Let’s not fool ourselves, things are not likely to suddenly progress and transform you into success or greatness without doing something you didn’t want to, or think you can do before! Don’t read this mail, don’t take action based on what you read, and I can guarantee your life will continue the way it did before you started. Act however, and you may discover that you have untapped potentials for unique achievement and greatness.

The Foolish buy today, the Wise buy tomorrow based on trends!

I can still remember the hot afternoon of June 6, 1997, under the trees in the Alumni centre of the University of Ibadan, I asked my wife to be, the big question about marriage. It took her almost a year to get back to me. Why?? There was nothing much in that guy back then, if you looked at my shoes or rated my clothes, the answer would have been negative and quicker. Thank God however that our lives don’t stay on pause, we progress, and our progress creates a trend. My wife eventually said yes, but she didn’t buy the present, she bought the future. The foolish insist on current face value, the wise think about seasons down the line. The foolish waits to buy the estate when it’s an estate, the wise buy the estate when it’s a bush and then waits. All the wise wants to see, is the trend. What do you have in your hands that is trending towards a greater future? What you are about to hear, you have heard before… but not this way and not at this level.

Would you like an opportunity to get special treatment?

Imagine that there is an ultramodern international supermarket being erected at Tejuosho. An offer is made to the public for anyone who wants to lease a shop space. Not only do you get this shop space, you also get to become a member of the “Tejuosho international market association”. This leased space and membership means three things.

1. Anytime you have anything to sell, you have an opportunity of selling via your shop and advertise to all other members of the association – FREE.

2. Anytime anybody comes to you to ask for any product, you have an insider deal with all the members of the association to buy at distributor prices and if you want, to resell.

3. The Tejuosho space owners are willing to reward you for telling your friends about the ultramodern shopping mall and getting them to lease a space.

The good thing is, even though your foundational product is the leased space, you have a unique privilege of being able to sell anything else on offer in the shopping mall. Imagine that you sell beverages, and someone approaches you to buy phones, all you need do, is ask them to wait, while your girl… fetches the mobile phone and sells to you at the price you would have gotten it upstairs… but this time, you make a margin.

All your life, you can enjoy an opportunity to buy everything at distributor’s price, and you can determine to be anybody’s distributor.

This shop… is the new face of Holidays and Cash in Nigeria… the trend is real, and today we have over 100 shop spaces filled with goods, and over 18,000 members of the association enjoying all the 3 benefits.

For Real??

Oh yes, for real! You can ask any of the distributors you know to log into the company’s website with their unique passwords, and you’ll see that the estate is beginning to evolve from the bush.

It is fast becoming a solutions city, a growing domain where whatever it is your want or need can be found. We are fast becoming an enlightened company of special elects, our motto is empowering others, our values are L.I.F.E – Love, Integrity, Future Orientation and Excellence and our vision is to have distributors in every family in Nigeria by 2020 and be strategically positioned to replenish the earth and have dominion.

Even becoming more solid…

Is the fact that as distributors of the same international organization, we are getting to for a cooperative together to strengthen the asset base of each other, give our members access to loans for their dreams and creating investment options. We are also taking giant strides of building mini estates branded in our name, and our company is setting out to acquire property and build structures that will last forever… God willing. We are investing in people development, in values entrenchment and in carrying everybody in the team to a desired future.

We are not where we want to be… but we are far from where we were almost 2yrs ago. The network is getting bigger and richer, and only your friend can bring you in. You don’t want to be left out and be in the company of those in the world buying everything at retail prices

Our name could be misleading… and is going to be changed. Only those who can see the future may buy. Let me know if this is it for you!

Kind Regards

I once read about a story that talked about freedom. Once upon a time, some circus workers captured a baby elephant from its family in the amazon jungle of South America. This elephant was very aggressive and violent towards its captors. It resented deeply its forced seperation from its mother and the rest of its family. It fought its captors bravely but unsuccessfully and they were able to subdue it a little, bind its legs and carry it on a horse drawn cart to the circus camp.

