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Tag: recession

  • Recession: Nigeria needs divine bailouts, says Okoroafor

    Recession: Nigeria needs divine bailouts, says Okoroafor

    General Superintendent of Assemblies of God Nigeria Rev Chidi Okoroafor yesterday declared Nigeria needs complete divine bailout to emerge from the biting economic recession.

    The recession, he said, is beyond economic explanations and solutions.

    Okoroafor said only God can rescue Nigeria out of the doldrums.

    He stated this in a chat with our correspondent after the three-day South West Ministers’ conference at the Bethel camp, KM 46 Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

    He also called on churches and Christians to pray vigorously for recovery of nation’s economic, stating that it has been seriously battered to the point that no solution looks possible.

    According to him: “I spoke with somebody who should know if there was hope and he said only God can bail us out.

    “No matter economic or human expertise, the recession will not go. We need to move the hands of God to intervene in the matter.”

    He called on President Muhammadu Buhari, governors and the economic team to fish for competent hands across the nation that can salvage the situation.

    Such persons, he said, might be in opposition parties but should be bought on board for creative ideas that will rescue the nation.

    Okoroafor said: “Wisdom has no residential address. The wisdom needed to fix this country is already here. It is not necessarily in the presidency.

    “You don’t need to be partisan to move the nation forward because the wisdom that will move the nation forward may be in members of the opposition party.”

    He also advised the federal government to adopt the dialogue option with members of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) and Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to address their grievances.

    Dialogue, he said, may change the hearts of members of such violent groups.

    No fewer than 1500 ministers of the church from states in the South west expressed support for Okoroafor.

    In a communique after the conference, the ministers said: “The 18 administrative units have consistently maintained loyalty to the General Council under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Chidi Okoroafor and promise to continue on the same platform.”

  • The economy in recession

    The economy in recession

    If anyone was ever in doubt about the depth of the crisis rocking Africa’s so-called largest economy, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun’s parley with the senators on the state of the economy on July 21finally settled that. Now, it is official: The Nigerian economy is tending precipitously to the abyss. According to Adeosun, “… if you have two periods of negative growth, you are technically in a recession… we are in a tough place, whether you call it recession or not, we are in a tough place, but the most important thing is that we are going to get out of it…I don’t think we should dwell on definitions, I think we should really dwell on where we are going.”

    Talk about finally terminating the pretence of being sub Saharan Africa’s fastest growing economy;the exaggerated claims of macro-economic stability – touted asderivative of PDP’s interminable reforms and,of course,the dubious claims of superlative growth in non-oil export earnings etc. That these “achievements” are coming undone within a year of the latest cycle of oil price shocks obviously says a lot about the 16-years legacy of the PDP.

    My sympathies goes to the Buhari administration’s Economic Management Team on whose lot it falls not just to explain the cause of the current crisis but totackle them headlong. While I have struggled to understand what the minister meant by “technical recession”, it seems to me that the luxury of some semantic indulgences is one the administration can ill-afford at a time when fire is literally on the mountain. In this, the minister ought to have known better than stoke controversies on the distinction that comes to nothing really.

    I assume that Nigerians already know the meaning of recession. One online dictionary defines it as “a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales…” The implication is that recession does not last for long.

    Most Nigerians would probably contest the latter considering that the phenomenon has come to define the way they live and have their being. Indeed, most would consider it the ‘standard normal’ given the many cycles of booms and busts they have had to endure. Whether in the context of families’ ever-shrinking disposable incomes in the midst of hyperinflation at the best of times; or at the worst of times as in thecurrent acute scarcity of forex that has meant nothing but trouble for the manufacturer who need to import raw materials and spares to keep his factories working, Nigerians are only too aware of the frightening statistics of economic underperformance that have come to define their existence.

    By the way, did anyone ever come to the point of doubting the destination of a country whose manufacturers and other key real sector playershave been on a death row for as long as anyone can remember; an economy where power supply is a rarity and other infrastructuresare at best at pre-industrial levels; where the small and medium scale enterprise dieby the scores – daily;where banks have long shifted from their traditional function of financial intermediation to focus instead on servicingthe crazyindulgences of irresponsible bankers and their promoters; a country where consumption trumps production andspeculation trumps wealth creation? That is the Nigerian economy for you.

