SAM OHUABUNWA'S PARADIGM

 Last week, I read the news that Nigeria has officially lost its position as the largest Economy in Africa,now humbled to the 3rd position, behind Egypt and South Africa. Our GDP climbed down from $ 568Billion in 2014 to $481 in 2015 and then $296B as at July this year.This is hardly surprising given the official massive devaluation of the Naira and the steady decline of the GDP from 2014, quarter after quarter till date. It has been established that our economy is in recession with evidence starring us all on the face. The macro-economy is in turmoil with inflation exceeding 17%, interest rate galloping ( 14% MPR) and the Naira depreciating everyday both at the interbank(N365/$) and the parallel market( N400/$). Companies are off loading excess staff to keep afloat, fuelling unemployment and underemployment which have reached 45% among the Youth, worsening poverty and social malaise. Nigeria's misery index has climbed to 47.7%, becoming the Country with the 5th highest misery inde...

 A couple of weeks ago we raised issues against the ill-advised order and threat issued by the Minister of Labour to the Banks to stop laying off excess staff or their licenses could be withdrawn. Some of us took great exception to what we believe was an unwarranted intervention of the government in purely private company affairs. We drew attention to the wrong signals that kind of action would give to the investing community, especially at a time one thought that Nigeria should be desirous of new investments. But recent happenings indicate that either our concerns fell on deaf ears or that we are mis-reading this government. We may actually be wrong in thinking that this government is interested in pursuing genuine private sector investment in the Nigerian economy at this time! Since according to this government "economic management is purely a government affair", we in the non- governmental sector may actually be wasting our time offering suggestions on how to bring our o...

When all is said and done, Atiku Abubarkar , former Vice President, is easily one of the most sophisticated politicians in Nigeria. He is also one of the most experienced, and perhaps since MKO Abiola, one of the most cosmopolitan politicians in Nigeria with tentacles and connections across the length and breadth of Nigeria. Particularly, he seems to be one of the most prepared political leaders of this Nation after the first generation political leaders like Zik, Awolowo and Sir Ahmadu Bello. But since Nigeria's democratic top political leadership seems to often go to the most unprepared, Atiku has been a serial Presidential aspirant, forcing him to criss-cross carpets  so often. But to be sure Atiku remains an important constant in contemporary political equations of our Country.  If he has not yet made a great success of his political ambition to lead the Nation at the highest level, he has shown great success in his business pursuits and is actually perceived as a very s...

  I have been on vacation in the United States of America( USA) in the last couple of days and have been sucked in by the elaborate process of Presidential primary elections which culminated in the Republican National Convention, a week earlier and the Democratic National Convention last week. The two conventions produced billionaire Donald Trump and Former Secretary of State and former First Lady Hilary Rodham  Clinton as their respective presidential candidates to stand for the November Presidential elections. The Democratic convention was particularly electrifying. I was completely blown by the testimony of former mayor of New York City, billionaire Michael Bloomberg who literally called Donald Trump a Con man. That was the most devastating blow and seemed to persuade me that Hilary Clinton may be on her way to making multiple history. She already made one as the first woman to be nominated as a Presidential candidate by a major political party in the USA. She had bettered...

Last week I had a taste of the renewed and intensified effort of The Lagos State government to increase its internally generated revenue. Lagos has long been acknowledged as perhaps the only State that can survive without Federation account. I understand that Ogun State is strongly on the heels of Lagos. During the reign of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as governor of Lagos, very strategic decisions were taken, to make Lagos financially viable and independent. The first was the lagos version of the Land Use act called Land use charge,which compelled all land owners to pay tax on their property across the state. This was stoutly resisted especially by the organized Private sector,leading to court cases. It was eventually resolved in favour of the State, following government's agreement to reduce the tax rate. Today this has become a major revenue for Lagos. So what oil should be for oil bearing states is what land is for Lagos! Then there was the sales tax, which again was fought by the busine...

I may be wrong but I believe that something is going wrong in the World. Any where you turn, there there is anger, there is violence. Almost everyday there is a new breaking news on Television about the break out of violence in one part of the World or the other. Global terrorism is growing daily and assuming unimaginable dimensions. Sectarian conflicts are growing and racial violence is resurgent. Human life is becoming meaningless all over the World. Are we loosing our humanity or are we coming to the close of the age or what really is happening?     In our Country, I am having increasing difficulty to understand what is happening.The Boko Haram Insurgents ravaged our Nation over the last six years, bombing, killing and maiming. Not satisfied with that, they began to take territory and threatened to overrun Northern Nigeria and possibly the entire Nation. What was their anger? No one could really say, though it was alleged that they hated western education and wanted...

Nigeria is technically in a recession. Gross Domestic product plunged from 6.3% growth in 2014 to 2.7% in 2015. Specifically it went from 2.84% in Q3 2015 to 2.11 in Q4 2015 and then dropped off the Clive to -0.36% in Q1 2016. So without waiting for the official Q2 2016 report which is not expected to do much better, we have had two consecutive quarters of GDP decline. National productivity which rose between 2010 and 2014, began a decline in Q1 2015 and has maintained this course up to date. In the component of Labour productivity, Nigerians are known to be hardworking but productivity of its labour force is often questioned. The labour productivity in emerging Countries like Russia($24) Brazil ( $10.7) and turkey($28.9)is much higher than Nigeria's. In Q4 2015, Nigeria's labour productivity declined to $3.55 from $3.86 in Q3 2015 and the decline has continued since then approaching the 2011 level of $2.98 or less  The fall in GDP is blamed on the precipitate fall in the p...

