FOREIGN EXCHANGE SLUSH FUNDS AND NIGERIAN BANKS!

ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER. [ A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church, Kpeyegyi, Abuja Nigeria. ] { VOL. 3. NO 104. 9th august, 2015.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You Free! (John.8:32).

[Zion B-BC Newsletter celebrates two years of prophetic and truthful publications! To God be the glory!] FOREIGN EXCHANGE SLUSH FUNDS AND NIGERIAN BANKS!

When Nigeria was adjudged as the country with the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP), in Africa for the year 2013, economic pundits and analysts failed to investigate the financial source of goods and services which constituted the national income on which the achievement was predicated! In developed economies, legitimate incomes are generated through production but over the years, especially since Nigeria’s fresh attempt at democratic governance began in 1999 greater attention had been focussed on consumption instead of production!

For instance importation of diverse goods and services of sundry types like: Substituting generating sets for national grid electric power supply which had remained comatose; Importing rice, fertilizers, tooth picks, tissue/toilet papers, biro pens etc and granting import waivers to government surrogate contractors; Exporting crude oil overseas to be refined at exorbitant prices and later importing the refined products of premium motor spirit (petrol) and kerosine for sale to the citizens at “subsidized” prices; Exporting cocoa seeds to be refined in return for imported chocolates; Exportation of rubber for vehicle tyres; hides and skins for leather shoes, sandals and carpets; Cotton for threads and Ankara and Java print materials; Importation of all manner of machineries, bicycles, tri-cycles, motor cars, high capacity trucks, trailers, articulated vehicles, petrol tankers, oil drilling equipments and machines, etc., because the Iron and Steel Industry died at inception through the expertise of Foreign Consultants, who raked in millions of easy dollars in contract fees! Poultry and dairy products like butter, cheese, milk, and assorted sweets were not left out of the long list of importations “that qualified Nigeria as the nation with the highest GDP in Africa in the year 2013!”

If, according to economic templates, the earnings or incomes of a nation must be predicated on the value of all goods and services produced, what manner of parameters were applied by economic experts to award Nigeria that prestigious honour when the country had failed to produce all of the above imported products locally? SLUSH fund, money laundering and oil bunkering had replaced all legitimate incomes that should be generated through organized and massive national production due to importation of sundry goods while national income depended only on exportation of the mono-economic crude oil product from which the very slush ironically accrued and presently suffering the elongated universal oil price fall!

The Nigerian naira and not the American dollar is the legal tender of the economy but like some aliens from outer space, commercial bank vaults in Nigeria have been invaded by a multitude of the American green notes to the point of suffocation; however, the deft move of rejecting the across counter dollar deposits methods by Nigerian commercial banks to sanitize the over-saturated foreign exchange business was no doubt a welcome economic policy introduced at a time when the nation’s foreign reserve (the official gauge of a nation’s economic credibility), was at its lowest ebb due to the maladministration of past administrations! Illicit finances, which accrued from the proceeds from illegal acts of hard drugs, arms peddling deals, robbery, embezzlement of public funds, contract inflation/round-tripping etc., enjoyed official patronage as the administrators of the past regimes turned deaf ears to all criticisms of government in respect of financial imprudence and recklessness! Foreign currencies cash deposits into domiciliary accounts was an all comers affairs since no one queried the source of money being deposited at the counters, no matter the millions of dollars and the ripple effects of that policy lapse placed the American dollar as the unofficial legal tender of the worsening Nigerian economy!

The United States dollars were demanded for local school fees, they were preferred to the naira at hotels, restaurants, the shopping malls, at indigenous market places, they were “sprayed” at birthday parties, marriage/child naming ceremonies and were distributed publicly at political gatherings in large quantities during electioneering campaigns of the last general elections which turned the tables against bad governance! US dollars flowed from the pockets of corrupt politicians like from public water taps as they solicited the votes of the electorate through their agents, traditional rulers, thugs and all manner of miscreants in the various communities at wards, local, states and federal levels! Legitimate Bureau-de-Change centres bubbled with vibrant activities because they had unfettered inflow of the regular weekly official foreign exchange markets because of the avalanche back door supplies from corrupt bank officials and money launderers! The Black Market operated on the streets and major highways of most State capitals unhindered by law enforcement agents who even patronised them openly because the weak naira exchanged at N240 to a US dollar until the recent national policy on foreign exchange business came into effect at the end of July 2015. The import of all of this is that a few charlatans in office hi-jacked the economic space which they decided to run as private enterprise with the American dollars instead of the Nigerian naira with IMPUNITY OF THE HIGHEST ORDER! Nigeria’s re-based GDP rating engendered a lot of controversy in March 2014 when it was announced because the two-time co-ordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance played a major role as a former World Bank executive in the entire face-saving charade of a dwindling economy to prove what turned out to be a bad outing and total disaster for the Harvard graduate!

Gross Domestic Product or (GDP) is an economic gauge of the value of total production attributable to overall factors of generation of goods and services in a given country if prudent calculation is based on the national product or income. This economic evaluation is aimed to achieve the specific purpose of proving a country’s viability as an international entrepreneurial destination and it is termed ‘gross’ because allowance was not yet made for the ingestion of the fixed capital expended in production, to establish or determine actual market price. Nigeria’s GDP was last calculated in 1990! Since all incomes were generated through production, total national earnings of a given period were established by the application of monetary evaluation to all agricultural goods, labour and capital resources, hence Nigeria’s GDP estimates for the year 2013, which makes her the largest economy in Africa, and the 26 globally, was put at $510billion US dollars or N80.3trillion naira, taking into account, a range of new sectors and industries like the mobile telephone market and Africa’s largest-music and the entertainment local Nollywood film enterprise, which has now produced 12per cent of the GDP, or N853.9 billion naira. The re-based GDP numbers imply that the level of economic activity which is much higher than in the past 24 years, is now being more driven by the Service Sector, which means that we now have a clearer picture of Nigeria’s economic landscape which offers a significant opportunity for growth and wealth creation. But on ‘per capita income’ basis, Nigeria was number 121 in the world! Per capita income is the universal index for measuring living standards and citizens’ welfare which is obtained by dividing the total national income by the total population; the higher the quotient, the higher, the standard of living, provided leaders were righteous and accurate census was achievable! A World Bank research in 2012 revealed that about 100million Nigerians dwelt in abject poverty on a per capita of US$1.5 dollars or N250 naira per day which made the re-basing of Nigeria’s GDP as a total contradiction, a misnomer!