    Minister Adeosun therefore discloses nothing new when she says that the country is under technical recession. What would have been refreshing is if the minister availed Nigerians of a concrete pathway out of the problem and in such a way and manner to suggest an appreciation of the dire emergency.What we had instead is anapparent gross understatement of the problem on one hand, and an exaggerated optimism about the prospects of recovery on the other. I found that troubling.

    I do not think that anyone should be mistaken about what is at the heart of the current crisis: virtually every sector is in a state of meltdown. From factories that are drawing shutters on their operations to the anaemic financial institutions plagued by internal operational inadequacies, the story of scale-back is the same. The collapse in global oil prices has merely exacerbated the problem of an underperforming economy. The consequence is the current situation in whichfar more Nigerians are out of work than those in productive pursuits.

    And what has been the federal government’s response? Considering what is clearly an emergency, I would say too little.Imagine an apex bank supposedly sworn to attract funding to critical sector raising interest rates from 12 to 14 percent all because, it claims it wants to attract savings in an economy where disposable incomes are at the lowest levels ever! Does anyone see the contradiction? So, how will a manufacturer, forced to borrow at 21 percent, compete with peers outside that can easily access credit at four percent?

    Let’s be clear: the situation, far from being insoluble, calls for imagination and clear sighted leadership of the federal government. It’s certainly not true to say that bold and revolutionary measures have not been undertaken before in similar circumstances. While there are copious examples from other jurisdictions, one ready example is when, at the height of the subprime mortgage crisis, the Americans came up with the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) under which the country’s financial institutions’ toxic assets were purchased to strengthen the sector. That legislation,signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on October 3, 2008 was initially projected to cost the American treasury $700 billion, but total disbursements would later be reduced $431 billion.

    Back home in Nigeria, we had the local version of TARP in 2009 when the then CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi bailed out the nation’s financial sector with an unprecedented N620 billion after their managements took them under.

    At a time millions of our youths pound the streets looking for what to do, has anyone thought of the paradox of keeping these bodied Nigerians idle at a time our roadsare begging to be fixed? Has anyone figured out the multiple benefits from setting aside a tiny fraction of the N268bncommitted in the 2016 budget to getting out-of-job contractors back on site to organise hundreds of thousands of youths across the country into work gangs,even if on temporary basis, to fix our crater-ridden highways? What would it cost to train young Nigerians in the emerging solar technology considering that that is the way of the future? How much? Does anyone even know?

    Time we began to think outside the box.

  • Nigerian economy: Recession trends on Google

    Nigerian economy: Recession trends on Google

    The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele and Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun appeared to take different positions on the state of Nigeria’s economy. Are we in a recession yet or not? is the question Nigerians have been asking and they have taken their search for answers to Google.

     

    …Anambra State leads search in Nigeria

     Perhaps there’s been some  uncertainty about whether Nigeria’s economy  is fully in a recession or just “technically” in recession, thanks to recent comments on the issue by the CBN chief and Mrs Adeosun.

    Local interest in the term peaked in the past three months, with questions about the recession in Nigeria  trending on Google in July.

    For those who may still be  still in the dark about the state of the economy , it may be a good idea to pluck a leaf from the tree of knowledge growing in Anambra State. Anambra currently tops the list of states in Nigeria searching for “recession” and other related terms.

    Perhaps the curiosity of the  gentlemen traders at Iweka road, Onitsha, who just needed to know why all  this fuss about a recession, sent the state to the head of the Search list, trumping cosmopolitan Abuja and Lagos, as seen below.

    1. Anambra State.
    2. Federal Capital Territory.
    3. Rivers State.
    4. Lagos State.

    So why are residents of other States not searching for terms related to the recession? Unfortunately, Google has no answers to that question, but globally, Nigeria is one of the top three countries with the most searches for the term. In other words, we are not alone on this one -even good old stable Canada is worried.

    1. United Arab Emirates
    2. Singapore
    3. Nigeria
    4. Canada
    5. Ireland
    6. South Africa
    7. U.S.A

    Below is a list of questions people are asking in Nigeria about the recession. You may want to Google numbers 6 and 9 while you are at it.

