Biodun556:
THE VALUE OF THE NAIRA.
~Eruobodo.

A currency's value is what is can fetch those who use it as a means of exchange!

Those in America use dollars and those in the UK use pounds sterling. Emiratis use Dirhams and Indians Rupees. Nigerians therefore use the Naira.

The Naira today, is equivalent to 600 units to the GB£ and 500 units to the US$.

Though we are quick to lampoon the Naira as worthless, but let us compare how much value each of these currencies equivalents fetch their owners/holders, within their borders?

In the US, a dollar ($) may not buy you more than a small bottle of water, while N500 will buy you a pack of 12 of the same bottles of water in Nigeria!

A pound (GB£) may not buy you even a small loaf of bread in London, but in Lagos, N600 will buy you and your partner, breakfast for 2, consisting of one N250 big loaf of bread, 4 fried eggs and 2 bottles of water!

Days ago, I bought 50 pieces of medium sized oranges from the Ketu fruit market for N1,000, that's just $2! I bought 3 pineapples for N500 ($1)!

A litre of fuel costs N160 in Lagos, but cost $0.86 (N430) in New York! While I know people who pay cad1,700 (N500,000) per month for their glorified room and parlour self-contained in Ottawa, that is what a friend pays in 6 months, for a 2 bedroom apartment, with separate toilet, bathroom and proper kitchen, in Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi!

So why do Nigerians make so much noise over the value of their currency, when it still fetches them more value than the other currencies that they pitch the Naira against? The answer is simple: the "values" of Nigerians!

While Nigerians reacted with consternation at Dino Melaye's obnoxious display of his stolen wealth, the average Nigerian behaves exactly like Dino Melaye! From the man on the streets to the Churchpreneurs who claim to represent God!

They produce nothing, but want to flaunt everything!

Someone lamented to me about his wife's tenant, who has failed to pay N120,000 rent, for nearly a year, but slaughtered a ram and made festivities, worth N150,000, during the last Moslem "Ileya" festival!
Ask me what the man produces? Zilch!

Had this same debtor taken the N150,000, wasted on the one day feasting to the market, it will be more than enough to set up a fried Yam, sweet potatoes, Akara business, that can net him N300,000 monthly, and take him out of poverty and debt forever!

So, because Nigerians are unproductive at home, but consume from used clothes, to fake hair and eye lashes, to even PMS, from the abroad, they keep whining about the value of the dollar/pound-sterling against their currency.

There are universities in Nigeria, and I had my education entirely in Nigeria! So, if I chose to send my children abroad, what is the headache of the government in my personal decision, should the currency in their country of choice proves unaffordable to me? Who send me?

My personal definition of the problem with Nigeria is that, the policies of the State are manipulated to suit the indulgences of certain classes of Nigerians, who feed fat on the miseries of the masses.

Government resorted to importing fuel because some privileged Nigerians criminally destroyed our refining capacities. Rather than punish them, we put the punishment on Nigerians.

Government "subsidized" the same imported fuel, to create artificial opportunities for some privileged people to loot our treasury, under the artificially created system of "subsidies".

These Nigerians and their fraudulent economists should stop fooling themselves about the poor exchange rates of the nation's currency. 95% of the citizens of this country need food, water, Medicare, etc, obtainable in Naira!

If some useless, lecherous and unproductive, yet entitled, vanity flaunting elements like Dino Melaye, need foreign currencies to feed their insanity, what has that got to do with Nigeria?

If you want to indulge in the zero nutrition Orange, imported from wherever and sold at times ten that of super tasting Oranges from Benue, must Nigeria care about your price plight? Who send you?

If you chose Pizza over Aboki freshly cooked spicy bread and eggs, please find enough Naira to indulge in your borrowed Italian taste. #KokanAye!

This argument over our poor currency is a lie of the elite to pass their problems as everyone's!

Days ago, I made a 4 litre bowl of cooked beans (enough to feed at least 8 adults) from a N200 ($0:40) measure of beans! Add another N500 ($1) worth of sweet potatoes, and you have a super nutritious meal for 8 adults!

That's less than $3 in total, N1,500 (including the costs of other stuff like onions, peppers and oil), to feed 8 adults?

Before you complain that the Naira is weak, tell me what you need the foreign currencies for, and #Eruobodo will show you how you and Dino Melaye are related!

