By Babs Oyetoro
Despite all deliberate efforts and strategic economic policies of the Federal Government to stabilise the ailing economy and pull Nigerians from the pangs of poverty and hunger, the signs of quick recovery will take some time.
The World Bank’s economic postulation on the level of poverty in Nigeria and the attendant rise in inflation at the moment call for cause for concern.
ThisNigeria checks yesterday revealed that most Nigerians wake up having no idea when or where their next meal will come from, and many go to bed without eating.
To worsen matters, farmers have refused to go to their farms because of incessant attacks from banditry and terrorists.
Nigeria is currently faced with an acute shortage of food production due to security challenges in most of the agricultural states.
For instance, Benue State is known as the food basket of the nation but the herdsmen attacks have made the farmers abandon their farms for fear of being killed.
Coupled with this is the high rise of inflation arising from the removal of subsidy, unsteady naira against dollars at the international market, and drastic shortfall in food production across the nation due to insecurity.
Also, the epileptic power supply has further hindered meaningful industrial growth in the country. This has led some companies to wind up their operations in Nigeria.
Besides, an economic expert has expressed deep concern about the free fall of naira in the year 2023.
Commenting, the CEO of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr Muda Yusuf, decried the serious confidence crisis in the foreign exchange market fuelling an unprecedented speculative onslaught on the naira in 2023.
He said the economy grappled with severe adverse effects of the depreciating exchange rate, soaring energy costs, ravaging inflationary pressures, a huge backlog of foreign exchange obligations that need to be cleared, and debt service obligations that need to be redeemed.
He added that in addition to the I & E window, it has become necessary to create an autonomous window in the banking system where the currency can trade freely without any encumbrances.
He noted that the naira’s depreciation is a complex issue driven by a confluence of factors.
*Effects of food shortage
Families now scamper for trashed food in waste bins
In Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, a woman who identified herself as Alaba, has taken to sending her children to centres where they have events to scout for wasted food.
The widow, who was looking unkempt with her three children, said the economic hardship pushed her into looking for food in trash bins, especially where there are ceremonies like weddings, birthdays, or funerals.
She said, “I normally send my children to source for trashed foods at events and I put the remains in different pots that will last us for some days. When they bring it, we put the rice together, all the rice. All soups and all swallows are put separately.
“We warm them and it will serve as a meal for some days. We neatly remove the dirt in the food and eat. We do not have any source of income and I cannot resort to stealing.”
A psychologist, Mr Amuza Abiri, said, “The poverty rate has pushed people to look for food in the dustbin as if they are mentally deranged. They are normal but cannot afford to buy food because of lack of money.
“The dustbin corner, if you observe, is the most visited in the neighbourhood. People now see the treasure in dustbins. Go to parties and you see the way hungry children scamper for wasted foods, you will thank God for giving you a decent meal at least once a day.”
*World Bank projects rising inflation in 2024
The recent World Bank report on the state of the economy particularly the level of poverty ravaging distressed Nigerians is mindboggling, to say the least.
The Global Financial Institution attributed the rise in poverty level to the recent economic and fiscal reforms undertaken the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The key reforms include the removal of petrol subsidy and the foreign exchange market rate restructuring.
Despite the open commendation by the World Bank for the bold initiative of the Federal Government to redress the slide into economic quagmire, the body revealed that the government policies have created intense pressure on the cost of living, which has pushed more Nigerians into hardship, with 104 million now living below the poverty line.
The World Bank report also indicated that the number of poor people in Nigeria had grown from 95 million in 2021 to 100 million in 2022, while the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicated that the figure was 82.9 million in 2019 and 85.2 million in 2020.
As quite threatening as the World Bank report might be, the economic variables on the ground do not suggest any possible immediate solution that will bring the needed succour to millions of Nigerians still reeling under the heavy weight of the economic crunch.
Nothing seems to suggest any glimpse of hope as the inflation rate has risen to 28 per cent with the possibility that it may get to 30 per cent if nothing is done to arrest the abnormal situation.
The World Bank report corroborated these statistical facts.
‘‘Inflation remains at record high levels for Nigeria, 27.3 per cent Year-on-Year (YoY) in October 2023, partly driven by the one-off price impacts of the removal of the gasoline subsidy.”
No wonder the most vulnerable Nigerians have resulted to begging while some others undertake all manner of menace jobs to keep soul, spirit, and body together.
The economic hardship has got to the head because most of the sub-nationals are paying lip services to the issue of palliatives, pundits say.
In most states, the masses cannot feel the impact of the much-publicised palliatives meant to cushion the effects of the subsidy removal.
Besides, some of the interventions promised by the Federal Government will only start manifesting early this year.
Obvious Nigerians have run out of patience rather are expecting immediate intervention that will mitigate the current sufferings pervading the land.
*World Bank proffered solutions
In its World Bank Nigeria Development Update (NDP) entitled: Turning the corner: Time to move from reforms to results,’ the bank stresses the need to continue with the reform momentum to complete the reforms and to address the costs of the reforms.
“The impact of this is especially hard on poor and vulnerable citizens. The FX market has remained volatile and in a period of continuing adjustment to the new policy approach, with significant fluctuations in the exchange rate in both the official and the parallel markets. Revenue gains from the FX reform are visible.
“However, there is a need for more clarity on oil revenues, especially the financial gains of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, from the subsidy removal, the subsidy arrears that are still being deducted, and the impact of this on Federation revenues.”
In his appraisal of the country’s reforms, World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, stated, “The petrol subsidy and FX management reforms are critical steps in the right direction towards improving Nigeria’s economic outlook. Now is the time to truly turn the corner by ensuring coordinated fiscal and monetary policy actions in the short to medium term.
“Continued reform implementation can ensure that Nigeria benefits from the difficult adjustments underway. This includes ensuring that improved oil revenues following the sharply increased PMS accrue to the federation.
‘‘In the medium-term, the economy will then begin to benefit from increasing fiscal space for development spending, including on power and transport infrastructure, as well as on human capital.”
He further said that between N300bn and N400bn was expended on fuel subsidy monthly, before the subsidy removal, and that the expectation was that the NNPCL should have been paying such amount to the Federation Account, but this has not been the case.
*Tinubu’s assurances
Meanwhile, in the New Year national broadcast to the nation, President Bola Tinubu has reassured the populace that better days are ahead as Nigerians will begin to feel the impacts of his reformative agenda.
“Having laid the groundwork of our economic recovery plans within the last seven months of 2023, we are now poised to accelerate the pace of our service delivery across sectors.
“Just this past December during COP28 in Dubai, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and I agreed and committed to a new deal to speed up the delivery of the Siemens Energy power project that will ultimately deliver a reliable supply of electricity to our homes and businesses under the Presidential Power Initiative which began in 2018
“In 2024, we are moving a step further in our quest to restart local refining of petroleum products with Port Harcourt Refinery, and the Dangote Refinery which shall fully come on stream,” he re-assured.
