In the difficult moments of our history, looking precisely at the period of Nigeria’s war of unity 1966-1971, Egypt proved to be a strategic partner from helping to train our military to support with equipment and aircraft maintenance.

In the course of his bilateral meeting with the Egyptian leader, Abdul Fattah El-Sisi, President Muahmmadu Buhari recalled that in the course of his service in the army,  he too received military training in Egypt.

This 24-hour visit to to the Red Sea resort of Sharm Al-Shaikh was not just a ‘trip to Egypt’ as it has been wrongly portrayed,  as if it were primarily bilateral in nature or a ritual courtesy call on President Sisi. The purpose was to promote investment and job creation in Nigeria and throughout West, Central and East Africa, together with other African leaders

The Sharm el-Sheikh ‘Africa 2016’  conference aimed at tearing down trade barriers between North and sub-Saharan Africa – a partnership anchored by the continent’s biggest and third-biggest economies (i.e., Nigeria and Egypt) by the injection of  life into a 26-nation free-trade pact signed by half the number of countries on the continent a year ago.

The organizers brought together more than 1200 delegates to Sharm el-Sheikh, included among these the eight Presidents and Prime Ministers, ministers of trade and investment, representatives of global financial institutions, businessmen and investment executives.

It is expected that this new pan-African initiative will directly benefit Nigeria in its efforts to expand and diversify jobs and exports beyond the oil industry – a core component of President Buhari’s economic vision for the country. Knocking down trade barriers within Africa will create new markets for Nigerian farmers, manufacturers and other businesses.

In his opening remarks, Egypt’s President El-Sisi said that the forum aimed at “pushing forward trade and investment in our continent to strengthen Africa’s place in the world economy.”

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari who touted an extensive economic agenda said that this is not without challenges.

“The new problem affecting investment is international terrorism…lots of resources that could be used for development are being diverted to address security issues.”

As he and many others noted, the only way this can be redressed is by widening the participation of the private sector in African economies, the very idea behind the conference in Egypt.

One shining example of how this could be done came from the African Development Bank, ADB which announced through its President,Nigeria’s Akinwumi Adesina that the bank would be investing 12 billion Dollars in the energy sector in the coming five years to provide access to electricity.

There are 645 million Africans without access to electricity.

President Buhari’s  visit to Egypt wasn’t limited to the business of “Africa 2016” in its success, as it turned out to be one that is a remarkable watershed in bilateral ties between the two states.

While it was not surprising that El-Sisi rolled out the red carpet for President Buhari in line with what many say is a plan by Egypt to rebuild the country’s money-spinning tourism industry in tatters since the mid-air bombing in October of a Russian plane, killing all 223 tourists and crew, the truth is also that these two of Africa’s three biggest economies had been too far apart when it comes to trade. The two leaders also bonded well with each other at their first meeting in Addis Ababa early in the new year.

By the last count, bilateral trade between the two states amounts to a meager USD 100 million, with Egypt drawing about 80 percent of the benefit.

Egyptian pharmaceutical companies are making good sales in Nigeria. Egypt is Nigerians’ preferred destination for medical tourism.

Linked to this is their successful airline business trade in Nigeria. Egypt Air makes seven weekly flights to Lagos, and six each to Abuja and Kano.

There is little or nothing to show from the Nigerian side and this one of the things President Buhari wants to change.

In welcoming our President  to the bilateral discussion, the Egyptian leader did not hide his joy at the acceptance of the Nigerian leader to visit.

The two leaders agreed to strengthen ties between their two states, to reestablish that historical closeness which helped Nigeria remain a single country decades ago.

They talked about doing this through enhanced partnership and cooperation in the areas of trade, security and defense.

President Buhari welcomed Egypt’s decision to strengthen strategic cooperation and intelligence sharing with Nigeria and from this, a framework for dealing with terrorism would emerge. For this, he gave instructions to the Ministry of ForeignAffairs to follow up with a meeting. Further progress is expected to follow on security and trade issues. In addition, the President requested El-Sisi to promote Egyptian investment in education in Nigeria.

The two leaders also discussed a range of regional and global issues. As to be expected, terrorism topped them all.

They both expressed concern that the anarchy in  Libya, a disturbing situation that had provided a great impetus to terrorism in areas far and around the failed state.

The leaders also emphasized their cooperation on climate change and energy issues.

Experts in the field of diplomacy say that personal bond between two leaders can help pave the way for better relations among states.

In Nigeria and Egypt relations, there is a good chance of this working to the benefit of the two states.

