu Okafor, said Moghalu was honoured in recognition of his achievements in academia and scholarship, his statesmanship and his contributions to Nigeria’s economic growth, particularly in the banking sector during his service as Deputy CBN governor.

    He added that the founder of Sogato Strategies LLC has also contributed to “the Nigerian society at large through his excellent leadership qualities”.

    Moghalu was born in Lagos on May 7, 1963 to Isaac Chukwudum Moghalu, a Foreign Service Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Mrs. Vidah Chinelo Moghalu.

    The young Chiedu spent his early childhood years in Geneva, Switzerland and Washington DC, USA. He later studied law at the University of Nigeria (Enugu Campus) and graduated with the LL.B. (Honors) degree in 1986.

    After a few years working as a media attorney and as an international journalist in Lagos for several international newspapers and magazines, Moghalu left Nigeria for graduate studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, one of America’s premier universities located in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1991.

    He was the Joan Gillespie Fellow at The Fletcher School and obtained the M.A. degree in International Relations in 1992.  Upon graduation, he was immediately appointed an entry level professional officer in the international civil service of the United Nations by then Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

    He spent 17 years in the United Nations, serving in strategic planning, legal affairs and executive management functions at the UN Headquarters in New York and in duty stations.

    Moghalu resigned from UN in December 2008 and founded Sogato Strategies – a global risk, strategy and macroeconomic consulting firm based in Geneva, Switzerland

    He served as Deputy Governor of the CBN from 2009 to 2014 and was the Head of the Financial System Stability (FSS) Directorate that implemented the apex bank’s extensive reform of the banking sector under the then CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

    After he completed his five-year tenure at the CBN, Moghalu was appointed Professor of Practice in International Business and Public Policy at Tufts University, one of the premier universities in the United States, in 2015.

  • Why Fed Govt must put forex folly behind, by Moghalu

    Why Fed Govt must put forex folly behind, by Moghalu

    Kingsley Moghalu, a former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) deputy governor believes that the time for the Federal Government to reboot the economy with a well-thought-out strategy is now. In this article, Moghalu, a professor at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, United States says government’s short-term approach to economic policy has been exacerbating poverty.