    1. Economic recession in Nigeria?
    2. what is recession / recession definition
    3. what is economic recession
    4. difference between recession and depression
    5. recession proof businesses
    6. how to survive in economic recession
    7. how to add value during a recession
    8. when is an economy in recession
    9. how to make money in a recession
    10. causes of recession

    According to analysts, Nigeria’s recession was triggered by a dip in government revenues and spending in the wake of the  fall in global crude oil prices. It’s likely to be a bumpy ride ahead for the country, so it’s important to live by the first rule for surviving a recession- Start saving money now.

  • Don’t panic; the economy is in recession!

    I promise you truly that most brains will also go into recession; so you are likely to find people sitting down, moaning about the recessed economy, and crying ‘Nigeria is finished and I have not got my own to steal’!

    This morning, I woke up to three great earth shattering news: that the dollar, which once sold for N.70 in this my beloved country, now sells for N377 (as of today); that the country is officially in recession; and I’ve run out of my favourite snack, bananas. I tell you when it comes to banana, I’m quite the little monkey. This is why I am in a panic over it; I never run out of banana. This situation reminds me a little of a film I once saw, I don’t know if you did too, in which an airplane-full of people is told that the plane is about to crash but there is no reaction from the people. When the announcer gets to the fact that the stewards have run out of coffee though, there is a full-blast panic that pushes the dial to past maximum! But then, that was a comedy, and so is this.

    Seriously, I am not trying to make light of this problem. Come to think of it, I am trying to make light of this topic if only to still my own fears because I don’t want to go into a panic. If I do, I tell you, this country will not contain you and me, and I promise you, you will find me most insufferable on account of my moans. I tell you, a banana recession is no laughing matter.

    What brought us to this sorry pass is not our focus today; rather, we want to deliberate on what you and I can do to make sure that the naira falling from the sky does not come crashing down on our heads. To start with, the PDP umbrella is in tatters, so that cannot save us. On the other hand, the APC broom is still very busy sweeping out the debris from the last administration, so I rather think they have their hands full. One cannot hold a broom over the head to shield it from falling debris anyway. So, it’s up to you and me to salvage the situation in our own environment so we can at least be comfortable in our sunken, upholstered chairs.

    You know what a recession is, don’t you? Economists say it is when the economy is in decline and there is a fall in retail sales. Translated, a recession is when you take a suitcase of much devalued money to the market and you don’t come back. Reason: everyone runs after you to get their hands on that suitcase. That’s when you go missing, you know, trampled upon. Money is that scarce in a recession, sir. Sometimes, you’re lucky if you come back with a basket of fruits with all that money.

    Governments try as much as possible not to get their countries into a recession. When, however, you have an entire nation made of different peoples of every hue and creed smitten with kleptomania as happened to Nigeria, recession is bound to happen, sooner than later. So, we can say that our previous governments tried their best to get us into a recession. They finally succeeded.

    Reading the shattering news, therefore, has forced me to revaluate my recession preparedness. In other words, how prepared am I (and is Nigeria) to fight this war of attrition (i.e. the gradual drying off of spending power) thrust upon me and her by past recklessness? I would say, hardly at all. The country has neglected to save for a rainy day not because it was not warned but because our politicians were too deaf and unconcerned by the little thing called ‘tomorrow’. To them, tomorrow never comes to haunt our today, but today it has.

    There is no point dredging our brains for panacea to the problem. To be sure, majority of them brains have gone into recession. The government must therefore find ways of persuading the people to turn their faces away from Abuja where they have been hacking at the tills to the lands where they must now hack at it to till it. I promise you truly that most brains will also go into recession; so you are likely to find people sitting down, moaning about the recessed economy, and crying ‘Nigeria is finished and I have not got my own to steal’. Were all to be well, one could not blame them, but all is not well, so we cannot afford to sing these dirges about finished countries and unfinished businesses.

    There is no doubting the fact that the larger bulk of our recovery can come from agriculture. Tilling the land will not only provide food for us and make my banana available in an unending supply; it will also provide jobs for people. I tell you, the teeming number of youths this country has produced may not even be enough if a well-planned agricultural scheme were to be put into place. Sure, it will take a lot of planning and execution skills, but it can be done.