On getting to the circus camp, they tied up the elephant to an iron stake in driven deep into the ground. The elephant tried time after time to get away from his captors but each time he tried, when he had stretched the chain fully, he got stopped by the chain and had to return back to the stake. He kept on doing this for days and after a while resigned to fate that he could never be free from bondage.

One day after many months, one of his captors came and removed the chain from his ankle and literally set him free. The elephant simply walked to the same point at which the chain gets fully stretched and stopped. After a while, he returned to sit by the stake. Day after day, the elephant performed the same ritual, never stepping beyond the point he had been unable to cross when he was bound.

The elephant though hav’n been set free in reality was still bound in his mind and as a result could not live in the reality of his freedom.
The state of the elephant is one I like to define as being delivered but not being free.

Many people are like the elephant in this story. They have shut down their minds to freedom so much that in the moment of their deliverance, they are not aware of the consequent freedom that attends it. Deliverance is many times an external activity but freedom must be internal.
People’s minds are bound to the prevailing circumstances in the environment. I just got into Ado-Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti state with a great opportunity. I really expected to be greeted with enthusiasm and drive, rather I was met with skepticism and excuses. I almost got discouraged but quickly recognised the fact the deliverance vs. freedom issue springing to the fore.

People don’t want to fail forward. They don’t want to try something that looks like something they have failed at before. It is no wonder that Nigerians support one club in England this season and another in Spain next season and another in England next season and so on….People are so used to rushing after the winning team. They don’t understand the importance of building a winning team.

I couldn’t help but wonder, “what will it take me to drive the elephant beyond the boundary of his bondage in his mind?”. “what do I need to do to open the eyes of his mind?”

People have one negative thing or the other to say about network marketing and I ask myself.

“would people rather stay on a job, work their lives out, hate their bosses and their organisations, earn less than they desire, deprive their family of necessarily time  and still get stuck int he rat race simply because they are unwilling to bolster up courage and write their own stories?”

“If network marketing especially those with models by which you can earn passive income for the rest of your life  isn’t the fairest type of marketing inthe world, then tell me is it conventional marketing that only rewards the direct salesman and not the chain of advertisers, referrers or indirect marketers?”

“Why are people hypocritically behaving as if there’s one particular thing they are passionate about, the absence of which they’d rather die when it’s obvious that all they truly wish for is freedom (financial and otherwise)?”.

“If only wishes were horses, even beggars will ride”.

“The proof of desire is pursuit”.

Apparently, loads of people around here are not desirous of freedom, they only wish it, otherwise, they’ll pursue it with all they’ve got.
Deliverance is not equivalent to freedom until one gets involved in making it so.

Deliverance is to wishing what desire and pursuit are to freedom.
You may have been delivered, but are you free?

Michael Faust, the International Sales Director  of HolidaysandCash, a multinational network marketing company headquatered in Nigeria is set to formerly launch the current fastest growing and most rewarding online marketing product in Nigeria ith the course of this week and next week. Michael is going to launch the product in major cities across the country namely Lagos, Abuja, Port-Harcourt and maybe a few other ones starting from Saturday, 24th January at The Coliseum in Lagos to 29th January in some other part of the country.

HolidaysandCash is marketing a travel product called “privilege pack”. This product gives access to the owner an online portal that has the ability to search for over 900,000 of the best hotel reservation, resort reservation and flight reservation deals all over the world at unbelievably discounted prices. Interestingly, H&C as holidaysandcash is fundly called also provides an opportunity for its members to earn as much as and over $10,000 weekly.

Network marketing, I’ve always believed is at the core of our economic development in Africa. Until people can begin to get rewarded for the simple action of referring other people to buy products or services, Africans will never believe that wealth is attainable by all and sundry. Network Marketing also creates a flat level of relationship between all that participate. No graduate has undue advantage over the undergraduate. In fact, experience and statistics have shown that people with no other options succeed more at Network Marketing than those who fill they have other options. Here what the money bags say about network marketing………….

“Network marketing is the business of those who love helping other people.”…………….Robert Kiyosaki

“If I go bankrupt and lose all the money that I have now, I will simply join a network marketing company and rise through the ranks on the way to my making back all I lost.”…………..Donald Trump

HolidaysandCash since its launch in July, 2008 has succeeded in making several millionaires in Nigeria and many other countries all over the world. Ijeoma Chukwu in Nigeria is currently the highest earner in the country. She earns over $10,000 per week. Many others in Nigeria earn hundreds of dollars per week on the basis of referrals. Many others have had to access prime vacation deals through the online portal that H&C offers to its subscribers.

