The Nigerian state has often been described as a paradox by informed commentators and observers both within and outside the country.

The Nigerian state never ceases to amaze serious nation states in the comity of nations, and atimes the way she makes a mockery of herself often brings shame and ridicule to some of her "best brains" both at home and in the diaspora.

 The fact that Nigeria has now become famed for "doing the first things last and doing the last things first"can no longer be controverted.

 The current "amusement game" is being played by the Apex bank in the country - the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) who has committed large amounts of public funds on "esoteric" commercials which is currently running on most public and private broadcast houses on the need to "handle the naira (local currency) with care and to also warn of the dire consequences of "mishandling the naira".

 It is so difficult to comprehend why the "eggheads" and "intellectualls" at the apex bank cannot see or understand that this is a battle it has already lost before commencing (Dead On Arrival), and the reasons for this seem quite obvious.

 Although every effort to discourage the abuse of the naira deserves to be commended, this present gambit of the CBN is more like a form of "movement without motion" because of the inherent lack of Institutional Capacity which is the bane of the Nigerian state.

 In addition, the fact that the Nigerian ruling class is corrupt and confused is another potent factor which might sabotage the efforts of the CBN.These is manifested in the way and manner the ruling class makes and breaks its own laws.Of all the problems facing the new campaign by the CBN, the lack of institutional capacity is the greatest obstacle.

 Take the police or the law courts for example, these are partners which the CBN relies on to fight the "battle against the mishandling"of the naira but everyone in Nigeria knows that the Nigeria Police is overburdened from the menace of dare devil and sophisticated armed robbers who have declared "war" on hapless Nigerian citizens and on the police themselves and other sundry crimes which are beign perpetrated on a daily basis, to now expect the Nigeria Police to combine the job of fighting crime and criminals in our midst  with going round to "parties", "motorparks", "food canteens", or "marketplaces" to "fish out" those who have mishandled the naira looks preposterous.Or is the law courts or prisons which are bursting to the seams with Awaiting Trial Matters (ATM) and other sundry issues that are expected to be at the forefront of the "crusade"?

 The "eggheads" at the CBN should be more bothered on how to change the Nigerian Economy from its present disorganised state to an organised one, and also promote the idea of a cashless economy as that is the direction in which the world is moving. Or better still if the CBN feels it must waste public funds it should waste it on areas that will enhance the productivity of the economy by investing in public schools which have been neglected by those who should take care of them, as the schools especially primary schools still remains one of the most viable ways it can pass its message across, since these schools are responsible for moulding and training young minds, as this when done will ensure that the younger generation of Nigerians will be rational and know what is expected of them even without compulsion, hence the NAIRA will get its "deserved respect".

Robot  # 1 | 16.02.2008 12:28

var sbtitle6234=encodeURIComponent(The Central...Read the full article.

aguabata  # 2 | 16.02.2008 13:24

I dont see anything wrong with the CBN's campaign on handling the naira. See it as a way of letting us know that it is even wrong to scrunch the naira, if the CBN can prove that the campaign resulted in 1% reduction in damaged naira notes which will in turn reduce the need to reprint, then cash spent on adverts is value for money.

gwobezentashi  # 3 | 16.02.2008 14:15

Privatization: CBN, AGF keep mute over missing money Written by Jibrin Abubakar Friday, 15 February 2008 The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and the office of the Accountant General of the Federation have kept sealed lips over the alleged privatization proceeds that were said to have been trapped in some banks or missing. Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC engineer Hamman Tukur had raised alarm that the privatization proceeds were not in the federation account as stipulated by the constitution. Daily Trust’s investigation revealed that money realized from the sales of public enterprises since 2000 could not be traced to the Federation Account as stipulated by section 62 subsection 10 of the 1999 constitution. Eng. Tukur had told Daily Trust in an exclusive interview that his commission wrote the BPE to return the proceeds but the callings were never heeded. But the Director General of Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) Mrs. Irene Chigbue had said the money is domiciled in Privatization Proceeds Account with the CBN. A dependable source in the Office of the Accountant General had told Daily Trust that the money is trapped in some of the commercial banks. A source in the BPE has also confirmed that the money was deposited into the Privatization Proceeds Account in the CBN through some commercial banks. A dependable source in the BPE showed Daily Trust documents showing the details of how the privatization proceeds at various times were deposited in the said account at the CBN. "Our job is to deposit the money into Privatization Proceeds Account at the CBN, whether the government puts the money into the federation account or consolidated revenue account is not our business," he said. One of the documents, containing details of how and when the N209.5 billion privatization proceeds of 2007 were lodged into the account at the CBN showed that, the monies were deposited using several banks in Nigeria. It showed that on January 5, 2007, N359, 999,820 were deposited in CBN through Union Bank of Nigeria, with cheque number 01929. And at three instances in September N200 billion was deposited at the CBN through Standard Chartered Bank. N800 million was deposited with cheque number 00007851. N700 million with cheque number 0007852 and N500 million with cheque number 0007853 were deposited differently. The document also showed that, on October 23, $24 million was converted to N2,935,920,000 by CBN at N122.33 per dollar. On November 18, $85,200,000 was converted by CBN to settle staff liabilities of Nigerian airways. The breakdown also indicated that, on December 14, N850 million was deposited by Standard chartered Bank with cheque number 00007878, N750 million with cheque number 00007879 and N900 million with cheque number 00007880 were also deposited into the PPA on behalf of the BPE. Although the BPE boss had said that a large part of the money was used to settle liability. But the CBN and the Accountant General office have refused to be quoted officially. They neither affirm nor deny that the money is with the CBN as stated by the BPE. Meanwhile, the BPE said Nigeria earned N209.504 billion from privatizing public enterprise in 2007. The proceed s were from 37 transactions. Put together, the BPE has made whooping N518.682 billion since 2000 in privatizing and commercializing public enterprises in 159 deals. A break down of the gross proceeds indicated that in 2000, BPE made N14.655 billion, N12.146 billion in 2001, N1.306 billion in 2002 and N0.301 in 2003. In 2004 BPE raked in N50.107 billion, N98.084 billion in 2005 and N132.579 billion. http://dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2789&Itemid=59