    I hear the government has given marching orders to the banks of Agriculture and Industry in Nigeria to make their services more readily available to farmers and farming hopefuls. This is good, but not enough. Their services must be made more readily available in the rural areas where majority of the farmlands are situated. More importantly, there must be ways the government can monitor the practices of these banks to eliminate the accustomed corruption associated with giving loans.

    By far the biggest consideration should however be what happens to the end products of these farms once the scheme is put in place. There must begin to be planned now how these products will be disposed of or stored. If we’re really serious, there must begin to be built now the large-scale storage facilities that would be required for these end products. If this is not done and farmers find themselves consuming their own products, there is likely to be discouragement that will certainly lead to a discontinuation of the experiment. Farmers must continue to be encouraged.

    This is why it is important to revive the agricultural extension workers scheme. They are the experts who know best how these things can be approached. Farm implements, farming tools engineering and all kinds of knowledge are within their grasp. Corruption sidelined them in the first place but the government needs to bring them back.

    In the meantime, to make sure that the economic tremors shattering the economy does not translate to full-scale recession in my house, I have decided that the little patch behind my window should be enough to hold a few grasses of vegetables. What previously spent its days in leisure as an ornamental lawn should now begin to sprout a few things that can pass through the mouth. More importantly, I have decided that what I cannot imagine myself growing will not be eaten around me. If I can imagine myself growing yams, then it shall continue to be eaten in my house. Luckily, I have a vivid imagination.

    Honestly, my country going into recession is not so much my problem as the panic that it is engendering in me. My fear is that everything around me may go into recession. My dog may begin again to show symptoms of mental recession while my car may show symptoms of metal recession. And if I’m not careful, even my eyes may begin to show signs of recessional appreciation by bringing out water. They are called tears. I do not want that. So, I would beg the government and the managers of the Nigerian economy to please find their ways clear to clear the rubble depressing the economy quick, quick, fast, fast, sharp, sharp.

  • Holiday as new opium for recession

    Holiday as new opium for recession

    Who or what misled the Federal Government into announcing a wrong date for the Sallah holiday that just ended? A rather disturbing account circulated midweek. It was whispered that the monumental embarrassment could have been saved had there not been a chasm between the Buhari people and the Sokoto sultanate. The tradition was that the Interior Ministry interacted with the Sultan as the head of the nation’s Muslim community before public holiday(s) was declared in the circumstance.

    As the story goes, as has become the fashion in Abuja nowadays, no such consultation happened last week before the bureaucrats at the Interior ministry were said to have exercised their discretion by unilaterally declaring July 5 and 6 as holiday for Eidel- Fitr. And when the much-awaited moon had still not been sighted by Monday midnight, it became crystal clear the gamble had failed. Much to the nation’s discomfiture, a “supplementary day” had to be added Tuesday, bringing the new tally to three days.

    Trust ingenious Nigerians, the controversy was parlayed to an opportunity to invent an assortment of jokes about the “missing moon” in the social media. The most hilarious perhaps being either the allusion to INEC characteristically declaring that “The sighting of the moon was inconclusive” or the usually conniving Abuja High Court ruling that “The sighting of the moon has been adjourned to tomorrow” or the phantom report categorically quoting the EFCC as saying that “Those responsible for the missing moon will soon be apprehended and charged accordingly. We have evidence.”

    To be sure, one is not in a position to confirm the veracity of the aforementioned conspiracy theory yet. But given the creeping culture of silence in Abuja today, the inquisitive are condemned to continue to sift through the grapevine in the days ahead in case they are still desirous of reaching the bottom of the matter. Nonetheless, the concomitant shame on the nation is better appreciated given that Saudi Arabia, the acclaimed spiritual pathfinder and indeed the custodian of the holiest sites of the Islamic faith, did not declare Tuesday a national holiday.

    The scandal was compounded by what seemed a poor lexical facility. The wording of the statement announcing the “supplementary holiday” was most inelegant, further casting Abuja in sordid lights. It may indeed sound diffident for the Permanent Secretary who signed the circular on behalf of the Interior Minister, Abdulrahman Dambazau, to state that the extension became necessary after “the directive by the President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, to the effect that the Ramadan fast continues today (Tuesday) as a result of the non-sighting of the moon.”