    Nigeria has recorded a third successive quarter of negative economic growth. The recession, together with the profound structural challenges posed by the dependence of the economy on oil, calls for a serious political response.
    President Muhammadu Buhari must respond with decisive action and a clear vision that will restore confidence in the economy. This will require a reappraisal of the role of the state. The government should be an enabler of growth and development, not an impediment. As the experience of other emerging markets shows, economic success does not happen without independent institutions.
    Few things have been as damaging as a series of questionable foreign exchange policies adopted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). In response to sharply declining dollar revenues from oil that have depleted the country’s external reserves, the bank first maintained an artificial exchange rate and refused to furthernagement has fuelled corruption, undermining the president’s avowed commitment to combating the problem. Investors worry about the direction of policy and the competence of economic managers.
    The first priority, therefore, is to restore some sense of normality by making the foreign exchange markets truly transparent, which would help to attract much-needed foreign currency. This should be followed by a phased approach to structural reform.
    Economic policymakers in Nigeria should ask themselves how the country can become a successful capitalist economy and what role the government should play in achieving that goal. They should examine the pros and cons of different models — Chinese-style state capitalism, the European welfare state, American-type entrepreneurial capitalism, and the strategic crony capitalism that built South Korea.
    Longer term, Nigeria’s fiscal crisis in a world of low oil prices can be addressed only through a constitutional redesign that devolves decision-making to units that will have economies of scale. Currently, the country’s 36 states, most of them financially unviable, depend on rapidly diminishing oil windfalls that accrue almost exclusively to the Federal Government.
    Winston Churchill once boasted: “History will be kind to me, because I intend to write it.” Nigeria needs its Churchill.
    devalue the naira for 16 months. This was in addition to the bank’s ban on access to the foreign exchange market for importers of a range of items, from cement to toothpicks.
    A growing black market for hard currency and sharply reduced output by manufacturers unable to import raw materials quickly followed. After much criticism, the central bank announced in June that it would explore a flotation of the naira. The secret police have entered the foreign exchange market, arresting currency dealers who sell at rates above profit benchmarks set by the central bank.
    These policies appear to have been motivated by a perceived imperative to maintain an “affordable” exchange rate because devaluation would hurt the poor. By contrast, the central banks of South Africa and Egypt, the largest African economies after Nigeria, have responded better to economic stress. The former has allowed the rand to find its market value. Egypt followed with a devaluation of the Egyptian pound in November, a $12 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a commitment to macroeconomic reforms.
    Nigeria’s policies have had effects that should bother Mr. Buhari. First, a short-term, populist approach to economic thinking is exacerbating poverty, which the president has vowed to tackle. Second, political expediency in foreign exchange management has fuelled corruption, undermining the president’s avowed commitment to combating the problem. Investors worry about the direction of policy and the competence of economic managers.
    The first priority, therefore, is to restore some sense of normality by making the foreign exchange markets truly transparent, which would help to attract much-needed foreign currency. This should be followed by a phased approach to structural reform.
    Economic policymakers in Nigeria shouldnagement has fuelled corruption, undermining the president’s avowed commitment to combating the problem. Investors worry about the direction of policy and the competence of economic managers.
    The first priority, therefore, is to restore some sense of normality by making the foreign exchange markets truly transparent, which would help to attract much-needed foreign currency. This should be followed by a phased approach to structural reform.
    Economic policymakers in Nigeria should ask themselves how the country can become a successful capitalist economy and what role the government should play in achieving that goal. They should examine the pros and cons of different models — Chinese-style state capitalism, the European welfare state, American-type entrepreneurial capitalism, and the strategic crony capitalism that built South Korea.
    Longer term, Nigeria’s fiscal crisis in a world of low oil prices can be addressed only through a constitutional redesign that devolves decision-making to units that will have economies of scale. Currently, the country’s 36 states, most of them financially unviable, depend on rapidly diminishing oil windfalls that accrue almost exclusively to the Federal Government.
    Winston Churchill once boasted: “History will be kind to me, because I intend to write it.” Nigeria needs its Churchill.
    ask themselves how the country can become a successful capitalist economy and what role the govenagementnagement has fuelled corruption, undermining the president’s avowed commitment to combating the problem. Investors worry about the direction of policy and the competence of economic managers.
    The first priority, therefore, is to restore some sense of normality by making the foreign exchange markets truly transparent, which would help to attract much-needed foreign currency. This should be followed by a phased approach to structural reform.
