Over the past year, the Federal Government has struggled to stabilize the macroeconomic indices of the Nigerian State. We have witnessed macroeconomic instability that has resulted in the unprecedented CPI/inflation increase to over 33% (consumer price index). We have witnessed the official unemployment rate inch towards the 50% mark, and we have witnessed the alarming and unprecedented rise in the lending rate from the lows of 8% in 1999 to 2007 to the current high of 26.5%. We are witnessing the inordinate devaluation of the Naira by as much as 70%, which has effectively wiped out the real income of Nigerian workers and has found citizens gasping for breath.
Numerous companies have shut down businesses. Corporate Nigeria has been reported by the Business Day, and Bloomberg, among others, to have as many as 923nos firms either shutting down operations or exiting the country altogether. We have reports of the massive emigration from Nigeria of which we have reportedly lost at least 2.5million persons to emigration over the past 5yrs.
From all indications, Nigeria is bleeding…
The macroeconomic instability is a turn-off for international investors. Foreign direct investments (FDIs) are being diverted to sister African countries for competing investments. Just last week, it was reported that TOTAL Energies, re-routed a 6bn USD investment from Nigeria to Angola. Several firms exiting Nigeria are setting up shop in neighboring countries with more stable macroeconomic policies. Microsoft LLC has just been reported to be closing her offices in Nigeria, and setting up a 1bnUSD office complex in Kenya as an alternative, to serve the needs of sub-Saharan Africa outside South Africa.
Nigeria is bleeding….
While we are aware that the erstwhile policies of the immediate past regime of the Nigerian State had taken certain economic, governmental, and policy decisions that were neither optimal nor wise, of which the current regime is grappling to unravel, we still are of the opinion that far less has been done, and its been done, to mitigate the current economic carnage!
What are the actual practical policies being formulated by the government to get Nigeria out of the current morass? The very reason for every government is to engineer the prosperity of its citizens. Is the current federal regime, alongside the state appendages, working to engineer prosperity among the citizens? Are the monetary and fiscal policies being churned, the right mix of policies for the emancipation of the Nigerians or for the propagation of poverty?
The regime of Mr. Tinubu commenced with the mantra of “Renewed Hope” on 29th May 2024. Over the past year, Nigeria has lost its foremost position as the largest economy in Africa from a GDP of circa 520bnUSD to 250bnUSD. The Naira has depreciated against major currencies in the world, with the I&E window showing the dollar at 1500 to the Naira as against 170 Naira in 2015. The cost of premium motor spirit has spiked from 85NGN per liter to 700NGN per liter. The minimum wage has receded from $40 per month in 2015 to about $10 per month. How could an individual survive on $10.0 per month and talk less of a family?
The policies of the current regime at the federal level are not working! The states are non better. There is the need for a Marshall plan for the Nigerian economy and there is the need to convene all stakeholders to seek solutions. This has gone beyond partisan politics, ethnoreligious sentiments, and/or regional proclivities. Nigeria is bleeding and on a very dangerous trajectory that might result in a meltdown with global implications.
There is the need to save the Fatherland from further carnage; there is the need to compel the federal and state governments, executives, and legislature, to come together, and formulate an actionable plan to save the country from disaster! And there is the little issue of an independent and upright legislature. All arms of government tie together in a value chain to drive an economy and engender prosperity. We deduce that the current model is wrong and the government at all levels is headed in the wrong direction.
We call on all good people to compel the government at all levels, to convoke an emergency meeting NOW, on the reversal of the hemorrhaging of the Nigerian state.
