BabloScript Articles

It's not all kinds of fabrics you spread out in the sun to dry. Some are left in the confines of the house under room temperature. There are good reasons for that.  

So, even secrecy has its good purpose. We've always understood this principle and practice. Our indigenous political institutions had elements of these principles embedded in them. 

Whether as an individual, organization or country, you need a measure of secrecy when dealing with your enemies. You don't want them to know your plans and strategies, otherwise they would undermine your progress. For good or bad reasons, that's why you have the KGBs and CIAs of this world. Our own secret service - DSS is not strategic in any way. It tends to play only the law enforcement role - like the police. 

In the name of things like Democracy, Globalization, Deregulation etc, we have been made to lose our understanding of the meaning and noble use of secrecy. The only secret that many corrupt individuals in public service know is the need to conceal his atrocities involving embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds. High profile  public officers and private sector big men alike are at liberty to sell out and freely give sensitive information to foreign governments, to the detriment of their own national security. Some are even said to be in the permanent employment of alien governments in this respect. 

African countries in general have been conditioned to permanently open up their privacy. What should be national secrets are said and debated freely on social media by citizens who don't understand this aspect of patriotism. 

The education sector and institutions are open for the world to see that there is nothing ideologically serious or worthwhile going on in there - the way the enemies want it, and the way we seem to like it, because of the people's complacency and intellectual laziness.

There can be no safe environment for planning and strategic advancement if there are many cracks all over our walls. Cracks in the wall lets the gecko in to do havoc. Some secrecy is very necessary in our national life. The earlier we know, the better.

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*Lessons About Foreign Currency Management We Should Not Forget* 

By:

Alaba J. Babalola.

I wish to draw our attention to the testimony that the current exchange rate ($/Naira, as at April 16, 2024, which is circa $1 / N1,100 ) shows the essence of  professional currency management. Particularly the testimony shows that :

1.Holding of and the use of foreign currency for transactional purposes in the domestic base of the Naira (Nigeria) is detrimental to the value and stability of the Naira. This is because a flourishing market , if allowed, would always develop around a stable reserve foreign currency within the reach of any people seeking an alternative to a troubled local currency. 

When the financial authorities make such alternative readily available, the depressing effect on the local currency can be devastating. In recent past, we saw this happen in Nigeria when the banking system made it possible for anyone to have access to dollar bills in cash, either in respect of remittances from abroad through the banks or purchases from the BDCs and other sellers in the parallel market. 

The market for the dollar in Nigeria developed to a  behemoth stature as local vendors in general (schools, hospitals etc) demanded for the U.S dollar instead of the Naira. Even corrupt government officials and politicians were said to prefer the U.S dollar in paying bribes and kickbacks. As they did that over time, the Naira became less and less valuable, especially at a time when Emefiele's CBN had pumped enormous amount of autonomously printed Naira into the system.

The Naira tumbled vis-a vis the U.S Dollar, declining to about $1 / N1,800), while prices of goods and services rose exponentially when the government thought it was necessary to float the Naira 100 per cent.

2.The second lesson we need to learn from our recent experience is that, no nation floats its currency 100 per cent.  There must always be a management mechanism for addressing significant  fluctuations in the value of the domestic currency. It can be a way of buying or selling the Naira or the dollar in the markets to uphold the value of the Naira. This is necessary as a stabilizing and cushion effect for stable and continuous international trade by Nigerian Importers and Exporters. 

Stability of import prices, particularly can  contribute a lot to the stability of domestic prices or prevent inflation in Nigeria.

I have expressed this opinion while we have an empirical evidence at hand which buttresses the points made within it. Hopefully, Nigerians would not demand to hold and use a foreign currency at the expense of their own, especially if the relevant market rate of exchange is unambiguous, realistic and relatively stable. We need our CBN to always adhere to these professional standards of currency management, inter alia.

Alaba J. Babalola ACIB

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