Zeal Ak Profile picture
19 Oct, 16 tweets, 6 min read
I know we are all concentrating on the #EndSARS campaign, but here is a thread on some financial information regarding the state of the country's debt that we should all analyse and research!!

We are not all finance people, so it'd be short and as direct as possible

THREAD
While working in a bank, HR didn't allow staff loans if the repayment was more than 30% of your take home!

This is a key reason why I don't agree with those who quote DEBT:GDP ratio because GDP DOES NOT pay debt.

Pay more attention to the debt service/revenue ratio.
In June 2015,

- Nigeria's Foreign debt was $10billion
- Nigeria's local currency debt was N10.1trillion
- Nigeria's budget expenditure was N4.3trillion

Fast forward to June 2020,

- Nigeria's Foreign debt is $31.5billion
- Nigeria's local currency debt is N19.5trillion
In the 2015 budget of N4.3trillion, about N950billion or 22% was set aside for debt servicing but in the 2021 budget proposal, N3.5trillion is set aside for debt servicing.

Look at it this way:

In just 5 years our debt burden has grown to 80% of what our 2015 budget was!
In 2021 budget proposal, our revenue projection is N7.9trillion, so this means we will spend almost half of all our revenues servicing debt of which over 60% was accumulated in just the last 5 years.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with debt unless you have no capacity to repay
By the way, the 2021 budget deficit (the amount we need to still borrow for it to "balance") is more than the entire 2015 budget!!!
But wait, the government claimed it was broke and then went on a borrowing spree but with all this borrowing in the last 5 years, where exactly has the money gone?

Please note I have not added the FGs funding from the @cenbank nor the contractor debts
Also, for more perspective, here's my thread from last year on how the @cenbank spent, from my modest assumptions, N6trillion defending the currency

It won't be just discussing the FG without bringing the States (don't worry, it's brief)

According to @nigerianstat, In H1 2020, ALL the states in Nigeria generated N600billion (Lagos alone was N200bn and Rivers N65billion)

So all the other 34 States and FCT generated N335bn
States are generating an average of N100billion a month but total debt of all the states in USD & NGN is N5.6trillion

Seems we will all owe till we die!! and still leave our kids with debt

Of course, some states are more solvent...maybe 4 or 5 but for all the others, go figure!
Back to FG:

In Q1 this year, that's between Jan - March 2020, the minister of finance stated that our Debt service to revenue ratio was 99%

That is: For every N100 the FG retained, N99 was used to service debt.

If this were a company,...

nairametrics.com/2020/06/13/nig…
Does the country need more money? ABSOLUTELY!

But how do we get more money then? Most people will tell you 2 ways:

1. Increase debt i.e. borrow more
2. Increase revenue i.e. raise tax

But let me add:
3. plug leakages and wastes to reduce expenses

perhaps do even all 3
My concern stems from the fact that it doesn't seem like this govt is taking my future seriously as government seem swathe rcomfomrtable maintaining a very bloated status quo amidst a dire outlook for the future

Youth un/underemplyment is about 55%, poverty rate is over 70%
There's a lot of work to do but I do not see that the priority levels of govt is appropriate.

The priorities of helping a homeless and hungry man has who's been hit by a car & has a fracture that's severed his femoral artery changes drastically from bread and house to HOSPITAL
Though he still needs food and a home, if the bleeding isn't stopped in a few minutes, he'll be dead!

Only an idiot will priorities paying the chaps rent instead of getting him to hospital

We have many thing s to deal with, but we need to set our priorities straight and sadly,
...the FGs reaction to the #EndSARSProtest just seems like they are tone deaf to the aguish and agony of the citizens and intend to carry on like everything is absolutely okay...

What else needs to be done to get their attention to correct all these anomalies?

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More from @zeal_a

30 Aug
Here’s a story I wrote in 2018 that has relevance today (with events around Covid and CAMA)

THREAD

Hindsight they say, is 20/20 & it’s often easy to look back & see what should’ve been & to see why exactly the string of “coincidences” happened the way they did.
2. “Peter go visit & share with that Gentile called Cornelius!”

