I'm a little bit in the darkness and i need somebody to put me in the light of what is happening.
How can this naira redenomination revive and improve the economy?

i am delighted that some at the top know that soludo and others like him will turn the fortunes of nigeria around.there was a time i thought that we had no educated people anymore,i now they were only prevented from doing their work

soludo solution?  lets wait and see !!!!

wait and see? can you really afford to?

The number of countries that re-dominated their currency have been listed but the situation leading to the re-domination AND the effect of the policy on their economy afterwards have not been discussed.

I personally don't think there is anything wrong questioning policies made by 'experts' after all some other 'experts' are questioning this policy, it is not about being pessimistic or negative per say!

I support the re-denomination, but one thing that worries me is the involvement of IMF and/or IFC, Are they going to be determining our economic policies under Yar'Adua?

Quote @Seun
Please amidst all this economics terms, please can someone explain in layman's language the advantages of this re-denomination.
The advantages of the naira re-denomination include:
(1) widespread confusion making corruption easier. (2) exorbitant costs of compliance. (4) CBN in the news again!!

Na waa o! Seun is so angry that he even forgot that what follows 2 is 3 and not 4 Omo boy take am easy o!

Seun, always say reasonable things. I have looked through all your comments and you have never said anything positive. You had better change you attitude, you speak like nothing good can come out of Nigeria.

Lets Give Nigeria a Chance, we can only pray to God to better Nigeria, and not condemn it. We are all citizens

i agree to the comment about the intinsic value of the naira is what should be the major concern.
though Soludo's idea is not a bad one at all, i believe it would work.
but other sectors should also be involved in the problem of this our economy.
if only the banking sector bring out measures like this and think that it will reduce inflation, it won't, other sectors too should introduce measures to correct our problems of devaluation of naira, inflation etc.

i also believe that to the value of naira can be made better if the authorities can look into how we can increase export production and other methods of correcting the balance of payments/trade problems.

all sectors should be involved and not fold their hands while the banking sector takes a major step such as this
(or maybe there are reformations in other sectors that i am not aware of)

I don't really expect much confusion, because it happened in Ghana, they take some time to adjust but now they are all enjoying the new currency regime. Also, Soludo had already set the ball rolling by first bringing the coins to play (people are complaining back then), that was the preliminary.

champredd:

I don't really expect much confusion, because it happened in Ghana, they take some time to adjust but now they are all enjoying the new currency regime. Also, Soludo had already set the ball rolling by first bringing the coins to play (people are complaining back then), that was the preliminary.

how are goods priced presently? i don't see people selling thing at N72, N6, N10.50k and so on, when the CBN introduced the coins they predicted wrongly traders are not accepting the coins even on national tv!

bodsibobo:

after the re-denomination, they should also change the name from "naira" to something else

Naira will always be Naira, I don't expect any change in the name. Naira is the most prestigious currency on the African continent.

Dis Guy:

how are goods priced presently? i don't see people selling thing at N72, N6, N10.50k and so on, when the CBN introduced the coins they predicted wrongly traders are not accepting the coins even on national tv!

Whether they like it or not they will have to accept the coins now.

We need to be careful here Gambia tried implimenting these same policy almost 2 decade ago it was not successful,Ghana just introduced it we've not heard of its success.although i pray it works

a lot of u in the bid of being negatively optimistic had forgotten the word pessimistic that u all are! why can't we think great of nig 4 once?why do we hve 2 pull down nig's fortunes with evil mis-fortunes that lies in our tongue?im sure Soludo knws very well wat he is getting his head into, wat it means for the nation and economy as a whole. he is smarter and wiser than a whole lot of you out there.
peace y'all.

To me i can say that it is in two perspective i.e 1. good & 2. bad
It is good in the sense that it will increase the value of the money of Nigeria
it is bad in the sense that it have no immediate advantage to the value of Nigeria. i.e The standard of living will still remain the same. The Hardship in the country will still remain the same, the economic standard will still remain the same. Talk about any thing you can say in this country will still remain the same.

do people even know how currency works and what redomination means?

Making 1 dollars suddenly equal 1 naira doesnt change the inherent value of the currency. All re-domination is good for is it reduces the amount of naira we have to carry around so that something that costs 500 naira before can now be purchased for 5 naira. So you do not have to carry 100 bills of 5 naira or 5 bills or 100 Naira. It changes nothing in the economy. Hell we can make 1 dollar equal 0.2 kobo. It doesnt mean in the international market our currency is suddenly superior. Or that your kobo is worth anymore.