To know more about holidaysandcash, you can mail me at busayoakanro@gmail.com or check the link out at www.holidaysandcash.com/bussee and my phone number is +234-803-4717-104; +234-8072690079

Other Cities for the H&C Launch are:

Holidays and Cash “Nigeria” Events
Lagos, Enugu, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Ibadan

We encourage you to make one of these events a high priority and encourage your team to do the same. The information shared has the potential to change your life forever!

Please note, all attendees must register and make payment prior to the event to secure places.

Lagos

• Venue: The Coliseum, off Opebi Road, Ikeja, Lagos.
• Date: Saturday January 24, 2009
• Schedule (2 sessions)
  • 10:00am – 1:00pm
  • 2:00pm – 5:00pm
• Cost: N1000 per person (Seminar packs and refreshments)
• Presenter: Michael Faust (CEO/President of H&C)

Enugu

• Venue: Cassino Hall, Zodiac Hotels 5/7 Rangers, Avenue Independence Layout, Enugu, Enugu State.
• Date: Sunday January 25, 2009
• Schedule 12:00pm – 3:00pm
• Cost: N1000 per person (Seminar packs and refreshments)
• Presenter: Michael Faust (CEO/President of H&C)

Abuja

• Venue: The Haven, Conference and Halls, No 6, Lasale Street Off Shehu Shagari Way, Maitama (Near MTN Office)
• Date: Monday January 26, 2009
• Schedule (2 sessions)
  • 12:00pm – 3:00pm
  • 4:00pm – 7:00pm
• Cost: N1000 per person (Seminar packs and refreshments)
• Presenter: Michael Faust (CEO/President of H&C)

Port Harcourt

• Venue: Royal Banquet Hall, Presidential Hotel, Port Harcourt.
• Date: Wednesday January 28, 2009
• Schedule: (2 sessions)
  • 10:00am – 1:00pm
  • 2:00pm – 5:00pm
• Cost: N1000 per person (Seminar packs and refreshments)
• Presenter: Michael Faust (CEO/President of H&C)

Ibadan

• Venue: Nigerian Union of Journalist, Oyo State (NUJ) Millenium Press centre, Iyaganku GRA, Ibadan.
• Date: Thursday January 29, 2009
• Schedule 2:00pm – 5:00pm
• Cost: N1000 per person (Seminar packs and refreshments)
• Presenter: Michael Faust (CEO/President of H&C

PLEASE NOTE: If you are reading this any time after December 31st, 2009 then you need to contact me for more updates. This is because many great changes has been made.

This is quite a lengthy article but a must read for every Nigerian who loves his country. Just when we were beginning to rejoice that our economy was moving vertically upwards and that our currency was getting stronger, something seems to have pulled out the floor from under us and everything seems to be plummeting towards ground zero. I just read this article in the newspapers and feel I need to post it as it is. If those managing the economy of this country are so intent on destroying it, then we who are bound by oaths to save this country need to rise up and deliver the future. The president yesterday or today inaugurated a team that will look into and combat the financial meltdown that is upon us in the country. As usual, he has chosen a reactive means rather than a proactive one to address serious national issues.  I find this article very insightful and interesting. It doesn’t mean that the article portrays my views about the situation or that I totally support the facts but it’s really an eye-opener. It’s titled “Naira’s strategic crash”.

Naira’s strategic crash
Written by Les Leba
Wednesday, January 14, 2009

News Analysis

In August 2007, President Yar’Adua shot down the Central Bank’s proposed Strategic Agenda for the Naira (SAN) on the grounds that the Presidency was excluded from its conception.

In spite of the announcement that an adhoc economic team had been constituted to re-evaluate the proposal, nothing more was heard of the verdict of government’s economic experts.

This presumably could mean that no merit was discerned in the proposals for naira redenomination and for dollar derived revenue to be paid as dollar allocations to the three tiers of government.

