4 thoughts on “Currency Manipulation by Nigerian Banks”

1. This is strange but we’ve encountered it too, although not in Nigeria. From Kenya to Uganda, Tanzania to Sudan, there’s a lot of businesses, changers and banks who won’t take US notes older than 2006. In Kenya I couldn’t even use one at the airport to pay for my visa. I have no idea why this would be… fear of forgeries? problems with the condition of the notes?

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   • I think it might boil down to bad leadership in Africa.

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     • I don’t know about bad leadership, but I read an article recently about the need for personal taxes in African countries. For most countries the majority of the population pays no income tax, and governments tend to rely more on foreign aid, but as a result of that neither the people nor the leadership feel strongly about the leadership’s accountability to the people who elected them… I’ve really enjoyed listening to some of Dambisa Moyo’s interviews, she’s a Zambian economist, are you familiar with her writings?

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     • Taxing personal income is a western system. Most African countries sit on massive natural resources, more than enough to sustain its citizens without taxing the already low personal incomes of the people. Although Nigeria has the bragging rights to the richest black man and woman in the world, still the poverty level in Nigeria will make your eyes bleed.

       Congo sits on 70% of the worlds coltan reserves yet there is constant war, genocide and poverty in central Africa. Nigeria and several other African countries sit on large reserves of oil and other natural resources yet millions go hungry every night. What Africa lacks is the leadership to manage these resources so we don’t burden the poor masses with the task of figuring out the US dollar.

       Am in favor of property taxes as a source of revenue for localities but am afraid that in Africa any source of revenue is also the source of corruption. On my block in Abuja sits 2 homes with a combined value of $10m owned by one guy. So maybe a property tax system would have encouraged him to invest in factories and schools as oppose to luxury homes.

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