Issues for the eye of the President

On the State of the Economy in Nigeria, the escalation of prices of foodstuffs, goods and commodities generally, the hardship on the citizens and the “ebi npa wa” slogan.

Since his assumption of office, the President, Bola Tinubu, removed the criminal petroleum subsidy regime.

However, the President in his usual generosity deployed the savings accruing from this subsidy removal for the three levels (tiers) of government through the monthly FAAC.

By this action, the revenue being shared by these levels of government has risen by about 70 – 80 per cent, almost double in some cases since June 2023.

Meanwhile, there has been no corresponding increase in responsibility by these levels of government in terms of salaries and emoluments, first-line charges and other statutory expenditures in the short run.

So, the generous funds made available to these governments are just a bonanza, a bazaar. And it is seriously being abused.

The President meant well, unfortunately, this generosity is not being felt by the citizenry.

The economy is awash with cash, thereby contributing to inflation. This excess liquidity is being utilised to mop up dollars, while the naira has been depreciating on a monthly basis since June 2023, with no end in sight.

My humble advice to Mr President is: To halt this largesse being passed on to sub-nationals through monthly FAAC allocations, and deploy the accruing Revenue from subsidy to DIRECT INTERVENTIONS on cost of energy, viz: reduce prices of petroleum products by 50 per cent and mandatorily reduce the cost of transportation by half; direct intervention in supporting agriculture and reducing the prices of essential food commodities by 50 per cent; ditto for the cost of pharmaceuticals; ditto for essential construction of industry materials like cement, iron rods etc.; and put a lid on increases in tuition fees in tertiary institutions.

The foregoing in the short run will directly bring succour to the citizenry and the Nigerian masses in general.

Non-essential capital projects can wait in the meantime. People are being advised to ask their governors and local government chairmen about the utilisation of their allocations; who is going to do that, how, where and when?

Can you just imagine some governors joining the NLC protest thereby making a mockery of the whole situation?

Matters for the attention of CBN governor

The issue of the exchange rate of the naira to the dollar is a matter of supply against demand.

The CBN has been battling profusely to increase the supply of foreign exchange to the system. Unfortunately, no focus is being placed on stemming or reducing demand pressures.

Areas the CBN should focus on to reduce demand pressures include: Frivolous imports – of petty items; frivolous travels and tours; medical tourism; religious tourism to Jerusalem and Saudi Arabia every year (Over two million people go to Mecca and Jerusalem every year. If we don’t go on religious pilgrimages for a year or two, will the heavens fall?); and education tourism. Most of our children go all over the world for undergraduate courses available in Nigerian universities.

• Wale Odunlami is a former Chairman, Ikeja Local Government Area, Lagos