 Last week, I was driving down the Mobalaji Bank- Anthony Road in Ikeja, Lagos, when I noticed some confusion around the vicinity. I heard some shouting and then I saw some people running towards where we were. I noticed that they were Street hawkers- those young men and women who sell Bottled and canned drinks, packaged food, chewing gum, sweets, boiled groundnuts, newspapers & magazines, handekerchiefs, windshield wipers and sundry items to commuters any where the traffic slows down. I wondered what was amiss. Then I saw some men wearing long sleeved green shirts on brown trousers, with beret caps on their heads, armed with long sticks, pursuing and beating the fleeing Street hawkers. I asked who are this? and my driver said, they were KAI Operatives. That they pursue street hawkers, seize their wares which they often confiscate or they extort money from them in order to release the goods. I shook my head in sympathy and continued our snarl down the road.   A few minu...

SAM OHUABUNWA'S PARADIGM : You all have waited for this, Now you have it! : Mazi Sam  Ohuabunwa's two latest books are now available on e-copy. You can download them from any of these platforms; Amazon, Apple iB...

  I have done my best to refrain from commenting on Senator Olusola Saraki's travails since he became the Senate President. In the first place I support every genuine effort to bring our political leaders to account and to fight the endemic corruption that has held Nigeria down in its 56 years of independence from Great Britain( Great?). Secondly,though I believe that the current anti-corruption campaign by the government has been one-sided , I have resolved this by saying that only the guilty will go to jail or be so declared. Those who have been wrongly accused or embarrassed by the accusations could always approach the Court to seek compensation. Thirdly, I have been angry with politicians who jump from one party to the other. My position has always been that Politicians elected on one political platform can not change their party without returning to their constituents to seek re-election on their new platform. Seeing Saraki being harassed and charged to court by his new found...

Over many years, the Scottish people were unhappy to belong to the United Kingdom( UK) and there were agitations to break up the union so that the Scots could go their own way as a separate and independent Nation. A couple of Parties emerged calling for what I may call Scottexit from the Uk. There were heated and rancorous debates all over the UK which tended to divide the Nation. To determine if this was truly the desire of the majority of the Scottish people or just the opinion of some of the the Politicians or a minority vocal protesters, a referendum was  conducted last year in Scotland. The Majority of the scots voted against living the Uk, preferring the semi autonomous status that gave them opportunity to have greater say in how they were governed. The agitation ended, at least for now. No bullets were fired and The Uk avoided reliving the experience of the violence that engulfed the Nation for several years as Irish People  of Northern Island sought self determination ...

I was shocked to read the statement credited to the Minister of Labour & Employment where he was quoted as follows" The Federal Government gave licenses to the banks to operate and if its directives are not adhered to, their licenses will be withdrawn if the need arises. We will go a step further if they continue. We know what to do. They need to comply..." This threat was made as a reaction to the failure of Banks to stop laying off their staff as directed by the Minister. To be true, this is a very troubling development which makes me really sad. In the first place, what is the locus of the Minister to issue orders to Banks? Even the CBN which supervises banks can not issue that type of order to Banks. Banks are private companies owned by private investors and managed by their Boards of Directors and the Executive Management Teams. They owe allegiance to their shareholders. They are not owned by the government, and are certainly not parastatals of the Ministry of Labou...

Last week end I was in the Niger Delta. As I drove up from the PH International Airport airport, Omagwa, towards Elele in my attempt to connect the East -West Road to head on to Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa State, I was startled. First there was this long traffic back up and I was wondering what the matter was. Then I noticed that People were getting down from their buses and cars and moving forward with with their two hands raised. What was the matter? We inched on and I looked on the other side of the Road and saw a sea of people walking down towards where we were also with their hands raised, and then a picture flashed through my mind. The picture of the civil war when people walked through several check points with their hands raised up along this same axis. Is there another war? We kept moving gradually until we could see the police and military barricades on the highway made with drums and sandbags. I then confirmed that it was indeed the checkpoint on the highway that was causi...

 After one year of economic nightmare, Nigeria seems about to take a turn for the better. A couple of positive policy shifts and some development in the global oil market give indication of hope that the intense suffering of Nigerians in the last year may begin to ameliorate. The first indication was the guided deregulation of the downstream Petroleum sector. Almost instantly, the fuel queues disappeared and Nigerians'  double jeopardy retreated. For several years, Nigerians' common wealth was used to subsidize the price of fuel and yet many of us paid the market price. For many years especially in the last one year, Nigerians lost many valuable man-hours sleeping in filling stations and fighting for fuel. Those who could not endure this, patronized the parallel market- young men & women hawking fuel in Jerry cans and criss-crossing the highways. Very pitiable and demeaning experience. Those who do not understand how free market promotes efficiency, should learn lessons f...