It’s been five months since Johnson Umeadi and his wife, Adaku, received their salaries as government workers in southeastern Nigeria.
With Nigeria’s finances shot by last year’s collapse in oil prices, they’re struggling with rent and can’t afford school fees for their three children. Shops and grocers are no longer willing to extend them the credit they need to buy basic items such as food and drinks.
“It’s like we put all our eggs in one basket and then it went porous,” said Johnson, a 45-year-old employed by a department of Imo state responsible for infrastructure projects, in Owerri. “If one of us was working in a private company, or even engaged in petty trading, we would’ve fared better,” he said, declining to disclose his salary.

The plight of the Umeadis and others who haven’t received wages has hit everything from local shops to the banking industry in Africa’s biggest economy, in which about a third of the formal workforce of 11 million is employed by the state, according to Renaissance Capital. The cash crunch is undermining the prospects for the new administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, who described the Treasury last month as “virtually empty.”

Oil Reliance
Banks are more wary of lending to individuals, Bisi Onasanya, head of First Bank of Nigeria Ltd., the largest local lender by assets, said last month at a Bloomberg conference in Lagos, the commercial capital.
“You have 18 states unable to pay salaries,” said Onasanya. “That reduces the number of people who are viable enough to repay your consumer loans.”

Civil servants are victims of Nigeria’s reliance on oil, which accounts for about two-thirds of the government’s revenue. A 46 percent crash in Brent crude prices in the past year has led to half of Nigeria’s 36 states, which rely on monthly federal handouts for the majority of their funding, being unable to pay wages.

The effects have been wide ranging and are hurting business as teachers, doctors and bureaucrats scrimp on spending. Listed consumer companies saw their profit before tax fall 55 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, according to Esili Eigbe, head of West African research at Exotix Partners LLP. The worst is yet to come, he said.

Tough Road
“The road ahead will be tougher,” Lagos-based Eigbe said in a client note on July 2. “Owing to the substantial decline in government revenue in Nigeria and the need to implement austerity measures, we expect that there will be a significant backlash on consumer spending.”
The Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index has weakened 8.4 percent this year, the seventh-most among 93 global indexes tracked by Bloomberg. Growth will decelerate to 4.8 percent in 2015, about half the average of the past decade, the International Monetary Fund estimates.

Buhari’s six-week old administration announced a bailout last week of as much as $3.5 billion for states to pay salaries and other debts. Details on when the money, which is meant to come from exports of liquefied natural gas and the central bank, will be allocated have yet to be disclosed and the package may only provide temporary relief, according to Manji Cheto, a London-based vice president at consultancy Teneo Intelligence.

Major Disaster
“A lot of investors looking at Nigeria haven’t realized the significance of this -- it is major,” Cheto said by phone. “The breadwinner in a lot of families tends to be someone who works in the public sector. On average you’d probably have 20 to 30 people that depend on that one person. You realize how much of a disaster it is on a micro level.”
While Nigerian states frequently pay salaries late, the problem is worse this time because the country depleted the buffers that may have helped it weather the crisis, she said. A government oil savings account now stands at about $2 billion, compared with $21 billion in 2008, when crude prices last crashed, according to the IMF.

“This is the first time since 1999, since the end of military rule, that we have had widespread non-payment of salaries that requires a bailout,” said Ayo Teriba, chief executive officer of Economic Associates Ltd., a Lagos-based consultancy. “It’s unprecedented in the democratic era.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-12/bureaucrats-go-hungry-as-nigeria-s-oil-crisis-hobbles-economy

Chai!

It all started under GEJ's administration.

The Governors used our monies for elections


The States are now bankrupt

Nigeria will reap the evil she has sown. Let all brace up for the forthcoming challenge. May God help His people.

What makes me sad, is the fact majority of Nigerians don't understand what's going on, in the country. They are sold empty propaganda when the opposite is the case.

.

atlwireles:
It’s been five months since Johnson Umeadi and his wife, Adaku, received their salaries as government workers in southeastern Nigeria.
With Nigeria’s finances shot by last year’s collapse in oil prices, they’re struggling with rent and can’t afford school fees for their three children. Shops and grocers are no longer willing to extend them the credit they need to buy basic items such as food and drinks.
“It’s like we put all our eggs in one basket and then it went porous,” said Johnson, a 45-year-old employed by a department of Imo state responsible for infrastructure projects, in Owerri. “If one of us was working in a private company, or even engaged in petty trading, we would’ve fared better,” he said, declining to disclose his salary.

