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Articles by Wilson E. Herbert
The Myth of Automatic Market Equilibrium: Why a Distorted Market Cannot Guarantee a Country’s Economic Welfare, By Prof Wilson E. Herbert
Markets are indispensable to economic development. They coordinate demand and supply, communicate scarcity, reward efficiency, and create incentives for investment and innovation. Yet an important distinction is often overlooked in economic policy debates: a market can produce a price without producing a competitive outcome, and a competitive outcome does not automatically guarantee broader social welfare.
Why Nigeria Is Not A Textbook Economy, By Prof Wilson E. Herbert
A concerned reader of my previous article challenged my view of Nigeria as not a textbook economy. This response elaborates on Nigeria’s unique complexities, reinforcing why the economy is anything but a textbook (conventional) economic model. Nigeria’s economy defies standard macroeconomic models due to unpredictable price signals, dysfunctional transmission mechanisms, a large informal sector, unreliable national data, and significant structural distortions.
IRCC relaunches Application Status Tracker for work permit, study permit, and permanent residence applicants
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has relaunched its Application Status Tracker (ATS) tool, providing more transparency to applicants for work permits, study permits, visitor visas, and some permanent residence application (PR) types. The eligible PR application types are Express Entry, including the (PNP), and family sponsorship of a spouse or dependent child. Schedule a Free Work Permit Consultation On Oct.
Beyond “All Protocols Duly Observed”: Rethinking The Language Of Public Address In Nigeria, By Prof Wilson E. Herbert
Why respect for dignitaries should not come at the expense of good English, natural communication, and effective public speaking At conferences, public lectures, university convocations, political gatherings, official ceremonies, and community functions across Nigeria, a familiar expression frequently announces the beginning of a speech: “All protocols duly observed.” It is so deeply embedded in Nigeria’s public-speaking culture that omitting it may be interpreted as a breach of etiquette, an...
Can the Naira find its “True Value”?Exchange-rate reform and the deeper Nigerian economic problem, By Wilson E. Herbert
Nigeria’s decision to move towards a market-determined exchange rate has generated an argument that is larger than the naira itself. At the heart of the debate is a difficult question: can a currency genuinely “discover” its value in a market when the economy behind that currency is structurally weak, heavily import-dependent, narrowly reliant on crude oil, and insufficiently productive? There is considerable merit in this concern.
The Devaluation Fallacy: Why Monetary Fixes Cannot Cure Nigeria’s Structural Impediments, By Wilson E. Herbert
A combined picture of CBN governor, Yemi Cardoso and CBN logo A cheaper Naira cannot buy a productive economy. For decades, the central battleground of Nigerian economic policy has been the foreign exchange market. Whenever macroeconomic imbalances widen, a familiar orthodoxy emerges from global financial capitals and local technocrats alike: adjust the price of the currency, eliminate market distortions, and allow the exchange rate to find its equilibrium.
Coordination Without Capture: Rethinking the Case for Amending the CBN Act, By Prof Wilson E. Herbert
Nigeria’s recent effort to formalise fiscal and monetary policy coordination deserves serious attention. The Memorandum of Understanding between the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is not inherently controversial. Indeed, there is a compelling economic case for closer coordination between fiscal and monetary authorities.
The Unseen/Unspoken Paralyzers: Why Nigerian Punditry Fails to Diagnose the Real Drivers of Economic Decay, By Wilson E. Herbert
1. Introduction: The Orthodoxy Blind spot Turn on any major Nigerian television network during prime-time current affairs, or flip through the business pages of national dailies, and the macroeconomic debate follows a predictably rigid script.
The Devaluation Dilemma: Import-Dependency Culture Vs Productive Organisational Culture, By Wilson E. Herbert
I. The Great Exchange Rate Illusion In contemporary economic discourse across Nigeria, a familiar and exhausting debate dominates the headlines. Commentators, analysts, and public figures continually brandish the value of the Naira as the ultimate metric of national economic health. On one side, critics point to the depreciating exchange rate as proof of institutional failure.
The Industry of Inertia: How Nigeria’s Import Dependency Subsidises the World, By Prof. Wilson E. Herbert
There is an ancient and unforgiving truth built into the mechanics of economics: fortune does not favour the indolent. For nearly forty years, Nigeria, a sovereign giant and one of Africa’s largest crude oil producers, has attempted to defy this maxim. The country has operated on a parasitic economic model: exporting raw wealth, refusing to maintain its own processing plants, and relying entirely on the discipline and industry of foreign nations to meet its basic energy needs.
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