{"id":11153,"date":"2016-08-26T21:36:30","date_gmt":"2016-08-26T21:36:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=11153"},"modified":"2016-08-26T21:50:28","modified_gmt":"2016-08-26T21:50:28","slug":"cbn-governor-mocks-nigerians-who-depend-mainly-foreign-goods-and-want-naira-to-be-strong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=11153","title":{"rendered":"CBN Governor mocks Nigerians who depend mainly foreign goods and want Naira to be strong"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><code><script src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\" async=\"\"><\/script><br \/>\n <!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n <ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\/\/ <![CDATA[\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/code><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=10076&amp;ad_type=59&amp;rl=180\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div>\u00a0Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele speaks on the economy and why the Naira will continue to be weak:<\/div>\n<div>\u201cIt is either I do not understand economics and how exchange rates work or a vast majority of us Nigerians still don\u2019t get how we have wrecked our country with our own curious choices.<\/div>\n<div>Just this morning, I was listening to the radio and the lady on air went on and on about how she thought CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele was incompetent and should be sacked because the Naira was now exchanging at 309 or so to the USD.<\/div>\n<div>\u201cThat view pretty much echoes the sentiments expressed by many people I know and it amazes me that there are Nigerians who actually think there is some magic POLICY that can make the Naira strong in the near term.<\/div>\n<div>If my economics and my understanding of the way the world works are right, then that is as far from the truth as Jesus Christ is black.<\/div>\n<div>\u201cThe simple fact of the matter is that apart from oil that accounts for over 90% of our revenues, we really don\u2019t have much of an economy. We hardly produce anything, we import even toothpicks, so exactly what policy is going to be implemented that will turn Nigeria into a top exporting economy in the near term?<\/div>\n<div>Where are our Apples, IBMs, Disneys, GMs, General Electrics, Coca Colas, Empire State buildings, Statues of Liberties, Lockheeds, Citibanks, JP Morgans, ExxonMobils, NBAs, Super Bowls etc? Let me bring that closer home.<\/div>\n<div>\u201cThere was a time long ago when Nigeria had a truly strong economy and the naira was one to the dollar \u2013 even exchanged for higher than the USD, but that Nigeria is not this Nigeria. Sadly that Nigeria was laid by the British, and this Nigeria (if you don\u2019t believe in the nonsensical imperialist conspiracies like me) \u2013 fueled by the DAMAGING Indigenization Decree, has been the creation of us Nigerians. Back then we had a booming economy.<br \/>\nWe were either the top, or among the top exporters, of timbre, cocoa, groundnuts, rubber, palm oil, etc, in the world. Nigerians not only holidayed at home in their villages, at Yankari Games Reserve, at Obudu Cattle Ranch, at Oguta Lake, at Ikogosi springs, at Gurara Falls, at Mambilla Platueau, etc, we attracted international tourists who brought in loads of foreign exchange.<\/div>\n<div>\u00a0Even Nigerian schools were foreign exchange earners because they attracted foreign students.<\/div>\n<div>\u201cWe had different car assembly plants \u2013 Peugeot, Volkswagen, Anamco etc. Nigerian government officials only bought vehicles assembled in Nigeria for official cars.<\/div>\n<div>We had a thriving sports industry. We were not Man United or Chelsea fans, we were Rangers or IICC fans. We had the Nduka Odizors, people made money from sports.<\/div>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\" async=\"\"><\/script><br \/>\n <!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n <ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\/\/ <![CDATA[\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n<div>We also had companies like Lennards and Bata producing school shoes in their thousands, we had the thriving Nigerian Airways and the Aviation School in the north that produced some of the best pilots in the world.<\/div>\n<div>In those days if you were brilliant you were respected much more than the crass money-miss-road contractors of today. Most of the Aje Butters I knew had fathers who were university dons. Back then it meant something to \u2018know book\u2019.<\/div>\n<div>Our textile industry was alive and well. Just recently I watched a news report on the textile industry in Nigeria on CCTV News. Though the main focus was on the comatose status of the industry, I was stunned by the gigantic Kaduna Textile Mill built in 1957. I could go on and on.<\/div>\n<div>\u201cToday however, no thanks to our parents (and we must call them out the way Wole Soyinka did his generation) and many of us (and we should be remembered for failing our children if we continue like this), we have destroyed everything.<\/div>\n<div>Today for instance Nigerian football (which comes easy to me obviously) doesn\u2019t appeal to us, we have to fly across thousands of miles to watch \u2018our\u2019 clubs play. Every year we collectively burn billions of Naira being fans of clubs that give us nothing back, but some \u2018entertainment value\u2019 \u2013 simple pleasures for which we are ready to destroy the future of our children.<\/div>\n<div>\u201cWell people, payback time is here. Even with our ta-she-re money we all want to wear designer clothes and carry designer bags, Armani, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton etc.<\/div>\n<div>We all want to drive jeeps with American specs, our children must now school overseas and acquire the necessary accents to come back home and bamboozle their \u2018bush and crass\u2019 contemporaries that they left behind.<\/div>\n<div>Who holidays in Nigeria anymore, is there Disneyland here? No one buys made-in-Nigeria school bags for their children, after all no Superman or Incredible Hulk or Cinderella on them.\u201cWe are no longer top exporters of anything and the demise of oil means we have zilch\u2026 zero.<\/div>\n<div>A country of 170M fashion-<br \/>\nconscious people has no textile industry. We take delight in showing how our made-in- Switzerland Aso Ebi is different class to everyone else\u2019s.