    But grave damage is inadvertently done to the mystique and indeed institutional integrity of the Federal Government to so rationalize. At least, nowhere in the current 1999 constitution is it indicated that the federation is now a theocracy. Ideally, someone ought to be sanctioned for such egregious error of judgement in Abuja. In material terms, the cost of a day off duty to the national economy is incalculable. To say nothing about the inconvenience to those least prepared for it. For instance, twice within a week, schools earlier scheduled to shut down had to hurriedly adjust their calendar. It is doubly tragic considering that the nation is officially now in recession, having chalked up negative growth for two consecutive quarters.

    But no one in Abuja and elsewhere seems sufficiently perturbed or thoughtful enough to link the craze for public holiday to the growing decline in national productivity as wage is mostly earned in the public sector without having to even break a single sweat in the indulgent assurance that the proverbial cake will always be available on the table to share whenever the Finance minister and her counterparts in the 36 federating states regroup in Abuja at the third week of every month insofar oil money continues to flow in.

    It is no coincidence therefore that relatively prosperous nations have lesser national holidays while those with beggarly GDP tend to be the ones obsessed with vacations. In the United States, for instance, the total number of national holidays scheduled for 2016 is eleven days. Ditto France. Singapore will tolerate 13 days. Whereas South Africa has 15 days, Russia, Ghana and Nigeria tally at 16.

    But the 16 officially announced by Nigeria does not cover days lost to the whimsicality of labour strikes often over the most jejune of grievances. Nor the man-hour lost at gas stations when workers queue up for petrol when they should be at their desks. When all of these disruptions are consolidated, we are actually looking at a significant portion of the calendar year mindlessly incinerated.

    Of course, extended holiday will be bad news for those whose daily survival depends on their toil for the day. Or the hard-nosed employer who views every moment of the downtime as lost opportunity to create more wealth. And all those whose peculiar vocations simply make no room for the proverbial lotus-eating. Like the journalist who, willy-nilly, has to write the first draft of history.

    Expectedly, only the slothful ones would have rejoiced at the addition of Thursday as holiday. Among them must have been salaried public servants whose next pay cheque is already assured on the guarantied receipt of oil money. In fact, to such category of wageearners, the remaining working day of the week (Friday) would simply be taken as gratis. Anyone in doubt should conduct a roll-call at most public offices today; attendance will certainly be very low.

    But Abuja is not alone is freely doling out holiday; it fits into what seems a growing pattern across the federation. Stretched to the limits of their creativity in the season of recession, it would appear more and more governments think the only way to comfort or pacify the people is give them more holiday.

    In Benue, for instance, every Friday was recently declared holiday not only to officially enable the civil servants owed arrears of salaries farm compulsorily as part of the state’s ingenious hunger management strategy, but also as unofficial concession to help them minimize the costs of transportation.

    As you read this, workers of Abia State should still be savoring a bouquet of additional holiday unilaterally announced by its embattled “governor” after having the gubernatorial rug pulled suddenly from under his feet last week by an Abuja court. Following the initial declaration of Tuesday and Wednesday as holiday by the Federal Government, Okezie Ikpeazu added Monday and Thursday for Abia in what was clearly seen as a calculated attempt to shut down government machinery and forestall the installation of his rival, Uche Ogah, as new governor as directed by the court pending the determination of his own appeal.

    Holiday-obsessed Ikpeazu earlier declared June 30 as work-free in Abia in honour of Ojo Maduekwe, an illustrious citizen who recently passed on. Similarly, when in February the Supreme Court had affirmed his victory, Ikpeazu did not think twice before pronouncing the 15th day of that month holiday.

    As the crusader-in-chief, President Buhari ought to realize that the promise of change should not be about anti-corruption alone, but the work ethic as well. It is on record that twice within his first year in office, Buhari himself had gone on official leave – worst of all – abroad. Now, everyone seems in a hurry to break his record.

  • Chamber mates of recession

    Before you summon, it is probably better to summon oneself to common sense. That may be the summons lacking in the lawmakers last week.

