As Christians across the globe celebrate Christmas today, IMOLEAYO OYEDEYI and VINCENT KURAUN examine how Nigerians will be commemorating the day in view of the misery occasioned by consistent inflation that gripped the country in 2022.
TODAY, Christmas Day is globally expected to be a day of joy and religious celebration for many people, especially Christians across the globe. It is a day known for conviviality, merriment, wining and dining among families and adherents. The Christmas season usually comes with a lot of fun and exchange of gifts among families and friends.
But the prevailing economic hardship in the country appears to have dampened this season’s joy and splendour for many Nigerians, as they groan under severe hunger, hyper-inflation and worsening insecurity, which investigation reveals, have weakened their economic power and ability to perform certain traditional Christmas practices such as buying new attire and embarking on inter-state visits to their relatives and extended families.
From the North to the South and to the Eastern part of the country, it has been the same tale of woes and lamentation.
As a testament of the deepening economic downturn that gripped the country in 2022 and sent gloom across many households during this Christmas season, the World Bank, a few days ago, said that about five million more Nigerians were pushed into abject poverty between January and September, 2022 by the country’s predatory inflation.
The Bretton Woods institution, which disclosed this in its Nigeria Development Update (NDU) released on December 15, 2022, stressed that: “Higher inflation in 2022 is estimated to have pushed an additional five million Nigerians into poverty between January and September 2022, mainly through higher prices of local staples, such as rice, bread, yam, and wheat, especially in non- rural areas.”
According to the bank, “Nigeria’s fiscal pressures intensified during the year, exacerbated by the soaring price of petrol. Despite higher oil export revenues, official reserves have fallen, and the currency market is severely distorted, undermining the business environment and investment.”
“The weaknesses in the macroeconomic policy framework are suppressing growth and making Nigeria more vulnerable to shocks. Nigeria’s economic growth has slowed on the back of declining oil output and moderating non-oil activity.
“Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose by 3.1 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in the first three quarters of 2022, little more than the annual population growth of 2.6 per cent. Nigeria’s growth performance, and its fiscal and external buffers, have decoupled from high oil prices, and macroeconomic vulnerabilities have increased,” the bank added.
It will be recalled that the global bank, at the beginning of the year, said Nigeria may have one of the highest inflation rates globally in 2022, with increasing prices diminishing the welfare of many Nigerian households. The bank had then predicted that about 95.1 million Nigeria would fall into hopeless poverty by the end of this year.
But the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its latest National Multidimensional Poverty Index report released in November, said about 133 million Nigerians are now multidimensional poor. And this swelling penury rate, observers say, culminated in the bleak and gloomy Christmas being experienced across the country today.
When Sunday Tribune approached 44-year-old motorcyclist, Monday Adeolu, in the scorching sun at Sango in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Friday, there was no sign that he would be having anything other than a bleak celebration today. And the reasons are not far-fetched: Christmas was just two days away then, but he hasn’t been able to make any substantial amount of money to buy his children good clothes to wear and the usual festive chicken to kill and eat.
As Sunday Tribune moved closer to him, the look on his face communicated the misery and despair his mouth could not clearly describe.
“See, bros, you won’t really understand how I am feeling right now. I used the remaining cash I have on me to buy fuel at N270 per litre, but since morning that I set out, I have been able to only make N1,50, because people aren’t taking bikes due to the high prices they said we charge.
“But is it our fault? I have been inside this sun for over an hour now, there is no customer. Yet, my wife is expecting me to bring money when I get home so that she can buy clothes for our children and maybe chicken for us to eat on Christmas day. But as it is now, I don’t think this will be possible. Only God knows how we will celebrate Christmas,” the Okada man lamented to Sunday Tribune.
Ituah Paul is the principal of a secondary school in Ologuneru area of Ibadan, Oyo State. In the golden days when things were economically blooming in the country, the fair-skinned lanky man said he usually got his December salary immediately when his school closed for the year around mid-December, but as of Friday when he spoke to Sunday Tribune, the man lamented that he and all other staff members of his school were yet to get their December salary, because the school management said many of the parents who have children in the school did not pay the first term tuition fees for their children.