<\/div>\n<div>When we help our musicians grow and pay them millions, they repay us by immediately shipping the monies overseas to produce their \u201ci-don-dey-different-level\u201d music videos. It makes no difference that distinctly Zulu dancers are dancing to a Nigerian highlife song.<\/div>\n<div>\u201cAs stars concerned they also wed and holiday overseas to impress us all. All the musicians who acknowledge their Ajegunle roots now speak in a cocktail of strange accents to symbolise how much they have blown their monies overseas.<\/div>\n<div>Were we a more serious people, the highly popular Kingsway Stores of the past would probably have a thousand outlets pan Nigeria today supporting a massive agriculture industry among others, but today we have the likes of SPAR, Shoprite, dominating the retail industry while Kingsway is dead.<\/div>\n<div>\u201cAnd we Nigerians make it a<br \/>\nspecial point to shop from the Oyinbos who have \u2018cleaner shops\u2019, \u2018better this and better that\u2019. For our personal pleasure we don\u2019t mind them dominating us in our own backyard and shipping proceeds overseas. I could go on and on, but I don tire.<\/div>\n<div>Even as you are reading this, stop for a moment and look around you. What you see will probably explain why we are lucky it is not N1000 to the USD yet. And don\u2019t think for a moment that it cannot get there.<\/div>\n<div>\u201cJust continue to wear your Armani gear and Swiss-made lace, continue to spend your money on Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Barca and encourage your children to do same. (My article tomorrow in my Saturday column in This Day is on the Nigerian champions Enyimba FC \u2013 Nigeria\u2019s most successful club \u2013 not having a sponsor, yet Nigerian brands pay over N600m to Man United and Arsenal for sponsorship to impress us.) Ehhh, no problem, continue to tell me the NPFL is rubbish or the clubs should clean up their act if they want sponsorship, mo gbo . \u201cDon\u2019t curtail your interest in choice wines ( we were the<br \/>\nnumber one champagne consumers in the world in 2015), continue to love your American specs, cheer the education ministry for letting schools sink to pitiable levels, don\u2019t fight them to improve our schools, don\u2019t chide them for letting schools drop Nigerian history and embrace British, America and whatever else curricular.<\/div>\n<p><code><script src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\" async=\"\"><\/script><br \/>\n <!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n <ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\/\/ <![CDATA[\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/code><\/p>\n<div>\u201cCarry on with your love of French wines and Chinese silk, don\u2019t bother about Jamiu Alli when there is Roger Federer. Stock up on your Italian, American, British products which you cannot live without, including the \u2018baby soft\u2019 toilet rolls produced only in that small unique village in England \u2013 the days are long gone since you were a broke student who used wet newspapers to wipe your butt. \u201cDon\u2019t even consider holidaying in Nigeria, it\u2019s too dangerous \u2013 you have to fulfill your dream of being Nigeria\u2019s Henry Ford.<\/div>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-5\"><\/div>\n<div>Don\u2019t listen to people like me who have a wardrobe full of only cheap adire that is actually cheaper than just one of your Tom Ford blazers. Please keep dressing in fine silk made in some exotic place so you can be addressed accordingly.<\/div>\n<div class=\"shareaholic-canvas\" data-app-id=\"23815597\" data-app=\"share_buttons\" data-link=\"http:\/\/www.zubbyblog.com\/just-cbn-governor-drops-shocking-statement-must-read\/\" data-summary=\"\" data-title=\"JUST IN: CBN GOVERNOR Drops Shocking Statement (MUST READ)\">\u201cFinally keep letting corrupt leaders who have looted your commonwealth and shipped all the monies overseas get away because to attack them does not fit your political narrative. Let us continue with the fine life, let us all continue to work for Oyinbo. But don\u2019t forget that there is a payback time&#8221;<\/div>\n<div class=\"shareaholic-canvas\" data-app-id=\"23815597\" data-app=\"share_buttons\" data-link=\"http:\/\/www.zubbyblog.com\/just-cbn-governor-drops-shocking-statement-must-read\/\" data-summary=\"\" data-title=\"JUST IN: CBN GOVERNOR Drops Shocking Statement (MUST READ)\">weeklypostng.org<\/div>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/cbn-gov..jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9766\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9766\" src=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/cbn-gov..jpg\" alt=\"cbn gov.\" width=\"284\" height=\"177\" srcset=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/cbn-gov..jpg 284w, http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/cbn-gov.-128x80.jpg 128w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 284px) 100vw, 284px\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\" async=\"\"><\/script><br \/>\n <!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n <ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\/\/ <![CDATA[\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n<p><code><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=10076&amp;ad_type=59&amp;rl=180\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/code><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele speaks on the economy and why the Naira will continue to be weak: \u201cIt is either I do not understand economics and how exchange rates work or a vast majority of us Nigerians still don\u2019t get how we have wrecked our country with our own curious choices. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[362,584],"class_list":["post-11153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-cbn","tag-godwin-emefiele"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/cbn-gov..jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-2TT","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11153"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11158,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11153\/revisions\/11158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}