Pat Utomi

By Chris Udochukwu

ABUJA FCT – Professor of Economics, Pat Utomi has commended the diaspora for remiting back more than Nigeria earns from Crude Oil which goes to show that they accept the fact that they have a duty in the Nigeria rescue.

Utomi who gave the commendation when he took to his X account, said they were were quick to come along with initiatives of giving back at home not only in health care and the Ubuntu community specific problem solutions but in private and Public Private Partnership (PPP) development of Infrastructure and Housing. Adding that his meeting with men like Soji Tinubu, Dr Adiele Nwankwo who have made monumental contributions to Infrastructure development in North America was edifying .

Precise Post recalls that Nigerians abroad send around $20bn back home every year. Remittances from the Nigerians living abroad reached $20bn in 2023, according to the World Bank, slightly lower than the $21bn a year earlier, and still about a third of the entire flows to sub-Saharan Africa for the year. The flow is projected to reach $26bn in the next two years, making it a hard-to-ignore source of foreign income, and one the monetary authorities want to be reflected in the value of the naira.

In June, the CBN announced that international money transfer operators (such as Western Union, Moneygram and Ria), would be given access to the official foreign exchange trading window known as the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM).

In other words, they would be able to access the naira value in real-time to pay recipients of international transfers at the going exchange rate. This was part of measures “aimed at widening access to local currency liquidity for the timely settlement of diaspora remittances,” W. J. Kanya, the acting director of the CBN’s Trade and Exchange department, said while disclosing the measure.

Central Bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso concedes that inflows of foreign currencies from Nigerians living abroad form a key part of the strategy of the monetary authorities to improve foreign exchange liquidity and strengthen the value of the naira. Reforms implemented by the monetary authorities have brought the official and the unofficial, parallel market close to convergence.

“We’ve had a recognition of the huge role Nigerian diasporans play in remitting tremendous amounts of money into the system,” Cardoso said, adding that the regulator set up a special committee with the task of doubling diaspora inflows. “It’s beginning to bring about results. Again, we are confident that with these kinds of measures, liquidity will increase in our market,” said Cardoso.

In February alone there was an inflow of $1.3bn in Nigerian diaspora remittances, most of it chasing short-term government securities in the wake of a rate hike, according to the CBN. It’s a sign of the growing influence of that source of funding, which has averaged 80% of the federal budget in value in recent years, and is several times bigger than the combined foreign direct investment and foreign aid flows into Nigeria, according to official data.

Linking the official foreign exchange market directly to diaspora remittances is expected to give strength to the naira while addressing a longstanding concern about the remitted foreign currencies not reaching Nigeria. That is expected to be one of the benefits of having a unified exchange rate, where there’s no parallel market rate divergence to necessitate round-tripping.

Similarly, the Nigeria Diaspora Investment Summit is a private sector group that seeks to introduce Nigerians living abroad to lucrative local investment opportunities, by working with the government’s Diaspora Commission. Leading areas of interest for Nigerians abroad are business innovations and technology, according to Kachi Okezie, a spokesman for the Summit.

“Diaspora Nigerians are motivated significantly by their strong emotional connection and sentimental attachment to their homeland, coupled with their deeper understanding of local needs,” says Okezie. “Compared to the nominal foreign investor, a typical Nigerian in the diaspora, having grown up in Nigeria, is familiar with local needs, cultural nuances, and market dynamics.”

Before and after Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the UK, the former colonial ruler, was the foreign destination of choice for Nigerians, with the US in second place. The first major wave of migrations started in the mid-80s, after Muhammadu Buhari, then a soldier, seized power and enforced an austerity regime. The decade and a half of brutal military rule that ensued, with General Ibrahim Babangida and then General Sani Abacha at the helm, led to the departure of academics and professionals who saw no future under such repressive regimes.

It was gratifying to find the Diaspora even if dispirited from past failures and being excluded from voting when they remit back more than Nigeria earns from Crude Oil accept that they have a duty in the Nigeria rescue. They were quick to come along with initiatives of giving…
— Pat Utomi (@UtomiPat) August 13, 2024

By Chibuike Nwabuko

ABUJA FCT – As the news of a looming nationwide protest in August over the hunger and hardship in Nigerians spreads like wildfire, arising from the mismanagement and squandering of our common patrimony by the political elite class, if feelers on the social media is anything to go by, Prof Pat Utomi has queued behind the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote to confess that he does not own any property outside Nigeria as a mark of patriotism and believe in the Nigerian project.