    The Senate, in its parliamentary majesty, summoned the finance minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun and the Central Bank Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, to appear before its august chamber to explain why the economy was sliding into a recession.

    The lawmakers were led by Senator Bassey Albert Akpan who titled the motion, “An urgent need to address the present economic state of the nation.”

    When did he and his chamber mates know or realise that the economy was in a state of pain? Was this not the same house that dilly-dallied over the budget? Did they not know that an economy without the right directing principles and funds injection would lapse?

    We were all here in this nation when the budget bill, otherwise known as the appropriation bill, was conveyed to the house. Agreed there were some snafus in the exercise and some civil servants presented material not on the original blueprint of the government. When everything was put in place, we still saw a Senate on a snail’s pace.

    An economy will not show patience for any incompetent or foot-dragging lawmaker. The economy is serious business.

    Senator Akpan reeled out some arresting statistics from The National Bureau of Statistics that showed that our economy is not for easy bread and butter, and that we might be in for the lean side of the soup pot. He observed that “from the report, unemployment rate rose to 12.1 percent in Q1 2016 from 10.4 percent in Q5 2015.” That is not good news and Senator Akpan knows it.

    He observed that “underemployment also increased to 19.1 percent from 18.7percent in the same period (the previous quarter) while the rate of inflation rose from 9.6 percent in January 2016 to 13.8 percent in April 2016…” that is not good news and Senator Akpan knows it.

    The other senator of notoriety and Akpan chamber “maid” in this matter was Biodun Olujimi, who backed Senator Akpan on the motion. She asked the CBN chief and finance minister to come with their economic blueprint. Is this wise at all? That had just finished with the budget for the year. While the material was before them, they were busy bellyaching because this year’s budget was not presented with the sort of colourful ceremony that made lawmakers “happy.”

    They delayed the matter on their hands and allowed the economy to stall even further. This, Hardball must state, is not peculiar to this senate. Its predecessors also lumbered over the budget and allowed the ponderous material to linger in committee after committee.

    By the time it is ready, much of the material time to execute budget items has been lost. What it means that by the end of the year, complaints swirl that the executors do not have enough time. More damning, especially this year, is that valuable time is lost, so much so that weather catches up with development. For instance, we are already in June, one of the months of relentless downpour. This is not good for road construction, or infrastructure work of any kind, or for the building of hospitals or the installation of machines in warehouses, schools, hospitals, power plants, etc.

    Senator Akpan and senator Olujimi should learn next time to ask for blueprints at the right time. Their job, more importantly, is to make laws not stall budget and make the economy crawl.

  • Recession: Brands seek lifeline

    Most brands in Nigeria will require bailout to remain in business as the marketing industry was overwhelmed with promos, the Marketing Service Director, Nestle Nigeria, Mrs Iquo Ukoh, has said.

    Looking at activities in the industry last year, she said most marketers were at a loss on what to do to get the consumer’s attention as many promos failed to deliver the desired return on investment (RoI).

    “We all were at a loss on what to do to get the consumer’s attention. Many promotions did not deliver desired return on investment but we kept on shouting anyway in the hope that at least our nuisance value would get some attention. Unlikely brands partnered, goat, rams, cows, rice, free airtime were all used as incentives for consumers to buy. Buy one get one or two free also had their spotlight in this frenzy,” she said.

    As a result, Ukoh saw many brand equity sliding last year but she said many will most likely require a lot of investment in future to recover.

    “In all of this, I saw many brand equity start to slide and many will most likely require a lot of investment in future to recover,” she said.

    She noted that with the understanding that oil prices in the international market are not likely to go up in the short term, government spending will not rise significantly.

    “Many state governments in Nigeria have had to be bailed out on workers’ salaries.  Many state governments cannot pay the minimum wage. At the end of last year, many organisations had quietly laid off workers,” she observed.

    She also noted that products with imported content will jerk up prices hence impacting on volume growth negatively.

    She said: “For products with high imported content, price increases will be inevitable, as the volume growth may not be realised so value growth will be the option. This means price increases and further shrinkage in consumer base and consumer patronage.”

  • ‘Nigeria won’t go into recession in 2016’

    ‘Nigeria won’t go into recession in 2016’

    Contrary to insinuations in some quarters, Wale Odunlami, Executive Chairman of Ikeja Local Government Area, Lagos State, is optimistic that the country will not go into recession in 2016.

