Land of nope at the platinum jubilee

A buffet to party

I had deliberately avoided the Platinum Jubilee celebrations along with the patriotic fervour that seemed to describe an event that could barely be attended by the celebrant who had achieved the extraordinary feat of being on the throne for 70 years, apart from snatches of it on television.

However, I found myself invited to participate with a community that I have somewhat made my own, as my local church is the Manchester Cathedral, and we were enjoined to attend a platinum jubilee party after the Sung Eucharist where the Queen was to be toasted by the Bishop of Manchester.

The party was professionally catered, and we lined up for the buffet as we picked up cutlery, queuing around the table to choose whatever took our fancy to eat. After which, I found a place to sit before the Dean presented me with a song sheet that had Land of Hope and Glory and God Save the Queen.

Empire on the roam

My obvious lack of curiosity is probably the reason why I have not really reckoned on the words of Land of Hope and Glory; nothing could have prepared me for the utterly unapologetic imperialist import of the words of the song, and much as it is trotted out for nostalgic jingoism at any opportunity, is so totally anachronistic that any self-aware person would find themselves quite reticent to have those words leave their lips even if in state of inebriation.

Land of hope and glory, mother of the free,
How shall we extol thee, who are born of thee,
Wider still and wider, shall thy bounds be set,
God who made thee mighty, make thee mightier,
God who made thee mighty, make thee mightier yet.

That is the chorus, the words by Arthur C. Benson (1902), music by Edward Elgar (1901) and it became one of the signature songs of the armed forces sweetheart Vera Lynn during WWII.

Let’s do it again

After we sang it the first time, the old ladies already distributing Union Jacks urged us to wave them with enthusiasm and then asked for the organist to go for an encore, so, we sang it again as those caught in the delirium of this nationalistic cannabis mist, almost began to dance like whirling dervishes, we could be as possessed as we are willing to allow ourselves.

But this song belongs nowhere in the 21st Century and definitely not in the UK of today, for very few have that hope for any glory in a life that meets the threshold of basic or comfortable. To those of us somewhat well-off, the cost-of-living crisis is just a blip, alright the pot of yoghurt I used to buy at the supermarket at 80p is now 90p, one banana costs 2p extra, I can see the cost of milk, eggs, pasta, cheese, beef cutlets and many more things go up, but they are all still affordable.

Wider is the berth

My rent is going up just as my energy bills are, and I am paying more tax, but I am part of the fortunate few that would weather this storm. Many more can't make ends meet, they are using food banks that might not be well-stocked, and they are even turning off their fridges and freezers to save on electricity, the consequence of which is food poisoning recorded in some children.

As the Victorian era came to an end ushering in the Edwardian era of Edward VII, the British Empire was at its height, the sun did not set on the realms of our monarchy and probably there was this idea that the bounds of the empire should grow wider and that the empire be mightier, but today, there is little to widen or magnify, we have shrunk into an outpost on the west of Mainland Europe, hanging on to the glory of the Commonwealth of Nations that is an association over which we have little or no influence.

Diminished through and through

Britannia did once rule the waves, but we can hardly put together a navy that rivals many of our peer nations. Unfortunately, we are failing to lay a grip on our current reality for a fictional Utopia of might and influence that none living today ever experienced. Yet, it is enough a distraction from the failings of Brexit, the lack of vision or purpose of Her Majesty's Government and once these 4 days of fun are over, we would be back to where we were 5 days ago, hungry, poor, destitute, and hopefully, not too hopeless.

I did participate, but I was not as enthused, our society is too unequal for the occasional patriotic activity to solve the deep problems that afflict our nation. At the time of the empire, we could rape the colonies for the benefit of the motherland, however, none of that is available anymore.

Our sovereign lady, the Queen though well-loved is in the twilight of her reign and life, the monarchy is on the wane and no passionate flag-waving is going to lift the flaggingly desperate situation that bedevils the Britannia that once ruled the waves.

The shabby handling of the Naira redenomination

The rotten announcement

Reading about the news of the suspension of the Naira Redenomination exercise by the “Chief Law Officer” of Nigeria Mr. Michael Aondoakaaon (SAN) Chxta’s World brought cold comfort.

Someone then left a comment that included a link to that announcement and disappointment was not the only thing that registered in my countenance as I watched what would definitely end up being a rotten farce.

