N5000 note, PDP agenda for 2015 elections – Opposition parties

 by Leke Baiyewu.

Nigeria Naira Notes

Opposition parties have alleged that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party is behind the proposed N5000 note that has generated much controversy in the country.

Some leaders of the parties said the PDP was planning to make the naira handy for distribution during the 2015 general elections.

The Congress for Progressive Change, the Action Congress of Nigeria and the All Nigeria Peoples Party said the speedy approval of the proposal by President Goodluck Jonathan showed that there was an ulterior motive behind the move.

The National Publicity Secretary, ANPP, Mr. Emma Eneukwu, told SUNDAY PUNCH that the PDP proposed the N5000 note, through its government, in order to make cash handy and huge amounts of money more movable during the elections.

He said, “We are aware that the PDP is putting a lot of plans in place. One of them is the introduction of the N5000 note purposely for the election. They want to make more money handy for distribution.

“The new trend contradicts the earlier position of the Central Bank of Nigeria on its cash-less policy. The CBN governor suddenly introduced a more valuable note to actualise the programme of the PDP. It is geared towards the 2015 elections.

“The CBN’s insistence on going ahead with the plan, despite the huge public outcry, shows that the government is pursuing an agenda.”

His CPC counterpart, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said it was in order for people to raise concerns about the policy due to the spate of corruption in the system. He added that the speedy approval by the presidency was suspicious.

He said, “Peoples’ fears may not be unfounded because of the way the president gave his assent to the proposal without going through the normal rigorous process. We are in a corrupt regime and with a government that has high tendency for corruption, the people cannot but fear over an ulterior motive.”

Similarly, the National Publicity Secretary, ACN, Dr. Lai Mohammed, in a separate interview, accused Jonathan of ignoring the opinion of the majority for the interest of the minority.

He described programmes of the Federal Government as anti-people, saying the introduction would lead to inflation and consequent hardship on the masses.

Mohammed said, “It shows that the government is not responsive and accountable to the people. If truly it is accountable and the people actually voted for the government, then it will show regard for their interests.

“The president should remember that he is only holding power in trust for the people. Political and economic experts have warned that the introduction would lead to inflation but the presidency has brushed aside the valid arguments in favour of a few political elite.

“This shows that the president lacks regard for the people; he is not responsive, his programmes are anti-people.”

Effort to get the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh to react to the allegation was unsuccessful as he did not pick calls to his phone or respond to a text message as at press time.

A Word For the Nigerian Opposition

By Dele Momodu

Fellow Nigerians, please permit me to reiterate the fact that I’m an unabashed member of the Nigerian opposition at this time that we are being stigmatised by members of the ruling Federal Government. There is really nothing to be ashamed of. Criticism is as old as mankind. Its essence is not to destroy a leader but to hold him in check and help him achieve his dreams if he has any. In the Old Oyo kingdom and till these days, the Oyo Mesi has been an institution to hold the powerful monarch, Iku Baba Yeye, The Alaafin of Oyo, to the dictates of his awesome office. They were like the modern day parliamentarians who could go as far as impeaching the king or asking him to commit suicide in the face of ignominy.

My career as a reporter in an under-developed country had amply prepared me for the role of a freedom fighter though we had started the voyage from our days at the University of Ife. Criticising a government in a nation where personal survival depends largely on government largesse is indeed tantamount to taking a kamikaze plunge but it is a task that some of us must undertake. To voluntarily say “to hell with the indescribable indulgence and pleasure” that comes with being friends with men of power, for me, has always been a salutary decision. Those who castigate us often forget that it would have been much easier to eat from the National cake and chop and clean mouth as if nothing happened. Those eating from both sides of their mouths really don’t have two heads after all.

It is therefore a thankless job because many Nigerians read meanings to acts of valour. Those who can’t do what you do must discourage you and call you names you were not given at birth. But that is not a big deal because all change agents suffered the same fate. You are in good company. On a personal note, nothing is as exhilarating as knowing your status as a freeborn and not as anybody’s slave. I see many old men who should be enjoying their twilight days, at home with their children and grandchildren, running from pillar to post in search of power and money. I often shake my head in utter amazement wondering what they are chasing at that age.

That is not to say I’m totally oblivious to the reality that only government guarantees quick riches in Nigeria. Principled citizens are hardly recognised and rewarded. Examples abound of certified paupers whose lives changed instantly on attaining power and their old mates could hardly recognise them. Most of those who end up in political offices have been so battered by the vicissitudes of life that it becomes impossible to take the risk of fighting the status quo. That is why you would not hear or read that any member of the opposition has rejected the atrocious remunerations they earn in Abuja and other political locations. Whilst they can disagree and argue at their most shrilling voices on other issues not pertaining to sharing the national loot, nothing unites Nigerian politicians more than money. Every known principle is buried once cash is involved. The job is about to be made easier with the coming of Obinrin Meta N5,000 notes for the Okunrin Merin.  All it takes is for the President to call most of the noise-makers into his palace and speak the lingua franca of Nigeria, cash or oil wells. What you are looking for in Sokoto city is right inside your sokoto (trouser).

This has made it difficult to see members of the opposition as being credible enough to upstage the ruling party. If the truth must be told, some members in our camp have given us a bad name. If we can criticise government every day, we must be able to scrutinise ourselves once in a while and tell some home truth. A situation where we gloss over our own shortcomings and focus attention on others is sheer hypocrisy. We must admit that many of our so-called progressives in government have performed below expectation. On matters of principle and ideology, they have not given us viable alternatives. Nigerians have only tolerated them because in the country of the blind the one-eyed man is usually the king. Most of the money meant for the development of the society as well as to provide succour for the citizenry only end up in the pockets of members of the privilegentsia. Young boys who left school only yesterday have turned emergency billionaires because of access to government and power.