Still, it took 3 visions before Peter went & God must’ve said
“Can’t work like this & save the world using 3 visions per person”.

So, God locked down an overzealous religious bigoted killer called Saul of Tarsus.
3. Saul had 3 important things God needed:

1. Zealous to a fault for what he believed
2. Well educated (means he reasoned things out)
3. Was both a Jew & a Roman.

Reviewing/overlaying the life & character of Paul, timing of his calling, dual citizenship and education...
Read 19 tweets
4 Aug
Someone forwarded this awesome message to me and I wish I knew the author to thank him/her.

It raises a valid question we never ask because we think we know the answer

THREAD
MEN SHOULD KNOW THEY MUST STRIVE TO KEEP THEIR NAMES ALIVE, IT IS NOT THEIR SONS OR DAUGHTERS THAT WILL DO THAT ...

Spartacus died in 71 BC.

Today millions of people know him.

We all know him. Our children also know him.
In 500 years, people will still read about him, about Socrates, about Plato, about Winston Churchill, about Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Queen Amina, William Shakespeare. Their stories will almost live for ever.

But, do you know any of their sons or daughters?🙄🙄

I bet you don't.
Read 8 tweets
15 Jul
Same story, 2 points of view:

THREAD

MY VERSION

1. I noticed a colleague always had lunch at a particularly run down bukka so one day, I offered to take him somewhere "nice" for lunch. He was rather reluctant but he eventually agreed.

Honestly, I seemed more excited than him
2. This wasn't my regular lunch place as it was barely affordable but I was just too happy to "do some good" to the "less privileged".

Lunch was rather awkward cos I kept trying to keep a conversation going while he ordered modestly and kept sneaking a glance at his watch
3. We finished & he literally bolted out of the place with a weak apology of needing to be somewhere. Somewhere better than here? Anyway, he was cordial & polite all through but honestyly, I expected much more appreciation for the favour I was going out of my way to do for him.
Read 9 tweets
20 Jun
One of my greatest blessings is also one of my greatest curses: that I can see & understand completely different & opposite perspectives.

Though I have my position, that I see & understand the opposite perspective doesn’t mean I agree with it.

This gives me patience
It forces me to wait and get as much information as possible, to stand in their shoes of everyone & feel their pain, anger or joy.

Then, I am able to engage them at their own level even if I dislike or disagree with them

It helps me separate the person from their circumstance
It’s not easy accepting that what you see or hear is not what is mean and it certainly isn’t easy bringing balance to those who are convinced that their senses are always correct.

We can both see or hear the same thing and yet, sense or perceive entire different messages
Read 4 tweets
15 Jun
2 years ago I wrote a story about the science of the 10 plagues of Egypt which likely culminated in a Limnic eruption

facebook.com/892190202/post…

I'll reproduce it here:

THREAD
1. Though the volcanic eruption was hundreds of miles away, though we only heard about it on the news, little did we know that the impact would be felt so close to home. Well, we were on holiday in a remote town and that was home for now.
2. You see, somehow, the high sulphur content from the volcano found it's way into the natural waterways via what must have been, a mini seabed earthquake & the combination created what I would've thought was a beautiful red hue in the river except for the ensuing devastation
Read 17 tweets
13 Jun
Imagine that like @yinkanubi you have a favorite amala joint on your street but on one day, you crave an exotic meal.

You drive 2hours, go past a great pounded yam bukkas, go past Ghana high & others like it & even an amazing Jamaican restaurant.

But you crave what you crave
You then land at this amazingly decorated restaurant that has everything you dreamed of on its menu

But when you order prawn cocktails or pan seared salmon or Steak au poivre, one by one, you’re told that what you want is “out of stock” then you’re told that all they have is...
Yes...they only have amala & stew. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with amala and stew but hell no, you didn’t drive 2hrs to eat what is on your street. You didn’t forsake all the other places to end up here for just this. The dissatisfaction is going to be epic & exaggerated
Read 11 tweets

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