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Concerns as Nigerians get poorer, hungrier
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Hike in food, commodity prices persist
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Citizens stage protest, demand accountability in states
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APC accuses opposition of fuelling protests
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Expect prosperous economy in 2024 – FG
By our correspondents
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu received the blessings of Nigeria’s citizens on May 29, 2023 to take over the mantle of leadership.
The president came on board with a mantra of Renewed Hope Agenda, to bring back to the citizens more hope which was before then assumed to be missing.
Eight months down the line, the citizens are not only getting hungrier due to the intractable rising cost of foods, goods and services, but their purchasing power has hit an all time low due to the unstable state of the economy and bitting cash crunch.
Nigeria’s economy has experienced some turbulence in recent times; undergoing two spates of recession in less than 10 years.
Inflation has been on an upward rise hiting the roof top in December 2023.
Unable to bear the unusual high cost of living, which has pushed many families beyond the elastic limits, citizens have been crying out loud to government for help as their hopes appear dimmed even in the face of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
In its December report, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, revealed that the percentage change in the average Consumer Price Index, CPI, for the twelve-month ending December 2023 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve-month period was 24.66 per cent, showing a 5.81 per cent increase compared to 18.85 per cent recorded in December 2022.
The food inflation rate in December 2023 was 33.93 per cent on a year-on-year basis, which was 10.18 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2022 (23.75 per cent).
The NBS said the rise in food inflation was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, oil and fat, potatoes, yam and other tubers, fish, meat, fruit, milk, cheese, and egg.
“On a month-on-month basis, the Food inflation rate in December 2023 was 2.72 per cent, this was 0.30 per cent higher compared to the rate recorded in November 2023 (2.42 per cent),” it said.
It further explained that the rise in food inflation on a month-on-month basis was caused by a rise in the rate of increase in the average prices of oil and fat, meat, bread and cereals, potatoes, yam & other tubers, fish and milk, cheese, and egg.
“The average annual rate of food inflation for the twelve months ending December 2023 over the previous twelve-month average was 27.96 per cent, which was a 7.02 per cent points increase from the average annual rate of change recorded in December 2022 (20.94 per cent),” the report said.
This increase in prices, are, however, intrinsically tied to the current economic policies of the government on petrol and foreign exchange.
Heightening fears of looming food insecurity in the country, the report listed the contributions of items on the divisional year-on-year level to the increase in the headline index as food & non-alcoholic beverages (14.98 per cent), housing water, electricity, gas & other fuel (4.84 per cent), clothing & footwear (2.21 per cent), and transport (1.88 per cent),.
Others are furnishings & household equipment & maintenance (1.45 per cent), education (1.14 per cent), health (0.87 per cent), miscellaneous goods & services (0.48 per cent), restaurant & hotels (0.35 per cent), alcoholic beverage, tobacco & kola (0.31 per cent), recreation & culture (0.20 per cent) and communication (0.20 per cent).
This disturbing trend engaged the attention of the regular Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting on Wednesday, January 17, 2024.
The highest policy making body of the Federal Government voiced its concern over the current skyrocketing prices of food, pharmaceuticals and other life-saving commodities, noting that more and more Nigerians were being placed at risk of survival.
Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Ali Pate, had, while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the FEC meeting in Abuja, said government was worried by the threat posed to the lives and wellbeing of Nigerians by the hike in the prices of pharmaceuticals and other life saving commodities which have gone beyond the reach of the ordinary citizen.
His Industry, Trade and Investment counterpart, Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite, who also participated at the post FEC briefing would not agree less.
“Council noted the rising cost of goods and services in the country, as well as the rising cost of doing business in Nigeria and also noted the excitement and optimism of the real sector that the Renewed Hope Agenda will bring a prosperous 2024.
“We have been mandated and charged to come up with the resolution as quickly as possible and when this is implemented, we expect to see more creation of jobs, drop in prices of goods and services, and a total revival of the economy and we assured the FEC that we will do all that is necessary to come up with the resolution as quickly as possible so that Nigerians can begin to enjoy the shared prosperity and the Renewed Hope Agenda in 2024,” she said.