If Nigeria must witness any drastic and meaningful progress, members of the opposition must learn to do things differently. The first sign of seriousness is how opposition governments go about managing people and resources. Infrastructural development must spread evenly across the cities and villages and not just because some politicians live in certain areas.  The citizens are human beings like us and deserve the good things of life. We must do things that would improve the economy and the general well-being of our people. Our principles must be transparently spelt out and dutifully enforced. We can never hope to unseat incompetent leaders when the people can’t figure out any marked difference between the political gladiators. Life has indeed become a matter of choice everywhere but it is a problem when it becomes impossible to pick good examples from either side of the political divide.

The Nigerian opposition must take a cue from America’s electoral system and ensure there are not more than two dominant parties especially for the Presidential election. This was what  worked wonders on June 12, 1993, when Chief Moshood Abiola won and trounced his opponent, Alhaji Bashir Tofa, even in Kano his home state. Proliferation of candidates is the quickest way to disintegration and extinction. I have said it repeatedly; we must present a dream team that will be irresistible to politicians and non-politicians, the old and the young. It’s not difficult to cause a change, but those agents of change must be ready to eschew self-centredness and obstinacy. We cannot continue to recycle antiquated candidates who may not even know what time it is at this moment. Our obsession with a few names in a country of 160 million must stop.

When Barack Obama came, he was not only fresh, his ideas were refreshing. He was not the most experienced American when he offered to serve but his message resonated with many of the first time voters. Such voters are put at over 70 percent of the Nigerian voting population today. Most of them are young and upwardly mobile. They believe they can survive anywhere without government or do business with any government in power. But only a few of them would ever enjoy such privileges in reality. It is the duty of opposition to make voting attractive to them.

Last week, I wrote about the influence of the entertainment icons and some people scoffed at it but watching the Democratic Convention has reinforced my belief that I was right. We must glamorise the political process the way the new-wave churches are capturing souls for Christ. Global leaders have turned showbiz into an integral aspect of politics. I saw the way Mary J Blige electrified the Democratic Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, and got everyone dancing.

The fuel-subsidy demonstration last January was also a veritable eye-opener. Several musicians had approached me to help facilitate their participation at the rallies. The huge crowd that thronged the Gani Fawehinmi Freedom Park in Ojota, Lagos, was attracted by the merriment that was provided by volunteer artistes. It is a shame that such beautiful campaign against executive recklessness was truncated but we gained something. It was a dress rehearsal for bigger things to come.

The opposition really need to sit up. A situation where a few leaders hijack their parties and refuse to consider fresher and more electable candidates will end up in monumental disaster as always. Our fathers must do what the Clintons, Kennedys, Kerrys, Bidens, and many others did for Barack Obama; sit back and rally behind our dream candidates wherever they come from. None of the iconic Americans insisted it must be them or their own nominees. None formed a new party ostensibly for his own candidacy or cronies. After a fierce battle between Obama and Hilary Clinton, everyone queued up behind the winning candidate. Leadership should never be an obsession where we say only one man can change the country. It is an insult on the rest of the otherwise brilliant and accomplished Nigerians at home and abroad. The essence of democracy is in giving everyone a sense of participation and belonging.

One of my biggest achievements in politics was winning the nomination of my political party, the National Conscience Party. I woke up crying inside my 1960 Hotel room in Ikeja where we held our National Convention. I wept profusely when news came that my opponents were going from room to room meeting the delegates. I didn’t know what they gave them but all I distributed were beautiful copies of Ovation magazine to every room. Please, don’t laugh; I only gave what I had. I told my campaign staff that we didn’t have money to bribe anyone but my party men and women should appreciate the product of my sweat. If I have struggled against all odds in 15 years to build an international brand from less than £20,000, they should know I’m a prudent manager of resources.

I was surprised when delegates besieged me asking for more copies. Even some of the police officers abandoned their guns to savour the beauty of the magazine. I must note that my respect for Northern politicians quadrupled that day. The entire block, led by Dr. Tanko Yunusa, signed a letter pledging their total allegiance to my political mission, and indeed they voted en bloc. They demonstrated a principle many would have thought did not exist in Nigeria. During the general elections, I was stunned again when I got more votes from the North. It showed clearly that a candidate can win elections in all parts of the country, like Chief Abiola did, if he has the backing and enough resources to amplify his credentials. My sojourn has taught me an eloquent lesson that it is not an impossible mission for the opposition as most Nigerians think. We can win or throw it away as usual with our own hands. But we shall over-come someday.
Indeed, it is ultimately a matter of faith, collaborations, destiny and God’s abundant mercy and grace on our long-suffering nation.

Olympic Gold for Corruption?

Simon Kolawole Live!

Exactly what is corruption? If you are a typical Nigerian, you would define it as government officials looting our treasury. In our view, everything starts and ends in government offices. Should we then be surprised that almost everybody is campaigning against corruption in Nigeria? We are all waging a war against corruption. We are all appalled. We are all agreed that corruption is dragging the nation backward. The main reason Nigeria is not making progress, we say authoritatively, is that those in government are just stealing public money.

Even—surprise! surprise!!—government itself is fighting corruption! We have the Code of Conduct Bureau, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Nigeria Police Force all fighting corruption. NGOs are campaigning against corruption. Youths are fighting corruption. Lawyers, journalists, doctors, engineers, bankers, pastors, imams, taxi drivers, truck pushers, all are fighting corruption. Fellow Nigerians, if we all are fighting corruption, who then are the people “doing” the corruption? Are they spirits?