The plight of the Umeadis and others who haven’t received wages has hit everything from local shops to the banking industry in Africa’s biggest economy, in which about a third of the formal workforce of 11 million is employed by the state, according to Renaissance Capital. The cash crunch is undermining the prospects for the new administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, who described the Treasury last month as “virtually empty.”

Oil Reliance
Banks are more wary of lending to individuals, Bisi Onasanya, head of First Bank of Nigeria Ltd., the largest local lender by assets, said last month at a Bloomberg conference in Lagos, the commercial capital.
“You have 18 states unable to pay salaries,” said Onasanya. “That reduces the number of people who are viable enough to repay your consumer loans.”

Civil servants are victims of Nigeria’s reliance on oil, which accounts for about two-thirds of the government’s revenue. A 46 percent crash in Brent crude prices in the past year has led to half of Nigeria’s 36 states, which rely on monthly federal handouts for the majority of their funding, being unable to pay wages.

The effects have been wide ranging and are hurting business as teachers, doctors and bureaucrats scrimp on spending. Listed consumer companies saw their profit before tax fall 55 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, according to Esili Eigbe, head of West African research at Exotix Partners LLP. The worst is yet to come, he said.

Tough Road
“The road ahead will be tougher,” Lagos-based Eigbe said in a client note on July 2. “Owing to the substantial decline in government revenue in Nigeria and the need to implement austerity measures, we expect that there will be a significant backlash on consumer spending.”
The Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index has weakened 8.4 percent this year, the seventh-most among 93 global indexes tracked by Bloomberg. Growth will decelerate to 4.8 percent in 2015, about half the average of the past decade, the International Monetary Fund estimates.

Buhari’s six-week old administration announced a bailout last week of as much as $3.5 billion for states to pay salaries and other debts. Details on when the money, which is meant to come from exports of liquefied natural gas and the central bank, will be allocated have yet to be disclosed and the package may only provide temporary relief, according to Manji Cheto, a London-based vice president at consultancy Teneo Intelligence.

Major Disaster
“A lot of investors looking at Nigeria haven’t realized the significance of this -- it is major,” Cheto said by phone. “The breadwinner in a lot of families tends to be someone who works in the public sector. On average you’d probably have 20 to 30 people that depend on that one person. You realize how much of a disaster it is on a micro level.”
While Nigerian states frequently pay salaries late, the problem is worse this time because the country depleted the buffers that may have helped it weather the crisis, she said. A government oil savings account now stands at about $2 billion, compared with $21 billion in 2008, when crude prices last crashed, according to the IMF.

“This is the first time since 1999, since the end of military rule, that we have had widespread non-payment of salaries that requires a bailout,” said Ayo Teriba, chief executive officer of Economic Associates Ltd., a Lagos-based consultancy. “It’s unprecedented in the democratic era.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-12/bureaucrats-go-hungry-as-nigeria-s-oil-crisis-hobbles-economy

keep looking for bad news to wail on, wailer.

and who caused the bolded part? Who owed the salaries, Buhari baa?

shachris:


keep looking for bad news to wail on, wailer.

and who caused the bolded part? Who owed the salaries, Buhari baa?

You are a dumbass, even with your 20 monikers, you still remain an almajiri dumbass. Why not take your good news to bloomberg.

Tough times await Buhari. How would he redeem his phantom promises?

atlwireles:
What makes me sad, is the fact majority of Nigerians don't understand what's going on, in the country. They are sold empty propaganda when the opposite is the case.

No you are the one selling propaganda. GEJ was President when crude oil sold for record prices yet he had to borrow to pay salaries before he was booted out.
External reserves were at record levels when GEJ took over, yet he somehow found a way to drastically reduce it despite selling crude at record prices.

[s]

AZeD1:

No you are the one selling propaganda. GEJ was President when crude oil sold for record prices yet he had to borrow to pay salaries before he was booted out.
External reserves were at record levels when GEJ took over, yet he somehow found a way to drastically reduce it despite selling crude at record prices.