“The situation is really pathetic. It is really unprecedented here in our school. I could remember that in the past, we did receive our December salary on the school closure date, but this year has been different as two days to Christmas now, we are yet to be paid. Though the management said many of the students did not pay their tuition fees, we are hoping they can at least give us half or quarter of the salary so that we can have something for Christmas.
“Personally, I don’t even know how my Christmas will go now, because if nothing comes till Saturday evening, that means it will look grim for us on Sunday. I really hope it doesn’t,” he lamented in a chat with Sunday Tribune.
Oluwadare Emmanuel Tiamiyu is a commercial printer and book publisher in Mokola area of Ibadan. While speaking with Sunday Tribune during the week, he also lamented low patronage, saying the hyper-inflation had drastically taken its toll on his publishing business and as such, he is not likely to celebrate Christmas as expected with his family.
“Tthere is hunger in the land. It is even worse for us as there is no work. You can see how dry this printing area looks. On a normal day, I know what I would have made a few days before Christmas as we are now, but it is a whole lot different this year. The rate at which printing works come in has dropped drastically. And it is all due to the surging prices of things in this country. We really pray the Lord helps us.
“As it stands now, I don’t think I will buy any chicken as I learnt it is sold for between N8,000 and N15,000 now in the market. I will rather keep the little I have on me now till January when another round of tuition fees payment will be knocking at my door,” he said.
But as unpleasant as it may be for residents of Oyo State this yuletide season, it is no different for those in Lagos, the country’s commercial nerve centre. When Sunday Tribune visited some markets across the state and interacted with people, it was evident that the current increase in prices of essential commodities was really biting very hard on the residents.
At the popular Ile-Epo market along Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, it was observed that prices of perishable commodities like tomatoes, pepper and onions varied depending on the size of the basket. While a basket of tomatoes was sold between N7,000 and N25,000, a bag of pepper was sold between N11,000 and N19,000.
For onions, the prices also varied depending on the quantity, while a visit to the livestock and food section of the market showed thatachickenwassoldatpricesthatrangedbetweenN4,500 and N14,000, just as a bag of rice was sold for between N35,000 and N47,000 depending on the quality.
There was low patronage of chicken at the market and the same thing held sway at a popular frozen food business centre in Egbeda area of the state. The manager of the poultry farm told Sunday Tribune on condition of anonymity that the low level of patronage is symptomatic of the economic hard time gripping Nigerians in the country.
He said: “This year, the price of chicken is even better than that of last year. Last year, the price was higher than what we have now. Though the prices for last year were high, yet, we experienced high patronage compared to what we are having now. For instance, this year, the price of chicken is low but we are not having good patronage.
When asked about the price range, he said: “A carton of turkey is now being sold for N31,000, but that of chicken and fish is now N23,000 and N39,000 respectively.”
At some popular shopping malls in Lagos, the price of vegetable oil also varies depending on the brand and the quantity. For instance a litre of groundnut oil was sold from N2,000 and above.”
While commenting on the economic situation in the country, a resident of Gowon estate in Lagos State, Mrs. Janet Bamidele, said: “There are basically no special plans about this Christmas for me and for most people around. Things are very hard in this country now for everybody and it is very strange the way the prices of things keep escalating on a daily basis. What you buy today, if you go back to buy the same thing a few days later, you will discover
that the price has gone up; it will no longer be the same.
“Our businesses are not running the way we expect because of the current happening in the country. Workers are also complaining about the high cost of commodities in the market and cost of transportation to work; so, how will you expect one to have plans for Christmas? Though, there might be a plan but how will you expect to achieve your plans when you don’t have the required
resources?”
A businessman, who also spoke to Sunday Tribune in Lagos, Mr.
Nicholas Olorunda Yamah, complained also about the hike in the prices of commodities, saying the unabated inflation is occasioned by the failure of the Federal Government to fulfil its electioneering promises to Nigerians.