Its like switching from measuring the length of a 6 year old child from centimetres to feet with the age of the height of the child being the Naira and the child being the Nigerian economy. Redominating to feet measurement means a certain number of feet translates into a greater number of centimetres. That doesn change the inherent length of the child until the 6 year old grows to an 8 year old and increases his height. Wether you measure him in feet or inches the 6 year old child is still "so so and so" tall. So till our Nigerian Child (Economy) grows up measuring it in feet, inches, centimetres or millimetres just results in different denominated measurements for the SAME EXACT LENGTH (monetary value).

No more story. Redomination of Naira is not Nigeria's problem. I see this whole thing as a political agenda being perpectuated by Politicians in order to divert taxpayers money to their own pocket.

No knowledge of Economics is needed to analyse this. Economic activities will not change.

See this.
Present After 01/08/2008
Income/Month 50,000.00 500.00

Less Exp.
1Food 10,000.00 100.00
2Cloth 30,000.00 300.00
3Shelter 10,000.00 100.00

Any change in my purchasing power?

Soludu should wake up'

Dis is Crazy

It wont change ish

Twill only decrease the cost of printing cash

N Yahoo Boiz wuldnt wanna collect dollars again

+ twill be hard 2 change the mentality of nigerians who are used to thousands and millions

@ all
it sounds interesting to see how everybody has been trying to show off some hidden academic brilliance by trying to analyse the soludo new policy in the offing.

Nigeria obviously needs more than what has been written in the texts for us to move forward. Banks recapitalization has proven that some things are better analysed when hatched. As for seun, i think even if you study from now for 10 years, Soludo will still be a better economist than u are.

Lets give him the benfit of doubt and lets support whatever vision he feels he has for this country. i prefer a soludo to the many billionaires that are not courageous enough to help this economy. He has proven that he knows his onions and i cannot underestimate his heroics at all.

Can anyone please list the advantages of re-denomination.

The disadvantages are obvious:

1. Uncertainty of outcome

2. High rate of Illiteracy and confusion among naija people

3. Corruption and potential to fail as previously planned

4. Lack of desire to "actually" fight inflation by governmental agencies

As for seun, i think even if you study from now for 10 years, Soludo will still be a better economist than u are.

Professor Soludo is not just an economist anymore. He's a politician. That explains a lot:
Even if he knows in his heart of hearts that the policy is wrong, he may have a political reason.

maybe he does.

We are in this challenge together whether we like it or not, every Nigerian and their descendants regardless of location and conviction is also part of this. We cannot be down and complain, in the middle and complain, then when is time to be of high standard we also complain as if the rest of the world cares. Is time for us to be strong and at the same time not a bully to our brothers around us; the bottom line is we are also capable of surpassing this standard. That japanese is watever to the dollar is not our business, our business is to strengthen ourselves financially, structurally, physically, intelligently, skillfully, unitedly, regionally, continentally, peacefully, innovativily, culturally, prayerfully, democratically, equally, respectfully, sometimes racially(not tribally), logicly, etc
There will be sabotage by others that hate but we shouldn't be dettered. Is time for us to dress our bed the way we want to lay on it, and just like that saying, ask what u can do for ur country and not everytime what ur country can do for u.
That Nigerians will not be too desperate to travel out and live will be a boost to the country, that Nigeria will be an advanced country is good and it needs to be started and sustained, that I(love Nigeria) and those that hate Nigeria are witnessing the beginning of a Greater Nigeria aka a greater west Africa is really monumental and exciting, we have no choice but to get it right this time. Kudos to yar adua and soludo for even thinking about this genius way of country esteem, opportunity and hope, is time for naijas to contribute their A-game or remain stagnant(God forbid stagnant).

abi oo ma brother, dont mind all the stupid critics,

i no think that can be possible. cause i based my income on selling e-gold what will happen to me

A lot of dumb people dey this board sha. Even upon the explanation of what re-denomination means them still dey confused. Some people are actually thinking that the value of their money will drop from N50000 to 500.

For goodness sake redenomination doesn't mean that your N50000 will now be worth what N500 currently is. All it means is that new currency will released and henceforth if you currently have N100, that N100 would now be exchanged for a NEW NAIRA NOTE @ a rate of 1 new naira to 100 old naira.  That means for example goods now worth N40000 will now cost 400 "New Naira" and yes u will might not see or notice an immediate change to your purchasing power, however in the long run it is hoped that the new policy will curb inflation, reduce capital flight, make the Naira convertible with other world currencies as well as reducing the amount of money people have to carry around. This will also allow more foreign money to come into the banks, which means more money for people to borrow to make investments and improve the economy.

