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Showing posts from September, 2015

THE DOWNSIDES OF THE TREASURY SINGLE ACCOUNT (TSA) POLICY

  There can never be a perfect Policy. Every Policy must have its downsides just as every medicine must have some side effect. The only reason most drugs( which are essentially poisons) are allowed to be sold and administered on human beings by the regulatory authorities is that on the balance, the side effects or adverse effects are much less than the therapeutic or beneficial effects, and that without the administration of the drug, the condition of the patient may worsen and morbidity and perhaps mortality will follow. Any medicine that will cause more harm than good or that has the potential to neutralize its beneficial effects will not be allowed in the market.   However the major difference between the downsides of medicines and those of many of our policies is that makers of medicines take the pains to warn us in copious documentations and even in adverts of the expected side effects and possible adverse reactions to the use of the medicines. They even go further to advise

IS THE NEW NNPC HELMSMAN A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME?

  Nigerians have been expectant that Buhari will assemble a crack team to help him deliver on the several promises, he and his party made to Nigerians, though I am dis appointed with the disingenuous methods being adopted to repudiate some of these promises. This will be my second effort to advise that President Buhari should not dampen the expectations of Nigerians or give Nigerians the impression that the President is just another Nigerian politician whose words should not be taken very seriously. When the President's spokesman joins the APC spokesman to enter into unnecessary arguments with citizens on promises made and barefacedly denying documents that were used as campaign material, my heart skips a beat.First it casts a doubt as to the integrity of the Party and its promises and unfortunately this may rob off on Mr President as well. The President's greatest asset is his integrity and this must be protected. When Shehu Garba says he did not have his authentic signature

MAKING PUBLIC DECLARATION OF ASSETS AN EFFECTIVE ANTICORRUPTION TOOL

 After 100 days of assuming office, President Muhammadu Buhari( PMB) and his deputy Professor Yemi Osinbajo( PYO) have published the details of their assets and liabilities. Many people had expected them to do so, on the day they were sworn into office. Indeed some people were beginning to cast aspersions on PMB's anti corruption credentials just because of the perceived delay in doing so. From the public interest and comments on this matter of public declaration of assets by Public servants, it is evident that many Nigerians regard this as a very important and critical step in the ANTICORRUPTION war. Looking back, President Good luck Jonathan must have realized that one major reason his government was perceived as being 'pro' corruption, was his surprising refusal to declare his assets openly. Since he did not do this despite strong prodding, people felt, he had something to hide, especially as he only did so reluctantly as Vice President, following President Yardua's

TIME TO DECLARE A STATE OF EMERGENCY ON OUR ECONOMY

   I am troubled with the latest economic performance indices being reported for our Country. The price of our major export commodity, crude oil has continued an unmitigated decline since June of last year, and at a time we had thought the fall had buttoned out, the decline intensified with oil prices dipping below Fourty dollars per barrel. For an economy that began to tremble and quake when prices were only at seventy dollars, it is little wonder to receive the report that the economy is gasping for breath.    Last week, the National Bureau for Statistics, announced that our GDP growth for 2nd guarter has taken a precipitous dip to 2.34%. This is the lowest growth in at least ten years. In 2014, the Q2 GDP growth was nearly 6.54% which is to say that our growth has declined by at least 60% by the second quarter of this year when compared to last year. This is a very troubling development but I am more troubled that our response to this bad news has been tepid and muted. Indeed the