Indeed, the tenets of CBN Governor’s proposed Strategic Agenda for the Naira was a complete somersault from the overt inclinations of Soludo’s prevailing monetary framework, but the proposals were surprisingly in consonance with the framework which I had canvassed unceasingly for over seven years, in spite of the indifference and open derision by the CBN!

We have always insisted that all the permutations for a development agenda, from NEEDS, to SEEDS to LEEDS to NAPEP, etc, etc, would come to naught if the CBN continued to impound federal dollar derived revenue and substitute naira allocations!

To be fair, President Yar’Adua may be excused for his suspicion of CBN’s sudden turnaround in its monetary policy framework after earlier assurances and promises that the Nigerian economy was treading the path of recovery and development under expert professorial guidance.

The issue of redenomination, as canvassed by Soludo, may also have smelt foul to Mr. President, seeing that billions of naira of public funds had just been expended in designing, producing and promoting the acceptance of new currency notes and coins!

The thought of discarding these notes and coins barely six months or so after introduction certainly would not sit well if viewed from the perspective of any rational person. Indeed, our advice in several articles that the issue is not that of new currencies but that of value or related purchasing power went unheeded!

Our prediction that the coins would not be adopted because of their meaningless values was similarly discountenanced! Today, the CBN is stuck with container loads of valueless coins for which it has now placed newspaper adverts to solicit for those buyers who may want to recycle the coins into bangles, trinkets, copper pipe and wires or other forms of designs or gift items and artworks!

Not even a hurriedly enacted legislation with prison terms and fines as penalty have induced the public to patronize the new coins or treat our currency notes with respect! (See our article “RESPECT FOR THE NAIRA”) at www.geocities.com/lesleba.

The CBN’s subdued acceptance of the government’s suspension of its Strategic Agenda for a healthy naira may be seen as an indication of Soludo’s lack of faith even in his own proposal!

If, indeed, the CBN believed in the power and relevance of its ‘new’ agenda in promoting economic development in the face of increasing poverty in the land, the CBN failed to exercise its constitutional duty to promote policies which will improve the common good and discard policies with negative or adverse consequences for the economy!

In other words, something else other than the desire to serve our people faithfully and productively goaded the CBN Governor to continue in the pursuit of defective monetary policies!

In our paper titled, “A LIBERALISED FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKET: a proposal for a liberalized foreign exchange market in Nigeria and its economic benefits” – Boyo/Ojomaikre, we had insisted that the system where the CBN was the major direct supplier of both naira and dollar to the money market was an unhealthy monopoly with serious consequences for a market-determined economy!

Our advice that the three tiers of government be given dollar certificates (not cash) for distributable dollar derived revenue to ensure a market-determined naira rate that will stimulate economic growth was discountenanced and the CBN subsequently responded with its farcical so-called ‘liberalized foreign exchange market’, which in reality was no different from the earlier and existing market frameworks, called DAS, WDAS, IFEM, AFEM, etc.

The common denominator of all these foreign exchange market contraptions was the maintenance of the CBN’s stranglehold on the dollar market and the consolidation of a market system which ultimately instigated increasing poverty with increasing wealth!

The evidence of this correlation was amplified when our dollar reserves rose to over $60bn at a time we became classified amongst the world’s poorest nations!

In fact, monetary policy in that period became so confused that the CBN appeared embarrassed by our sudden healthy reserve balances and decided that the best way to use up the reserves was to allocate over $3bn every month to Bureaus de Change (BDCs) patrons.

Our entreaties in various articles of the suicidal consequences of this profligacy were ignored as the BDCs became an easy pool for capital flight as looters of public treasury and smugglers of contraband had a field day.

The result is now plain for all to see— divestment by such multi-nationals like Dunlop and Michelin and the suffocation of indigenous small and medium enterprises which are generally regarded as the engine of growth in all economies!

The admission of increasing unemployment and insecurity by various agencies of government can only be a confirmation that our monetary policy experts failed woefully to turn our years of plenty into meaningful welfare improvement for our people.

Now that the locust years are at hand, Nigerians should be ready to finally lay undisputed claim to the lowest rung of the world’s poverty ladder!

