Still on the economic woes of Nigerians

THIS, again, is a terrible time for Nigerians. Across the country, Nigerians are complaining about the soaring prices of food items as food inflation figures worsen. From 19.50 per cent in May, the figures changed to 20.60 per cent in June. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the composite food index rose to 20.60 per cent in June 2022 on a year-on-year basis even as the rate of changes in the average price level declined by 1.23 per cent compared to 21.83 per cent in June 2021. In a report titled “Consumer Price Index May 2022”, the NBS stated that the rate of changes in food prices compared to the same period last year was higher due to higher food prices volatility caused by COVID-19. It is no surprise that going by the Hanke’s Annual Misery Index, Nigerians were more miserable in 2021 than they were in 2020. According to the report which analysed 156 countries by calculating their unemployment rates, inflation, prevailing lending rates and GDP growths, Nigeria moved from 15th among the most miserable countries in the world’s ranking in 2020 to 11th in 2021.

The Federal Government has of course stuck to the narrative that it is working hard to lift Nigerians out of the morass of despondency. Only this week, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Mrs Sadiya Umar Farouq, reiterated her unwavering commitment to the successful implementation of the Social Investment Programmes of the Buhari administration aimed at lifting 100 million vulnerable Nigerians out of poverty by 2030. In a statement issued by her media aide, Nneka Anibeze, the minister would not be deterred “by bellyaching detractors who will stop at nothing” to derail the lofty programmes.But away from the Federal Government and its “lofty programmes”, the suffering in the land is worsening. With high inflation rates, staggering unemployment figures and massive debts, the country is in one of its worst moments in its history. As we noted in previous editorials, while the current situation has been linked to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, the country had not fared well even before these crises. In 2018, it was ranked as the global capital of poverty, putting the Federal Government’s regime of bad policies on the spot.

Currently, the prices of goods and services have gone through the roof and the Naira is on a free fall as households sink further into the poverty trap due to weak purchasing power.  The number of Nigerians who cannot afford to make savings for future investments and even for projects such as house construction and the purchase of automobiles is huge: whatever little savings that households manage to make is sooner or later expended on day-to-day living. As a matter of fact, fintechs, many of them operating outside the precincts of the law, have taken advantage of the prevailing economic situation to fleece Nigerians through the provision of loans with odd interest rates and crude methods of recovery. The number of Nigerians borrowing from these fintech companies just to meet existential needs such as feeding is staggering. In any case, in both the public and private sectors, workers are being owed months of salary arrears and decent living has become a mirage.

While the current minimum wage rate of N30,000 can hardly meet workers’ transport costs alone, it is a fact that many of the state governments in the country are not even paying anything close to it. It is therefore misery writ large for vast populations of Nigerians. Rather ludicrously, the minimum wage is not even enough to buy a bag of rice. Again, it is a no-brainer that with little or no profits, high production costs and massive debts, businesses are collapsing, with the ugly corollaries of  job losses, limited tax options for the government and mounting security risks. Unemployment, with the factors of low social infrastructure, insecurity, high cost of doing business and scarce foreign investment fueled in part by the de-marketing of Nigerians by President Muhammadu Buhari and Nigeria’s poor business environment, is a threat to the country’s corporate existence. Besides, the misery of Nigerians has been worsened by fuel crisis and the weak currency: CFA is now stronger than the Naira. It is indeed a terrible situation.

There is no reason to continue the regime of pervasive insecurity and non-existent social services dressed in a veneer of government’s self-congratulations on infrastructure development. Statistical organs such as the World Bank insist that millions of Nigerians are slipping into poverty every day as they are not able to make ends meet or assure themselves of a reasonable living. This should cause the government to first apprehend the current precarious situation of many Nigerians and address itself to the responsibility and task of working to change the situation for the better. Unfortunately, it would seem that the government does not appreciate the dire circumstances in which many Nigerians have found themselves because of the inhospitable living environment they are in, and this is a recipe for social crises and upheavals. We hope that the government will recognise this and act on the urgency of the situation, so that Nigerians can be assured of improvements. We have not been persuaded to shelve our view that in order to solve the country’s economic problem, there must be production.  In this regard, it is certain that if the country gets electricity right and stimulates manufacturing, things will change drastically.

According to the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), a private sector-led think tank and policy advocacy platform, the biggest missing variable that has constrained Nigeria’s performance over the years is purposeful leadership. NESG made this stance following  its National Economic Dialogue held in Abuja in May this year. It said: “Since politics is superior to the economy as it provides the process or ecosystem that produces the type of leaders to govern the country, Nigeria’s lack of strong leadership with the capacity to understand its problems and solve them is its biggest problem.” We endorse this submission and urge the Buhari administration to strive and make a difference even as it gradually winds down. Giving up is not an option.