A Case Of Economic Ignoramus (Alice In Naijaland)
At a point, Nigerians have to acknowledge that one of the factors hindering our economic progress as a nation is the constant somersaulting and “somertumbing” in and out of economic policies by our government.
The more decisions our economy drivers take, the more we doubt their economic driving license and competencies. With the latest announcement on the ban on cryptocurrency, I can’t help but wonder if they are taking a wild guess.
Honestly, I am of the strong opinion that I will do a better job than the team handling Nigeria’s economy.
By the way, without consulting Google, who is the current finance minister of Nigeria? That is the person supposed to be driving our economy.
What about the minister of budget and national planning?
That is how ineffective, non-functional, and non-existent they have been. Ask five educated, savvy, and politically informed Nigerians these same questions and see the response you’ll get.
The only reason we know the CBN governor is because he has constantly been the one delivering economic bad news to us since 2015. Even if you don’t know Godwin Emefiele by name, you can picture him giving a dreaded announcement.
I hope he has a couple of good news for us before his tenure is up or he gets fired. It will be sad for him to only be remembered for announcing that we are in a recession. Twice. (There is enough time between now and 2023 for a third and fourth.)
Every attempt by this economic team to craft a policy that betters our fortune ends up looking like groping in the darkness. And these are supposed to be technocrats.
Is Nigeria irredeemable or is this team just bereft of ideas?
Can someone in the government, anyone at all, come and explain to us why cryptocurrency is bad for our economy? Can they come and tell us the danger they are curtailing by banning it?
Within hours of the announcement, financial institutions were sending messages to their customers that they can no longer facilitate such trades. Is anyone measuring the impact of this policy on our economy?
How many accounts will get closed or go dormant until the ban is lifted?
Startups in the cryptocurrency space are shutting down overnight. The same way one government pronouncement in Lagos shut down multiple transport businesses and cost thousands of people their jobs.
The sad reality is that eventually, people will find a way to keep trading in cryptocurrency. The same way they are finding a way to circumvent the international money transfer limit and ban.
Where there is a will there is a way. In Nigeria, the government blocks that way.
But then, where there is a Nigerian will, there is an Appian Way.
Wilson Joshua is a Video Editor, Content Creator, and Creative Writer.
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