[/s]

When you wake up to reality, ring the primary school bell.

atlwireles:
[s][/s]

When you wake up to reality, ring the primary school bell.

I know you can't deal with the truth that your hero ruined this country. Sad part is you can't wish history away.

[s][quote author=AZeD1 post=35817495]
I know you can't deal with the truth that your hero ruined this country. Sad part is you can't wish history away.
[/quote[/s]]

shachris:


keep looking for bad news to wail on, wailer.

and who caused the bolded part? Who owed the salaries, Buhari baa?

I had to laugh here.
We are expected to hide bad news because buhari is in power.

CSTR2:
I had to laugh here.
We are expected to hide bad news because buhari is in power.

the only news you ever report are bad news. Try to be objective for once instead of wailing everytime.

shachris:


the only news you ever report are bad news. Try to be objective for once instead of wailing everytime.

Where are the good news when lives are being lost anyhow and the economy is crashing .
Your buhari is just two months in office remember. I am sure it is too early for him to do any good thing.

CSTR2:
Where are the good news when lives are being lost anyhow and the economy is crashing .
Your buhari is just two months in office remember. I am sure it is too early for him to do any good thing.

oh really? and our foreign reserve keep rising?

shachris:


oh really? and our foreign reserve keep rising?

So foreign reserves rising by few milion dollars suddenly translate to better economy?
I thought your guys said this thing does not affect the common man on the streets under GEJ.
Why is the price of basic commodities rising through the roof and the standard of living suddenly plumetting if there is a better economy?
Why are your states not paying salaries? You buhari people are something else.

CSTR2:
So foreign reserves rising by few milion dollars suddenly translate to better economy?
I thought your guys said this thing does not affect the common man on the streets under GEJ.
Why is the price of basic commodities rising through the roof and the standard of living suddenly plumetting if there is a better economy?
Why are your states not paying salaries? You buhari people are something else.

it's because your boss messed up the economy pretty bad before he left. So cut PMB some slack and give him time to fix what your oga damaged.

PDP is largely responsible for this mess. Our reserves should be reading well over 120 billion USD balance by now. Nigerians will have to wake up to the fact that we are running a handout based system that seeks to distribute what is available instead of investing it towards making net exporters. I like the title of the thread where it says 'bereaucrats' because that's what we are.

atlwireles:
What makes me sad, is the fact majority of Nigerians don't understand what's going on, in the country. They are sold empty propaganda when the opposite is the case.

dumb comment ... but it started under GEJ

blacksta:


dumb comment ... but it started under GEJ

another almajiri you have been noted.

atlwireles:


another almajiri you have been noted.

I am now an almajiri ..cause I stated the truth.... Sorry some of us know the truth...How GEJ bastardise the economy..

blacksta:


I am now an almajiri ..cause I stated the truth.... Sorry some of us know the truth...How GEJ bastardise the economy..

I said you have been noted

shachris:


it's because your boss messed up the economy pretty bad before he left. So cut PMB some slack and give him time to fix what your oga damaged.

But i said it was too early for buhari to do anything good na.
You were the one saying buhari increased our foreign reserves as if this is the first time the foreign reserves have risen.

@ atlwireles has become a bonafide prophet of doom and the chief harbinger of bad news as far as Nigeria is concerned. Lets hope you have renounced your citizenship already, and while you are at it, join biafraworld.com dolo

nduchucks:
@ atlwireles has become a bonafide prophet of doom and the chief harbinger of bad news as far as Nigeria is concerned. Lets hope you have renounced your citizenship already, and while you are at it, join biafraworld.com dolo

Look at the boko haram supporter, having a mustabating /session over the truth

dustmalik:
It all started under GEJ's administration.

But I thought baba Bubu was singing about him wilding his magic stick and transforming Nigeria into heaven? Why still blame Jona now that the almighty lord of all magicians is now the president of Nigeria. He should use his magic stick already!

Also, I don't understand why the ills that extended to Buhari's Tenure (which we all expected Buhari to fix with only a stick swipe) are all attributed to GEJ while the good ones that extended to this administration are attributed to Buhari. You guys should play fair for just this once in yah lives na..


Cc blacksta