Following our failure to win any medal at the 2012 Olympics, some Nigerians launched the humorous campaign that corruption should become an Olympic sport. Nigeria would sweep all the medals at stake, they joked. There is a belief that no country can beat us in the game of corruption. An author wrote: “Corruption is rare in Botswana, common in Ghana and endemic in Nigeria.” There is a feeling that corruption is in our DNA. It is believed that we are genetically corrupt. If you send a five-year-old boy to buy you a piece of cake, chances are he would inflate the price and seek to make away with your change. It is that bad.

So maybe we are wrong to focus our attention on the corruption in government alone. In recent times, the organised private sector has proved to be as corrupt as the public sector. The massive rot in the banking industry provided all the proofs we needed to understand this. But I am not about to write on the destruction of the financial sector through greed and mindless manipulation by the bankers and their accomplices. The stealing of billions of naira by government officials is not my focus either. No, I am not about to write about the multi-billion naira pensions scam. The fuel subsidy tryst, which brought the private and public sectors together in unholy matrimony, is not of interest to me today. We have written on these usual suspects a million times.

What I seek to do today is drag our attention to the unusual suspects whom we perhaps ignore from day to day as we talk about corruption—the so-called lower classes of the society. Listen to the radio, spend a few minutes at the vendors’ stand, or tarry awhile at the village square. Everybody is discussing corruption and how “our leaders” are looting us blind. It is usually a case of “we the ordinary people” against “they the government”. Somehow, it keeps escaping the attention of these “ordinary people” that they (we) are part of the system that is destroying the country and making our lives worse from day to day.

I will cite five instances to illustrate my point. One, at a construction site, a man came to market cement. He said a bag was N1750, including transport to site. But the builder said he was getting his supply cheaper, at N1700. After a brief argument, the cement seller gave out a secret of the trade which he called “repacking”. Cement sellers, he said, have a way of opening the bag, taking out a few kilos of cement and then re-sealing the bag. The kilos so stolen are re-bagged. That gives an additional income to the cement seller. From 10 or so bags, he can get an additional one bag. Is that not worth an Olympic gold for corruption? Yet, this same set of people will gather at the village square to discuss how “our leaders” are looting the treasury!

Two, rice sellers. This is a well-known secret. They have a long rod they insert into a bag to steal a few “mudus”. They then re-pack into an additional bag. That’s additional income. Three, the bread sellers. They remove a few slices from several loaves to make an additional loaf! Four, the petrol station attendant. He sells N200 fuel to a motorcyclist without “rubbing off” the meter. When a car comes along, he continues from where he stopped and pockets the additional N200. Another trick is to sell fuel of N109 to a motorist and then sigh that there is power failure. He tells you to look at the meter very well, that he had already sold N1009 (not N109) worth of petrol to you. If you don’t pay attention, he will fleece you of N900. Five, the woman selling garri to you has already tampered with the measurement by battering the can. Yet, all of them (all of us) will call the radio station to complain about “our leaders” and corruption.

My father-in-law, a doctor, once told me a heart-breaking story. In the 1990s when he was working at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), an eight-year-old boy died. As he took the body to the mortuary, the attendant told him: “Doctor, you have to find us something o!” That means he had to give him a tip. A morbid tip! If you bury the dead at some cemeteries in Lagos, you need to “find something” for the cemetery workers. If not, as soon as you turn your back, they will unearth the casket, steal any valuables they can find, dump the corpse in the grave and sell the casket for peanuts. Yet, all of them (all of us) will gather at the vendors’ stand the following morning to complain about how corruption is killing Nigeria! Doesn’t this also deserve an Olympic gold medal?

Let’s look at it this way. If the person who steals and re-bags a few kilos of cement gets into government, is he not likely to steal pensioners’ money? If the market woman becomes a bank MD, would depositors’ money be safe in her care? We seem to think that people suddenly become corrupt when they join government. No. We are groomed for corruption. For a plumber, for instance, it is part of his training that if he needs 20 pipes, he should quote for 40. He will buy 20 and pocket the balance. Cheating and short-changing customers are part and parcel of the training of artisans here. They are actually trained to tell lies without batting an eyelid.
Since this sleazy system produces our leaders, maybe we deserve the leadership we always get then…

And Four Other Things...

ATTACK ON TOWERS
Recently, I lamented the destruction of the economy of Northern Nigeria by Boko Haram insurgents. This is setting the region back by decades. It seems there is no let-up. The militants keep doing their best to drag the region back, launching unprecedented attacks on towers belonging to the telecoms operators as “punishment” for the security trail of their communications. This will more than hurt the economy of the region. Transactions are hampered and small-scale call centre operators could be driven out of business.  It may, ironically, also hurt the insurgents themselves as they inadvertently cut off communication within their own ranks.

DANA’S RETURN FLIGHT
There has been disquiet in some quarters over the decision to unban Dana Air, three months after it crashed and killed at least 158 persons. People argue that investigation is still ongoing and families of the victims are yet to be compensated. Most bodies are yet to be released for burial. The Federal Government gave reasons for lifting the suspension, but not everybody is convinced. Of course, Dana’s licence cannot be suspended forever, but government has obviously not acted in a way that will make people trust that they have taken the best decision. Something is still not clicking somewhere.

