Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Is this right?

My Facebook update from yesterday on this topic:

Garba Shehu says the subsidized 197 Naira to the dollar approved for Muslim pilgrims is non-discriminatory since it was also approved for Christian pilgrims. These Buhari media people just don't get it. They don't understand that the outrage is about the flawed logic of singling out some tens of thousands of Nigerian pilgrims (Christians and Muslims), a small minority, and subsidizing their private religious journey with highly discounted, hard earned foreign currency that belongs to ALL Nigerians, including the over 170 million who will never go on any pilgrimage. Are you not discriminating against them?

This insensitive and incompetent media team does not understand that, apart from the usual suspects whose criticism is motivated by narrow primordial considerations, the outrage is about government's financial subsidy on the performance of a private religious duty and not about who is getting the subsidy. Even if you extend the Forex subsidy to Ifa and other traditional pilgrims, it would still be wrong. You'd still be discriminating against more than 170 million Nigerians. Besides, isn't Nigeria experiencing dollar scarcity? Why then are we awarding this scarce currency to a select group of religious pilgrims? And did Buhari not tell Nigerians whose kids are studying abroad to withdraw them if they cannot afford to buy foreign exchange from the parallel market to pay their school fees? Nigeria befuddles.

On Sat, Aug 6, 2016 at 6:11 PM, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

Moderator's puzzle

The policy to give concessionary dollar exchange rate to pilgrims does not seem to me to make economic sense.
And to those of us who think this way, it is not a religious argument. Indeed, I can make the argument that spiritual needs are a necessity. And to someone like me with many Muslim family members, it is not an opposition to an established practice. I am aware of the long-established preferential treatment for pilgrims, Muslims and Christians but the economic climate and diminished oil revenues call for a rethinking.

It is a rational argument of state policy which calls for a conversation on opportunity cost:

What about support for industries and manufacturers who create jobs?
Foreign reserves?
Health issues?
Youth education and empowerment?
Payment of salaries?
Remittances of companies we owe?

May be I am wrong!

Sent from my iPhone

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.