    Economic policymakers in Nigeria should ask themselves how the country can become a successful capitalist economy and what role the government should play in achieving that goal. They should examine the pros and cons of different models — Chinese-style state capitalism, the European welfare state, American-type entrepreneurial capitalism, and the strategic crony capitalism that built South Korea.
    Longer term, Nigeria’s fiscal crisis in a world of low oil prices can be addressed only through a constitutional redesign that devolves decision-making to units that will have economies of scale. Currently, the country’s 36 states, most of them financially unviable, depend on rapidly diminishing oil windfalls that accrue almost exclusively to the Federal Government.
    Winston Churchill once boasted: “History will be kind to me, because I intend to write it.” Nigeria needs its Churchill.
    nagement has fuelled corruption, undermining the president’s avowed commitment to combating the problem. Investors worry about the direction of policy and the competence of economic managers.
    The first priority, therefore, is to restore some sense of normality by making the foreign exchange markets truly transparent, which would help to attract much-needed foreign currency. This should be followed by a phased approach to structural reform.
    Economic policymakers in Nigeria should ask themselves how the country can become a successful capitalist economy and what role the government should play in achieving that goal. They should examine the pros and cons of different models — Chinese-style state capitalism, the European welfare state, American-type entrepreneurial capitalism, and the strategic crony capitalism that built South Korea.
    Longer term, Nigeria’s fiscal crisis in a world of low oil prices can be addressed only through a constitutional redesign that devolves decision-making to units that will have economies of scale. Currently, the country’s 36 states, most of them financially unviable, depend on rapidly diminishing oil windfalls that accrue almost exclusively to the Federal Government.
    Winston Churchill once boasted: “History will be kind to me, because I intend to write it.” Nigeria needs its Churchill.
    has fuelled corruption, undermining the president’s avowed commitment to combating the problem. Investors worry about the direction of policy and the competence of economic managers.
    The first priority, therefore, is to restore some sense of normality by making the foreign exchange markets truly transparent, which would help to attract much-needed foreign currency. This should be followed by a phased approach to structural reform.
    Economic policymakers in Nigeria should ask themselves how the country can become a successful capitalist economy and what role the government should play in achieving that goal. They should examine the pros and cons of different models — Chinese-style state capitalism, the European welfare state, American-type entrepreneurial capitalism, and the strategic crony capitalism that built South Korea.
    Longer term, Nigeria’s fiscal crisis in a world of low oil prices can be addressed only through a constitutional redesign that devolves decision-making to units that will have economies of scale. Currently, the country’s 36 states, most of them financially unviable, depend on rapidly diminishing oil windfalls that accrue almost exclusively to the Federal Government.
    Winston Chunagement has fuelled corruption, undermining the president’s avowed commitment to combating the problem. Investors worry about the direction of policy and the competence of economic managers.
    The first priority, therefore, is to restore some sense of normality by making the foreign exchange markets truly transparent, which would help to attract much-needed foreign currency. This should be followed by a phased approach to structural reform.
    Economic policymakers in Nigeria should ask themselves how the country can become a successful capitalist economy and what role the government should play in achieving that goal. They should examine the pros and cons of different models — Chinese-style state capitalism, the European welfare state, American-type entrepreneurial capitalism, and the strategic crony capitalism that built South Korea.
    Longer term, Nigeria’s fiscal crisis in a world of low oil prices can be addressed only through a constitutional redesign that devolves decision-making to units that will have economies of scale. Currently, the country’s 36 states, most of them financially unviable, depend on rapidly diminishing oil windfalls that accrue almost exclusively to the Federal Government.
    Winston Churchill once boasted: “History will be kind to me, because I intend to write it.” Nigeria needs its Churchill.
    capitalism that built South Korea.
    Longer term, Nignagement has fuelled corruption, undermining the president’s avowed commitment to combating the problem. Investors worry about the direction of policy and the competence of economic managers.
    The first priority, therefore, is to restore some sense of normality by making the foreign exchange markets truly transparent, which would help to attract much-needed foreign currency. This should be followed by a phased approach to structural reform.
    Economic policymakers in Nigeria should ask themselves how the country can become a successful capitalist economy and what role the government should play in achieving that goal. They should examine the pros and cons of different models needs its Churchill.
    eria’s fiscal crisis in a world of low oil prices can be addressed only through a constitutional redesign that devolves decision-making to units that will have economies of scale. Currently