WHO ARE THE SOURCES OF THE GDP OF EVERY NATION? The poor masses of course and not the power usurpers! Masses are the, “hewers of wood and drawers of water” who will always procure wealth for the rich through cheap labour in the formal and informal sectors of the economy while crooked politicians also create avenue for slush funds which they corner and pocket for their own benefits! In the formal sector, the civil servants, armed forces, police, customs, immigrations etc, are paid paltry sums as salaries, forced to pay taxes, labour and die as patriotic citizens! The elites hardly paid taxes because they are very fraudulent when it comes to declaration of incomes and assets! In the industrial or informal sector, which is privately powered, driven and funded, workers are goaded by task masters to work far beyond their pay packets! This bunch of unfortunate third rated citizens of the underdeveloped third world countries are also forced to bear the brunt of all societal ills, disasters and calamities resulting from consistent maladministration!

WHO ARE THE EASY TARGETS OF BOMB BLASTS? WHOSE GRAVES ARE FOUND ON ROAD SIDES AND RIVER BANKS? WHO ARE THE ROBBERS AND KIDNAPPERS VICTIMS? WHO DWELL IN THE SLUMS AND THE WORST OF ALL RURAL AREAS? WHO ARE THE “AWAITING TRIAL” INMATES IN ALL THE PRISONS AND DETAINEES IN ALL POLICE CELLS AND SECURITY DETENTION CAMPS OF THE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES? WHO ARE THOSE WHO GOT HIT BY STRAY BULLETS OF TRIGGER-HAPPY POLICEMEN? WHO ARE THE VICTIMS OF HIGH-RATES OF CHILD/MATERNAL MORTALITY? WHO ARE THOSE DENIED MODERN HEALTH FACILITIES AND POTABLE WATER SUPPLIES BUT CONDEMNED TO DRINK FROM THE SAME POOLS WITH ANIMALS? WHO ARE THE DREGS OF THE SOCIETY, WHO SHOULD BE LEFT TO ROT AWAY UNEDUCATED?

The poor masses of course! But this scenario is not DIVINE it is man-evolved through an orchestrated abuse of the fundamental human rights, coercion and manipulation of the masses by a devious few and with God’s intervention, this ugly trend which has become a universal norm can be reversed! The Labour Force of these nations are the ordinary everyday people around the neighbourhood, the streets, the vicinities, hamlets, villages and rural areas who eek their living at the mercy of the high and mighty of the urban societies of all third world countries! Except for the United States of America and a few civilized countries of Europe and the Near East, the glaring neglect, of basic amenities and necessary infrastructures of life, like decent housing scheme, good roads, electrification, portable water, is visible all over rural Africa and Asia! OF WHAT ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE HAD THE DUMPING OF ILLICIT AMERICAN DOLLARS IN NIGERIAN BANKS AND STREETS BEEN TO THE AVERAGE WORKER WHOSE IRREGULAR PAY PACKET IS A MERE N18.000.00 PER MONTH OR N600.00 PER DAY? It had been nothing but hyper-inflation of prices of goods and services, and lack of any form of government’s support facilities of portable water, hydro or thermal-powered electricity, medical or health-care programmes, formal education, good motorized roads etc.

The apex Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is in support of the timely economic move by the commercial banks and we advice that the tempo of enforcement and compliance be maintained and sustained in order to support President Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), in their determined bid to rid Nigeria of all corruptive activities within the economic system which is achievable with all patriotic hands on deck! General Muhammadu Buhari/Brigadier ‘Tunde Idiagbon’s Military Government of 1984/1985 stopped foreign exchange abuse when it found guilty and sentenced the very popular late Nigerian afro beat musician to 5 years in prison for being in possession of US$1.200 dollars at the airport which was a violation of the Foreign Exchange/Anti-sabotage Decree 2, Mr. President still possessed the strength of character and the political will power to even achieve greater success, this time around by instructing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to carry out thorough investigations and unearth all culprits behind this fresh dollar invasion of the Nigerian foreign exchange market!. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to all people as we need not remind him that he is for no body and he is for everybody! Please look forward to more divine revelation in the next edition of Zion B-BC Newsletter as you share this with friends and remain blessed in the Lord. [For weekly access, to this newsletter, log on to: facebook.com/zionfaithbible.believingchurch or http://www.zfbbc1.blogspot.com, https://www.google.com/+zionfaithbiblebelievingchurch .

If you have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, don’t miss this great opportunity as you pray this prayer: Lord Jesus; I confess that I am a sinner who needs to be saved through the grace of the New Testament of your Blood, shed on the Cross at Calvary; I renounce every sin in my life and accept you as my Lord and Saviour. Please forgive me and write my name in the Book of Life. Amen.

If you prayed this prayer, you have been admitted into the family of sons and daughters of God, who are born-again. Congratulations.

I am, Yours sincerely,Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor.08130669886, 08098194390.g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com