TURBULENCE IN AVIATION
The ban on Dana Air and the suspension of operations by Air Nigeria, Chachangi Airlines and First Nation have all combined to make flying a difficult experience for Nigerians in recent times. Only IRS, Aerocontractors and Arik Air operate big flights. We’ve witnessed sharp increases in air fares, in addition to sharp practices by airline staff as passengers get desperate to get on board. I won’t be surprised if the decision to lift the ban on Dana Air was meant to ease this strain. Nevertheless, the health of the aviation industry—technical and financial—needs proper examination. We need some deeper and wider action from the government.

THE GLOBAL VILLAGER
Poet, writer and journalist, Eddie Aderinokun, is set to present the biography of PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, to the public this week. The 362-page literary biography, entitled “The Global Villager”, had been in the works for years. It was to be launched last year but the business colossus entered the political fray once again and became the chairman of the ruling party, meaning the biography had to be put on hold and updated. Mr. Aderinokun, a former National Vice-President of the Association of Nigerian Authors, never ceases to amaze me with his energy and resourcefulness at the age of 71. This is a challenge to younger ones like us…

Again, Financial Experts Weigh Pros, Cons of Currency Restructuring

Naira notes

As the controversy over the planned currency restructuring by the Central Bank of Nigeria rages, amid a flurry of activities by the apex bank to sell the new agenda to the public, economic analysts last week examined the policy, saying most of the fears raised by the growing army of critics of the policy may not stand the test of time provided the apex bank is able to make the policy functional, reports Festus Akanbi

The controversy generated by the planned restructuring of the nation’s currency resonated again last week as economic experts, political actors and business owners took different positions on the policy even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) began a sensitisation campaign in all the geopolitical zones of the country to drum support for the proposed policy. The CBN a fortnight ago announced a holistic restructuring of the nation’s currencies, with a plan to introduce N5, 000 banknote as well as N5, N10 and N20 coins from first quarter of 2013. Giving the hint at a media briefing in Abuja, CBN Governor Sanusi Lamido Sanusi had said the introduction of the higher denomination banknote would complement the bank’s cashless policy by reducing the volume of currency in circulation in the long term just as the redesigning of other old notes and redenomination of others into coins would enhance their security and other transactional features.
According to the apex bank’s boss, the restructuring exercise code-named ‘Project Cure’, will ultimately change the naira currency structure to 12, comprising of six coins and six banknote denominations. However, the proposal was greeted with spontaneous reactions from members of the business community, political class and owners of businesses who have expressed divergent views on the new payment policy.

The Fears
A number of critics of the apex bank’s policy expressed the fear that rolling out N5, 000 notes at a time when the nation is doing double digit inflation will not be in the interest of the economy. They also took a swipe at CBN for allegedly not taking the down-trodden, who may not be able to spend N5, 000 notes, into consideration. They argued that a higher denomination and the conversion of N5, N10 and N20 into coins will accentuate inflationary trends given the existing level of apathy to coins in the country.
Another cause of public outrage is the belief that a regime of higher note will be counter-productive to the CBN’s cashless policy. They pointed out that the proposed policy would make it easy for people to carry large amount of money.

What Experts Say
In his reaction to THISDAY enquiries last week, Managing Director/Chief Executive, Afrinvest West Africa Limited, a securities firm involved in investment banking, securities trading, asset management and investment research with a focus on West Africa, Mr. Ike Chioke, described the recent outrage against the new naira policy as misplaced.

Chioke said the argument that N5000 note will fuel inflation lacks merit, as according to him, higher denominations affect only a minority of the population. According to him, most of the currency being moved in cash is moved by five to 10 percentage of the population.

Chioke, who acknowledged the rising dollarisation of the Nigerian economy, said this low percentage of high networth individuals will be captured by the proposed policy.
“Many of those in this category had resorted to the use of dollars given the fact that the new cashless policy has limited the amount of naira withdrawable at a time,” Chioke noted.

Another reason advanced by the CBN for currency restructuring is the high cost being expended on the retention of patent rights since the present crops of notes were designed by foreign firms. The Afrinvest helmsman said domesticating the design of the nation’s currency will not only save Nigeria a huge cost, but will also free the country from the blackmail of foreign patent owners who may hold the nation to ransom.

He, however, shared the sentiment of critics of the restructuring on the conversion of some lower naira denominations into coins saying Nigerians have little inclination to use coins. He said that many people may rather choose to use the coins to make trinkets because some of the coins are more valuable than their measure of value but he was quick to point out that the fears raised over people’s apathy to the use of coins may be at a conjecture level, adding that empirical study may prove cynics of the new policy wrong.
Another economic watcher who threw his support behind the new policy is Managing Director, Economic Associates, Dr. Ayo Teriba. He claimed to have called for the introduction of larger notes and coining of smaller notes as far back as 1996. He described the measure as a step in the right direction. Teriba said in an interview last week that it would not be out of place to roll restructuring the currency, adding that “the gap between the periods we introduce new larger notes is too wide. I think we should do up to a N10, 000 and N20, 000 notes and coin up to our N200.”

Teriba said rather than dwell on the possibility that the proposed coins will not be used; the apex bank should make sure the coins are good enough to drive buying and selling. “It is a step in the right direction but definitely not enough. Until your coin can buy a newspaper, pay for urban transport and snacks, for instance, it is unlikely the coin will be used.

“The argument that your coin will be used for change is not tenable; rather, your coin should buy reasonable items or else people may not use them.
“The same thing applies to currency notes. If you think about it, the rationale should be ‘I want to buy a bag of rice at N9, 500’. You will need to count 10 of the N1, 000 notes; it doesn’t make sense,” Teriba said.