Indeed, in spite of the sustained increase in reserves from less than $20bn a few years back to over $60bn in November 2008, Nigerians ignored our clarion observation that the naira rate of exchange to the dollar remained resistant rather than its touted state of stability by all and sundry, including the poorly informed Chambers of Commerce and Association of Manufacturers!

Our sometimes irreverent overtures to these pillars of the private sector to see reality were unceremoniously rebuffed! Regrettably, the chickens have now come home to roost! In less than six weeks, the naira rate has depreciated by almost 50% with no end yet in sight!

The CBN has once again suddenly accepted our enduring observation that it is not in its mandate to sell dollars to BDCs, while our foreign reserves have quickly fallen by almost 15% in six weeks; at this rate of depletion, we may inexplicably have zero reserves before year end and we may need to go borrowing big time before the end of 2009; never mind the CBN’s often expressed notions of over 30 months of imports cover provided by our level of reserves!

The tragic thing about the above scenario is that the CBN Governor confidently confirms that the devaluation of the naira is deliberate and designed to ensure a balance in government revenue against projected expenditure!

In other words, the depletion in our oil revenue will be countered by deliberate devaluation of the naira so as to ameliorate any potential deficit in the quantum naira available for monthly allocation! In this wise, we may see the naira rate fall to almost N200/$1 before year end!

This would be no surprise as the government’s economic bible, NEEDS 1 & 2, had projected a naira value of over N180/$1 as the appropriate exchange level that will drive economic development!

It was a tragedy of epic proportions to watch the standing ovation by members of the National Assembly in response to Prof. Soludo’s presentation in defence of the deliberate policy to devalue the naira!

One day, one day, their abysmal ignorance or complicity in deceit will be blown wide open, but regrettably, millions of lives would have been depraved by the self interest of a few Nigerians!

SAVE THE NAIRA, SAVE NIGERIANS!

Africa has been dubbed the untouched and virgin continent. This was due to the seeming unscathing of African countries in the global meltdown that characterised the latter part of 2008. African seems to have escaped almost wholly from the economic recession that hit the world and crushed many countries and multinationals in other continents of the world. Iceland is bankrupt, auto makers in the US are bankrupt; Mega Banks in UK, Japan, Switzerland, US, Belgium, Germany and many other countries of the world would have gone under but for aid from their governments. Albeit, many banks have still being crushed in the wake of the recession.

However, Nigeria for one has been touched by the recession. Even though the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria has kept assuring Nigerians that we are beyond the reach of the economic whiplash swinging across the globe, happenings in our own economy are pointers to the fact that his assurances hold no water. Examples are:

1. The crash of the NSE

The Nigerian Stock Exchange fell through about the same time the economic crisis started in the west last year. The Central Bank of Nigeria ordered banks to refrain from giving margin facilities to investors and SEC pegged the condition for the rise in value of a stock to its ability to trade over 100,000 units. Investors immediately lost confidence in the market and the inevitable loss of the All Share Index started. One policy after another was released to the public by SEC, CBN and NSE at different times to help boost the market but it seemed to have tipped. The irrecoverable free fall cost the lives of many as people who had so much exposure with regards loans decided to end their lives as they couldn’t take the pressure anymore. The NSE has since lost more and more value as institutional investors (especially foreign ones) cashed out of the Exchange unable to vouch for the credibility of the market any longer. All those who had planned on creating a path to financial independence through the NSE are having to look elsewhere now as all their investments have at least been cut to about one-third the value a few months ago.

2. The crash of Oil

When the stock exchange started making people cry, and even die, another opportunity opened up in the Oil and Gas industry. Oil seemed to be the next panacea. Oil products were selling for unbelievable margins. The price of crude oil per barrel had hit $150 and was reaching for $200. AGO (Diesel) in particular was the next best thing to be involved with. The commodity is in high demand in Nigeria and completely deregulated by the Federal Government. This made it an all-comers market. People made as much as NGN1billion in single deals on oil products. DPK (Kerosene) and LPFO were not left out. As if the cloud that had hung over the NSE was moving in the Oil and Gas direction, the price of crude oil started to dip in the international market. People started incurring losses and getting heavily indebted to banks who were financing oil deals. The volatility in the market made it even harder to play in and ultimately it also bottomed out with the price of crude oil hitting below $40 per barrel. Banks stopped financing Oil deals. Gist had it that collectively they were exposed to the tune of almost NGN400billion. Bad debt that is.