Click to see the video

Real life re-denomination

Now, I am no economist or monetarist as to be able to determine in any way the likeable success of redenominating the same currency in order to make it appreciate in value. However, I was witness to the Netherland Guilder to the Euro transition and I can say that the only thing that seemed to appreciate in value was the cost of goods and services.

In some instances, retailers simply struck off the Guilder sign and stuck on the Euro sign without changing the numerals, even when the exchange rate was 2.20371 NLG to 1 Euro. Much as the government tried to gloss over the situation by saying there was no widespread price inflation, the man in the street stridently differed.

If the knock off 2 zeros ploy were to work in Nigeria where logistics, documentation and market research would be hardly as advanced as in the West, I would wonder how this would stem inflation from a monitored perspective, it probably would have been better to introduce an entirely new currency and severely restrict the time of exchange.

Many developing countries have redenominated their currencies, so it is no new exercise; in fact, Layna Mosley presented a peer-reviewed working paper titled Dropping Zeros, Gaining Credibility? Currency Redenomination in Developing Nations [PDF] in 2005 which in some cases shows that redenomination does not necessarily arrest inflation or garner confidence in monetary policy - See Page 4.

Disgraceful, immature nitpicking

However, that is not the point I am interested in, rather, I am quite taken aback by the onslaught of a toady Attorney General who somehow brought to the President’s attention provisions of Section 19 in the Central Bank Act (2007 as amended, which I could not find) which presumably the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria had forgotten to adhere to.

The said provisions of Section 19 which deals with the Denomination and form of currency notes and coins which appears below from the Act of 1999 should not be radically different and it does require presidential approval of the board’s recommendation, but definitely not all this political bluster.

Now, in any setting where civility, respect and maturity thrives, one would have expected that the dynamics of government to have Attorney General make overtures to the Governor about what might have been an oversight and arranged for the so-called written endorsement of the President in closed diplomatic circles.

Schism between Presidency and monetary policy

I cannot believe that such a radical re-alignment of monetary policy which is clearly the mandate of the Central Bank of Nigeria can have been announced without the knowledge of the President – however, given the possibility that this was not the case because the Governor was having “maverick” tendencies, embarrassing him and undermining his remit in this way does more damage to confidence in the Nigerian economic policy internally and internationally, it is a myopic and demeaning posture that borders on disgraceful.

The so-called “Chief Law Officer” who also happens to hold the coveted Senior Advocate of Nigeria designation leaves me wondering if this title has become so devalued that once people attain political office they lose all civility, decorum, respect and dignity in the pursuit of wielding more influence rather than serving the purpose of their offices.

This definitely exposes serious team-dynamic issues within the Federal Government of Nigeria, and the sooner we have all the personnel including the President recognise the authority and demeanour of their offices which should be above the murky waters of village politics, the sooner we can get to solving problems in Nigeria.

Nigeria - a technocrat’s nemesis?

Beyond this, is the subject of technocrats in Nigerian politics, one does begin to wonder if they have any place in serving the country when like Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, they are systematically undermined and frustrated into resigning as a last resort to retain their honour and dignity, regardless of their principled stances.

The President cannot summarily sack the Governor, it requires the approval of the Senate, just as the appointment of a new Governor – so the easier way to create change is to frustrate the incumbent with nitpicking public announcements that challenge his professional judgement and conduct.

As usual, what would happen is some father of a vested interest would come into the fray to mediate in some exclusive mansion and help settle what is comparable to dogs marking territory and all would be forgiven or forgotten, however, if the Governor would stand for anymore of this nonsense is left to be seen.

Shame on the President and his cohorts on this matter, they could have shown more integrity and maturity in handling their discontent with the Naira redenomination exercise, but they could not rise to that standard of civility.

References

A Brief on the Central Bank of Nigeria {CBN} Act, 2007

Central Bank of Nigeria

Central Bank of Nigeria - Decree No. 24 of 1991 - Decree No. 41 of 1999 (Amended)

Two inflations one Zimbabwe

A basket of tragedy

The wicked man who rules Zimbabwe as a grubby dirty dictator must have interesting perspectives of inflation. Hardly a year ago, inflation was hitting a record 1,042.9%, then business quotations were not valid for more than 2 days - unimaginable - one year on, it has rocketed to 3,713% - it continues to fill me with amazement still where in the West an inflation rate of 4% would send jitters through the markets threatening all sorts of business confidence and possible collapse of certain financial instruments.