Openbusiness:
don't mind the idiot liars. In America, you can eat a buffet with $5. What can N5 buy in Nigeria? It can't even buy Tom Tom.

ethicallyright:


Most American companies have factories in China and just administrative offices in the States.

rottennaija:


Explain how. He made a serious point.

Kpomosauce:
You dey yarn dust my man.
why not compare 1naira to 1 dollar or pounds na.
For your mind you think say you wise

Tunde835:
D Average Salary Is $4,800 Per Month In Usa Compared To N30,000 in Nigeria

rottennaija:


He did. Did you read? He clearly should the purchasing power of our money is stronger (even at the exchange rate) compared to the dollar or pound for the goods and services we grow and consume.

Openbusiness:
Even at N500 per Dollar, i dey tell u, it is still subsidized. If they allow free flow market to determine currency value, Nigeria under this Buhari regime can sink as low as N1500 per dollar. If they born d government well, let them try it and kukuma sell d country on eBay. How many Nigeria crude oil ships are still parking on the ocean as they continue begging for buyers. Crude oil accounts for more than 90% of what makes other currencies exchange with naira. Now that crude oil sector is shaking, which other aspect of economy is making people want to exchange with naira, very few. That's why the govt keeps subsidizing the economy, if they don't Naira is finished and they know it.

wwwtortoise:


For obvious reasons : low production cost and cheap labour.

Biodun556:

A litre of fuel costs N160 in Lagos, but cost $0.86 (N430) in New York!

Xclusiveme:
Very stupid post.
Let me enlighten this dumbass
Dollar and pounds have more values than naira.
If you are to make the comparison,do it with the equivalence number.
What $1 can buy in America can #1 buy in Nigeria?

U forgotten there was a time Kobo was valued in Nigeria and the cost of bread then was #5 and to get 30k was very difficult.

seanblaise:

In actual sense, this is just a spill over of the effect of covid 19 and the trade war between Russia and Saudi Arabia. This is how the oil market works. Opec has divided the production capacity of crude oil among its member states. This means that each oil producing country has a specific amount of crude oil it is expected to produce per day. As it stands, Saudi Arabia has the highest shares of crude oil production. Countries like Quatar, Venezuela, USA Russia Nigeria, Angola, Lybia etc all have a specific amount of crude oil they are expected to produce. This does not mean that they cannot exceed their production capacity, it means that if everyone sticks to his quota, then the oil market will not be saturated and hence they can maintain the price. ( noted that they do this to fight the forces of demand and supply). Nigeria produces 2.2 million barrels of crude oil daily, at this production capacity, they are able to sale off those barrels every day. If Nigeria decides to produce 3million barrels everyday(although our capacity is not up to that yet) they will have 800,000 barrels of crude oil without any buyer and may receive sanctions from OPEC.
So during the pandemic, countries kept on producing their daily capacity but 90 percent of the worlds industries were not working during the lockdown and hence there were many Ships loaded with crude oil on the seas without buyers and this made the crude oil prices to drop drastically. There was a day in April when crude oil traded for zero dollars. Now that industries and factories are beginning to reopen, the price of crude is gradually coming up. When there are no more ships waiting on the seas for buyers then we will return to full production again, this inturn will lead to an increase in the price of crude oil and an equivalent increase in forex for an oil dependent economy such as ours.

Openbusiness:
don't mind the idiot liars. In America, you can eat a buffet with $5. What can N5 buy in Nigeria? It can't even buy Tom Tom.

ethicallyright:


The writer is not a liar although he did not pass his information effectively, maybe because of limited knowledge.
You are clearly not knowledgeable by comparing $5 to 5 naira. You do not compare currencies like a kindergarten pupil head for head or digit for digit. To achieve a good comparison of currencies, you compare their purchasing power parity.
If flour , sugar, nylons , wheat , barley, milk to produce bread were all produced in Nigeria with very limited imports, bread would definitely be cheaper and of more quality than that produced in America because of the purchasing power of the naira when compared with the low cost of living in 85% of Nigerian towns.

The broom you buy 50 or 100 naira in Nigeria goes for 10 British pounds in Amazon UK because the materials used to complete its production are palm fronds, 95% imported.

Does it then mean that the broom is cheaper in UK than Nigeria because it goes for €10 in the UK (almost 6000 naira) and 100 naira in Nigeria (less than €0.50)?

wwwtortoise my guy.

