Nigerians Should Be Ready To Absorb Looming Financial Pains, Says Okoli

A UNITED States (U.S.) licenced Broker and Investment Advisor of Nigerian origin, Dr. Christopher Ogbogu Okoli, has predicted that Nigeria would go through “some traumatic financial pains” in the near future, warning Nigerians to prepare their minds for the long painful process of restoring all the many decades of destruction in the country.

Okoli, who spoke on Nigeria’s economic outlook in view of the persistent fall in the price of crude oil in an interview with The Guardian, however, noted that “at the end of the tunnel the nation would emerge a true giant and economic power house.”

He said: “The economic outlook really depends on how the expected fiscal and monetary policies would look once presented for analysis. Monetising the over one trillion dollars of hidden and non-performing assets in the country would be a plus, but the policy makers must have to search deep to see those assets.”

Okoli said that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) warning that the economy might slip recession in 2016 after its last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja last Tuesday was intended to warn the political class of the unintended consequences of not coming up with sound and objective-oriented fiscal policy.

He noted: “Nonetheless, the call might have came a little too late, because I cannot see any fiscal or monetary policy that can quickly navigate the economy away from the already recession bound trajectory. There are three CCCs (China, Commodity and Currency) that are likely to plunge the global economy into a deep recession again. Unfortunately, the country is already behind in the fight to prevent the negative effects of such recession.

You remember that the country had a general election this year and lots of money was spent in preparation of the election. Ever since that election, it looks as if the country has been on complete standstill because history was made when Goodluck Jonathan handed over the leadership of the country to Muhammadu Buhari (the first time there was a civilian handover in the country). Maybe, the winning party never expected or imagined the outcome of that election.

Apart from Saudi Arabia, who has enormous foreign reserves, many OPEC nations would definitely gravitate towards chronic economic traumatic periods because of the three CCCs earlier mentioned. Expect other economic power houses to join them later. I am calling for global recession by fourth quarter of 2016.

He stated that rebuilding the country would not be a quick fix, noting that “Nigerians can elect to kick the bucket down the line again, or tenaciously, fearlessly and painfully confront this monster of corruption that has held the country hostage for long.”