3. The rise of Real Estate.

Immediately, opportunities moved from Oil & Gas to Real Estate. 3 bedroom flats were going for about $3million in places like Banana Estate. Rental rates increased by as much as 100% in some places. It seemed as if those who lost in categories 1. and 2. wanted to recoup through category 3.

4. The crash of Real Estate

This boom unfortunately like the golden era of real estate and mortgages both in Europe and America which has since crashed, appears to be headed for the precipice and signs abound to that fact. Banks had financed loans with which developers built houses. These houses are still on the market with no buyers in sight because of the low cash flow of buyers due to number 1. and 2. above. Even buyers who had bought had bought with loans from the same or other banks. One way or the other, banks have financed loans from both developers and buyers and neither of these have the cash flow to repay the loans. The banks are therefore foreclosing on the properties and selling at any price possible to regain their monies and developers are making distress sales at ridiculously low prices to offset their loans and keep the banks at bay. One way or another, the property market in Nigeria is headed for a crash and Lagos is leading the downward tumble predict analysts. Brace up for this eventuality and get out of the way if you can.

For the first time after it was created, the Eurozone is in recession, needless to overflog that the U.S is also in the same state. Japan and other parts of Asia are not left unscathed by the economic whiplash flying all over the world. Banks are crumbling; industries are folding up; mega multinationals are laying off staff. All are begging for bailouts varying from one to another but not less than billions of dollars. Only Africa has remained untouched, unsullied by the economic mistakes caused by excessive credit exposure and lending. Africa’s economy remains solid and at the top of it is Nigeria. Our stock exchange boasts of companies with strong fundamentals, our economy is strong and deep enough to deliver sizeable returns on investment. The world is turning to us. See what Merril Lynch has to say.

A major boost was given to Nigeria’s quest for foreign investment inflow at the weekend as the country was named the least vulnerable economy in the world, according to a report, Global Economics, compiled by a team of experts from Merrill Lynch. Merrill Lynch is one of the world’s leading financial management and advisory companies, providing financial advice and investment banking services.

The report, a copy of which was made available to THISDAY at the weekend, was compiled following several data requests from clients of the investment bank for key risk indicators for all major economies including Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

According to the statistics, the world’s 10 least vulnerable economies are Nigeria, Mexico, Philippines, Colombia, Egypt, Oman, Indonesia, Peru, China and Russia. Also, the report identified Australia, Switzerland, Korea, Romania, Hungary, Sweden, Bulgaria, Euro area, United Kingdom and the United States of America as the highest risk economies in the world.

The risk ranking was based on seven indicators and they are – current account financing gap, foreign exchange reser-ves/short-term external debt ratio, private credit-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio, and private credit growth, loans to deposits and banks capital-to-assets ratio. Merrill Lynch said the report also addressed all the requests in 62 indicators of the 60 world economies.

According to the report, Nigeria, with a population of 141.41million, was able to record a 7.3 per cent growth in GDP, with its Consumer Price Index hovering at 11.5 per cent, its current account balance, fiscal balance and public debt at 6 per cent, 6.3 and 10.4 percentage respectively.

To determine its external vulnerability, Nigeria’s external debt position was put at 12.9 per cent of the GDP, while external debt /exports ratio was put at 9 per cent. Her forex reserves totalled $60.8billion.

The percentage of Nigeria’s total external debt in relation to the GDP was put at two per cent, total foreign claims is $15.3billion while international claims stood at $13.1billion.

The report stated that the percentage of Current Account Balance plus net Foreign Direct Investment of the Nigerian GDP was 34, Forex reserves/short-term external debt totalled 41, while percentage of export of the GDP was 38 point.

The percentage of private credit of GDP was 43, while the percentage of bank capital to assets, according to Merrill Lynch was 41.

