SAM OHUABUNWA'S PARADIGM

... In an Economic recession,  it takes knowledge to survive. The Sam Ohuabunwa Foundation is bringing to you Experts to help businesses survive in this period. Find fliers for more details...

 That our economy is in recession has been established and the symptoms are crystal clear. I identified some of them last week. The question I believe that the government and the people of Nigeria must be asking is how do we recover from recession and restore growth to our economy?First, I believe that the bullish and reflationary 2016 budget( though some disagree that it is reflationary) was crafted with this in mind. The government clearly saw the direction the economy was going and decided to borrow to spend our way out of recession. With further decline in revenue the borrowing may be more than projected 2.2Trillion Naira if the budgeted goals must be achieved. But there are a couple of challenges. Are we actually able to find lenders within the time frame of Budget 2016?. How soon will the spending be done and how quickly will the impact be felt? . The rumored 'emergency powers' being sought by President Muhammadu Buhari must be directed to this end. If this is only to sh...

 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and threat issued by the Minister of Labour to the Banks to stop laying off excess staff or their licenses could be withdrawn.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...