An Excellency calls on the matter
As I came out of the bathroom, I saw his calls. A sitting Governor had called after seeing my write up on the need for Mr President to walk in confidence
I called him back and he didn’t pick but just as I was about to get dressed, he called and I stood there in the middle of the room stark naked listening to His Excellency
He was sad. N5Trillion of the FAAC is being held back by FG, claiming that if released, it will push the Exchange. But according to him, this has not stopped the Naira on a free fall.
The Governors are being thrown under the bus and this is sad. Naira has lost about N200 in 10days and there has been no FAAC
The loss of confidence is affecting supply chain and it will get worse with the forced closure of supermarkets who look at replacement costs in deciding sales
The President is receiving advice from all and sundry and with the heavy dose of sycophancy that comes with that he is not sure he is getting g the best
Now listen
Over $30b are in dom accts and another bw $25b and $50b are in private vaults as a result of the lack of confidence. So going to ADB to borrow $3b on the back of future oil receipts is stupid
CBN shd borrow locally and pay interest on the dom accts. Today no interest is being paid on these monies.
Amnsety shd be given to unlock the ones in private vaults and the businesses the funds are used to set up shoukd be given tax holidays as incentive
The whole of the North does not have $500m since they are all buying food to distribute
He has bought N1b worth of rice in the last few days and can no longer see to buy again
Farmers in border states are selling to other countries cos of the exchange rate worsening the food crises
Republic of Benin is now a net exporter of sorghum sourced from Nigeria while we are net importers of the same product. Crazy
He says a fixed rate should be announced and kept for a defined tenor so that pple can plan and make projections.
When he finished I thanked him and wished him well and immediately looked down at my’ something’and the AC and shrunk it to half its size.
We are engaging Dr Tope Fasua the President’s Economic Adviser in these issues tonight at 8pm. Are u interested?
Na wa o
Duke of Shomolu
