Crony capitalist and corrupt vultures have begun to circle
around the Elitist-serving Nigerian Federal Government under President Buhari.
Their goal is to convince the administration that the only way for Nigeria to
emerge from its current recession is to sell-off its oil assets to them and
their foreign business partners and financiers.
They argue that since the
government does not have enough to fund its current budget and stabilize its
currency, that it should permanently sell all its oil assets to “investors”,
and use the proceeds and foreign exchange to finance its budget shortfall and
stabilize the national currency.
The vultures involved in the plot include top
business leaders and lawmakers in Nigeria. The idea that these predatory
politicians and crony capitalists are promoting is reminiscent of how Jacob
convinced his brother Esau to sell his birthright for a bowl of soup by taking
advantage of him at a vulnerable moment when he was starving.
Currently, global oil prices are at an all-time low. Thus,
oil assets on the open market are not nearly as valuable as they would be if
oil prices were to rebound from where they bottom-outed about a year ago. Thus,
common sense shows that it is not advisable for any oil operation to engage in
sales of oil assets in this current market. Further, the Nigerian economy is in
recession, assets in Nigeria, due to the currency collapse have drastically declined
in value.
Those who are holding them, would do themselves a favor to wait for
the market to rebound before they go about marketing them for sale. Even if one
were to structure a mutually beneficial sale of Nigeria’s oil assets, where the
state could continue to collect its share of payments, the firms involved could
be trusted to pay their due to government, report accurate figures, and submit
their taxes to the relevant bodies, right now would be the absolute worst
moment to negotiate a sale!
Further, the Nigerian federal government is currently in a
legal battle with practically every single private-sector oil firm in Nigeria
because from their review all of them have stolen from the country. They have
either failed to report the full amount of oil they took from Nigeria, failed
to remit the taxes they owe the the country, or outright lied about the times
in which they took crude oil so as to take advantage of lower prices.
Not a
single private sector oil firm has a clean record in this regard, so it is the
height of treachery for anyone to suggest that the federal government and more
importantly the Nigerian people should trust private-sector oil firms by
selling-off their assets to them! The fact that law-makers have the audacity to
even breath a suggestion of this given the ongoing legal battles the
administration is now having with oil-firms is borderline treason to the
Nigerian nation.
Since the crony capitalists and elite lawmakers are so
concerned about the plight of the Nigerian economy, to the point that they are
suggesting the nation sell their birthright for the bowl of soup that they are
offering to feed us for a night, there is something that they and their elites
across Nigeria can all do that would go a long way to bring the nation from the
brink of economic collapse. Specifically at the very minimum:
A) Every Nigerian household that owns more than one (1) car
should pay luxury taxes to the federal government for each additional vehicle
(excluding those made in Nigeria).
B) Every Nigerian household that owns more than one home
(including abroad) should pay luxury taxes to the federal government on a
sliding scale upward depending on the number of homes owned.
C) Every Nigerian (including companies) that owns a vehicle
valued over 2.5 million naira should pay luxury taxes to the federal government
on a sliding scale upward depending on vehicles value (excluding those made in
Nigeria).
D) Every Nigerian household (including companies) that owns
a home valued at over 50 million naira should pay luxury taxes to federal
government on a sliding scale upward depending on value and the number of homes
they own.
E) Every Nigerian that owns a luxury motor boat, yacht,
plane, helicopter, jet, and luxury motorcycle, should pay luxury taxes to the
federal government on a sliding scale upward depending on value and number of
auxiliary vehicles owned.
F) Luxury taxes should be collected at screening of foreign
films, and for those purchasing satellite broadcasts of foreign programmes and
broadcasts.
G) Foreign brewed wines, champagnes, beers, cigarettes, and
other non-essential items and luxuries should be reviewed for luxury taxes.
H) Finally, to all the elite that are hoarding dollars in
their domiciliary accounts, any person or company holding more than 1 million
dollars of foreign exchange who is not a manufacturer with at least 100
verified employees for every 1 million dollars they are hording, should be
required to pay a one-time luxury tax of 1% of the amount of their account or
whatever is not linked to manufacturing activity with verifiable employees. As
former CBN chief Sanusi said in his open letter, likely many of them received
the foreign exchange from the CBN illicitly.
These reforms are long overdue, and are what the
administration should have implemented by now. The fact that they have not is
the reason why the country is in recession in the first place. There is plenty
of money within Nigeria for the nation to pay its bills, fund its budget and
stabilize the naira. The money, however is in the hands of Nigerian elite in
the private sector and the public sector who over the years have never been
required to pay taxes the Nigerian nation like elite in other countries
throughout the world.
Many Nigerian elite who own properties abroad pay more taxes
to foreign countries than they do in Nigeria where they do business and where
they make the majority of their wealth. The administration and the lawmakers
should not allow the sun to set on 2016 before they implement these reforms and
the Federal Government of Nigeria collects what it is owed from the individuals
to whom these measures pertain. With the current crisis they have allowed
Nigeria to slip into, these reforms are long overdue!
Kuranga and Associates Limited is an investment management
advisory firm and an asset manager with a principle practice area of Africa. To
learn more about Kuranga and Associates go to www.kaglobal.net. © Copyright
2016 David Kuranga. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Hmmmmm i really must commend his ideas, but i honestly think the cases of paying 'luxury takes' is rather one sided according to all the examples he gave.
ReplyDeleteSomething more serious to think about is, what actually happened to all the money collected in the past from corrupt politicians/ Nigerians and how does that really affect the lives of the poor masses? there are a lot of issues in this country and i don not think the solution to be implementing laws and rules that will eventually hunt the poor masses as usual.