High cost of living and unending inflation in Nigeria, the way forward
Since the advent of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s administration, roughly five months ago, the cost of living in Nigeria has risen astronomically.For the first time in the history of Nigeria our exchange rate has hit an all time high to N1,100 to $1. This is not a good record at all.
An average Nigerian family can no longer eat three square meals in a day and the current federal government has kept on asking Nigerians to exercise patience. The question is, how long will this patience be exercised.
Since the abrupt removal of fuel subsidy, life is no longer normal in the country and the poor of the poor are hard hit.
Ironically, while the poor groan in penury, the rich are smiling.
We gathered that the country’s National Assembly has concluded an arrangement to buy imported vehicles valued at over N100m each for their members. Multiply that amount with the number of members in both Upper and Lower chambers and you can now appreciate the kind of ’patriotic representatives’ or leaders we have in Nigeria. And still they claim to be servant leaders.
Report has it that Nigerian legislators are the highest paid lawmakers across the globe, when the Nigerian economy remains underdeveloped or even undeveloped. What a country!
It is not as if we are criticising the government for the fun of it, but realities staring us in the face make criticism inevitable.
It is more painful when one realises that this country is one of the most favoured nations in the world in terms of human and material resources. The question now is what is the missing link, if not leadership?
A nation that hitherto occupied an enviable height among the comity of nations, suddenly slumped down and became overnight dwarf.
At this point, it is pertinent to itemise some possible causes of our retardedness in socio-economic and political spheres.
First and foremost, no country has ever developed as a totally consuming country, with all its products imported from other countries. You must bring something to the table before you can negotiate with other partners, otherwise you should be ready to accept anything at any rate.
If Nigeria cannot provide manufactured products, what of agricultural or even raw materials? Which one are we masters of? None. This of course boils down to poor economic policies, driven by poor leadership. Why must the country be allowed to descend to its lowest ebb after 63 years of nationhood while smaller nations in Africa are doing marvelously well.
Still, we are touting and priding ourselves as the giant of Africa. Where do we start and where do we end? Nigeria is still grappling with poor electricity power supply, poor road networks, high rate of unemployment, among others and still few unpatriotic political leaders are feeding fat on the near hopeless or helpless situation.
Why should the country depend solely on crude oil for its survival? What has happened to solid minerals? What of agriculture? Who said a nation cannot feed itself and other countries?
The situation is so bad that the recent or current war between Russia and Ukraine in far away Eastern Europe has taken a toll on our wheat consumption. The Israeli/Hamas war equally affects our economy. So when any nation coughs, Nigeria catches a cold. Can we now say that our leaders are leading us well? What really is our prospect as it stands now?
These questions are no doubt begging for answers and only God knows when such answers will come. At this juncture it is important to categorically say that solutions to our problems lie on us.
First, we must admit that we have not done well in the last six decades and a problem identified, they say, is half solved already. Round pegs must be allowed to occupy round holes. Technocrats must be appointed in place of political patronage, if we must have the best, or a better deal. This formula had worked before during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime, when he shopped and discovered the Okonjo Iwealas, Oby Ezekwesilis at the World Bank and that singular action rewrote our history then. The result was that all our foreign debts were paid and wealth accumulated.
This feat can still be re-enacted to our favour with little political will. We therefore urge the President Ahmed Bola Tinubu-led Government to look towards that direction and save this nation from further suffocation.
