Written by Afam
For many Nigerians, politics is the same as profiteering. It serves no-one and nothing but itself. It is not a public service but a means to private wealth.
In February, crude oil prices had fallen by 75%. People in countries that didn’t depend on crude rejoiced. In Nigeria, black faces paled as they realized what it meant. Oil is responsible for 90% of Nigeria’s export earnings. When oil prices were high, they were supposed to have saved, and when not doing that, spending the funds in what they call the excess crude account wisely. They didn’t. When the big crash came, there was nothing to cling on to. The development projects it claimed to have funded had not yet provided any real reward. The savings it needed to weather the storm were inexistent.
With the declining foreign exchange and the lack of reserves the Central Bank had two options; it could make foreign currencies like the dollar more expensive (devalue the naira) or it could restrict the number of dollars that it sold. It chose to do the latter. People in desperate need of foreign exchange turned to the black market, sending the parallel exchange rate through the roof.
At one point, it seemed like the quickest way to make a quick buck would be to buy foreign exchange from the Central Bank and then sell it almost immediately on the black market. A senior banker at Standard Chartered said that he’d seen it happen. Unapologetically, the perpetrator performed the trade right outside the bank’s gates. He remarked that Nigerians didn’t give a damn about the crisis. I replied that it was to be expected because the country had not shown that it gave a damn about them. They do not work hard so that people in the power can pinch their supper. The people in power cannot expect that if given the opportunity the people would not do the same.
As Nigerians came to terms with the restrictions that only a declining economic outlook can bring, a hashtag popped up on twitter championed by Ben Murray-Bruce. #BuyNaijaToGrowTheNaira. Sometimes it was attached to rice that was browner than it was white, or leather slippers, or a car made by Innoson. The hashtag was part of Ben Murray-Bruce’s common sense rhetoric.
It took like fire to gunpowder. Now even when it is not trending, it is still trending. It garners at least a tweet an hour. Mr Murray-Bruce returns to it like clockwork. Yesterday, he asked, “What if instead of buying Italian shoes, we all bought made in Kano and Aba shoes, #WouldntNairaAppreciate? #BuyNaijaToGrowTheNaira.”
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