Precise Post recalls that Dangote had last week highlighted that his passion for an industrialized Nigeria is the sole reason why he doesn’t have houses outside Nigeria.

The Africa’s richest man, who disclosed this during a media parley at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State, also revealed that he once had a London house which he sold in 1996.

According to Dangote, “I figured that if I had those houses, there will be one reason or the other for me to visit those places thereby causing distraction for me.

“I am very passionate about the Nigeria dream and apart from my Lagos house, I have another one in my home state Kano and a rented one in Abuja.”

Taking a queue from Dangote on Sunday on his X account, the Prof of Economics, Utomi responded that it’s show your(Dangote’s) commitment time. Aliko Dangote has set the ball rolling by saying he had no property outside Nigeria. I join him, Utomi stated.

“Anyone who can see any property or investment I have outside Nigeria can take it over and keep it. I can say same for my wife and children. I wish for all in authority positions to make a similar pledge of commitment, Utomi said.

Utomi said he recalled a request for a similar pledge about 30 years ago where Soji Apampa and CBI came to the chamber of commerce(LCCI) and requested the leaders to volunteer to make a public pledge that they would not give or take a bribe. “I was one of only three or four out of more than 60 present to step forward. Commitment matters, he stated.

Further recall that the Bayo Onanuga who on Saturday accused the members of OBIdient movement of being behind the planned protest informed that he has been on the trail of one of the protest planners, who is nameless but claims to have an internet radio station, PTM100.88 Abuja.

According to him, the anonymous person joined X in August 2022 and has 520 followers, among whom are FS Yusuf, another rabid Obi supporter, and Professor Pat Utomi, a Labour Party chief and a guy on X who goes by the pseudonym Peter Obi’s First Son. PTM’s profile image has someone holding the inscription` Certificate Forger Not My President, ‘ with a photo of Peter Obi as an inset. Only Obi’s supporters will be talking about certificate forgery long after the Supreme Court dismissed the allegation, Onanuga added.

By Chibuike Nwabuko

ABUJA FCT – Professor Pat Utomi has reacted to the comment credited to Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser Information and Strategy to President Tinubu; saying that if he was one of the planners of the nationwide protest in August, he would have wore it as a badge.

The vocal and brave professor of economics reminded Onanuga that he has participated in many protests from his undergraduate days at UNN to marching with concerned professionals following the annulment of June 12 elections by military jaunta. He also stressed that even though he did not know the organizers of the EndSARS protests, that he supported it.

Precise Post recalls that Onanuga has called out Pat Utomi as one of the stunch suporters of Peter Obi that is a follower of one of the planners of the nationwide protest in August that he is trailing on X. He said the anonymous person joined X in August 2022 and has 520 followers today, among whom are FS Yusuf, another rabid Obi supporter, and Professor Pat Utomi, a Labour Party chief and a guy on X who goes by the pseudonym Peter Obi’s First Son.

According to him, “I have been on the trail of one of the protest planners, who is nameless but claims to have an internet radio station, PTM100.88 Abuja. The anonymous person joined X in August 2022 and has 520 followers today, among whom are FS Yusuf, another rabid Obi supporter, and Professor Pat Utomi, a Labour Party chief and a guy on X who goes by the pseudonym Peter Obi’s First Son. PTM’s profile image has someone holding the inscription` Certificate Forger Not My President, ‘ with a photo of Peter Obi as an inset. Only Obi’s supporters will be talking about certificate forgery long after the Supreme Court dismissed the allegation.

Utomi while reacting to Onanuga via his X account said”:

“Let it be clear that I have nothing against protests. It is a legitimate instrument of democracy for raising the voice of citizens. I have participated in many in my time. From my undergraduate days at UNN to marching with concerned professionals following the June 12 elections annulment. Even though I did not know the organizers of the EndSARS protests I supported it. So if I were part of whatever is being planned for August I would wear it as a badge of honor and not wait to be called out by Bayo Onanuga”.

Onanuga highlighted that the malcontents planning to stage nationwide protests are supporters of Peter Obi, the failed presidential candidate of the Labour Party. And he should be held responsible for whatever crisis emanates from the action.

The protest planners are also the same people who were instigated by IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu to launch the destructive ENDSARS protest in Nigeria in October 2020. ENDSARS began as a genuine protest by youths against the Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad, notorious for its high-handedness. IPOB members planning to extricate the South East region from Nigeria infiltrated the protest and hijacked it for their own agenda. Lagos still bears the scar of the malicious destruction by IPOB elements until today.