Nigerian Journalists must learn from Diochi, the village wine tapper, as they report on CBN

One thing Nigeria does not need now is a bank run because we do not even make enough pillows in Nigeria. So, if a run happens, I am not sure if we will have enough pillows imported on time to store the funds.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is under severe stress because it is the only agency we can all flog publicly. But as I have noted, CBN is really a small part of this puzzle. Apex banks have two core functions in economies: maintain the strength of currencies by managing inflation and drive employment through interest rates management. And when you go lower in the system, it cannot manage inflation if there is no production (Supply side), and it cannot boost employment if there are no companies hiring. So, as people hit CBN, remember NDE, SMEDAN, etc as all supposed to be part of the equation.

Yet, as that happens, we must be nuanced and careful not to rattle the market. In Igbo tradition, elders will remind villagers that just like Diochi, the palm wine tapper, it is only a fool who tells everything he sees while on top of a palm tree! What that axiom is postulating is this: there are powers you have or things you can say, but sometimes, not saying or exercising that power will serve the society better. Diochi on top of the palm tree sees the whole village – women giving birth, people showering in the village stream, etc. The village expects him to hold those secrets!

This is why my best analysis are not read on social media. I have learnt my lessons and I can give three samples which convinced me to modulate:

1. Konga should sell . I posited that old Konga was out of ideas despite raising close to $100m and should just sell itself. Within a month or so, that happened.  Many young people blamed a village boy for causing them to lose their jobs. That was painful.

2. Andela problem . I noted issues. As you can see in the comments, many were unhappy. Good enough, Andela changed strategy and averted that problem when it stopped building dormitories!

3. Ecommerce problems in Africa, Harvard Business Review  African brothers spoke in one voice: you wanted to destroy ecommerce in Africa, as they neglected my concerns.

After some of these lessons, those deep analytical works are gone because we’re not good at handling academic perspectives.  Please journalists, be nuanced when you write about banking ratios as Nigeria cannot afford a bank run right now.

One thing Nigeria does not need now is a bank run because we do not even make enough pillows in Nigeria. So, if a run happens, I am not sure if we will have enough pillows imported on time to store the funds.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is under severe stress because it is… pic.twitter.com/LyftafJKDP

— Ndubuisi Ekekwe (@ndekekwe) December 12, 2023

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