Tackling worsening economic hardship in Nigeria

Not many can dispute the fact that the prevalent economic hardship across Nigeria, particularly among the low-income earners and self-employed masses has reached intolerable level due to several factors ranging from insecurity, erratic electricity supply, dwindling economic fortune, bad governance, corruption and lately the United States-Israel-Iran war which spiked the cost of fuel and diesel as well as goods and services.
We are therefore not surprised by the recent alarm raised by former Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani regarding abject poverty and hunger in the land even as he demanded urgent proactive and decisive actions by government at all levels to mitigate the suffering in the country, insisting that people are not only suffering untold hardship but are experiencing abject poverty and hunger.

Sen. Nnamani, an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, who spoke in Abuja while giving a goodwill message as a member, at the inaugural sitting of the APC screening committee ahead of the just concluded national convention of the party,further warned against taking the complaints of the people about hunger for granted or in assuming, like many party officials, that the ruling party has already won the 2027 general election adding that the party must work hard to earn the confidence and by showing that the concerns and suffering of the people matter to the party.

However for a country with no fewer than 133 million citizens or 63 percent out of its over 220 million population multidimensionally poor and experiencing multiple deprivations such as poor sanitation, lack of healthcare access, poor housing and food insecurity with higher rates among rural dwellers, according to figures reeled out by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, the politician was speaking the obvious and truth to the powers that be.

In other words, it is quite glaring to all concerned that the most populous black nation and one of the world’s youngest populations, with about 70 percent of citizens under the age of 30 is sitting on a time bomb which can explode any time if immediate and meaningful steps are not taken by both the federal, states and local public officials who superintend over the nation’s commonwealth, to cushion the suffering of the people, safeguard lives and property-the cardinal responsibility of every government.

In our view, it is no longer justiciable for government to blame paucity of funds for its inability to deliver democracy dividends to Nigerians while monthly allocations to the three tiers from the Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC, since the removal of fuel subsidy in May 2023 had been in trillions and all elected and appointed public officials earning jumbo salaries and allowances resulting in prohibitive cost of governance.

Besides, it is crystal clear that the federal government’s past and current Social Investment Programme, SIP, including Traders Money of the immediate past administration and President Bola Tinubu’s expanded Conditional Cash Transfer Programme and other poverty reduction initiatives running into trillions of naira, have not made the desired impact tackling hardship and suffering in the land.

Rather these funds given to those analysts described as ‘’money given to the friends of those in power’’ has ironically weaponized poverty with youth unemployment rate and cost of living rising.

We recall for example, that the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Bernard Doro revealed recently that Federal Government has disbursed approximately N688 billion to 9.2 million households over two years under the Household Prosperity and Empowerment Cash Transfer (HOPE-CT) programme under which N75,000 is transferred to each household, distributed in three tranches to support vulnerable families amid economic reforms.

The initiative, being implemented with loan from the World Bank seeks to alleviate the impact of economic reforms by assisting with essential needs like food, education, and healthcare while available statistics point to high participation, with 58.7% of beneficiaries in the 9.2 million households listed as being women and payments structured in three tranches of N25,000 each. It is part of the “Renewed Hope Agenda” and is conducted through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO), and the National Cash Transfer Office.

Though the central government has recorded positive macroeconomic indices in recent months with rate of inflation on steady decline and consistent growth in Gross Domestic Product, GDP, it insisted that current reforms are yielding fruits.

But some experts have strongly disagreed stating that he truest performance measurement of any economy is the nature of citizens’ welfare and the economy’s capacity to continuously providing such level of welfare now and in the future, creating jobs and positively impacting the real sector of the economy.

‘’Whatsoever statistics or numbers that does not demonstrate that the people are well off and are able to meet their basic needs of life now and in the future is sheer waste of time as well as anti-people’’ argued an analyst, proffering that huge funds channeled to poverty alleviation schemes by past and incumbent administrations would have been channeled to the establishment of cottage industries across the 774 local government areas in the country. “Teaching a man how to fish is better than giving him a fish”, he insisted.
It is regrettable also that insecurity in parts of the country, that manifest in recent suicide bombing of innocent and law-abiding citizens in Maiduguri which claimed at least 23 lives, the massacre of no fewer of 28 persons in Jos and over a dozen wedding guests in Katsina continue to pose existential threat to Nigeria and compounded the economic woes befalling citizens such that both local and foreign investors are reluctant to invest massively in the economy in addition to the harsh operating environment coupled with high cost of doing business.

Sadly too, we note with concern the continued poor electricity generation on account of gas shortage, resulting in incessant power outages; the recent hike in costs of fuel, diesel and the attendant increase in the cost of goods and services, including transport fares and logistics have taken a huge toll on the purchasing power of most citizens thereby aggravating their suffering and throwing many persons into the poverty bracket.

Based on the foregoing therefore, we demand that the federal government rather than focus on building foreign reserves through sale of crude oil abroad, should take urgent steps to grant Dangote Refinery concession to buy larger volume of crude oil in naira, not at international market rate, for the company to refine and sell petroleum products at reduced costs to consumers as part of short term measures to bring down the prices.

Also, government should slash the import duties paid on solar panels and batteries for the items to be more affordable to those who want to acquire and take advantage of the available abundant solar energy in the country.

Most importantly, we strongly challenge the APC-led government to fast track the creation of State Police to enable governors of the 36 states who are the supposed Chief Security Officers take effective charge and responsibility for the protection of lives and property since no meaningful social, economic and technological development can be attained in an atmosphere of insecurity and incessant massacre of citizens. It is when the people and property are adequately secured and the incessant bloodbath experienced in parts of the country stopped that real investment can be attracted and allowed to thrive, more employment generated and accelerate rapid economic growth that will positively impact citizens and ameliorate their current hardship.

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