  • Moghalu: Why I want to govern Anambra

    Moghalu: Why I want to govern Anambra

    Dr George Moghalu, the National Auditor of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is a governorship aspirant in Anambra State. He spoke with GBADE OGUNWALE in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on the Buhari administration, the crisis in the ruling party and his ambition to rule the Southeast state.

    Why do want to be governor of Anambra State?

    I am very confident that the APC will win the next gubernatorial election in Anambra State because by the time we put all the issues on the table; by the time we get our people to understand the issues on ground, when we do a realistic assessment of governance and what is on ground, I’m sure the people will see the need for a change. Yes,  I have said it several times that I am qualified to be a President or a Counselor. That said, let me say that I am usually driven by the wish of my people. The observation that I am nursing a governorship ambition is very right. But, I’m going to elaborate on it at the appropriate time. As to wheter I’m desirous of running for the governorship seat next year, the answer is an emphatic yes.

    What is your reaction to the visit of some Southeast Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) legislator to the President?

    My reaction to that visit was one of surprise. Granted that the Southeast is in dire need of what they were talking about, which is failed infrastructures but it is instructive to note that these same set of people have been in government, have been in power for 16 years. There was a time the Southeast had the Deputy President of the Senate, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Secreatry to the Government of the Federation, our daughter was the Minister of Finance and at the same time we had our sons as Chairmen Senate Committee on Works and now they were talking about failed infrastructures. That’s very embarrassing because these are the people that have been in government for the past 16 years. I’m rather happy and very excited  that these people I called ‘born again champions of the Igbo interest’ are now waking up to their responsibilities. With all those I listed earlier, isn’t it a shame that we are talking about failed infrastructures in the Southeast? But it is all good because, as one Igbo proverb says that whenever you wake up is your morning, it could be that they have woken up from their slumber and I’m happy for it.

    Could the President’s focus on Southeast infrastructural development swing the region in favour of the APC in the next general election?

    There is no doubt about the fact as a government and as a party, I am very confident that this administration will pay attention to infrastructural development in the region, because we are a component part of this nation. For instance, a look at the first APC budget will show you that attention was focused on infrastructural development in the Southeast with specific projects. This goes to show the concerns of the government, that it appreciates the need to address the failed infrastructures in the region and the commitment is there. I’m confident the government will do it.

    Dont you think the economic recession, militancy, kidnappings will affect the APC in 2019

    The year 2019 is still far away but this is about governance, interest of the people and not politics. This is about implementing the party’s manifesto and promises made by Mr President. Everyone acknowledges that there is recession but I must also say that it is not peculiar to Nigeria alone because the challenge we have today in the economic sector is global. It is also a fact that we have a mono product economy with a far greater percentage of our income coming from oil, which price is  deternined outside the shores of this country. Therefore, whatever affects the product Internationally must naturally affect us being our major source of income. That is why this government is shifting focus to other sectors of the economy like agriculture and solid minerals with lots of emphasis and investments in these two areas. Very soon, I believe we will start to reap solid dividends from them. We are also aware of the challenges in the Niger Delta with the resurgence of militancy which is affecting our oil outputs that has led to a drastic reduction in resources available to the government. That is not to say that the government is not alive to its responsibilities because the President assured the nation that the recession is for a short time and he must have said that based on information available to him flowing from policies and strategies put in place to address the situation. Like every other Nigerian, I’m concerned since all of us, both the APC members and non-APC members buy from the same market. I dont think there is a market designed for the APC members or non- APC members alone, so, whatever happens to Mr A happens to Mr B, whatever effect this is having on Mr A is equally felt by Mr B. Meanwhile, when talking about this recession, we must not lose sight of the fact that we failed to save for the rainy day, when the going was good despite being warned severally by the World Bank and others. Sadly enough there was a time oil was selling not below $100 a barrel but regrettably we had no savings neither did we address the issue if infrastructural decay. We all know how much was spent on power infrastructure but does that increase our power output? We only spent more for less and that is why the government is laying emphasis on corruption in public businesses. We all understand the challenges but I will always urge Nigerians to continue to give support to this government in whatever way we can contribute to get things right, let us look at it from the point of veiw of the Nigerian state and not from individual’s point.

    What about the fuel price hike speculation that has refused to go away?

    If I heard the Minister of State for Petroleum right, he had said there is nothing like a planned hike in fuel price. This only goes back to the realm of speculation because the Minister and the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) are in the right position to make such pronouncements and nobody has come out to quote these two on that sensitive issue. When people sit somewhere and project into the future and think this is how things may or should happen and start to make news out of it, them it becomes  worrisome.

    With the APC having  majority in the National Assembly, is the President enjoying the support it deserved?

    There is no crisis between the APC-led government and the APC-led National Assembly, what I see there is just communication gap or communication management. For instance, when the issue of loan crept up, the Senate sent it back with their reasons that the details weren’t attached. I see this as a plus not a negative trend because ordinarily, being of the same party, it is expected or taken for granted that whatever demand or request is sent to the National Assembly will just be approved. That mesns that what we are witnessing now has shown that every arm of government is living up to its responsibilities. That an Executive sent something to an Assembly where it is in the majority and that Assembly said no, we have to examine this very critically without prejudices, without partisan politics, then I want to believe that our democracy is growing positively for the interest of the masses. This goes to show that there is synergy, that as a party, we are not partisan with issues that concern Nigerians.

