Grappling with hardship…officially

IN a notable departure from the official mantra, Senate President Godswill Akpabio has bucked the trend in government with a new dirge: Nigerians are grappling with severe hardship. Akpabio and Co are late to the party. Economically, and socially, life has become an excruciating nightmare for Nigerians since Bola Tinubu assumed office as President in May 2023. Akpabio’s mea culpa will only make sense to long-suffering Nigerians if they start witnessing an improvement in their lives.

Incidentally, other federal lawmakers have realised that Nigerians are having it rough. On the eve of resumption from an eight-week annual break, Senate Majority Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, decried the hardship among citizens in a lengthy op-ed widely syndicated in the newspapers. His colleague, Uzor Kalu, described the hardship as biting, charging President Bola Tinubu to “bring succour to Nigerians.”

As Nigeria’s No.3 man, Akpabio’s words carry weight. While extolling the “commendable efforts of Tinubu” in governance at the resumption of the new legislative year, he said, “In the face of rising economic pressures, our fellow citizens have been grappling with the realities of inflation, soaring living costs, and an unpredictable market.

“These challenges have tested the very fabric of our society, and I stand here today to express our deepest empathy for every Nigerian who bears the burden of these trying times.”
On all counts, Akpabio is spot on. In June, food inflation peaked at 40.87 per cent before dropping to 39.53 per cent in July and 37.52 per cent in August at the onset of the harvest season.

 The market realities are much harsher. With a minimum wage of N30,000 per month (before the July increment to N70,000), most Nigerians find it difficult to feed.

Energy costs have ballooned uncontrollably after Tinubu hastily cancelled petrol subsidies on Inauguration Day and floated the naira unrestrictedly two weeks later. From N190 per litre pre-Tinubu era, petrol prices more than quadrupled. Petrol averages N900/l now.
Nigerians deserve a better life but there is no respite as the currency tumbled out of control. It was N467/$1 in May 2023. It oscillates between N1,500/$ and N1,650/$ currently.

Electricity costs are huge. Airtel has decried its monthly bill of N28bn on diesel to power its operations. The downsides of the steep energy costs, currency depreciation and insecurity are glaring: factory closures, job losses, and privations. Multinationals like Kimberly-Clark (6,000 jobs), Procter&Gamble, and GSK have exited the country, citing the biting economic climate.

Before the NBS calculated 133 million Nigerians as multidimensionally poor in 2022, Nigeria had become the global poverty capital in 2018 with 87 million citizens living below the poverty level per the World Poverty Clock. The situation is much worse in 2024.

It is a pointer that the economy has not worked for some time. Indeed, Nigeria’s mono-product economy became brittle a decade ago. Although oil, Nigeria’s main source of budget funding, peaked at $107.95 a barrel in June 2014, prices plunged to $44.08pb by January 2015, dropping 59.2 percent in seven months. Nigeria experienced two recessions under Muhammadu Buhari, Tinubu’s predecessor in office.

In this context, Tinubu is not entirely to blame for the downturn. However, his rash policies have aggravated the cost-of-living crisis.

The low and mighty have pointed this out to the political leadership without getting a concise answer. Ex-Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar, lamented, “The issue of transportation, fuel hike, school fees, and lack of funds is making life difficult for everyone.”

A former Archbishop of Abuja Diocese (Catholic Church), John Onaiyekan, said, “There’s (a) need to review some of the policies that are giving rise to the kind of pain and poverty that we are not familiar with, we are not used to this. The middle class is now being completely wipedout; everybody is now becoming poor.”
This is nothing but the truth. Businesses are hard hit. Citing exchange rate volatility, rising inflation, and a general worsening of the investment climate, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria counted 767 factory closures and 353 in distress in 2023.

At the resumption of the 2024/25 academic year, many pupils could not resume because of increased tuition and higher transportation costs.
The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024, jointly authored by the FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO said as of 2022, 172 million or 78.7 per cent of the population could not afford a healthy diet.

Food shortages might worsen with severe flooding hitting the food baskets, especially in the North, where insecurity, Fulani herdsmen rapine, kidnapping for ransom, and shabby rural infrastructure are long-standing hindrances to food production.

Provocatively, critics are labelled sore losers or unpatriotic. At other times, the government urges citizens to endure. The consistently sad refrain from the government is that harsh reforms are necessary. Without an adequate cushion, this is mere rhetoric.

On reflection, the political leadership lives large, without a feeling for the suffering masses. This class, especially the executive and the legislature, are truly divorced from the harsh moment. Federal lawmakers are viewed as the highest-paid in the world per The Economist. Democracy is only working for this class.

Ranking lawmakers received N500m annually for ghost constituency projects. Described as a lackey of the President, the Akpabio-led Senate approved a new presidential jet for Tinubu to national angst. There have been outrageous expenditures to purchase vehicles, retrofit and build official mansions and unprecedented contingents during needless overseas trips.
It is a shame that despite the then eight unprecedented years of economic disaster and privation under Buhari, Nigerians are longing for him again. This is disturbing.

In August, Nigerians trooped out to express their frustrations over the severe hardship described as the #EndBadGovernance protests. The organisers plan another protest in October.

Is there an end in sight to the hardship? This is a thorny question.

The President has taken a positive step with the increment of the minimum wage by 133 per cent. From N30,000 a month, the lowest-paid worker in the public sector would earn N70,000 monthly. To cover the adjustment, the local, state, and federal governments should cut the excessive cost of governance.

Tinubu should focus on the economy, security, and provision of infrastructure. The administration should stop taking citizens for a ride, saying what it does not mean. After initiating tax reform, it is brazenly introducing new taxes, including the telecoms and cybercrime taxes.

To reprieve businesses, the recommendations of the Taiwo Oyedele tax reform committee should be implemented. Tinubu should quickly move Nigeria forward by cutting the cost of governance and stopping the outrageous payments to lawmakers.

To generate cash, Tinubu should transparently privatise the commanding heights of the economy – the Ajaokuta Steel Company, the four comatose refineries that have gulped $20bn for turnaround maintenance in the past two decades and other public assets lying fallow.
By selling 5.0 per cent of its stake through an initial public offering between 2019 and 2021 in its national oil company, Aramco, Saudi Arabia generated $50bn. In addition, the sale intended to create one million new jobs for Saudi youths. Undoubtedly, selling the NNPC Ltd refineries can reprieve Nigeria’s illiquidity and a debt stock of N121tn.

The Tinubu government should finalise the details of the waiver of duties on imported staples. The importation of petroleum products exerts enormous pressure on the currency. Therefore, the President should go the extra mile to achieve the domestic production of petroleum products. In this, the government should support the Dangote Refinery and the other domestic refiners for the optimal production of petroleum products.

In the North-West and North-Central, bandits have chased away farmers. Kidnappers and Fulani herders terrorise farmers in other parts of the country. So, the government should come out hard on criminals and kidnappers. The Constitution should be amended for state police as is the practice in other federal jurisdictions.