Usually, when a car is to break down, certain signs will be seen by the owner and over time it worsens if repairs are not carried out on time. The nation’s economy has been showing some dangerous signs indicating that all is not well with the economy.
There have been accounts of students who paid school fees and were duly debited, but eventually got deported because the Central Bank of Nigeria could not fund the settlement. Big manufacturers which largely depend on imported materials are in serious need of forex, but after their money, denominated in naira, has been taken by commercial banks and sent to the CBN for months, recipients have still not got their forex. Suffice it to say that most letters of credit applications and forex bids are just mere papers resting on the table in banks.
In a short while, if you need anything overseas, you will have to go get your dollar outside the banking sector; and to avoid problems, you may still now have to carry your dollar in cash and board the aircraft with it, or else your money will probably not get to the recipient because the CBN may not be able to honour the settlement.
Most brilliant young men and women (doctors, nurses, information technology experts) have migrated, and now teachers will join them. Estate valuers, accountants, lawyers and several professionals are migrating in large numbers.
Commercial banks no longer get forex for Form A. Students would be deported because their payments did not get to their schools. Medical treatment and indeed all those essential needs will no longer enjoy the benefit of forex. What a terrible situation!
What is most surprising is that the new naira notes, also called newly redesigned naira notes, are not yet available in commercial banks. Customers still get paid with old notes even after the December 15, 2022 commencement date. Something is wrong somewhere. Money realised from stamp duty is said to have ended up in some pockets. Most of the time, you will wish that most of the news is untrue.
How did we get here? This is a big question yet without an immediate answer.
One of the solutions to our problems will be to work out the skills that will enable us to do almost everything like china is doing such that Nigerians will be able to consume goods produced in the country. We may suffer for like a decade like Cuba and continue to ride old cars and so on but over time, things will improve.
Billionaires whose worth is denominated in naira may not even be able to import things through banks as dollar will not be available in 2023. Dollar demand in the parallel market will go to the roof as almost every Importation will depend on the black market. A dollar may exchange for N1,000 by January, and may later rise to N1,500.
Tax compliance drive will be stronger than ever before in 2023, but the Federal Inland Revenue Service must be careful to avoid too much pressure on those paying already and rather work hard to widen the tax net.
Exemption from tax based on less than N25m threshold turnover will likely end as we may be losing a lot more from small companies, in view of the fact that many big manufacturers will face tough times with difficulty in getting forex to buy imported raw materials; and they may begin to close certain lines and relocate them to more stable forex arena in Africa.
Most airlines may likely stop their Nigerian route as many have stopped already because they could not get forex to repatriate their proceeds. This means a time will come when you will need foreign exchange even to buy air tickets. According to some accounts, some airlines no longer accept naira.
To solve our grave problems, we need all professionals to sit together to solve our problems. Like one of my elder brothers said in Abeokuta, “when elections are contested and won, the government belongs to everybody” and to that extent, I will recommend a government of national unity from all the seven major parties: the All Progressives Congress, Peoples Democratic Party, Labour Party, New Nigeria People’s Party, Social Democratic Party, African Democratic Congress, and All Progressives Grand Alliance.
We all must join hands to work together to find solutions to our problems. The year 2023 requires patriotism and not political fights. Some guys that have been in the government since 1999 have information about where our monies in dollars are kept and those who stole them. They even know where the accounts are. Therefore, we don’t need to spend money on litigation. All we need to do is to begin to take over those monies and bring them back to our foreign reserve account so we can at least have a new Nigeria.
We understand that the kind of money in the hands of some people is so much that if they wage war against Nigeria, they may win. Some people have enough money in dollars and pounds kept offshore that is enough to even rebuild all our schools and set up an airline that is a national carrier like Nigeria Airways or Air Nigeria.
Yes, we need all those dollars. There is no need to stress our judges and prison budget. All we need to do is to get as much as we can get so as to keep the country going and get it back on track. Then we must speed up our development in the areas of roads, rail lines, hospitals, technical schools, universities, ICT, reduction in the number of subjects in primary and secondary school with a focus on career paths. We must end the lending rate of 35 per cent and have an interest rate to be at a maximum of 15 per cent if we really desire growth in the real sector.
We need men and women of integrity, character and intelligence to join hands together to work for the good of the country. I am talking about men who understand that they do not need billions to have food and raiment. Men who place value on hard work than pleasure
We must all join the next cabinet regardless of whoever wins the election and whichever party we belong to; Yoruba, Hausa or Ibo. All the tribes and ethnic nationalities must come together to deliver our country from the danger that is ahead. It must not be personal or party interest anymore but rather national interest.
