Emmanuel Olusegun Stober

Economist, PhD, the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Associate Chartered Economist, Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria, passionate about development economics, international business, and international diplomacy

The Quality of Nigeria’s Capital Imports

A saying has it that numbers do not lie, however the parameters behind the numbers might be somewhat misleading. The first quarter of 2018 saw a continuous growth in total capital importation into Nigeria, the fourth consecutive quarterly increase since Q2 2017. The total value of capital imported in the quarter stood at $6.3 billion, which is a year-on-year “YoY” increase of 594.03% and 17.11% growth quarter-on-quarter “QoQ”. This increase in capital inflow in Q1 2018 was mainly driven by portfolio investment, which grew from $3.5 billion in the previous quarter to $4.6 billion, accounting for 72.42% of the total capital importation during the quarter. More

The Hunger Games: Weaponizing Food

Emmanuel Olusegun Stober

Since the beginning of time, food has been used as a weapon of war. Enemies have tried to starve each other to death. The Romans did it, and so did the Germans, the Americans, and Britain weaponized food against India and the Central Powers. Food has always been used as a weapon of choice in almost every conflict or war.An ugly contradiction is playing out in war-torn Ukraine, as thousands of Ukrainians are starving in cities besieged by Russian forces, even though Ukraine is a key supplier in the global food supply chain, responsible for significant food commodity export. More

The Geopolitical Game of Thrones and Europe’s Energy Crisis

Emmanuel Olusegun Stober

Ever since the Russia-Ukraine conflict started, it has evolved into an economic war between Russia, on the one side, and the European Union and the United States, on the other. While the US and the EU imposed heavy sanctions to cripple the Russian economy due to its actions in Ukraine, President Putin has played the geopolitical “Game of Thrones” so well that now Europe is facing an economic crisis. The EU annual inflation rate for energy has touched a record high of 42%, food inflation has increased to 9.8% – the highest in 20 years –, and now the GDP growth rate is slowing down, with Russia being blamed for this. At the same time, rising inflation is ending an era of negative real interest rates and increasing the risk of a fracturing Eurozone economy. More

The Boomerang Effect of the Russia - Ukraine Conflict on the Wheat Supply Chain

Emmanuel Olusegun Stober

One of the most significant shockwaves to be felt outside of Ukraine since the Russian invasion is not in Europe, but in Africa. With an export of $14.75 billion, Russia stood in 8^th position of total exports to Africa in 2021. Even though the import statistics of Africa decreased by 35.4% YoY, the import from Russia saw an increase of 19% YoY. More

The Future of Cars: Reinventing Transportation

Emmanuel Olusegun Stober

The automobile industry’s cycle-race to embrace electric and autonomous vehicles did not include all its factories and workers. Neither did softening global auto sales help the market situation. And a change in the downward slope of the number of available job positions is unlikely, with Bloomberg predicting at least 80,000 more automobile jobs to be cut in the coming years. Still, what is certain is that the disruptive future of transportation has already hit the road. More

Diaspora Remittances: Major Economic Assets for Nigeria

Emmanuel Olusegun Stober

There are millions of people who migrate each year. With the help of family and friends, they cross oceans, rivers, deserts and mountains. They risk their lives to realize a dream, which is to simply have a decent job somewhere that enables them to financially support their families back home, the same families who helped them before. More