ADDRESSING GROWING ECONOMIC HARDSHIP
The economic reform programmes of the President Bola Tinubu administration have led to skyrocketing transportation costs, food, and service prices, and precipitated a sharp erosion of real wages. More disturbing is that increased statutory allocations arising from the removal of fuel subsidies and merging of the Naira exchange rates have not translated into better governance at any level. In Nigeria today, prices of virtually everything are on the rise. Living in extreme poverty, as it is the case with millions of Nigeria, means living on an amount that cannot guarantee the barest minimal needs for survival.
While we are mindful that the current economic challenge may be global, what makes the Nigerian situation more sobering stems from several factors, including the high poverty rate. In most of the 36 states, pipe borne water remains a scarce commodity while thousands die every year because of poor sanitation and ill-equipped health centres. Many educational institutions are decrepit and inadequately staffed. Perhaps even more depressing, despite the stagflation that pushed the cost of food, goods and services beyond the reach of majority of Nigerians, some states are not only owing backlog of workers’ salaries and pensions, but are also yet to implement the National Minimum Wage of N70,000 signed into law two years ago.
Rising fuel prices amid astronomical costs of goods and services have continued to torment the people and render their lives miserable. The federal government often blames the activities of middlemen for the soaring cost of goods and services. While this observation is partly true, the unassailable fact remains that the nation’s monetary and fiscal policies are either wrong-headed or poorly implemented, thereby inflicting more pain on the masses. For instance, it is simple economics that if local producers source their raw materials and machinery offshore and are subjected to the vagaries of high exchange rate, the cost of their finished products would reflect their production cost and profit margin. The consumer bears the brunt.
Only recently, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned that more than 17 million people across nine conflict-hit states in northern Nigeria face severe hunger. But this challenge is not restricted to only one zone, it cuts across the nation. For years, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the UNWFP have warned repeatedly that millions of Nigerians are at the risk of hunger as prices of foodstuff skyrocket. Recent data compiled by an international e-commerce organisation also revealed that the average Nigerian household spends about 60 per cent of its income on food, one of the highest in the world.
Meanwhile, public sector workers in the country have given the federal government till next Wednesday (30th September) to address the worsening economic hardship they and dependents face nationwide. Under the auspices of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC), Trade Union Side, the workers are demanding a stabilisation of the price of petrol at N500 per litre. Even if this seems unrealistic now, the demand came after the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) asked the federal government to urgently approve emergency palliatives and wage awards to workers nationwide.
While we recognise that many of the socio-economic challenges are global, what makes the Nigerian situation worse is that things have been pretty difficult for too long. We therefore urge the authorities in Abuja and the states to fashion out measures to salve the frayed nerves of the suffering masses who are currently assailed by unprecedented high cost of living. People-friendly programmes must be put in place to inject the much-needed hope into the populace.
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