The Minister for Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Udo-Udoma before a 234-man team on September 15, 2016 said that government is planning a stimulus initiative to pull Nigeria out of its current economic quagmire via a “plan to generate an immediate large injection of funds principally in foreign currency estimated at US$10-$15 billion into the economy through asset sales, advance payment for license renewals, infrastructure concessioning, use of recovered funds etc “ which will help to close out the funding needs of the present administration.
Hmmmmm.. .I have stayed in Nigeria for so long that big documented proposals don’t impress me. I have seen panel reports that excited me so much that I could not sleep but where are they today? There are laws in this country but how many of them get obeyed? Who wants to implement the exciting report? Where is the willpower of the presidents towards implementation? Who is the lead implementation officer? Are there conflicts of interest? Who is checking the activities of the officer?
We are no crooks in this country but we are no bishops either. Many Nigerians are rooks that are thinking 14 steps ahead of the government and 15 years ahead of the current administration such that Nigerians have already bypassed the law before it was even passed. Reducing importation of petroleum products could not shoot up the performance of the Nigerian refineries because the pipelines were blown off. Why plan for local refineries without factoring in these militants? Why believe that all importers within the real sector will always use their Fx to manufacture locally? Now, FX is less sold for medical and tuition purposes yet, have you seen more companies emerging from the real sector? Made-in-Nigeria products may be the way to raise fx inflow, exports and local consumption but how does that match with this kind of inconsistent, market reflective exchange rate model when this is not Japan? The countries that experimented these models put 3 critical things in place-infrastructure, technology transfer and an enabling environment by the government. Is the Nigerian government herself using made-in Nigeria products?
We were in this country when in the process of unbundling PHCN, one of the umpires almost became a bidder too. We were in this country when a whole ship with vessels disappeared like a needle. Ship o! We were also in this country when Nasir El Rufai’s BPE made privatizing telecoms look like the simplest thing. We were in this country when internationally respected pensions and government officials fell into fraud and bid rigging. Same thing they never did abroad for 2 decades, they did them here in 5 short years. Someone must have told them that laws are not for implementation here. We were in this country when just a lady from nowhere crushed fake drugs importation so much that made-in-Nigeria drugs started getting exported due to high quality and standards.
If Udo-Udoma gets USD15bn for the Nigerian Budget today, who will implement the spending against the proposed budget? What is the integrity of the person? Who will be checking on him? Is that person thinking behind Nigerians or ahead of smart Nigerians who always gets the last space to lash in on an open ended law? Has everything been well thought out? Is that person not having any money illusion too? Are you even sure that the whole USD15bn Udo-Udoma is looking for is not starched away in any Swiss or foreign account by a politically corrupt individual? Are you sure that government is not in the long run going to be a victim of this decision? It will be too painful again if after selling these public assets, we could not feel the impacts of these funds and budget.
Hmmmmm.. .I have stayed in Nigeria for so long that big documented proposals don’t impress me. I have seen panel reports that excited me so much that I could not sleep but where are they today? There are laws in this country but how many of them get obeyed? Who wants to implement the exciting report? Where is the willpower of the presidents towards implementation? Who is the lead implementation officer? Are there conflicts of interest? Who is checking the activities of the officer?
We are no crooks in this country but we are no bishops either. Many Nigerians are rooks that are thinking 14 steps ahead of the government and 15 years ahead of the current administration such that Nigerians have already bypassed the law before it was even passed. Reducing importation of petroleum products could not shoot up the performance of the Nigerian refineries because the pipelines were blown off. Why plan for local refineries without factoring in these militants? Why believe that all importers within the real sector will always use their Fx to manufacture locally? Now, FX is less sold for medical and tuition purposes yet, have you seen more companies emerging from the real sector? Made-in-Nigeria products may be the way to raise fx inflow, exports and local consumption but how does that match with this kind of inconsistent, market reflective exchange rate model when this is not Japan? The countries that experimented these models put 3 critical things in place-infrastructure, technology transfer and an enabling environment by the government. Is the Nigerian government herself using made-in Nigeria products?
We were in this country when in the process of unbundling PHCN, one of the umpires almost became a bidder too. We were in this country when a whole ship with vessels disappeared like a needle. Ship o! We were also in this country when Nasir El Rufai’s BPE made privatizing telecoms look like the simplest thing. We were in this country when internationally respected pensions and government officials fell into fraud and bid rigging. Same thing they never did abroad for 2 decades, they did them here in 5 short years. Someone must have told them that laws are not for implementation here. We were in this country when just a lady from nowhere crushed fake drugs importation so much that made-in-Nigeria drugs started getting exported due to high quality and standards.
If Udo-Udoma gets USD15bn for the Nigerian Budget today, who will implement the spending against the proposed budget? What is the integrity of the person? Who will be checking on him? Is that person thinking behind Nigerians or ahead of smart Nigerians who always gets the last space to lash in on an open ended law? Has everything been well thought out? Is that person not having any money illusion too? Are you even sure that the whole USD15bn Udo-Udoma is looking for is not starched away in any Swiss or foreign account by a politically corrupt individual? Are you sure that government is not in the long run going to be a victim of this decision? It will be too painful again if after selling these public assets, we could not feel the impacts of these funds and budget.
We need to think twice and think hard!
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| Senator Udo Udoma |
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