Even the almighty Blackrock, with asset under management of close to $9.5 trillion, cannot solve the current paralysis in Nigeria as iShares Frontiers fund goes: “BlackRock, one of the world’s leading asset managers, has announced plans to liquidate its iShares exchange-traded funds (ETFs) valued at $400 million, citing unprofitable business conditions in Nigeria and Kenya..The fund will cease trading and the creation and redemption of creation units will halt after market close no earlier than August 12, 2024.’
Nigeria needs to promptly reverse the Naira floating and/or fuel subsidies, as both cannot happen simultaneously. If not, the bleeding will continue as Nigeria cannot attain stability with both in the next five years.
I write this with pain because unless we fix these policies, many challenging moments await as I wrote in June 2023: “Nigeria’s floating of its currency, while progressive, will cause severe perturbations in the economy – and a stable state may not come as most experts have predicted.” And I repeat, a stable state will not come.
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Making this observation does not make me unpatriotic; I am patriotic, and I continue to invest in Nigeria. Our leaders must #lead.
The Naira Floating Policy Is Bad Policy
When the Naira floating policy was announced in June 2023, what did you say? Here is mine (in quote). And I have noted that floating the Naira is the worst economic policy in Nigeria since IBB introduced Nigeria to SAP, which ended up financializing our economy, out of manufacturing.
SAP created the “modern” financial sector without the “making things” component, as men became rich through financial instruments with no need to build or make anything!
Remember, I am not an activist, but an economics student of OA Lawal, the legendary author of O’Level Economics textbook. I am happy Sir OA Lawal was also against the policy. He spoke in July 2023, according to the Tribune https://lnkd.in/dCAg39yC,:
“RENOWNED economist and author, Dr. O.A Lawal has told the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stop the Naira floating policy it introduced on the advice of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“Lawal, who spoke in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune said that the nation’s economy cannot withstand a floated Naira, adding that the World Bank and the IMF would destroy the Naira completely if care is not taken.” -Dr. O.A Lawal . Eziokwu, gaskiya, otito.
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