Mr. President, you serenade against corruption to Nigerians, but can you successfully move forward with this battle of venality without fixing the economy; and can you fix the battered economy without stepping on toes? The answer is yes because you have military background that is unanimous with bravery. When Jerry Rawlings brought sanity to Ghana years ago, people died but here in Nigeria you are being asked only to clamp down on luxurious goods that are draining the petro-dollar from the economy. You demonstrated visionary leadership when you jetted out of Nigeria in search of higher oil price in order to boost the nation’s revenue. That being said, does it make sense to you for just a few Nigerians to squander the nation’s foreign exchange to purchase jets, boats and the big cars of the world, and let companies in Nigeria begin to go out of business because they don’t have foreign exchange to purchase raw materials and industrial equipment to keep the economy afloat? It’s common knowledge that the price of the dollar is dependent on simple economic forces of demand and supply.
The Punch newspaper recently reported that “the nation’s currency has slumped drastically against the dollar in recent months due largely to the scarcity of the foreign currency and the tough regulations of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Furthermore, that you said there was the need to call on the government and the people to tighten their belts and prepare for sacrifice.” Let’s be very clear, there is no frugality or foreign exchange distribution strategy your government will introduce that Nigerians will not beat you hands down. Mr. President, you have to take the bull by the horn and place a total ban on private jets and the very expensive cars from entering Nigeria. Make it clear that no local government can license any of these cars or jets. And for the ones that are there now, make the renewal fees or airport parking fees extremely high so that the owners will begin to look out for leases outside the shores of Nigeria. Sincerely, the spare parts to maintain these jets, boats and cars are part of the foreign exchange drain ruining the country’s economy. You will recall that your use of 504 Peugeot cars in 1983 did not deprive you of good governance. Thus, your government was applauded in 1983 for your focus on economic policies and overall discipline and it’s that confidence Nigerians repose in you that has given you this second chance. As such, you have to be able to make a difference and avert a sorrowful economy that would plunge the very thick populated country into chaos and eventually make West African countries have refugee camps for Nigerians. When this happens, it will be too late to say, had I known, of course the economic tsunami would have struck.
Once bitten, twice shy is an old adage. As you embark on redirecting the focus and poor imagination of Nigerians from devastating economic woes, the coup plotters with their feeble minds will be planning their evil as they did to your good government in 1985. I solicit that you plant your trusted officers in strategic military positions and don’t take any chances this time around. Sincerely, I wouldn’t encourage you to do something that I would be scarred to do. I grew up as a young boy to believe that death would come to each and every one of us one day. Therefore, as a young man I fought successful battles in Nigeria years ago that would have caused me death but by the grace of my God, and because I was justified, I’m still standing, at least up till the time of this letter. Mr. President, just believe in your Allah, and provided your mission is to save most Nigerians from starvation and don’t allow a few selfish people live in opulence by squandering the country’s foreign exchange, you will not die in office.
The naira to dollar debacle is not new to the average Nigerian; as such anyone with a Nigerian blood should be part of fixing the system of which the economic aspect is most important. Those Nigerians the Presidency selected for the economic conference in Abuja must understand that it’s time to call a spade a spade. No one is an embodiment of knowledge and that is why the Presidency has called for this crucial discussion. There is no doubt that the agenda for the conference would be very clear to all and sundry, but Mr. President has to keep in mind that he has the prerogative to ban certain items of import without consultations. It is sufficient reasons to ban those luxurious items for the facts that: companies are closing down due to lack of access to foreign exchange to purchase raw materials and industrial equipment, unemployment is on the increase with a step curve, students abroad are coming home due to the inability to pay school fees at a time when the tertiary institutions in Nigeria cannot cope with the skills required for modern day labor force.
Mr. President, it’s obvious that you have plans to diversify the economy but your recent trip to the Middle East to discuss oil price across the globe is an indication that you were worried about the state of the nation’s economy. True, your economic diversification plans cannot yield overnight results to manage the economy today (right now), but your immediate ban on the above mentioned goods would save the country some dollars right now, and those dollars would immediately augment the nation’s foreign exchange to some extent.
In a country where people are dying of starvation, where people now use paw-paw in place of tomatoes to cook stew, a few people are being recognized in parties because they attended the parties with their jets, big cars and boats. This is total nonsense and must be stopped immediately. An economic circle is when a fish pond, goat/chicken/cassava farms, small industries, etc are made, people are employed, the workers pay taxes and the government in turn use those taxes to build roads, hospitals, schools, etc. Instead these jet owners prefer to enrich the economy abroad by buying jets, etc after stealing money from the oil Almighty God put in the land for the benefit of all and sundry. Irked by the looming catastrophes, a President with a fearless background cannot fold his hands and watch his people die of hunger because he does not want to step on toes. Mr. President, it’s your call.
Tosan Okotie
Lives in United States of America
March 5, 2016
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