Garba Shehu is Senior Special Assistant on media and publicity to President Buhari. [myad]

Integrity, service, goodwill and trust are attributes that can guarantee favourable wind against the sail of every political party. Once afore mentioned attributes are missing, the ship will not only stall, it will be hit by unprecedented tempest towards an expected wreck. The Peoples Democratic Party in its effort to reposition itself has further sunk its fortunes when it announced Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as new helmsman.
The emergence of Sheriff has given some fence-sitting PDP members excuse to dump the PDP for the All Progressives Congress. Those truly committed to a rebirth of the PDP are also abandoning ship, carrying their political destiny either to other smaller party platforms or going into permanent retirement from partisan politics.
The gale looms once again for the politically battered opposition party as emergence of the embattled Sheriff heralded cry of indignation as incredulous old and aspiring members were utterly disappointed. Some bewildered people ran quick check on the alleged financial and terror charges hovering around the former Borno State Governor and were aghast over what could inform the decision. With a serious burden of image problem, those who mean well for the opposition party knew the party has managed to find itself at the flaking edge of its political career.
As fortunes continue to elude PDP, the ruling APC is smiling to the political bank where the bankruptcy of PDP from the goodwill market is yielding enormous interest for them. If Sheriff is the strategy some PDP members seek to deploy against the ruling party in 2019, then it is a tragedy which only shows that the blundering survival of the party for 16 years was nothing but sheer miracle – not however without empirical collateral damages.
The tragedy of African continent and that indeed refer to the PDP, is what Patrice Lumumba described as “the canonization of criminals and demonization of saints”. The party was obviously created by politicians with narrow interests. They abandoned the party just as they abandoned standards. They anoint fugitives once it serves their interests. Inbetween, the party frolics in maximum impunity, a gorgon that has left it in political oblivion.
Modu Sheriff may not be all what the media, politicians say he is, but part of effort towards re-branding the PDP beguiled by image deficit for 16 years is expected to have a national chairman with national acceptance and less character hemorrhage to lead a rebirth. Once again, it is clear, the gods are still angry with PDP. The period of penance is still upon the former ruling party.
If speculations bandied about are anything to pay attention to, PDP leadership may have scouted for a party chairman among people less interested in “moving the party forward”. It was rumoured that Nuhu Ribadu was penciled down for the job, but he fled like a gazelle before a ferocious starving lion. Other consensus candidates either gave excuses or out rightly refused the offer. Be that as it may, Sheriff should not be the one to hold forth for Adamu Mu’azu, the immediate past PDP chairman, as the party claim.
The emergence of the ‘new Sheriff’ has indeed dealt the party a huge blow, as many think it may have lost in efforts aimed at repairing battered image it has managed to have over the years. Many politicians who would have continued with the umbrella wielding party are presently scattered across lesser political platforms on account of the credibility problem in PDP. With this recent gaffe, even aggrieved APC members are beginning to shelve ideas of jumping ship. Now the usual impunity is upon the PDP. Some leaders of the party act without considering popular opinion. The struggle to remain relevant, fragmented interests between those struggling for power and those tenaciously holding on to power at the PDP national leadership has indeed led the party to its fringes again for the umpteenth time.
The alleged ‘terror’ Sheriff, the unfortunate wrong turns, persistent impunity, leadership dearth, are summary of challenges beguiling Nigeria, which unfortunately the PDP appears to reflect. They have jack-knifed themselves out of the road to political prosperity into what appears like abysmal end of a political party in early retirement. Indeed PDP antecedent should be used as lesson for political scientists as empirical example of “How not to run a Political Party”. It should be the new pol 101 of every political science syllabus across the globe.
I have always hoped to see vibrant opposition against the APC. I have always advocated for strong opposition in the country political stratosphere. I incline myself strongly to Harry Truman’s submission that “once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.”
PDP failed as a ruling party and it is about on its way to fail as an opposition. What is expected of the party is strategic moves towards rebranding. The most credible and purposeful plan for the PDP would have been to take off control from the hands of those who have managed to destroy its image at the center. The party is expected to bring on board a leader with credibility. The next step is for the party to look out for political linkages/affiliates towards possibility of a mega party sometime in 2017. They are also expected to be concerned with possible name change and sellable acronym. But what did they do? They simply carried a dead weight despite the obvious fact they are drowning.
Interestingly, Nigerians have been promised “.change” by the All Progressives Congress but the too frequent blame-game, buck passing and too similar mistakes of the past leaves so much expectations very elusive. We must not forget that the vibrant opposition APC mounted against the reckless era of the PDP led to the change of leadership witnessed today. Now with a perfectly laid out “imperfection” of the PDP, only a positive twist of fate can help the country with a purposeful opposition that will put a permanent check on activities perpetuated by politicians in the ruling party.
. Ebije can be reached via: ebijeo5@gmail.com or @ebijeisrael. [myad]

It is no longer news that the naira has gone the way of the Somalia Shillings, exchanging at over N400 to $1 USD in the parallel market at some point last week.

Fortunately, our insurgency problem isn’t as severe as theirs neither have we experienced any of those devastating droughts that has helped impoverish one of the world’s failed state.