Speaking on the resolution of FEC with respect to pharmaceuticals and other life essentials, Pate had resolved to improve on the regulation of the healthcare sector in order to protect the health and wellbeing of Nigerians and deal with the crisis of human resources in the sector.
In order to protect the local pharmaceutical firms and make them to survive, therefore, President Bola Tinubu, according to Pate, had directed the Attorney-General of the Federation to liaise with the Ministry of Health and come up with an Executive Order to address the situation.
Pate said: “Consistent with the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which puts the human capital, health and social welfare of Nigerians at the center, today at the Federal Executive Council, Mr. President took three far-reaching decisions relating to the health sector. The first is on the rising cost of pharmaceuticals, the hike in prices that we have in the pharmaceutical, which is going beyond the reach of many Nigerians, life-saving commodities, devices like syringes and needles and the exit of major companies from our market.
“Those decisions also include the regulation of the sector to protect the health and well being of humans and the third decision is regarding how we deal with the crisis of human resources in the health sector.
“The first on the syringes, drugs, pharmaceuticals and other devices, as you’ll recall, Mr President, in his wisdom, at the end of last year, in October, approved an initiative to unlock the healthcare value-chain and appointed coordinator for that. But we know that the price of pharmaceuticals have escalated and many entities have decided to withdraw and some of the local manufacturers in Nigeria are struggling.
“Mr President’s intent is that we begin to take steps to enable the local manufacturers to survive, to thrive and to deliver the basic commodities that are key to saving their lives and he directed that the Attorney General of the Federation work with us to come up with an Executive Order, which is the mechanism through which he will act, given the concern that he has that many Nigerians are suffering from the costs of pharmaceuticals, as well as other devices. That is the first important step and that should be coming very soon.”
He said FEC also approved the continuous funding of the healthcare regulatory bodies and delegated the waiver which will hasten the recruitment of healthcare professionals to the Ministry of Health from the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation.
“On the second front, the funding of the healthcare regulatory bodies, given the centrality of health regulation to protect the health and wellbeing of Nigerians, regulators of health professionals; Medical and Dental Council, Pharmaceutical Council, … health practitioner, laboratory science, all those regulators, to ensure they are properly funded, Mr President directed that they should continue to receive the funding that they had been receiving in the past so that there is an exception relative to other professional associations that are not healthcare regulatory bodies.
“We know that in absence of strong regulations, quackery will go up, it may exacerbate the fleeing of health workers abroad, as well as many other untoward effects without strong regulatory bodies and that’s one of the pillars of our strategy, to improve governance of the sector and regulation is part of it and Mr. President took a decision to direct that they should be properly funded.
“The third is regarding the acute human resource shortage that we have. We know and having gone around many of our hospitals, particularly federal tertiary hospitals, the replacement of health workers that leave oftentimes takes a very long time because waiver process takes several stages and Mr. President directed in council that the approvals of those waivers be delegated to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare so that it doesn’t have to go through the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation. That will hasten the recruitment of health workers in terms of those who are out there unemployed, within limits of their fiscal resources.
“All in all, to say that President is very keen that we drive forward to safeguard the health of Nigerians, to earn the confidence, the trust of Nigerians and to deliver for Nigerians in this new year that we have started and the marching orders are very clear.
According to Uzoka-Anite government was poised to reverse the ugly trend of hike in food prices by improving the business environment for manufacturers and industrialists.” The priority of this government is to promote and protect local industries and manufacturers and this will mean that we must do all that is necessary to remove all the roadblocks and bottlenecks impeding or impacting businesses.
“We are removing and we’ve removed these roadblocks and these roadblocks include multiple taxation, multiple levies, customs duties and various levies that are imposed on businesses, infrastructure decay, including power,” she said.
President Tinubu has defined the Renewed Hope Agenda of his administration as a commitment to unleashing the country’s full economic potential, by focusing on job creation, access to capital for small and large businesses, inclusiveness.