The 10 most vulnerable countries, which are mostly European countries, were said to have exhibited worse balance of payments positions, stretched external debt service ratios and overleveraged financial systems.

“Many of the economies that top our risk ranking have been identified by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) as those that have experienced capital flow bonanzas in the past five years and hence exhibit higher likelihood of economic crisis,” the report explained.

Explaining further on how it put the report together, Merrill Lynch states that: “While we believe that our country risk ranking produces plausible results, one needs to be aware that, as any ranking of that type, it is highly sensitive to the selection of indicators employed. For example, developed countries can probably sustain higher external vulnerability indicators than emerging markets; some Euro area country statistics are possibly misleading given there is a monetary union.”

In their reactions, the leadership of the Nigerian organised private sector said the various investment-friendly programmes put in place especially in the past five years largely gave Nigeria a pride of place in the ranking.

Immediate past Director-General of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Dr. Mansur Ahmed said the latest ranking has confirmed that Nigeria is indeed an investors-haven. The feat, he said, should be traced to a regime of consistent and sustained improvement in the nation’s fiscal management.

Speaking with THISDAY in a telephone interview yesterday, Ahmed acknowledged that Nigeria has been able to maintain a healthy foreign exchange management, low budget deficit and heavily low external indebtedness, which he said have combined to grossly reduce the nation’s level of risk. He said those indices have also endeared the nation’s economy to foreign investors.

However, the incumbent DG of NESG, Mazi Sam Ohuanbuwa said the investment community would not be surprised at the latest ranking by Merrill Lynch.

According to him, the key indicator to the safety of investment in Nigeria is the freedom to invest in any part of the country without government’s intervention.

He maintained that issues like hostile acquisitions, or government take-over is not common in Nigeria, explaining that even in cases where government reversed policies, it is always limited to government investments.

“In Nigeria, people can invest anywhere without hindrance. Other important considerations are the sheer size of the Nigerian market and underlying macro-economic issues,” Ohuanbuwa said.

He noted that although investors in Nigeria are still complaining of high cost of doing business, the level of risk is far lower than what obtains some other economies of the world.
Relevant Links

* West Africa
* Economy, Business and Finance
* Nigeria

On measures to improve on the latest ranking, the experts were unanimous in their call for the sustenance of investor-friendly policies by the government.

Ahmed emphasised the need for effective management of the nation’s foreign asset especially in the face of the dwindling prices of crude oil at the international market.

Ohuanbuwa charged the government to liberalise the economy by removing all hindrances to the economy.

written by Felix Akanbi on

After listening to this news, I suddenly got apprehensive. The last budget for 2009, before it was reviewed was done based on crude selling at $69 per barrel. If Nigeria plans on that, it simply means we’ll experience loads of deficit as a country. Even if the revised, unapproved budget based on $45 per barrel is implemented, there’s no guarantee that the price of crude wont fall below $45 within the period (2009). What it reveals is that our erstwhile weak economy may be about to take a plunge into darkness. If we are talking about recession in the World, we may decide to term ours Depression. Does that mean I’m a prophet of doom or a seer of gloom?

No. Not necessarily. My Mother used to tell me when I was much younger. “It’s always darkest before the dawn” and so I developed an attidtude towards bleak situations. The worse it gets, the closer the reprieve is. Some people say, “there’s always light at the end of a tunnel”. So what light have I seen at the end of this dark tunnel of recession coming. What dawn is likely to break over this apprehensive and cloudy outcome? – NETWORK MARKETING.

Network Marketing is what i’ve come to dub, the 9th wonder of the world. It is a business that is owned by all for the good of all. Everybody becomes a marketer of the products the business makes and earners from the business are determined by their referral ability. Telling someone to purchase the products rewards the teller, the told and the business altogether. The teller earns referral bonuses, the told gets a good product and an opportunity to earn referral bonuses if he/she decides to tell someone else about the product and the business profits since it’s products are being sold.

