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Nigeria’s economy needs intervention in 2023

2 min read

Usually, when a car is to break down, certain signs will be seen by the owner and over time it worsens if repairs are not carried out on time. The nation’s economy has been showing some dangerous signs indicating that all is not well with the economy.

There have been accounts of students who paid school fees and were duly debited, but eventually got deported because the Central Bank of Nigeria could not fund the settlement. Big manufacturers which largely depend on imported materials are in serious need of forex, but after their money, denominated in naira, has been taken by commercial banks and sent to the CBN for months, recipients have still not got their forex. Suffice it to say that most letters of credit applications and forex bids are just mere papers resting on the table in banks.

In a short while, if you need anything overseas, you will have to go get your dollar outside the banking sector; and to avoid problems, you may still now have to carry your dollar in cash and board the aircraft with it, or else your money will probably not get to the recipient because the CBN may not be able to honour the settlement.

Most brilliant young men and women (doctors, nurses, information technology experts) have migrated, and now teachers will join them. Estate valuers, accountants, lawyers and several professionals are migrating in large numbers.

Commercial banks no longer get forex for Form A. Students would be deported because their payments did not get to their schools. Medical treatment and indeed all those essential needs will no longer enjoy the benefit of forex.

What is most surprising is that the new naira notes, also called newly redesigned naira notes, are not yet available in commercial banks. Customers still get paid with old notes even after the December 15, 2022 commencement date. Something is wrong somewhere. Money realised from stamp duty is said to have ended up in some pockets. Most of the time, you will wish that most of the news is untrue.

One of the solutions to our problems will be to work out the skills that will enable us to do almost everything like china is doing such that Nigerians will be able to consume goods produced in the country. We may suffer for like a decade like Cuba and continue to ride old cars and so on but over time, things will improve.

Billionaires whose worth is denominated in naira may not even be able to import things through banks as dollar will not be available in 2023. Dollar demand in the parallel market will go to the roof as almost every Importation will depend on the black market. A dollar may exchange for N1,000 by January, and may later rise to N1,500.

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