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Emilokan, propaganda economics and the gathering storm

Published

11 months ago

August 23, 2025

Whirlwindnews

By Ifeanyi Izeze

It is easier to talk if you don’t think, but if you think you will think thoroughly before talking, and when you talk, you will work. By now, if they have been thinking, it should be clear to President Bola Tinubu and operators of his government that ‘Emilokan’ (it’s my turn) is not an economic policy.

They claimed to understand the problem at hand, and the President himself told us not to sympathise with him: “don’t sympathise with me, don’t pity me. I know what I am getting into.”

It is tragic that government officials and their media surrogates have amplified only one soundbite from remarks, where Dr. Okonjo-Iweala credited the administration for “stabilising the economy,” while deliberately ignoring her more serious call for urgent measures to grow the economy and establish social safety nets for millions of Nigerian families suffering the negative impacts of the government’s reforms.

Okonjo-Iweala’s recent comments on President Tinubu and the Nigerian economy “have been seized upon by government officials and their media allies as if their scandalous implementation of hard reforms, which have condemned the majority of Nigerians to absolute poverty and destroyed millions of jobs, had received endorsement by the oracle herself. This is not correct.”

How do you reconcile a government flaunting wholesale outdated economic theories based on dogmatic declarations, whilst procuring endorsements of foreign experts to re-echo and applaud same regardless of the naked extremely contradictory worsening economic situation on ground starring everyone in the face?

Headline inflation remains unyielding, sitting at 22.22 percent as of June, with food inflation at 21.97 percent, meaning that millions of Nigerians are paying more, not less. Petrol prices now average N1,037.66 per litre, still a significant burden on households and small businesses.

The naira trades at around N1,530 to the dollar at the official window — drastically weaker than President Tinubu’s pre-reform levels of N460 — eroding purchasing power across the board.

It should be clear to the government that it is the Tinubu administration’s policy choices — irrational fuel-subsidy removal, naira devaluation, tariff hikes on electricity and transport and almost every other goods and services — that have triggered this distress and made social safety nets not optional but essential. Yet these social programs have either been administered haphazardly or rather dishonestly, suspended, or had negligible impact.

So when the African Democratic Congress (ADC) recently called on President Tinubu to fully confront the economic challenges facing Nigerians instead of “cherry-picking” comments made by World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to score political points, those who are naïve took it as another opposition criticism. No, it is not at all, it was a clarion call for all it means.

That the federal government chose to ignore the real message in the comments by Okonjo-Iweala on the state of the Nigerian economy, instead prefering to celebrate the headlines is nothing but dodging to take responsibility for its actions or more aptly inactions.

It is very unfortunate that the Tinubu administration is more interested in “external validation” rather than taking responsibility for policies that have worsened living conditions.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala knows that a stable economy is one that is growing in real terms, led by jobs and productivity. She knows that a stable economy is one that is able to guarantee minimum standards of living for the people.

How come the government chose to ignore what she is really saying that the economy is not growing, jobs are not being created, and too many people are suffering as a direct consequence of President Tinubu’s ill-conceived and badly implemented reforms?

The government seem to be deliberately ignoring that part of her message and celebrating only the superficial aspects that at best sounds like “propaganda economics” or more aptly another ‘Emilokan economic policy.’

Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.13 percent in the first quarter of 2025 and just above 3 percent in the second quarter, figures that could best be described as unimpressive compared to the administration’s promises of very strong recovery.

Are these numbers abstracts, no. They translate directly into hunger, joblessness, and despair for millions of Nigerians. The Tinubu administration’s policy choices, fuel subsidy removal, naira devaluation, tariff hikes on electricity and transport have unleashed untold hardship on Nigerians.

Every well-meaning Nigerian knows that celebrating the mere appearance of ‘stability’ is pyrrhic. Such candour from a global economic leader like Dr. Okonjo-Iweala underscores the urgent need for federal government policies that go beyond rhetoric and propaganda but addresses the daily harsh realities of millions of Nigerians under the APC-led Tinubu’s government.