He said: “There is no plan for Christmas because things have gone up and are very expensive. A kilo of chicken is around N2,500 and full chicken is around N15,000. So, for that reason, I don’t really have any plans for Christmas. However, whatever we get on that day, even if it is fish or a few cups of rice, we will just manage it.
“At my side, a bag of rice now is about N40,000 to N45,000. Everything has gone up. We all understand how the economy of our country is, the government is not doing the needful and we are blaming the government for not doing enough. The economy has been bastardised, insecurity has also caused a lot of harm to our economy and then, we really blame the current government for not doing what they promised to do.
“You can only have plans when you have money. But how can you plan when you don’t have money in your pocket? We live on our daily bread, it is what you have that you will eat. At the end of the day, if it is garri we have, we will gladly take it. So, on Christmas day, if it is bread and beans that we have, we will eat it. We cannot even talk about buying clothes for the children now during this festive season,” the businessman said.
But at the popular second-hand market in the Katangua area of the state, there were a lot of activities, even more than the usual hustling and bustling the market is known for, especially on market days, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It was observed that the increase in the activities at the market for the past two weeks, especially from Monday, was second to none. This isn’t unusual during festive seasons, but this year’s rush for second-hand wares took another turn.
A resident of the state, OluwakemiOvie, said she was no stranger to the market as she gets her children’s wares occasionally from the market. But she explained that after spending an entire day at the market trying to get a turkey gown from her two daughters, she could not get a good bargain. She said she tried buying some US, UK and China clothes at the market, but they were also expensive as the least she could get was N9,000 for a good gown, which didn’t go down well with her.
In Akure, the Ondo State capital, it was a similar tale of woes. It was gathered that a few days before Christmas, shoppers had been everywhere in various markets within the Akure metropolis, combing the markets in search for their needed items to make the season beautiful and delightful.
But the prices of food items and other things, such as clothes, skyrocketed, while consumers were trying to make the best of the economic situation and get value for their money. It was observed that prices of items like rice, chicken, groundnut oil, pepper, tomato, palm oil, yam and clothes that usually add colour to the festive season became untouchable for the common man in the city, owing to the astronomical hike in prices of these items.
One of the traders in the state, Mrs Bola Animashaun, who deals in rice, groundnut oil, palm oil, beans and other food items, told Sunday Tribune that the imported rice had become untouchable, while the local rice has also become out of reach for the common man.
She said: “People are now buying Nigeria rice, even though the price too is not friendly. What we used to sell at N27,000 before now goes for between N36,000 and N40,000 depending on how clean the rice is. The foreign rice is between N46,000 and N52,000.
“I have been selling rice for over two decades and I have never experienced something like this.”
Apart from rice, prices of other commodities were also not favourable, according to Mrs Eunice Okafor who sells yam at Democracy Park in Akure. She lamented that she had been looking forward to increased sales on Christmas, but added that the prices of yams had been driving customers away.
“I don’t know what is happening and we can’t eat these yams by ourselves. This used to be our season, but things are just too expensive and customers are complaining. I spent a lot of money transporting these yams here, but look at it now, no sales. Things are becoming expensive,” she said.
Also, one MrSikiruAdegbite, who sells turkey and live chicken at one of the markets in the state, expressed dismay over the turn of things, saying despite spending thousands of naira to breed the chicken and turkey, the sales were not encouraging.
He said: “I really have high hopes for this Christmas, but things are hard in the country, people are not ready to buy and this will amount to great loss for us and the customers are complaining, saying we are cheating them.”
Similarly, Alhaji Ayinla Sanusi, a meat seller at the said market, said sales were dull as many customers didn’t come around to buy things due to the cost of goods generally. He said a kilo of meat was being sold for N2,800.
As it was in the South-West, so it was for Nigerians in the North- Eastern part of the country. In Bauchi State, for instance, as of Thursday, civil servants were still expecting their salary and other allowances as promised by the state government.
and then