I’ve heard someone say before “the economy of Nigeria is tied to Network Marketing”.  and I sincerely thought the person made a lot of sense. There are very few countries like Nigeria where networks are taken very seriously. We have networks within networks; networks or barbers, welders, pure water sellers, dwarfs, physically challenged, okada riders, taxi drivers, market sellers, vulcanizers etc. to name but a few. That doesn’t have included religious networks – churches, fellowships, mosques of different denominations and convictions; and even other networks within these networks. What about blood? So many people at the end of the year travel long distances to re-unite with other members of their extended family. These networks can number as many as 100 sometimes. Then, there are clubs and networks of primary schools (different sets), secondary schools, universities, polythecnics and all other institutions.

If building social networks has moved literally from being a talent to being a skill for us, there just might be window (large one) of opportunity for our economy to leverage on in the guise of network marketing. We would find it relatively easier to buy and sell on that model than on any otherI know of. Better still is the fact that as a developing country, it will accelerate our efforts into becoming 1st world because it empowers all that are concerned. Of course, it’s no news that common wealth can only be achieved when wealth is common. That is, when many have access to and can easily harness the opportunities to create wealth. If Network Marketing is then the answer to our economy, what is the question….LOL…..what network marketing products are available. Well, I’ll talk about that later but the 2 that are currently making waves every Nigerian needs to ride on right now are Holidays and Cash and Independent Field Advertisers(IFA). For any info on these, feel free to send a mail to busayoakanro@gmail.com.

Very early, saturday morning,  we set out from Lagos for Abeokuta, Ogun State. Our destination was University of Agriculture, Abeokuta. The theme of the seminar was Ideas, Opportunities and Wealth. The hall was almost packed full with students desirous of learning how as students they can leverage on the ideas and opportunities available to them to generate wealth. Of course,  one of the most pressing needs they had was knowing how to source or recognise opportunities around and take advantage of them.

The seminar host/organiser, Mr Olumide Adeleye, a young,  inspiring and entrepreneural student of the university took a session on the 21st century and the relevant ideas and opportunities that exist in this age. So fluent was this speaker that I wondered why he needed external facilitators at all. In my opinion, he did justice to the topic.  Anyway, Deolu Akinyemi (CEO,Generis Solutions) came up next speaking on the same theme but from a different perspective. Deolu highlighted that to take advantage of opportunities, you need to first see those opportunities; for you to see those opportunities, you need to be tuned to them.

“Opportunities pervade our environment all the time. There is no scarcity of opportunities, but you’ll never be aware of them until you are tuned to recognise their presence.” He said.

Man has within his brain an antenna like device that is activated by different interpretations of different things in his environment. This device is called the Recticular Activation System (RAS). The RAS is what is responsible for mental balance because man is said to have access to 60,000 different signals coming into his brain per second. The RAS is what makes it possible for the human brain to filter such signals and messages to particular ones that the man requires or is willing to process immediately. The reason one’s RAS would not pick an opportunity is because he’s not tuned to it, so it’s being filtered out.”

He also let them know of some opportunities that were available at the moment. Opportunities like CV Bank, Forex trading and so on. After Deolu, came up Femi Onagoruwa (former associate editor, StockWatch magazine and presenter on Stocks on 101.5 FM). He spoke on how to maximise the very bearish Nigerian Stock Exchange and how to play in other investment opportunities. I also was invited to speak on how the CV Bank opportunity worked. Interestingly, I met a few people from my past there at the seminar. One was a friend’s younger sister. We used to be in the youth choir together in my former church. She was all grown up now and looking really beautiful and different. Coincidentally, her boyfriend had been looking for a way to get in touch with Deolu Akinyemi and since his babe knew me, he seized the opportunity to become my friend so that I can organise a smooth access to Deolu…Lol. Amazing what networks can do ei? Another was a guy who used to hawk plantain every night at a particular bus terminus not far from where my family used to stay over 10years ago. Every night, himself, his sister and brothers would carry trays loaded with plantain and go and sell them at the bus terminus till the early hours of the morning. I was so glad to see that through all that struggle, poverty and stress, he’d been able to push himself to the university. There’s no telling to what heights he’ll reach and all that had happened in the past would be juicy history.

We left UNAAB at about 5pm, but not before a few of them had signed up to the CV Bank and New Nigeria Club and set out to see my parents who incidentally reside in Abeokuta. You’ll get the rest of the gist later……….