In his 80-page ‘Renewed Hope’ policy document released in the build-up to the 2023 general election, he listed some action plans. Top on his priority lists were national security, the economy, agriculture, power, oil and gas, transportation, and education, the rule of law, and the fight against hunger, poverty and corruption.
Accordingly, every policy of President Tinubu’s administration is aligned to the the Renewed Hope Agenda principle, including public speeches and statements by players in government.
For instance, there’s the Renewed Hope Conditional Cash Transfer, Renewed Hope MSME Programme, which is expected to provide interest and collateral-free loans to small-scale traders, farmers and other entrepreneurs as the “bedrock of our economy” and “a platform for economic empowerment” for vulnerable Nigerians, among others. Even the 2024 budget is tagged Renewed Hope.
According to the president, the Renewed Hope Conditional Cash Transfer Programme is an immediate intervention to cushion the effects of the removal of the petrol subsidy and other economic shocks.
Nigerians are quick to attribute the lingering economic hardship to the removal of fuel subsidy and the new forex policy of the Tinubu administration. An action described as hasty by most Nigerians, the president on May 29, 2023 at his inauguration made a landmark pronouncement-”fuel subsidy is gone”-which instantly triggered a hike in the cost of transportation and prices of commodities across the country. The new forex policy has also seen the Naira tumbling in the exchange market. A combination of these policies has weakened the purchasing power of Nigerians and greatly increased hunger and poverty in the land.
The organised labour headed by Comrades Joe Ajaero and Festus Osifo of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, respectively had called their members out to the streets to protest against the harsh effects of the policies at their initial stage of implementation. These protests forced government to reel out a basket of juicy promises, including provision of cheaper transportation system using gas as alternative to petrol, wage increase of N35000 to workers and N25000 to pensioners, supply of grains and other food items as palliative among others, to cushion the effects of the new policies.
Despite reservations and pessimism expressed by citizens on the long and short term implications of fuel sunsdidy removal and forex harmonization policies, the Renewed Hope government has continued to give assurances of an Eldoardo that awaits Nigerians to be ushered in by Tinubu’s economic policies in the “fullness of time.” But eight months down the line, critics of the policies are waiting to be proved wrong as echoes of pains and fears of the future orchestrated by the policies have continued to resonate.
Worse still, some experts have painted a gloomy picture of the future and the pains that Nigerians would still have to endure until if and when the policies would run their course to be able to bear the desired fruits. A statistician who does not want his name in print told this newspaper that the high prices of goods and services that Nigerians are presently complaining about would be a child’s play compared to what the prices would be in the second quarter of this year. His standpoint is that the harmonised forex policy has shut the doors against even local manufacturers who still needed to source their raw materials offshore. He pointed out that with the current naira exchange rate of about N1, 300 to a dollar, the import and export rate otherwise known as I&E window has placed the Naira at over N1000 to a dollar which has discouraged activities in that direction. And that if manufacturers import raw materials at the current dollar rate, the price increase that would follow will be unimaginable.
Eight months down the line since the inauguration of the Tinubu presidency, Nigerians are still waiting on hope for the actualization of the promises made by the government to assuage their sufferings. Our checks have indicated that the six months wage award promised the federal civil servants which was to commence in September, 2023 and end in February 2024 have only been paid for two months (September and October). Pensioners on the other hand who have been promised N25000 have reviewed nothing of the sum, four months after the pronouncement by government.
Similarly, the CNG buses, thousands of which, were promised to be released to ease movement of workers to and from work have not been sighted anywhere in the country. Added to this is the fact the average Nigerian is being bugged down by the burden of astronomical increase in the price of food and other essentials.
In August last year, the Federal Government through the National Economic Council, NEC, approved a grant of N5 billion to each state to procure grains and fertiliser as palliative to citizens. Another 40,000 bags of Maize was also said to be released to the states. The states are expected to pay back only about 45 percent of the grant. Our investigation, however, revealed that the governors were able to access two billion of the approved sum immediately. It was, however, not established whether the three billion naira balance was eventually accessed by the states. That is even as the administration of the palliative is generating intense controversy in some states.