    Would the performance of the governor not affect the chances of the APC in next year’s election?

    It is usually very embarrassing when I hear people say a governor is paying salaries as part of achievements. Are the civil servants in those states working for free? It is their entitlement, so it makes no meaning to applaud a governor for paying salaries, it is like telling me that it us an achievement for me to feed my family. So if a governor is paying salaries, it is his duty and part of responsibility of government but such should not be elevated to the level of absurdity making it an achievement. Flowing from that, I think we are coming to a point where we separate reality on ground from propaganda, where we have to put the issues straight by looking at governance, people’s expectations, promises made, looking at where we are and where we should have been and where we should be in future. I am going to address the issue of Anambra at the appropriate time with statistics.

  • I didn’t hire lobbyists for ministerial appointment, says Moghalu

    I didn’t hire lobbyists for ministerial appointment, says Moghalu

    The national auditor of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Chief George Moghalu yesterday said he has not engaged anybody to lobby for his appointment as a member of the yet-to-be constituted Federal Executive Council (FEC).

    He stated that those campaigning for his appointment as minister were not doing his bidding as only President Muhammadu Buhari has the mandate to appoint those he believes can deliver his electoral promises.

    Moghalu, in a statement in Abuja, said appointments into the Federal Executive Council is the sole prerogative of President Buhari.

    He said: “It has been brought to my notice that certain groups have embarked on a media campaign to lobby for my appointment into the Federal Executive.

    “Let it be on the record that these persons are acting of their own accord. I have not, and I do not intend to engage the services of any persons or groups, to lobby on my behalf either covertly or overtly.

    “I believe that my antecedents over many years in politics are sufficient to speak for me if ever the need arose.

    “If I am called to serve, I will do so to the best of my abilities. Till then, I will continue to serve my party and my country in my present capacity as National Auditor and member of the National Working Committee (NWC) of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

    He added: “In over three decades in politics and public service, I have never been associated with any acts that will suggest unseemly clamour for political office. I do not desire to change that record now.

    “I advise these self appointed lobbyists to disengage from their activities forthwith. The challenges of nation building at this critical time are too big for us to get distracted by the pursuit of individual ambitions.”

  • ‘Moghalu suitable for SGF’

    ‘Moghalu suitable for SGF’

    A Group known as NESTLE has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to consider Chief George Moghalu for the position of Secretary to Government Federation (SGF), adding that the office should be held by a core member of the ruling party All Progressives Congress (APC).

    The group said that by doing that the President would have given Ndigbo a sense of belonging and helped to strengthen the APC in the zone in addition to giving it a strong footing ahead of 2019.

    In a statement signed by the leader of the group, Ben Ezinma, it said that the zone parades a galaxy of decent, reputable citizens with strong character and integrity, adding, “No one fits this position better than Chief George Moghalu”.

    He said that Moghalu is one of the national leaders of the party and the best for the SGF position from the Southeast, as he is tested and trusted, ready to work at any given opportunity.

    Ezinma said, “Some of the rare qualities Moghalu which differentiates him from other leaders are his calm disposition, stable character, articulation, disciplined life style, integrity and high spirit of service which a good secretary to any organization must possess.

    His past experiences speak volume of his capacity and competence to function as SGF in this administration. He has served in out of governments in many capacities.

    NESTLE, hereby admonishes President Buhari to consider appointing Moghalu as his SG, a decision the president will never regret. Having served in similar capacity as the national secretary of APP, the office of SGF will be a familiar terrain and environment for him”.

    The group said that Moghalu is like President Buhari, as he maintains a tough stand against corruption, having urged the President to set up Anti Corruption Tribunal for faster, efficient hearing, trial and quick dispensation of justice on corruption related matters.

     

  • Apathy cost Southeast Senate presidency, says Moghalu

    Apathy cost Southeast Senate presidency, says Moghalu

    The National Auditor of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief George Moghalu has said that the Southeast could not clinch the Senate presidency slot because of the zone’s apathy to politics.

    Moghalu was speaking in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, during an event to officially welcome a group of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defectors to the APC.

