SAM OHUABUNWA'S PARADIGM

  From all the official and several media accounts, PMB's four-day visit to the USA was a huge success. He met President Obama in the Oval Office for a beautiful photo-op. He held several meetings around the Country and met several high ranking Public and Private sector officials. He had several breakfast , luncheon and dinner meetings. He even had town hall meeting with Nigerians where he proved to me that he listens to what Nigerians are saying about  t him, BABA GO SLOW . He was interviewed by many global media and was back on Amanpour's show. I therefore identify with all the beautiful sentiments expressed by many regarding the trip and to add that PMB discharged himself meritoriously.   But we must all remember that this is not the first trip by Nigerian leaders to the USA which had been hailed as very successful, yet without any enduring benefit to the People of Nigeria. Against my expectations at this austere times, PMB undertook this trip with a fairly l...

 After what looked like an interminable wait, President Muhammadu Buhari( PMB) in the last couple of days began to show his hand. Before now, he had only made some apparently minor changes and appointments, the more significant being the appointment of the Accountant General and the acting Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission( INEC). But in the last week or so he has taken some bold steps that give an indication of where he is headed to.   Firstly, the anticorruption campaign seems to have taken off. Past Governors Ohakim and Nyako (with sons) whose cases with EFCC had gone cold were revived in a dramatic manner. Then attention was moved to Governor Lamido and his sons. The three Governors and sons have been arraigned in court and all taken on bail. I am expecting many more arrests, followed by arraignments in court and then granting of bails. Already I recently read that the erstwhile National Security adviser(NSA) may have been arrested a few days ...

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: CURBING THE IRRESPONSIBILITY IN MANY STATES   After the heroic efforts Of President Olusegun Obasanjo and his Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala to get the Paris Club to forgive a large chunk of our Debt, most of which had become delinquent and clogging our credit worthiness, he was determined to do all in his power to see that we never walked that route again. One of the things he did, was to push through the fiscal responsibility act in 2007 before his exit. Among other things,the law specified deficit to GDP ratio for the federal government which should not exceed 3%, the borrowing limits for the Federal Government and the State Governments, what the borrowed funds must be spent on and the need to maintain budget and procurement integrity. Though the act is a federal act, certain aspects apply to all the tiers of government  and it was expected that all the States would adopt or domesticate the laws.   But the recent revelations...

 In my days as Chairman of the Manufacturer's Association of Nigeria, Ikeja, I would jump and applaud the recent ban of importers of 41 Products from accessing foreign exchange market for the importation of the said products into our Country. These products include food items like Rice, vegetable oil, tomato purée, Margarine,sardines, fish,& meat products; tools like wheel barrows, head pans, toothpicks, plastic materials;Cement and luxury items like Furniture & Private Jets. As a manufacturer or significant investor in local manufacturing, I will always want to support any ban or restriction on importation,with the general belief that all bans of importation will naturally result in increased demand for locally produced goods. And this view is fully supported by many of my colleagues who are currently active in MAN or indeed who are involved in some local production activities. Not them alone , many Nigerians believe that we are too import dependent and will want the Natio...