NAVIGATING THE SEASON OF DISCONTENT: THE URGENCY OF POLITICAL ORGANISATION AND PURPOSEFUL MASS ACTION - JAYE GASKIA

It is no longer news that the Nigeria economy went into and stayed firmly put in recession during 2016 with 4 consecutive quarterly negative GDP growths.

However, this dive into free fall did not start in 2016. From about 2010 onwards the economy has been declining, with annual GDP growth declining from an average of about 5% to about 1% in 2015, before dropping precipitately into negative region at the beginning of 2016.

So whereas it is true that the economy contracted in 2016, the decline and shrinking of the economy began long before that.

So why was it necessary to recount the foregoing as a way of introducing the subject of mass popular discontent, and the coming a period that can be and will become described as a season of discontent?
It is necessary because it is important to underpin the fact that any serious person and or political party aspiring to govern this country or any other country for that matter ought to be able to understand, identify and analyse the trends in the overall development trajectory of the country and people over which it wants to superintend before ever even going to seek for the active consent of the people to govern.

BUHARI ADMINISTRATION: A REGRETTABLE MISTAKE!

One of the virtue of a real man is his ability to accept his mistakes and wrongdoing. All along I have always criticize government policies and not personality or administration (at least not half way), but at the junction with the police ban on 2face protest, I make bold to say I regret ever campaigning or voting for president Mohammadu Buhari. It should be noted that I have no iota of regret Nigerians replace Goodluck Jonathan, it's the best thing we have done for ourselves in decade, but I regret he was replaced by PMB. 

THOSE WHO HAVE EARS LET THEM HEAR! BY JAYE GASKIA

There are several categories of opinions rampant among Nigerians, and particularly finding expression on the internet and social media with respect to attitude to the current government, two or three of which categories actually stinks and can be annoying were they not tragic.

There is a category of people who are simply opposed to this government because they remain supporters of the last government and ex-ruling party that was voted out and rejected at the last general elections.

"16 YEARS OF PDP DAMAGE - THE PEOPLE AROUND BUHARI" EXCUSE - Moses Ochonu

First, they said it was too early to criticize PMB for non-performance. Why not wait a year before criticizing, they said. Thankfully, a year has since passed and things have worsened, so that excuse has expired.

When "too early to criticize" wore thin, the Buharists transitioned to another excuse: 16 years of PDP damage cannot be fixed in a year, they said; never mind that at least 40 percent of the people in the current administration have origins in the PDP and participated extensively in this 16 year destruction they speak of.

It is September 2016 and the economy lies comatose, rendered dysfunctional by a combination of outmoded economic thinking, arbitrary statism, and panicky policy flip-flops. It is increasingly clear now that it's not the 16 year PDP plague or the low oil price, or Niger Delta Avengers, that has taken Nigerian into recession. Rather, It is key decisions taken in the early days of this administration and stubbornly maintained against wise expert counsel. These foundational knee jerk measures are responsible for the recession as Emir Sanusi of Kano correctly stated. Although some of these policies have been reversed, their debilitating aftermaths persist, deepening the recession.

SUBSIDY REMOVAL: WORSE TIMES LOOMING? GOD FORBID!

The deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil industry proposed by the Jonathan administration offered great promise of economic prosperity for the Nigerian nation. Basically, it would certainly have ended the "fantastic corruption" surrounding the fuel subsidy transactions thereby raising amounts available to the FAAC to share among the three tiers of Government over the years. If the policy was backed by necessary strategic legislative frameworks such as the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), great numbers of jobs would have been created and our nation would have been saved the new trend of militancy represented by the Niger Delta Avengers... Nigerians deserve apology from the champions of anti-deregulation campaigns that led to the unfortunate postponement of that policy.

China Deal: PMB has done it again, school cert holder (?) has done what a PhD holder could not

Very simple economics. We buy most of our goods from China, so why must we pay the Chinese in dollars? The Chinese buy a lot of crude oil from us, so why must they pay us in dollars

So PMB made a deal with the Chinese. We pay for the goods we buy from China in Yuan, the Chinese currency. They buy our crude oil and pay in Yuan.

The exchange rate is to be pegged at 30 Naira to one Yuan or RMB.

So how does it favour us? Simple.

The Yuan is now 6.48 to a dollar. So if you pay 30 Naira to the Yuan, that would be equivalent to 194.4 Naira to the dollar.

Since the dollar exchanges for 199 Naira, you save N4.6. 199 - 194.4 = 4.6. Simple, huh?

In simple terms, PMB has just strengthened the Naira by 9.15%!