Faulty Logic
Dismissing the fear that such a large note may fuel corruption, terrorism and money laundering activities, Teriba asked “so because you want to prevent one per cent of the population from doing something bad, you should deter 99 per cent of the population? It’s a faulty logic.

“You can’t stop doing what is right simply because it will be abused. With the current N1, 000 as the highest denomination, the printing of currency is too costly.

“Doing higher denominations will reduce the cost of printing notes by reducing the number of notes you have to print. The storage space required the nuisance of bullion vans and of bulk rooms in banks will all be reduced,” he explained.

On the argument that higher notes will favour the rich only, the Economic Associates chief said as long as the world exists, there will be the rich and the poor and the poor are the ones that are likely to become rich.

He said, “There are people in the UK that have not and will never see the 50 pound bill and there are people who will never ride a Rolls Royce car.

“Does that then mean that these should not be created? We should not go into irrelevances,” he said, explaining further that the “N5, 000 is not for the rich; the minimum wage in Nigeria is N18, 000 so the lowest income people can also be paid in N5, 000 notes.”
He explained that the N5, 000 will also serve as a good pool of storage of accounts or savings and it will also be quite portable.

One of the fears raised was the possibility of higher notes affecting pricing and fuel inflation, Teriba, however, said the fear is unfounded. “Money is like a measuring rod and your measuring rod should be flexible to suit what you are measuring. It should be flexible enough to measure both short and long measurements. The problem comes only when it is either too long or too short.

Functional Coins
“The currency system should be flexible enough to measure both small and large denominations. I think the CBN should pay careful attention by designing coins that will be desirable to hold.

The N1 coin for instance does not make sense. Also the N5 coin should be small enough as to be commensurate with its value,” he said. According to him, “If we have functional coins, the effect will be that it will puncture inflation because you will be able to price to the last penny.

“However, if they are not functional, it will promote rounding off of prices and not necessarily inflation. Inflation is all about the amount of money in circulation and not about the denominations.”

Restructuring, Different from E-payment System
For those arguing that the introduction of higher notes contradicts the purpose of cashless policy, Teriba said e-payments and the currency structure should not be confused. He explained that electronic payment is all about one party transferring money to another and these are likely to be wholesale and not retail payments, adding that cash on the other hand is meant for spontaneous purchases, and where there is no access to e-payment facilities.

“There are certain transfers that can be made in cash and such are what you use notes for.
“Saying the new currency regime will be at variance with the cashless economy project misses the point; they are two separate and distinct issues and we should not confuse them.

“It’s unlikely that a person going to eat in an eatery will need e-payment. Many transactions will still be done in cash, while e-payments will mainly be for bulk payments,” Teriba explained.

However, one of the groups that opposed currency restructuring, The African Institute for Applied Economics (AIAE), last week called on the apex bank to concentrate on strengthening the local currency. The institute says the planned N5000 note is a contradiction with the cashless policy.

In a statement last week, Executive Director of the institute, Dr. Ifediora Amobi, expressed fears that the plan to convert some existing notes to coins could herald their extinction as legal tenders.

“A more practical approach to restructuring the naira is to re-denominate the currency. That will strengthen the currency and make it a benchmark in Africa. Also, more people would use naira as a store of value since its exchange will be almost be at par with major world currencies,” it stated.

This position was, however, punctured by the President of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), Hajia Maryam Ladi-Ibrahim, who insisted that the planned introduction of the N5, 000 notes by the CBN would not increase inflation. Ladi-Ibrahim said in a statement that the introduction of the new currency, from the macro-economic aspect, would not, for now, increase inflation outright.

But she explained that in the long-run, the effects would depend on the implementation of the policy by the apex bank. “The restructuring of currency denomination is not new to any country,” she stated, “Because after some years, you find that the apex banks of countries restructuring would consider the advantages and disadvantages of doing this.

“We thought it was going to be something from N1, 000 to N2, 000. Listening to the CBN, the bank considered the cost saving effect – the cost of production of the note – and I think that is why our President and his economic coordinating team approved it,” she said.
ANAN’s president further advised that the government should make the smaller denominations of naira notes more available in circulation.

“In all sectors, you have people doing menial jobs and they are paid very little. If you give them a single N5, 000 notes, they still need to go and break it down to make purchases”.

Meanwhile, last week, the CBN, for the umpteenth time, defended its plan to restructure the nation’s currency and the planned introduction of N5000 note. The CBN, which began a nationwide sensitisation campaign, said the new agenda was intended to save Nigeria from the stranglehold of contractors who holds the patent rights to the current naira design. CBN’s Director, Corporate Communications, Mr. Ugochukwu Okoroafor, who spoke at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja, said as part of activities to mark the nations’ 50th anniversary, the bank had decided to print some new notes only to discover that some of the patent rights used in such currencies belonged to contractors. He disclosed that President Jonathan had given his consent to the planned restructuring on November 19, 2011 after the board of the apex bank endorsed it.

And while speaking with THISDAY in a telephone interview, Okoroafor said the restructuring exercise would not fuel inflation. Rather, he explained that it was in fact the inflationary trend that made it necessary to restructure the currency.

The Revelation of The Good Man Inside President Goodluck Jonathan ~ Japheth J Omojuwa.

