Public Affairs Analyst

2010 will go down as a year of mixed fortunes for Nigeria. The budget was proposed to stimulate the economy but the majority of Nigerians are yet to feel positive impact of the stimulus package. A number of positive developments in 2010 for me are the passage and signing into law of the Asset Management Company of Nigeria as well as the inauguration of the board. The other is the tsunami that swept away the board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange in August. There was also the sustained reform of the banking sector with the classification of the banks into four groups with different capital bases viz. International, specialised , regional, and national banks; the CBN also initiate idea of having a 10-year reform for the Nigeria banking industry which the CBN Governor at a pre-convocation lecture at Bayero Univeristy, Kano in February 2010 said is aimed at "enhancing the quality of banks, establishing financial stability, enabling healthy financial sector evolution and ensuring th...

I thought I was suffering from visual and auditory hallucination when I learnt that government of Nigeria had decided to lift ban on some hitherto prohibited items. These goods include furniture, textile materials, tooth pick, matches, cassava, energy drinks and vehicles that are less than 15 years old. According to newspaper reports, the government’s decision is ‘to replace the bans with tariffs to protect domestic industries.’ Government opined that banned imports result in huge revenue losses to government through significant trade diversion to neighbouring countries, and the routine smuggling of these items into the country. In un-banning the prohibited items, government therefore decided to slam levies on them. The tariffs put on the items are: cassava- 15% levy in addition to the substantive 20% duty; toothpick- 20% levy and duty of 20%; furniture- 20% levy and duty of 20%; textile fabrics and articles (lace fabric, brocade, voile, African print, etc. and made-up garments) - 20%...