Hell o My C ountr y P e opl e

W elc ome
t o
a
Ne w
Dispensat ion

Do
 we
 even
 need
 an
 article
 to
 tell
 us
 that
 it's
 been
 an
 eventful
 quarter?

E ven
 if
 you
 lived
 under
 the
 r ock,
 you
 will
 still
 have
 felt
 it
 (Ask
 Abeokuta
 people,
 fuel
 is
 now
 N500
 per
 litr e
 in
 their
 ar ea).
 In
 the
 thr ee
 months,
 so
 much
 has
 changed!
 None
 mor e
 visible
 than
 the
 end
 of
 the
 B u h a r i a d m i n i s t r a t i o n a n d t h e o ffi c i a l
 swearing‑in
 of
 Pr esident
 Bola
 Tinubu.

While
 the
 electoral
 tribunal
 continues,
 the
 new
 pr esident
 is
 not
 wasting
 time;
 at
 this
 point,
 if
 you
 miss
 the
 9
 PM
 news
 (yep,
 NT A
 is
 back
 to
 giving
 us
 hot
 ex clusives),
 you
 ar e
 on
 your
 own.

Y ou
see,
it
wasn't
just
Nigerians
who
felt
 t h e e ff e c t o f t h e r e m o v a l ; e v e n
 C a m e r o o n i a n s a n d N i g e r i e n s a l m o s t
 t o o k t o t h e i r s t r e e t s t o d e m a n d t h e
 Nigerian
 government
 to
 k eep
 paying
 the
 fuel
 subsidy

The
 very
 next
 day ,
 NNPC
 r eleased
 new
 prices
 by
 state;
 let's
 just
 say
 if
 you
 live
 in
 Maiduguri
 or
 Damaturu,
 the
 Lord
 is
 your
 str ength.
 While
 we
 can't
 offer
 you
 much;
 we
 hope
 you
 look
 at
 Altfuel
 to
 r educe
 the
 burden
 in
 this
 season.

The
 removal
 of
 fuel
 subsidy
 mark ed
 the
 beginning
 of
 a
 tsunami
 of
 reforms
 and
 changes,
 announcing
 to
 ever ybody
 that
 a
 new
 dispensation
 was
 truly
 underway Sadly ,
 amid
 this
 wave
 of
 change,
 inflation
 d i d n ' t g e t t h e m e m o W e h e a rd t h a t
 inflation
 continued
 its
 upward
 trajectory
 to
 22.34%,
 marking
 a
 third
 consecutive
 incr ease,
 the
 highest
 since
 September
 2005 when
 month‑on‑month
 inflation
 was
 r ecorded
 as
 2 4 .3%.

Y es,
 devaluation,
 the
 r eduction
 of
 the
 value
 of
 something
 (lik e
 Chef
 Hilda
 Bacci
 and
 ……)
 and
 the
 second
 gr oundbr eaking
 c h a n g e t h a t t h e p r e s i d e n t m a d e I n
 N i g e r i a , t h e r e w e r e f o u r e x c h a n g e
 windows
 (the
 bank
 rate,
 the
 Investors
 and
 Exporters
 (I&E)
 rate,
 the
 SME
 rate
 and
 the
 popular
 aboki"
 rate);
 now
 just
 one.

The
 new
 central
 bank
 leadership,
 after
 t h e s u s p e n s i o n o f G o v e r n o r M e ff y
 collapsed
 the
 other
 ex change
 windows
 leaving
 the
 I
 &
 E
 as
 the
 official
 window They
 ar e
 telling
 us
 that
 fr om
 now
 on,
 f o r e i g n e x c h a n g e i s o n v i b e s a n d
 inshallah (that's
 what
 they
 call
 it,
 The
 Willing
 Buyer ,
 Willing
 Seller
 Model). It's
 n o w w h at e v e r r at e t h e o w n e r of t h e
 dollars
 wants
 to
 sell
 it.

The
 new
 Sheriff
 hit
 the
 gr ound
 running
 on
 the
 first
 day
 when
 he
 made
 the
 now‑ famous
 quote,
 " F uel
 Subsidy
 is
 Gone".
 The
 chaos
 that
 day
 was
 only
 outweighed
 by
 John
 Wick
 3

Guess
 what?
 This
 figur e
 doesn't
 even
 r e fl e c t t h e e x p e c t e d i n c r e a s e f r o m
 subsidy
 r emoval
 and
 FX
 devaluation
 (the
 next
 wave
 of
 ) shege

So,
 if
 I
 have
 10 , 000
 dollars
 and
 want
 to
 sell
 it
 at
 N900
 per
 $1,
 as
 long
 as
 I
 find
 someone
 who
 will
 pay
 the
 money
 for
 it,
 that's
 how
 much
 I
 will
 sell.
 While
 the
 CBN
 has
 said
 it
 is
 a
 managed
 float
 and
 they
 will
 still
 r egulate,
 we
 will
 sha
 sit
 down
 in
 one
 small
 corner
 and
 be
 observing.