The job of the Nigerian president could be the easiest. Nigerians of the current dominant generation – the one of my father – have very low expectations of public officers. Theirs is the generation that expects every project no matter how small, to be commissioned by often small minded political office holders. Little wonder then, that their generation permits a Governor who fixes public goods with public money stamp his face on same as though it were a private gift. In the case of Goodluck Jonathan, greatness was at his feet, fate had indeed set him up to be the next African great man. Jonathan is like a man who was offered a tool of greatness – that is power – but instead got consumed by the tool. For many, holding a public office is a dream come true, but for real men and women with a determination to make the world a better place, holding an office is the key to making dreams come true.
What took Jonathan from the heights of public goodwill as he had in the post Yar’ Adua Saudi Arabian mal-odyssey to the depths of arguably the most senseless thing ever done by a Nigerian president – stopping the music of the nation’s New Year festivities by halving the worth of each citizen in one fell swoop on the one day apart from Christmas and Sallah it should never be done? The last of Jonathan’s goodwill crashed like the pulverization of iodine never to be seen again because goodwill often times is like a mirror, once it hits the ground and crashes, fixing it is futile because like Humpty Dumpty it will not be the same again. If Nigerians were pulled into one flesh and made into one man, that man would be mostly swayed by emotional arguments than by mental ones. Nigerians are a hugely sentimental people. The makers of Jonathan saw that and banked on it. From arranged bomb blasts in Abuja on Independence Day 2010 to the carefully planned Bring Back the Book Campaign to adverts of the Jonathan who had no shoes as a pupil – pray tell, who amongst this generation had shoes growing up – the campaign found the right message mix and had a lot of oil money to work with and wow, didn’t they literally take over the airwaves. The nation was inundated and we were all shown why we needed to vote “one of our own.” Depending on who you were, the Jonathan makers had a “one of our own” message for you. Straight up, for the Niger Deltan “he is our son” sold out like freedom to enslaved men. To the southerner who was a Muslim, the message of “one of our own” sold in terms of “we must not let the north rule us again” and to the southerner without a Muslim background, “one of our own” came in form of “Northern Muslims must not be allowed to rule us again” because we need “one of our own” there now. To the Northern Christian, “one of our own” of course meant “you don’t want to vote for an Islamist over a Christian brother” and the message worked really well because the Jonathan campaign had carefully defined Gen. Buhari as an Islamist and sadly for his campaign team, the message though wrong, stuck on many a soul without the ability of rationalisation. For those who could not be swayed by the customised “one of our own” message, there was a one size fits all strategy of “Goodluck Jonathan used to be poor like you and a vote for this poor man is a vote for you and your future” which sold out too. In a country of mostly poor people, it was easy to identify with that.
We can then conclude that even though he was obviously helped by INEC, Jonathan in my opinion gathered more votes than anyone else in that election. Whether or not he gathered enough to win out rightly became a strong doubt when he somehow sacked Justice Ayo Salami. At least he became President without the drama of protests as we were forced to do to make him acting president. Like it or not, destiny apart, someone of Jonathan’s mental capacity should be never be found near the presidency except as a swimming pool manager. He rose to office on the sentiments of the poor and his policies as president helped to produce the highest number of poor people this country has ever known – 112 million poor people and counting. The seemingly good man Nigerians thought they voted for came out as his real self from the get go when the first thing he mooted was tenure elongation despite making pronouncements to spend a term and go his way. Soon after that, it was a series of contract awards to the donors of the Jonathan campaign. “At a period of generally high oil prices, about N1.6 trillion was paid as subsidy between January 2007 and June 2010, representing an annual average cost of N460 billion to the federation – i.e. FG and 36 state plus FCT! Why did it become N1.6 trillion (now over N2 trillion) in 2011 alone. What parameters changed? None.” Words off the KPMG report. Jonathan arguably got the poor people’s votes but he felt indebted to vultures in billionaires who funded his campaigns first against Atiku Abubakar, then Gen. Buhari. Was he ever the good man he posed himself to be? The answer is not farfetched; he left Bayelsa State with the same single road as he met it. He was under investigation by Nuhu Ribadu’s EFCC as his wife was apparently the money courier as she still is.
The Nigerian people and the economy paid the price of the Jonathan desperation like “the amount budgeted in 2007 for subsidizing ALL imported refined products (petrol, diesel, kerosene, and aviation fuel) was about N300 billion. In 2011 the amount earmarked was N240 billion – an average of N20 billion a month as FG’s contribution towards the import price subsidy deductions for petrol and kerosene. Diesel had been “deregulated” since 2008” but Dr. Jonathan could care less because as far he was concerned he had reached the peak of his life “President of my country” and it was a case of “Let us enjoy it while it lasts” instead of “Let me pay back this people” whether or not it took a lot of lies and propaganda to get him there, a Jonathan with an intent to serve the people of Nigeria would have become the great man off a sham perception. Deservingly though, the good man that Jonathan never was, never indeed lived beyond the elections. It was finally buried on the 1st of January 2012 and the body will never be found because Nigerians now love to hate Goodluck Jonathan. A Nigerian in discussion with an EU diplomat said President Jonathan was a Niger Deltan president, the EU diplomat corrected her thus “No. Jonathan is an Ijaw President. He is the president of the Ijaw people” and I leave you to make of that what you will. What happened to Jonathan? Nothing, a great First Lady only recently told us “being president does not change who you are. No, it reveals who you are.” Yes, Obama and Jonathan both have something in common, like every man who found wealth and power, these tools of greatness do not re-make you, they just reveal and amplify who you are. This is the revelation of Goodluck Jonathan, though it is sad and pitiful in our sight.

2015: Reviving Opposition Machine.

LOUIS ACHI.