I just can't believe that some on this  forum can't comprehend/understand that simple fact before they start making stupid posts.

watchung:

A lot of dumb people dey this board sha. Even upon the explanation of what re-denomination means them still dey confused. Some people are actually thinking that the value of their money will drop from N50000 to 500. One of them is even questioning anothers' math skill when they should be questioning their own reading and comprehension skills first.

For goodness sake redenomination doesn't mean that your N50000 will now be worth what N500 currently is. All it means is that new currency will released and henceforth if you currently have N100, that N100 would now be exchanged for a NEW NAIRA NOTE @ a rate of 1 new naira to 100 old naira. That means for example goods now worth N40000 will now cost 400 "New Naira" and yes u will might not see or notice an immediate change to your purchasing power, however in the long run it is hoped that the new policy will curb inflation, reduce capital flight, make the Naira convertible with other world currencies as well as reducing the amount of money people have to carry around. This will also allow more foreign money to come into the banks, which means more money for people to borrow to make investments and improve the economy.

I just can't believe that some on this forum can't comprehend/understand that simple fact before they start making stupid posts.

It is not respectful for you to call someone dumb on a public forum. As well as using words like stupid posts.

If you read very well, you would have seen that "For goodness sake redenomination doesn't mean that your N50000 will now be worth what N500 currently is". is a blunder by you. The guy was clearly stated 50,000 now and then 500 with the date 1st August 2008 on it.

How exaclty does redomination of the naira allow for more borrowing and more foreign investments? I don't understand.

u have forgotten that Nigerians are nin compoops, argumentative, daft, unbeleiving and outright stupid?

In the developed countries, policies and lawas are enacted and the citizens simply obey without battling an eyelid, but in Nigeria - thats when u will see all sorts of argumnets and nonsense talks and opinions - what u call empty barells - isint it?

simply_me:

u have forgotten that Nigerians are nin compoops, argumentative, daft, unbeleiving and outright stupid?

In the developed countries, policies and lawas are enacted and the citizens simply obey without battling an eyelid, but in Nigeria - thats when u will see all sorts of argumnets and nonsense talks and opinions - what u call empty barells - isint it?

How do you talk like this about your own people? This is horrendous. Did you hear about protesters against the expansion of Heathrow Airport in the UK? Is England not a developed country? Why are people not just taking it and accepting?

Bros & Sisters, weather u all like it or not, this is a welcome development.
To answer some of the question on naira re-domination.
1. some say there will be pricing confusion - Certainly not, if you were born before 1985 or if you started spending the the naira before 1985 u would understand that there will be no confusion. When the naira was devalued Nigerians adjusted, Nigerians are smart i tell u.
2.Exchange rate- The exchange rate is not being pegged!!! it is still dsame as while we used the old naira, it a matter of putting on a new shirt for an old one, nothing changes pls nairaland landers its simple. While there will be no added purchasing power immediately, overtime the purchasing power of the naira will improve. Did i hear you ask how?? ok, right now Nigerians are not consious of the future, we buy what we need and dont need and let tomorrow take care of its self. when u know that 625naira is 500USD i m sure u would wanna think twice before u spend. And by the time we all get consious of wht we spend and stop spending on things we can really do wit out, that will certainly bring about drastic price fall.
Those of you who live overseas understand wht i m saying, u dont buy a car cos' u re living in the UK, cos u know u dont need it and its expensive to fuel to u go on local transport, yes some would say they have a better system when it comes to transportation, but ours will only get better. We have gotten to a level in the country where things have gotten to the bottom and there is no worse it can get, rather than for things to gradually pick up.
People will return to the farms, city life wuld no longer be the in thing, for every profession, there will be value. Robbery will certain reduce!!! because if u have a small business u might wanna think twice than take the risk. Corruption wit police will reduce, will the police ask u to bribe them wit 1naira when they are so used to 20 naira?? can u bribe police 20 naira when u know its almost 16usd. Its for the better!!! I m glad nigeria is taking a new turn.
Employment opportunities wont readily change, it will be gradual but you can all help urself. Self employment will go a long way. Hair dressers, barbers, caterers will no longer have to cry over small income. if u take 10naira home a day. that day will need to be celebrated cos at the end of the month u would have 300 naira which will be good.

If you are thinking of where to invest your money before August 1 2008, i would simply advise u to go for landed properties. Property owners will have a swell time.
Also self employment is another way to go, If u have 50,000 today, the ultimate would be to go to the village and get ur own land in preparation for farming cos' farmers would no doubt have a swell time too. We are blessed wit rain in Nigeria and our land are fertile. I have loved oversea and i know wht i m talking about.

Lets clap for soludo and Y'aradua i always knew the a Northern President will be the one to deliver Nigeria, i 'm from the south south!! going by history. I m sure Obasanjo surpressed Soludo's plan.