S h o u t o u t t o t h o s e w i t h f a m i l y a n d
 f r i e n d s ; w h e n e v e r t h e y s e n d t h o s e
 pounds;
 give
 us
 some
 thr ough
 Switch. Despite
 attracting
 accolades
 fr om
 the
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l c o m m u n i t y a n d s o m e
 economists,
 it
 has
 left
 people
 with
 japa
 plans
 sulking
 as
 the
 famous
 CBN
 rate
 disappear ed,
 incr easing
 pr oof
 of
 funds,
 school
 fees
 and
 other
 expenses
 by
 over
 65%.
 Normal,
 sapa
 has
 been
 holding
 us,
 but
 after
 this
 decision,
 Dangote
 still
 dey
 fi n d m o n e y b e c a u s e e v e n D a n g o t e
 became
 poor er
 (so
 who
 am
 I?).

I t d o e s n t n e c e s s a r i l y m a k e i t a b a d
 decision;
 it's
 just
 something
 that
 should
 h a v e b e e n d o n e s i n c e t o r e fl e c t t h e
 a c t u a l s t a t e o f t h e f o r e i g n e xc h a n g e
 mark et, so
 no
 vex
 abeg.

While
 we
 wait
 for
 Dangote
 r efineries
 to
 start
 working,
 we
 can
 only
 hope
 that
 the
 global
 oil
 price
 curr ently
 at
 $75
 per
 barr el
 does
 not
 incr ease,
 or
 else
 another
 price
 incr ease.

A
P at h
f or
t he
Futur e

Ther e
 ar e
 thr ee
 constant
 things
 in
 life;
 c h a n g e , t a x e s ( w h i c h w e h e a r c o u l d
 affect
 diesel
 importers)
 and
 the
 ASUU
 strik e.
 However BA T
 has
 said
 he
 wants
 to
 g i v e t h e s c h o o l s ( f e d e r a l a n d s t a t e )
 autonomy;
 in
 his
 speech
 at
 a
 town
 hall
 meeting,
 he
 explained
 how
 education
 was
 the
 cur e
 to
 poverty ,
 and
 it
 should
 not
 s t o p p e o p l e f r o m r e c e i v i n g q u a l i t y
 education.

So,
 boom꞉ The
 Student
 Loan
 Bill.
 Y es
 oh,
 that
 bill
 gives
 eligible
 students
 access
 to
 t u i t i o n f e e s p r o v i d e d t h e y m e e t t h e
 r equir ement ,
 if
 they
 ever
 can.

Y ou
 would
 think
 that
 Oga
 BA T
 should
 stop
 at
 these
 two,
 but
 no,
 he
 has
 in
 the
 last
 30
 days
 (we
 might
 miss
 out
 on
 some
 because
 of
 the
 time
 of
 writing;
 blame
 Aunty
 Chidinma)
 signed
 thr ee
 bills
 and
 still
 had
 time
 to
 hang
 out
 with
 Bill
 Gates.

He
 is
 also
 shaking
 things
 up,
 fr om
 Uncle
 M e ff y t o E F C C t o b o a r d s o f f e d e r a l
 g o v e r n m e n t p a r a s t a t a l s a n d s e r v i c e
 chiefs.
 While
 this
 is
 expected
 for
 every
 n e w a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , t h e s e d e c i s i o n s
 d o n e w i t h s p e e d h a v e i m p r o v e d
 investors'
 confidence
 in
 the
 country's
 mark et.

Following
 the
 pronouncement
 of
 these
 policies,
 the
 equities
 mark et
 has
 rallied
 positively ,
 gaining
 15 .1%
 year
 to
 date.

Another
 bill
 you
 might
 need
 to
 meet
 is
 the
 electricity
 bill
 which
 is
 set
 to
 incr ease
 unfortunately
 fr om
 today For
 those
 that
 use
 pr obably
 won't
 notice
 sha;
 Imperium we
 got
 them
 cover ed.

T h e g o v e r n m e n t s e y e i s e v e n o n a
 bigger
 priz e,
 r emoving
 the
 running
 cost
 for
 federal
 educational
 institutions.

In
 the
 year
 2022,
 for
 example,
 the
 federal
 g o v e r n m e n t s p e n t m o r e t h a n N 1 6 9
 billion
 on
 the
 running
 cost
 of
 universities.
 However ,
 in
 r ecent
 times,
 it
 has
 been
 m u l l i n g u n i v e r s i t i e s ' a u t o n o m y t o
 c o m p e t e o n t h e i r o w n a n d h e l p t h e
 government
 save
 costs.
 It
 looks
 lik e
 the
 new
 government
 is
 taking
 a
 bold
 step,
 so
 school
 fees
 ar e
 definitely
 going
 up.
 The
 flip
 side
 is
 ther e
 might
 be
 no
 mor e
 r eason
 to
 strik e.