Look at the CBN Governor, he thinks if he keeps raising interest rates he can fight inflation. What Cardoso is doing in CBN makes no sense as several economic experts have warned because what’s driving inflation in the country is factor cost and not the availability of credit.

The problem they have with the economy is that they went and devalued the currency and have the illusion of money in which case you will say at FAAC we used to share two trillion but now we share ten trillion but they failed to acknowledge that the present value of ten trillion is not up to the value when you were sharing two trillion simply because of the gross devaluation of the Naira.

As rightly said by a concerned Nigerian, they are simply not running the country, they’re doing business. They are business people and they don’t see us as citizens, they see us as their customers. So their mercantile approach prompts them to always see their customers and think how they can make more money from them and that’s why you see them taxing everything needed for life and basic living.

They are not willing to comply with Chapter Two of the Nigerian Constitution which stipulates how governance should be done in the country. What’s the responsibility of government? Call anybody in government, they are not responsible for anything. The minister of Water Resources is not responsible for whether you have water or not, the minister of Education is not responsible for education outcome whether the students pass or fail WAEC/NECO or Jamb. The minister of Health is not responsible for live expectancy or medical outcomes. We have people who are in power but they are not in government because they are not governing.

According to a recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics, FDI to Nigeria sharply declined by about 70 per cent in the first quarter of 2025, falling to only $126.29 million from $421.8 million in the last quarter of 2024. Of the total capital importation of about $5.64 billion in the first quarter of 2025, FDI accounted for only about 2.24 per cent, compared to 8.2 per cent in Q4 2024.

Of course how do you expect sustainable economic growth and development to be achieved under the current poor leadership and weak governance structure -problems that are clearly reflected in declining FDI and our poor performance in key governance indicators.

To further illustrate our precarious situation, capital flows to the manufacturing sector declined exponentially by 32.1 per cent, dropping to only $129.92 million in Q1 2025 from $191.92 million in the same quarter of 2023. There is no better confirmation of the lack of trust in this government, whose reforms remain uncoordinated and largely reactive.

Available statistics show that in 2024, while global FDI flows declined, FDI to Africa significantly increased to $97 billion — a rise of about 75 per cent compared to 2023. Europe, the United States, and China were the main sources of this FDI. Egypt attracted the highest share in Africa, with $46.58 billion. Other top recipients included Ethiopia ($3.98 billion), Côte d’Ivoire ($3.80 billion), Mozambique ($3.55 billion), Uganda ($3.30 billion), Democratic Republic of Congo ($3.11 billion), South Africa ($2.47 billion), Namibia ($2.06 billion), Senegal ($2.02 billion), Guinea ($1.83 billion), and Morocco ($1.64 billion).

Most disappointingly, our dear nation, Nigeria — the so-called “Giant of Africa” — received only $1.08 billion, about 1 per cent of Africa’s total FDI, representing a decline of about 42 per cent from 2023. Worse still, after this 42 per cent drop between 2023 and 2024, FDI to Nigeria has further declined by 75 per cent between Q4 2024 and Q1 2025.

Whether anybody wants to hear it or not, we cannot achieve sustainable growth and development with ineffective leadership and a weak government. This is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. God bless Nigeria!

Ifeanyi Izeze writes from Abuja and can be reached via email iizeze@yahoo.com or phone +2348033043009.

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‎BREAKING: Terrorists strikes another school! *Kidnap principal, students, NECO official!

Published

2 days ago

July 15, 2026

Whirlwindnews

The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.

Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.

‎Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.

Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.

Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.

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Trump shelves 20 per cent fee for ships on Strait of Hormuz

Published

2 days ago

July 15, 2026

Whirlwindnews

Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.

Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.

Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.

In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”

Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”

The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.

Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.

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Fake office: How police pulled out Adeyemi, PFIPC boss from hiding!

Published

2 days ago

July 15, 2026

Whirlwindnews

Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.

However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).

Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).

His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.

The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”

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