Even as the dormant Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) is reportedly bestirring itself ahead of the 2015 polls, political opposition is coalescing or pretending to coalesce to generate sufficient synergy to unhorse the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Ahead of the impending battle, opposition arrowheads – General Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), and Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) – are working out an alliance that would probably see the parties presenting common candidates in the 2015 elections. LOUIS ACHI examines the unfolding build-up.
A major problem the opposition political parties have had to contend with since inception of the Fourth Republic is a curious inability to plan ahead and the propensity of shooting themselves on the leg. More often than not, they always waited until the last minute before opening talks for either alliances or mergers. This flawed footing had always played into the happy hands of the ruling party.
But currently, it appears that the leadership of the two main opposition parties, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), have resolved to plan ahead of time. The other key opposition party, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), is from all indications stepping up its new warm disposition for alliances or possible mergers.
Recently, the CPC leader and its presidential flag-bearer in the 2011 election, Muhammadu Buhari, visited the ACN leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in Lagos to chart the way forward. That visit was significant in that it was the first of such after the breakdown of the merger talks in the run-up to the April 2011 general election.
Pundits knowledgeable in opposition politics in the country believe that given Buhari’s political trajectory, his early preparations for the 2015 elections is an indication that the opposition wants to get things right this time around. It is significant to note that Buhari did not wait to be courted by other opposition parties. Rather, he is the one who is reaching out to them, which analysts say, it is “a major breakthrough in the opposition’s quest to present a common bloc”.
Though the details of that meeting were not made public then, it nevertheless sends a strong signal to the ruling party that the 2015 elections will definitely not be a tea party. Confirming this position, a source at the meeting recalled some prior history to LEADERSHIP SUNDAY: “You may recall that both Buhari and Tinubu have repeatedly called on the opposition to commence early preparations with a view to forming a strong alliance that will wrest power from the PDP.
As you know, our past experience has shown that late commencement of talks of any sort, be it merger or alliance, adversely hampered the actualisation of a workable alliance among the opposition. Therefore, it is in line with this agenda and the need to actualise the formation of a formidable alliance that would defeat the PDP that the opposition leaders have started contacts among themselves.”
Hurdles Ahead…
Significantly, in the exercise of his right, a certain Prof. Cyriacus Njoku had approached an Abuja High Court, challenging the propriety of President Goodluck Jonathan contesting for the 2015 presidential election. A counter-affidavit filed by the counsel to President Jonathan in the suit pointedly deposed that his client (President Jonathan) was doing his first term in office, a confirmation that the president could still exercise his constitutional right in vying for the office in 2015.
“The 1st defendant (Jonathan) is currently doing his first term of four years in office as the President of Nigeria as provided by the 1999 Constitution as amended. The 1st defendant’s status and position is formidably backed by the 1999 Constitution. The Constitution of Nigeria only makes provisions for a President to contest for not more than two terms of four years each. The Constitution recognises the executive president’s tenure of office to be four years,” the counter-affidavit read in part.
In any case, the Abuja High Court fixed October 18 to determine whether or not President Goodluck Jonathan is eligible to contest the Presidency in 2015. Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi fixed the date of judgement after entertaining arguments from parties to the suit filed by Njoku. Arguing in court, counsel to Jonathan and that of the PDP, Mr. Christopher Paul and Mr. Kelechi Normeh, respectively, contended that the plaintiff failed to disclose any reasonable cause of action that precipitated the suit.
They argued that Jonathan was currently doing his first term of four years in office as the President of Nigeria as provided by the 1999 Constitution as amended.
For good measure, the PDP further maintained that Jonathan had not indicated or announced anywhere whether in words or in writing that he would contest the presidential election in 2015.
Consequently, they insisted that the plaintiff was bereft of the locus to seek such declarative orders against Jonathan.
Meanwhile, the plaintiff who argued through his counsel, Mr Ugochukwu Osuagwu, urged the court to discountenance the preliminary objections by the defendants and decide the case on its merit. Though the presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, in a bid to diffuse the tension in the polity, had said that his principal was yet to give thought to 2015 elections, the opposition leaders appear to have read beyond the surface. For them, the cat had already been let out of the bag.
Let the battle begin
For Buhari, this continuous slide to anarchy, represented by the extreme security challenges,  should be contained by the opposition by offering an alternative government. The alleged rigging of the elections by the ruling party, he said, had robbed the polity of good leadership. He, therefore, warned the ruling party that any attempt to rig the 2015 polls, as had been done in the past elections, would lead to disastrous consequences.
His words: “We had decided, together with the party leaders, that by the year 2015, God willing, it’s either the government does justice in the conduct of the elections as always claimed by them or it will be a fierce bloody battle. The magnitude of corruption and insensitivity in Nigeria’s leadership is legendary, but there is a storm of awareness. God willing by 2015 something will happen. They either conduct a free and fair election or they go a very disgraceful way”. Speaking figuratively, the CPC leader had referred to the Federal Government as “the biggest Boko Haram”.
The level of corruption in the government circles, especially the petroleum industry, and the seeming inability of the President to bring the culprits to book, is of great concern also to the opposition. As a one-time Minister of Petroleum Resources, the CPC leader is of the conviction that only a corrupt leadership would watch its appointees commit such crimes without bringing such persons to book. Why the issue should be taken more seriously, the ex-general said, is because the petroleum industry is the live-wire of the nation.
“This kind of thing can only happen under the type of Nigeria’s current leadership. Nowhere in the world can such things happen now, and nowhere in the world can government increase the cost of petroleum product by more than 120 per cent. It is most insensitive. Besides, the air people breathe, the next important thing to them is petroleum products,” the CPC leader further noted.
The time, according to the ACN leader Ahmed Bola Tinubu, does not call for lamentation. Rather, it is time to brace up for action if the situation must change. “We fought for democracy, we won it, they gave it to us and, from 1999 till date, a particular political party is in power and what have we gotten? Lamentation, poverty, lack of motion, sorrow, excuses and lack of development. They should quit. We are tired of lamentation. We must stop complaining; let us come to a market square and confront this government if they are not ready for reform,” the ACN leader charged.
Former governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, a leading light in the opposition camp, is convinced that there is no justice and respect for human dignity in the PDP-controlled Federal Government. The party, he said, is using the agencies of the state to intimidate and force members of the opposition to either join them or abandon their cause.
The former two-time governor on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples’ Party (ANPP) shares the same aspiration with his other colleagues in the opposition; that it is time the PDP behemoth was cut to size.
Enter the PDM
Even as opposition’s plot thickens, associates of late ex-Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters, Maj.-Gen Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, have intensified efforts to revamp his political machinery ahead of the 2015 general election. It can be recalled that the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), the political machinery of the late Yar’Adua, a frontline politician of the aborted Third Republic, is one of the political groupings that formed the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in 1998.
According to reports, a reluctant former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has declined open identification with moves to revamp the late Yar’Adua’s political group. But reports disclose that other members, including former Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, met in Abuja last week to fine tune the new plot. Other top members of the group such as a former Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs. Titi Ajanaku; former governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Lawal Kaita, and Ambassador Yahaya Kwande reportedly attended. Still, other attendees were former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Chief Dubem Onyia; Mrs. Zainab Boni Haruna, wife of former Adamawa State Governor, Mr. Boni Haruna; and A.A. Matawellen Hadeija.
LEADERSHIP SUNDAY further gleaned that although the invitation to attend the meeting was extended to Atiku, he chose to stay away. His reticence is being linked to the role members of the PDM played in 2011 during the PDP presidential primary where the late Yar’Adua’s political associates supported President Goodluck Jonathan against him. The former chairman of the group, Alhaji Farouk Abdulazzi, led the PDM members to support Jonathan’s presidential bid in 2011.  Since then, the group has been inactive.
However, ahead of the expected jostling for the 2015 general election, some PDM members had mooted the idea to revive the group to play an active role in the next elections.
At the group’s last meeting, which took place at the Yar’Adua Centre, a protem national steering committee, headed by Chief Bode Ajewole, was constituted with Mr. Godie Ikechi named secretary of the committee.
Other members of the committee include Senator Abubakar Mhadi, Yar’Adua’s son, Muritala; Dr. Etim Amba, Bashiru Yusuf Ibrahim, Tonye Princewill and Olupunle Ebo. According to a source, the meeting which was also attended by some political heavyweights from the six geo-political zones of the country, discussed issues bordering on politics.
The source further stated that the new PDM is being anchored on the vibrancy and resourcefulness of younger people within the group to enhance the movement’s reinvigoration, complete re-engineering and to make the movement acceptable to Nigerians.
According to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting and signed by Ikechi, goodwill messages and tributes to the late Yar’Adua were received from members across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for his efforts in bringing democracy to Nigeria.
According to the communiqué, members were taken round the bridge at the Yar’Adua Centre, which is a symbol of the uncompleted mission in ensuring unity as well as in bringing democracy and good governance to Nigerians. As part of plans to ensure the revival of the PDM, Ikechi said a national summit would be organised within the last quarter of the year on the theme: “State of the Nation”.
But according to some analysts reading between the lines, Atiku’s reluctance to be openly associated with the new movement is linked to the dangers of a presidency interested in 2015, reading any such move as a threat and moving totally against him.
As events unfold, the emerging consensus is that this is the opposition’s finest opportunity to form government at the centre.
The big question remains; Will the opposition parties agree to work for a common goal? Are they paying attention to grassroots mobilisation, instead of empty media braggadoccio? Will the appropriate candidates be fielded for the elections, instead of kiths and kins of party leaders who have little electoral value? Big questions!

