Date Published: 08/20/09
SANUSI, SANUSI, SANUSI, YOU CAN NEVER SUSTAIN THIS
By Farouk Martins Aresa
This man must be crazy. He has taken on more than he can chew. This has never worked in Nigeria, Kenya or South Africa. So we do not know why he thinks he is the new found Messiah. This man can never clean up institutional fraud in Nigeria we know. We have enough casualties to show as evidence, from Exhibits A to Z. As we were having esi-ewu with our palmy at the beer parlor, little did we know Sanusi had way more than us.
You see what we mean, the courts will strike your arrogance down and your hands will be tied down for lack of Nigerian due process. You do not know you are fiddling with fire-fire! If that does not work, we are ready to blackmail you with ethnocentric agenda. You must be working against some people because of where they come from. But wait, the names of biggest debtors have been published and they are from all parts of Nigeria. Ok. But I did not see the name of the Chairman of Notore Chemicals there. Why, an oversight or?
If you think the Presidency is solidly behind your butt, you have not learned my friend. There was this fellow I know, who had the backing of the Presidency. The last I heard about him was that he has gone into exile to become a vagabond. So watch out my buroda. You may be next. You do not understand that some untouchable names have been published and I am sure there is more to come. Are you not the same guy who said the seven or ten point agenda of my dear President should be cut down to one or two?
Actually, before this latest move, some of us disagree with how you got there and about your policy to flood the market with hard currency you cannot print. The idea that we can continue to sustain our appetite with foreign currencies is so foolish on its face only the pushers and their beneficiaries believe it. There is no degree in economics, law, or accounting that can substantiate the fact that we can live on other peoples’ money indefinitely without adequate provision for solid returns on what we invest in.
OPM works well in a disciplined market where the money is invested in substantive sector for the production of tangible goods or infrastructures. The fact is none of these exist to a considerable extent in Nigeria. Our foreign currencies are spent on individuals’ depreciable consumption without long term value. A man who takes his turn on esusu and spent it to buy materials for his shop will make money and pay back out of profit compared to the one who spent it on his dead mother’s 50 th party anniversary.
However, by attacking a fraudulent institution like the bank, you may have a solid point because abusers of our hard earned foreign currency from oil are the ones who stole from the banks in form of none performing loans. As soon as they get the money, they change it to foreign currencies to be stocked in foreign banks and for conspicuous consumption. The dwindling middle class or the working class simply lacks enough demand to exhaust our needs for the amount of foreign currencies made available.
Well connected Africans and those with access to our hard earned money have engaged in the worst form of profligacy at the expense of their individual countries’ foreign exchange. It is just=2 0malady for any country to implement a fiscal or monetary policy where currency that is not locally earned or printed can be liberally made available to purchase foreign goods in the name of freedom. There is freedom to spend your own local currency if earned, not those obtained with bloody environmental polluting oil.
By exposing plunderers through an institution like the banks, Sanusi has taken on a sizable number of our crooks. These are the same people who parade themselves as billionaires and donate to any party event, some aggrandizing causes linked to the power of the day projects or in the name of personal charities. If they have that much money, they could have been servicing their loans. No, the banks eventually pack up taking working class money with them. It has happened too many times in Nigeria.
So if the reason Sanusi made foreign currencies available is to increase production and allow ordinary folks access, while curbing the big spenders’ appetite, fine. There is no need to repeat all the conspicuous consumption of Nigerians or the round tripping of banks and individuals. It boils down to trading in money instead of goods and services. Whenever, the small business people go to banks for loans, their collaterals, guarantors and other document are vigorously demanded and scrutinized. They are promptly seized on default.
On the other hand, those who default on non performing loans only have connection and names as collaterals. This is what kills genuine business activities that can provide jobs and sustain families. Nigeria is so unlucky, if she is not bled by politicians through their local government allocations, she is bled by big names and big businesses through the banks. By taking on the banks, Sanusi has made a very bold move that only doubting Thomas will not wish that he succeeds.
Of course these crooks are crying for due process so that they can have enough time to escape to their foreign bank accounts. This is what loo ters do. They steal enough to hire the best legal minds in the Country while they pursue their hedonist tendencies abroad. Unfortunately, the only place you find Nigerians from all parts of the Country unite and agree all the time is where they suck milk and honey out, leaving blood for the rest of us to splatter.
Many of us can never be fooled by the ratings given to our institutions like banks by the rating houses. We know how they achieved those ratings in the United States and still failed miserably. So our banks learned how to massage the ratings the same way they obtained their foreign honorary awards after donating blood money. The Country also got high ratings after paying off the Paris Club odious debts.
There are some names that kept on recurring in politics and banks like Inter-Continental and Oceanic that have proved crippling in the recent past to those who tried to nail culprits of corruption. They will predict how long you are going to last, when yo u will be charged to court and when you will be jailed. Ask my other buroda. So Sanusi, you need all the luck and prayers you can get.
