When President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in May 2015, he assured Nigerians of tackling three critical dread monsters of national security, fight against corruption and revitalising the economy even as it was bedevilled by the challenge of dwindling revenue-earning, due to global decline in the price crude oil, the nation’s main sources of income.
Two years after while Nigerians have reasons to commend the President for surmounting the crisis in the North East region with reference to the dreaded Boko Haram insurgence, as well as the gradual return of peace to the Niger Delta as the incidents of militancy in the region appears to have become a thing of the past, the emergence of Fulani helmsmen is taking away the shine.
Similarly, the fight against corruption seems to have become more of a media show. Better still, some Nigerians even believe that the President is fighting the battle alone, as some members of his cabinet has been fingered in corrupt practises.
A case in sight is the now suspended secretary to the federal government, Babachir Lawal and the Director General of the Nigerian Intelligence Agency, (NIA), Ambassador Ayo Oke over contract awards and the discover of huge cash in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.
It is even argued in some quarters that the suspension order was initiated due to international pressure on the government. Hence, some ministers who have been finger in corruption cases continue to enjoy their presence in the government position.
Worst still, it’s becoming obvious that all it takes to transform from a looter to a saint is change of party. Thus, a member of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who feels threatened by the government’s anti-corruption merely have to decamp to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) to escape the wrought of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) the anti-graft watchdog.
The economy on the other hand can better be described as being in comatose and dearly in need of resuscitation. This is more so as the cost of goods and services continues to soar just as the unemployment level continues to rise.
Public Testimonies
Mr. Paul Abaribe, a civil servant in a federal ministry in Abuja, who spoke with Integrity Reporters said he is yet to see the economic benefit of the president day government. According to him, the cost of goods and services continues to increase even when salaries are stagnant coupled with high exchange rate.
While accessing the government’s performance within its first two years of existence, Mr. Abaribe believes that the ordinary Nigerians are worst off economically now that they were in 2015 when it was inaugurated.
He noted that goods that concerns the common man has suffered by from the recession declared by the government. He listed such goods as Kerosene, Domestic Gas and Food stuff, he wonder why the government that had the support of the masses from inception will come to inflate pains on the people who voted for it.
Tolu Adedeji, a dealer in frozen food in the Oke Odo Market in Agbado-Oke-Odo, local council area of Lagos state, says government’s failure to restore electricity to Nigerians is her greatest worry. She noted that the continued rise in the cost of goods and services can be blame on the poor electricity which is affecting every other aspect of the economy.
According to her, remaining in business in Nigeria today is only by the grace of God. In her words, “how do you expect one to cope with the cost of running generator to sustain a business like ours that is electricity dependent? The cost of diesel is high, in addition to maintenance and worst still NEPA continues to bring estimated bills which one must have to pay.” Who bears these cost she asked.
She stated that she will only score the government when it has tackled the problem of electricity in the country. She wonders why a Buhari government that was suppose to be known for high integrity cannot tackle the issues bedevilling the power sector two years after resumption.
“We hear of the billions of Dollars voted to the power sector every year but Nigerians continue to live in darkness and pay higher fees for it,” she stated. Different stoke for different people you may say.
Meanwhile if recent media report is anything to go by, the government must do something urgently to address the looming crisis.
For instance, the frontline online media, Sahara Reporter recently did a story titled, “Frustrated Nigerian Youths Call For National Revolution.”
Part of the story reads, “Some Frustrated Nigerian youths have been expressing their frustrations about the failings of government in Nigeria using the hashtag #OurMumuDonDo on Twitter. The hashtag #OurMumuDonDo has been trending on Twitter for weeks with the number of Nigerian youths expressing their frustration increasing daily.
Institution’s Report
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) told Nigerians that inflation rate dropped by 0.02% in April to 17.2%, luckily the drop represents the third consecutive month the inflation rate has tapered down following about 15 consecutive months of soaring inflation rates.
But despite this good news, a further review of the report reveals some more worrying news as the inflation of rate of food item rose to 19.3%, up 2% from 19.1% in March 2017.
According to the statistics bureau, the rise in the index was caused by increases in prices of bread, cereals, meat, fish, potatoes, yams and other tubers, coffee, tea and cocoa, milk cheese and eggs and oils and fats.
The question that comes to mind here is, how can an economy or people be healthy or come out recession when the citizenry are hungry.
Soaring Cost of Local Rice
Rice no doubt has become a staple food in Nigeria, interestingly, one of the biggest policy thrust of the Buhari administration is its push for the development of the agricultural sector, with focus on growing Nigeria’s local rice production.
The minister of agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, has introduced several polices and incentives that it hoped will increase rice sufficiency in the country. But the measure for success as expected should be competition and how much the consumers, whom they seek to protect, will pay for local rice.
Going by this yardstick the results are not palatable. Local rice is more expensive than foreign rice and someone has to explain why this is so.
The minister is quick however to give such explanations like most of the imported rice were from Vietnam, India and Thailand, claiming that they are subsidise rice made for export. According to him the imported rice arrives at about N9,000 per bag and were then sold at about N13,000 per bag to consumers unlike the local rice sold at about N16,000 per bag.
Another fact he blame for the higher cost of local rice is interest rates in the country which is higher than it was in most parts of the world. He further attributed it to the high cost of diesel to run generators in the farms. Diesel went from N180 per litre to N300,” he said.