    “It is not true that the economy of Nigeria will go into recession next year. I don’t know what indices people who said that are using,” the council boss said.

    Apparently buoyed by patriotic fervour, the Cambridge College director said he believes the economy has virtually bottomed out and should go on a rebound next year provided the economic managers don’t ruin it with bad policies, for instance.

    Odunlami who fell short of accusing some of the multilateral agencies like International Monetary Fund (IMF), said: Nigeria has no business devaluing the Naira. You can’t continue to follow the same International Monetary Fund (IMF) pill, year in year out. In fact, it is the same pill that the IMF applies for every ailment; that is for every developing country, in the third world. They deliberately encourage you to continue to bring misery to your people. Our Naira is not convertible. It is not even partially convertible, not to talk of full convertibility. So, of what use is the devaluation when our main foreign exchange earnings is from crude oil, which is denominated in dollars. Which other major goods and services are we exporting?”

    Odunlami said that devaluation continues to bring misery to people, since there are majorly import dependent.

    “IMF will tell you devaluation will boost your FDI. I believe it’s a lie. How much of the FDIs have contributed to boost our economy since the CBN has been devaluing our currency, following a slide in government revenue. What is important is for the government to be concerned with how we manage our official foreign currency windows to stimulate the real sectors of the economy.”

  • ‘Nigeria won’t go into recession in 2016’

    Contrary to insinuations in some quarters, Wale Odunlami, Executive Chairman of Ikeja Local Government Area, Lagos State, is optimistic that the country will not go into recession in 2016.

    “It is not true that the economy of Nigeria will go into recession next year. I don’t know what indices people who said that are using,” the council boss said.

    Apparently buoyed by patriotic fervour, the Cambridge College director said he believes the economy has virtually bottomed out and should go on a rebound next year provided the economic managers don’t ruin it with bad policies, for instance.

    Odunlami who fell short of accusing some of the multilateral agencies like International Monetary Fund (IMF), said: Nigeria has no business devaluing the Naira. You can’t continue to follow the same International Monetary Fund (IMF) pill, year in year out. In fact, it is the same pill that the IMF applies for every ailment; that is for every developing country, in the third world. They deliberately encourage you to continue to bring misery to your people. Our Naira is not convertible. It is not even partially convertible, not to talk of full convertibility. So, of what use is the devaluation when our main foreign exchange earnings is from crude oil, which is denominated in dollars. Which other major goods and services are we exporting?”

    Odunlami said that devaluation continues to bring misery to people, since there are majorly import dependent.

    “IMF will tell you devaluation will boost your FDI. I believe it’s a lie. How much of the FDIs have contributed to boost our economy since the CBN has been devaluing our currency, following a slide in government revenue. What is important is for the government to be concerned with how we manage our official foreign currency windows to stimulate the real sectors of the economy.”

  • Nigeria won’t go into recession

    The pastor-in-charge of Christ Redemption Bible Church, Pastor John Ogundare, has said there will be no recession in Nigeria.

    He spoke at a briefing in Lagos yesterday on the church’s 18th year anniversary convention.

    Ogundare said: “God has revealed to me that Nigeria will not experience economic recession. No matter the current value of the naira and its fluctuating conditions, the naira would not be devalued below its current state.

    “In fact, come next year, the country will experience a stable economy. By the grace of God, our country will begin to have a stable economy and peaceful environment and we will begin to give glory and honour to the name of the Lord.”

     “The theme of this conference is ‘The All-knowing God,’ that is, God knows every situation of this country… and he has the solution. So I just want to appeal to Nigerians, rather than to be sad or worried, we should continue what we know how to do, that is praying for this country.

    The highlight of the convention, which holds from October 14-18, will be the inauguration of the church’s new international camp ground.

    There will be a medical seminar and screening on October 11; revival on October 14 and 15, praise night the following day and Thanksgiving service on the 18th.

    Expected ministers at the events include; Tope Alabi, Pastor Wole Oladiyun, Pastor Anu Ojo, Prophet J. B. Kumoluyi, Bois Olorun among others.