During the Yuletide in December, allegations were raised that federal lawmakers in the country were given N100 million each as palliative to their constituents, sparking wide range controversy in many constituencies. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have since officially denied the allegations, saying there intended to incite the constituents against the lawmakers. Nevertheless, the public outcry generated by the allegations explained the desperation of Nigerians on how the economic sitaution is biting hard on them.
It has been predicted that over 25 million Nigerians would be at the risk of hunger between January and August this year if proper checks are not put in place by the government.
Citizens stage protest, demand accountability in states
Meanwhile, there is clear evidence that citizens are beginning to wake up to their responsibility of demanding accountability from government with respect to the current hardship facing them. On Friday, February 2nd, local bakers in Kano, mostly women stormed the streets of the ancient city to protest the astronomical rise in the price of essential commodities,especially wheat flour. They told Governor Abba Yusuf and other prominent Kano politicians and businessmen to intervene in their plight by taking their complaints to President Tinubu.
Another group of protesters also marched on the streets in Kano on Monday, February 5th, to register their concerns over the alarming hike in commodity prices with its attendant hardship.
The opposition Labour Party, LP, has thrown its weight behind the demand for quick and positive intervention to address the current economic crisis. According to the party, President Tinubu should seek help to resolve the crisis before it gets out of control.
“As at today, essential commodities such as rice, garri, flour, protein have witnessed exponential increase in prices since January. For instance, a carton of noodles now sells for N10,000, a 50kg bag of sugar is now selling at N73, 000 as against N62, 000 sold in early January. A bag of cement now sells upward of N7000 against N5500, a bag of rice rising above N70,000, while a kg of meat now sells for N4000, among others.
“We are aware that the organised labour union and the government have been in a long protracted dialogue on a possible salary increase for the civil servants. There is an air of despondency across the nation. The immediate fallout of this situation are increasing crime particularly among the youths who are desperate to remain alive; incidences of suicide are in upswing. It has now become a familiar scene for people to jump into the Lagoon, hang themselves or take lethal substances,” the party’s spokesman, Obiora Ifoh said in a statement.
Also taking a swipe at the economic policy of the Tinubu administration, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said the current hardship facing Nigerians is a clear demonstration of policy failures, insisting that he had offered a far better economic direction for the country in his governance blueprint.
“His (Atiku’s) living prescriptions contrast sharply with Bola Tinubu’s morbid policies. Atiku’s policy document, My Covenant With Nigerians, offers a clearly defined and robust roadmap for the socio-political and economic transformation of Nigeria,” spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the February 2023 general election, Paul Ibe, contended.
APC accuses opposition of fuelling protests
B
ut the ruling All Progressives Congress and the presidency are not taking these criticisms lightly. APC has accused opposition of instigating the mass protests in Minna and Kano to undermine Tinubu’s government.
APC spokesman, Felix Mouka in a statement alleged that in their desperation to portray the APC-led administration as underperforming, “opposition parties have resorted to instigating unsuspecting young people to protest in the streets of some major cities.” He said the protests taking place simultaneously in Kano and Minna showed that they were orchestrated by the opposition.
Also, Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Informarion and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said Atiku’s criticism of Tinubu’s economic policies smacks of mischief. According to him, the former vice president is being hypocritical by making himself the “opposition-in-Chief” to Tinubu.
“Nigerians can easily see through the hypocrisy of Alhaji Atiku, who in accusing President Tinubu of poor response to the nation’s challenges and causing pains and despair, didn’t offer any better policy options in his run for the Presidency different from the economic reform agenda being pursued by President Tinubu,” Onanuga argued.
However, on Monday, February 5, the Minister of Finamce and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Olawale Edun said the rising prices of food and commodities in the country had become increasingly worrisome for the federal government. He explained that the situation was caused by demand, supply forces, adding that government was looking forward to good harvest that will reduce prices, especially in this year’s dry season farming.