The scarcity and shortages in Somalia is nothings like the situation in Nigeria. Here, it’s like heaven when compared. But we can draw parallels from the currencies and that makes the situation of the naira pitiable. It portends a bleak economic outlook for the average Nigerian. It is indicative of all that has gone wrong in the nine months since the start of the change administration.
As a street economist, I wouldn’t want to dabble into the issues bothering on the devaluation of the naira or not but would want to delve into the pinching effects of the current situation we find ourselves as regards the government’s monetary policy.

Despite the fact that naira’s official rate has long been pegged at between N197 and N199 by the government, it has continued on a downward slide because of the market forces at play. While the President has resisted pressure not to devalue the currency, I know the naira has long been devalued, with the banks eating very fat from the loose ends which is made available by the current circumstances. There seems to be a lot of confusion at the Central Bank of Nigeria. For me, it is either there is disconnect between the CBN and commercial banks or it’s a grand conspiracy between the two, on which top officials have latched to impoverish the people that they are meant to serve.
This foreign exchange plague was further even exacerbated by the restrictions on students schooling abroad. Every Nigerian with a bank account received the instructions from their bankers in June, citing a guideline from CBN. There were other announcements informing Nigerians on several other revisions that included the point of sales transactions not exceeding $300 daily and a monthly withdrawal not over $10,000 or its equivalents. There was these other announcement on procurement of Basic Travelling Allowance (BTA) from banking halls that was also not attended. Customers who besieged banks to buy BTA were advised to use their debit cards abroad. The naïve customers accepted all the dogmas read to them only to leak their wounds after a great dip into their pockets were experienced on transactions they made abroad. Outrageous debits were made without their permission and they dare not relate their individual experiences to anyone because they didn’t know whether it was part of the mop up plan by the new sheriff to pull the naira into a steady line.
But that seems to have changed as the naira reached a record high last week. Social media has been awash with stories on how banks have been debiting, deducting and duping their customers without due explanations. CBN asked banks to refund over N6 billion in dubious charges. I don’t know if that is a part of it. The banks also have not come out to claim or deny their newly assigned duties from the CBN as operators in the parallel market after the administration booted out Bureau de Change operators. It is also no longer news that when you use the POS while shopping or make withdrawals with the naira debit cards online and abroad, you are charged amounts contrary to the officially exchange rates. Those transactions attract similar, and sometimes higher, rates as those from the parallel market for dollars, pounds or the euro in the popular Wuse Zone 4 black market in Abuja and at the Bookshop House, Lagos. Even our whistle-blower in chief and now Emir of Kano Lamido Sanusi commented about it in an interview penultimate week with the BBC.
The Government may not know it but it is the reality on ground. Pure water sachet is now selling for N20 as against N10 and this is not because there are water shortages in the country. But it is due to the cost of importing polyethylene, a raw material for making the sachet, which has shot up. An oil producing country is unable to meet up with its local demands on the derivatives from the crude oil that it produces yet the government is not perturbed. It has promised and severally given deadlines at revamping and rejuvenating the obsolete refineries until the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation finally announced that they have packed up because of under production. But all the government is interested in is stiffening foreign exchange that is profiting a few instead of opening up the productive sector for its young people who need jobs. The government can’t understand why people will source for foreign exchange for the importation of toothpicks yet it is not ready to encourage small businessmen who have genuine funding needs for the import of machinery for small and medium scale production. But expects to grow the economy.
While the government is stiffening foreign exchange supply, it is enriching banks and officials positioned to work at foreign exchange desks. I recently learnt that Money Gram staffs are the new brides in town. You pay them almost double the amount of money you want them to transfer abroad for you. According to an insider, a recipient abroad can receive unlimited amount of money in dollars but an individual can only send a specific amount in equivalent foreign currencies to that recipient once in a quarter. So what bank officials do is to detail their relatives to send as much times as possible to those relatives who repatriate the same funds into the parallel market without the fear of the new sheriff in town. It was further explained that there is a time limit for those transfer transactions in the morning on a daily basis so an outsider could check at the banks money gram desks throughout the year, even sleeping overnights at each time without benefitting from the regime.
The desk officer is always having a customer before you call in to make your transactions. It is that bad. Prices of goods including spare parts have skyrocketed with no hope of coming down again, heightening inflation pressure. But for how long will this tarry, even a forlorn hope seems a mirage because there is no vibrant economic team to tackle these economic challenges and provide clarity and direction of economic policies. All we have is widening team of media crème de la crème that specializes in sustaining the sermons of melancholy inherited by the regime and on great poos that will take ages to clean forgetting that the new poos are hot and oozing out great economic stenches that could disfigure the face of change in the coming months.
We don’t need all that right now.
Twitter:@MOkpogode. [myad]