    Moghalu attributed the leadership squabble in the Senate to the inability of the southeast to vote Senator Chris Ngige of Anambra State into a position that was ceded to the Southeast even before the 2015 election was concluded.

    “I remembered clearly when we started supporting APC; nobody gave us a chance to succeed. We were just about eight; Ogbonnaya Onu, Rochas Okorocha, Senator Chris Ngige, Senator Osita Izunaso, George Morghalu, Hon. Emma Onyeukwu and Chineneye Nyerere…And because of our apathy to politics, the thing cost us a serious problem. If we had a senator elected on the platform of this party, today we will have senate president because it was conceded to us even before the election, but since we left a vacuum, we have nobody to be there and that is why the seat has been under contention and that is what created the crisis in the entire structure of the national assembly because we had nobody.

    “If we had voted one of our sons who contested this election as a senator the story will be different and I want to imagine what would have happened if the Igbo had produced the senate president in an APC government. Today what we have to do is to lament”, Moghalu stated.

    The National auditor who called for more support from the members of the party in the state and the entire southeast said it was time that they (APC) members became serious with political activities in the region as they aspire to produce the president of the country in 2023.

    “APC today needs the support and involvement of every Igbo man and woman. If you don’t say you are, nobody will say thou art. We need to come and take over the structures of the party because we desirous of producing a president of Igbo extraction. The laws of natural justice stands in favour of Igboman come 2023.

    “The southwest has done 8years of the presidency before it went to the north briefly for 2years and went back to the southsouth that has done 6years.

    “It has returned back to the north, the maximum they will do is 8years and thereafter, we have every right to claim that it is our turn. My brothers and sisters, power is not given, power is taken. If we sit down and expect that after 8years they will put it in an envelope to come and deliver it in Enugu, we are wasting our time.

    “I have no apologies to preach political hijacking so long as that I am going to be a beneficiary. My appeal therefore is that this is the time to hijack the structure of the APC across the entire southeast and the only way we can do this is for us to be involved in the party and elect individuals into positions where they can negotiate”.

    Moghalu also used the opportunity to reinstate the concern of the Federal Government on the zone and therefore disabuse the insinuations making rounds from the opposition that the party was anti-igbo.

    He therefore assured the new entrants that the party would give them the necessary support they needed and asked them to be part of the change the APC was preaching.

    Speakers among the defectors including Senator Chris Adighije, Chief Tony Ukasoanya, Eze Chikamamnayo (former Abia Commissioner of Information), Senator Ifeanyi Okoroafor said that they left their former party because of the impunity that were going on there and promised that they were going to help APC garner support and capture Abia State.

    In his speech, the chairman of the party in the state, Hon. Donatus Nwankpa described their defection as a sign that APC was the only choice the southeast need to embrace if the zone was to move out from the doldrums the PDP led administration has thrown the state and the southeast zone in their 16 years of rulership.

    Nwankpa described them as people who were capable of taking the party beyond where they met it and urged Abians to keep supporting the party.

  • Moghalu appointed professor in US school

    Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Kingsley Moghalu has been appointed a professor at Tuft University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Boston, Massachusetts.

    Dr. Moghalu, who is also the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sogato Strategies LLC will be the Professor of Practice in International Business and Public Policy effective July 1, 2015. He will teach a course on Emerging Africa in the World Economy in The Fletcher School’s Master of International Business (MIB) graduate degree program and the Institute for Business in the Global Context, focusing on the interplay between globalization, business and government.

    “I am honored by this appointment by The Fletcher School, one of the world’s leading schools of international affairs, of which I also happen to be a proud alumnus” Moghalu said. “It demonstrates a recognition of the growing importance of Africa’s emerging markets in the global economy, and will perfectly compliment my work at Sogato Strategies, a global strategy and risk advisory firm with a focus on emerging markets”. Sogato Strategies has offices in the United States, Switzerland and Nigeria, and provides bespoke advisory services to business corporations and government entities on investment climate, risk and strategy, corporate governance, institutional strategy and transformation, global partnerships, and strategic communications.