None Performing Refineries
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) recently disclosed that the four refineries the country posses could only processed 10 million barrels of crude oil in the first quarter of 2017.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru, who was made revelation, explained that refining activities peaked at 10 million barrels of crude oil in the first quarter. This translates to around 111,000 barrels per day (bpd), or around 25 percent of capacity.
The Corporation has equally revealed that 95% of petroleum products current consumed in the country is imported and it is the sole importer. As independent petroleum marketers has continued to blame lack of foreign exchange to import. Some sources believe that NNPC is currently subsidising the cost of importing products as its books continue to be in the red. No wonder it has decided to go back to the SWAP program that has cost the nation huge lost in the past.
CBN Report
Declining Tourism Sectors
In another development the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently released data suggesting that total capital importation into the hotel sector of Nigeria fell to a 5 year low of about $750,000 in 2016.
The report shows that hotel industry in Nigeria is currently experiencing a supply glut as 3-4 star hotels dominate the skylines of major cities such as Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
According to the data from the CBN, investments into the local hotel market has diminished from as high as $45 million in 2007 to about $750k (98%) in under 10 years. A combination of the 2014 Ebola breakout, threat of terrorism, the economic recession and crash in government expenditure has negatively impacted on the performance of hotels.
Analyst says a weakened occupancy ratio and average room rate for an emerging economy like Nigeria is considered a huge disincentive for foreigners to invest in the hospitality sector.
Social Investment Program
As part of effort to redeem some of it campaign promises, the Buhari administration initiated some Social Investment Programmes (SIP) with about N41 billion said to have been spent on the various aspects of the four aspects of the program currently in operation.
According to the office of the Vice President, no less than 25 million meals have been served under the National Homegrown School Feeding Programme, (SIP), of the Buhari administration.
The government confirms that as at the end of April 2017, it had spent a total N41,714,793,293 across all the 36 States and FCT implementing different aspects of the four Social Investment Programmes.
The breakdown shows that a total of 1,051, 619 million primary school pupils are now being fed across the seven states of Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, and Zamfara state. No less than 11,847 cooks have also been employed. Altogether 8,587 schools are involved in those States.
More meals will be served later this week in Delta and Abia States under the federal government school feeding scheme. Specifically, Delta State is expected to “receive soon”, a sum of N63, 366, 100 to start the feeding of 90, 523 primary school pupils. In the same vein, Abia State is also expected to receive N42, 921, 200. Kaduna State has now been repaid N3.4B for its past expenses implementing the food programme ahead of FG’s roll-out.
Others include; N-Power, which is the job programme for unemployed graduates has received N26.418 billion. It is the single largest spending item out of the four social investment programmes under the 2016 Appropriation. Home Grown School Feeding (HGSFP) N7.092 billion, Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) N800 million and Government Enterprises Entrepreneurship Programme (GEEP) N7.301 billion
The government claims that under the N-Power job scheme for unemployed graduates 162,024 unemployed graduates have been effectively enrolled and validated
Thus they have been cleared to receive the N30,000 monthly stipends, out of the 200,000 originally engaged late last year. A vast majority of the validated beneficiaries have been receiving stipends as at 31st March, 2017.
Under the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) scheme, 26,942 beneficiaries are now being funded as at last month with the monthly N5,000 stipend in 9 States and 84 Local Government Areas. The States are Borno, Cross River, Niger, Kwara, Ekiti, Kogi, Oyo, Osun and Bauchi.
Also the Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP) designed for the empowerment of market women, traders, artisans and co. has also recorded progress with the disbursement of 57,234 interest free loans, except a one-time low administrative fee.
GEEP which is designed for well over one million Nigerians has now registered 3,162,451 people who have shown interest and are members of 26, 924 registered cooperatives for purposes of the loans.
So far, women participation has been remarkable with 56% of loans so far disbursed to women beneficiaries in 28 States and FCT.
Directives have also been given to scale up the loan disbursement to 150,000 by end of next month.
Late Launch of Economic Recovery and Growth Plan
Perhaps, the economic challenges now facing the nation came from the late launch of an economic roadmap which would have been used to attract investors.
However, President on April 5, this year launched the Nigeria Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), with the aim of restoring the nation’s economic status is bedevilled by high rate of inflation and recession.
In the usual characteristic of the government, Mr. Buhari blamed the past administration for the economic woes saying he inherited numerous challenges at inception. He also said his campaign was based on the difficult situation that Nigeria was in and the need for enduring positive change.
The president however used the occasion to reassure Nigerians of his administration’s commitment to delivering on the three key areas that he promised during the campaigns; which are to tackle corruption, insecurity and ensure economic growth.
“Security in the North East and other parts of Nigeria today is better than when we came in. Law enforcement agencies are prosecuting many cases of corruption and I assure all Nigerians that we are approaching our economic challenges in the same manner we are fighting insecurity and corruption,” he said.
However, the Mr. President and members of his cabinet most be remained that Nigerians are daily committing suicide due to financial hardship, inability to meet their family needs with hunger taking over the lives of citizens of the self acclaimed giant of Africa.
For this government to be taken seriously, Nigerian need to know how it is spending the much talk about recovered funds, creating a conducive environment for businesses to operate and above all prove electricity for them to run their homes and enterprises at reduce cost. This is the best legacy this government can live behind.