Poignantly, one report illustrates how traders are coping with these unprecedented inflation levels, a bar of soap gets cut into three and then each part is sold at slightly higher than a third of the price of whole.

Food stuff are now been re-weighed and repackaged into smaller quantities for more or less the same or higher price in what is referred to as the "Tsaono Basket", Tsaono meaning tragedy in Shona - a language spoken in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique and Botswana.

The greater tragedy of this is the fact that hardly 10 years ago, Zimbabwe was the food basket of Southern Africa where farms which mainly belonged to white Zimbabweans produced enough to feed the people and export to neighbouring countries.

These farms were seized in some mendacious black empowerment drive and given to so-called war veterans who knew diddly-squat about agriculture or farm management - the result is a country on the verge of great famine and starvation - Mr. Mugabe might have appeared smart with what he had done but he has ruined his country and he is oblivious of this fact.

More police, still no farmers

We now find that in readiness the elections next year the police force is to see an inflation of 100%, the numbers are to be doubled to double the oppression and repression of a people who only want to survive and seek a government that would meet the socio-economic needs that any world citizen deserves.

Any wise old man would see the problem with his country and suffering amongst his people to realise that the recruitment drive should be in raising people with knowledge about farm management so as to start to bring Zimbabwe out of the doldrums.

We need to ditch the patriarchal system of patronage in Africa that allows for nasty old men to impose their selfish megalomaniac will on a people thereby impeding progress and condemning their countries to preventable suffering and unnecessary poverty.

Mr Robert Mugabe was once one of the leaders of the liberation struggle in Southern Africa, but that is now history because there is no point in being ruled by people of the same colour and then encountering such great hardship because of misgovernment, corruption and nepotism.

There may be some who would begin to wonder if the times under white rule were not times of great freedom and prosperity.

If that is not a greater indictment of Mr. Robert Mugabe and his cohorts or gang, nothing else is.

Scalding snouts out of the Nigeria Civil Service trough

Tossing out the black sheep

If the decision to retrench or sack 33,000 workers from the Nigerian Civil Service is to get rid of people unfit, guilty of serious misconduct or "ghost workers" that would be laudable.

The other debatable issue is that of well-qualified people as opposed people who have a sense of duty to do they have been employed to do.

There is definitely a sound perception value to be gained from instigating such a purge; the economic and social value is suspect.

Perception value stems from eliminating corrupt and inadequate resources from our civil services with the hope that it would create a more responsive and streamlined organisation for that management of Nigeria.

Market forces stealing purses

However, considering what has been earmarked for both the severance payments and the intended salary increases from January 2007, we might be laying ahead a few more troubles for the economy at large.

If we are to pay off those unfit, corrupt or guilty of serious misconduct rather than sanction them through due process or criminal proceedings these miscreants would have gotten away scot-free at probably a lesser cost to the federal government but a greater cost to the country.

The black economy thrives on the ability for people to spend, and I have many times noticed in the 70s and 80s that each salary rise in the civil service was always accompanied by price hikes in the markets, I would not expect this time to be different.

The problems is the prices hikes might already kick in long before the reality of the payments are made - we might have the economy on some sort of even keel but this activity would be grossly inflationary.

It leaves one in a quandary - how does one address the issue of giving qualified and dedicated civil servants a "living wage" without having inflationary pressures loot them of that largesse?

New ideas for 419

Beyond that, the newly laid off people would hit the market with certain deplorable skills, most especially those who can suggest that they have as members of the civil service stashed away moneys that need to be released through some foreign transaction known as 419.

The fact is, some greedy oafs would fall for it and in the process face loses of money and dignity if possible and rightly so - as I stated in Avarice Anonymous last year.

Expectations of technocrats

After this purge, the government would be on a recruitment drive to engage 1,000 highly qualified technocrats who hopefully would bring some radical change to the departments in which they are posted.

Technocrats are however not what they are cut out to be, whilst the current Minister of Foreign Affairs who was the Finance Minister did much to affect and change the perception of both the workings and operations of her ministry, the current Internal Minister who was once the Minister for Foreign Affairs failed to effect radical change in his ministry that Mrs Okonjo-Iweala's early comments read as unbelievable if not lamentable.