Openbusiness:
You're the one that is not knowledgeable. If you want to compare purchasing power, then you compare purchasing power of a currency within its local economy. in UK economy, ok, you saw advert of broom at £11. Mr man, can you buy broom at N11 in Nigeria? Tell me na. After all, broom = 100% locally manufactured product. So nothing like FX issue here. A broom manufactured in Nigeria is how much in naira? A broom manufactured in UK is how much in UK? Going by this your broom example, it further shows you how useless your local economy is. Because I don't think there's anywhere in this country, even in the North where things are cheaper, than you will buy broom for N11

ethicallyright:


It's a shame you don't understand economics. Next time.

ethicallyright:


The writer is not a liar although he did not pass his information effectively, maybe because of limited knowledge.
You are clearly not knowledgeable by comparing $5 to 5 naira. You do not compare currencies like a kindergarten pupil head for head or digit for digit. To achieve a good comparison of currencies, you compare their purchasing power parity.
If flour , sugar, nylons , wheat , barley, milk to produce bread were all produced in Nigeria with very limited imports, bread would definitely be cheaper and of more quality than that produced in America because of the purchasing power of the naira when compared with the low cost of living in 85% of Nigerian towns.

The broom you buy 50 or 100 naira in Nigeria goes for 10 British pounds in Amazon UK because the materials used to complete its production are palm fronds, 95% imported.

Does it then mean that the broom is cheaper in UK than Nigeria because it goes for €10 in the UK (almost 6000 naira) and 100 naira in Nigeria (less than €0.50)?

wwwtortoise my guy.

Openbusiness:
COVID 19 or not, the DEMAND for Nigeri's crude oil had gone down and not business as usual again as before, even before COVID happened. US is not only now a manufacturer of crude oil but has also become the largest exporter of crude oil. USA demand for Nigeria BLCO has gone down drastically and will continue to decline to ZERO. The fact that Nigeria is sti producing 2.2m bpd doesn't mean they are selling the product like that. Now they have to beg for buyers in Asia and Europe, a very competitive market dominated by Russia and Saudi and they are fighting for more Buyer's share of the market. Iran that is another major player is suffering from int'l embargo by US, once that is out of the way, they will be in the Buyer's market fully. As it is now, Nigeria's major buyer is India and China, and because the business is no longer is Nigeria's favor, Nigeria govt was already doing BUY NOW PAY LATER for selling crude oil to some customers to retain its market share. Then when Iran is back in the market fully, Nigeria buyer share will further reduce. Then the world is moving away towards green energy, which will further reduce demand from the top world economies who are your major buyers. So whether Nigeria likes it or not, the crude oil boom era is gradually moving to an end. And unfortunately, crude oil sector is the biggest exchange corridor for the naira. Outside of crude oil, how many economies are looking for the Naira to buy? That's when you will know that without crude oil, if the naira currency is opened to the global free market to determine the value of the currency, I swear what happened to Zimbabwe currency will be child's play compared to what will happen to the Naira. Without crude oil, it might even be $1 = N25,000

CosmicPhoenix:

this thread sweet die,we are learning.

Xclusiveme:


Does Nigeria export their local rice? Then why is it still expensive

rottennaija:


He did. Did you read? He clearly should the purchasing power of our money is stronger (even at the exchange rate) compared to the dollar or pound for the goods and services we grow and consume.

seanblaise:

You don't trade with people you don't benefit from. Iran has stringent government policies that scare away foreign investors. A case study is UAE. Of all the 7 Emirates that make up the UAE, Dubai is the most liberal and that is why they are prosperous. Apart from buying and selling of crude oil, countries seek other trade corridors within their trade partners. Its almost certain that if you want to invest in consumer products and services in Africa, you first come to Lagos, Nigeria. These days, trade has gone beyond buying and selling, it is now about forging alliances. Yes, green energy is a new development but it has not been developed to the point of powering heavy engines. In Africa, the only thing we have is our natural resources that is why whenever western media wants to refer to Africa, they always paint the picture of natural resources. The united States were buying crude oil from Nigeria as a way of supporting our local economy, not necessarily because they need it. They target densely populated areas to form economic alliances and saturate their local economies with dollars thereby making them dependent.
Oil is still very important to world trade. If Nigeria wants to get it right, we need a president with the heart of Obasanjo, the mind of Jonathan and the brain of soludo.