Controversy trails Tinubu’s invitation to Obama party’s convention.

Controversy now trails the recent visit of the former Governor of Lagos State, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu to Washington D.C, USA where President Barrack Obama was given a re-run ticket at National Convention of the Democratic Party.

Tinubu was alleged by online newspaper not “Daily Post” that he purchased the invitation card for the event.

It will be recalled that the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) leader’s media aide, Mr. Sunday Dare made a statement earlier last week that Tinubu got a special invitation to attend the Democratic National Convention in the United States of America last Thursday, when President Barack Obama secured his second term ticket.
The statement said, “Tinubu will be at the ring side as the Democratic Party conducts activities that will culminate in the nomination of President Barack Obama as its candidate for the November 2012 presidential elections in the USA.

“Tinubu received a gold card invitation, which is prime; and with this, he will be joined by three other eminent personalities: Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State; Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji; and a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos State, Mr Dele Alake.”

But, the online daily newspaper yesterday alleged that Tinubu  paid the sum of $5,000 to have obtained the invitation card.
The Online Publication that quoted a DNC source explained that the invite given to Tinubu was a generic type that similarly went to whoever donated more than $5,000 to the Obama campaign.
The publication further revealed that Tinubu’s invitation card did not come directly from the US President, Barack Obama.

According to the publication, “Obama did not personally extend “a gold card invitation” to Tinubu to attend the Democratic Party convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the US.
“The invitation card sent to Tinubu, the former senator from Nigeria, was generic; and it generally goes from the campaign organisation and not personally from President Obama,”

But, a top aide of the former Lagos State governor, who does not want his name to be mentioned, said the controversy was part of the work of critics who have nothing to say against the former governor.
He further affirmed that considering the number of appointments available for Tinubu to attend, he cannot pay just to attend a convention in the United States.
Daily Post.