As the current administration winds up, and a new government expected to come in after the February 25 general election, a report by BusinessWeek has shown that the insecurity issue, debt servicing, inflation, emigration, crude oil production, and unemployment will be the biggest challenges the next government will contend with.
According to the report, the next president will have a lot on his plate to deal with as the security crisis has spread to every corner of the country, which is evident through the mass killings and abductions seen in many states.
The report, through the International Monetary Fund (IMF), estimated that Nigeria’s interest payments will consume about 111 per cent of the country’s revenue this year because President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has built or completed some major infrastructure projects, and borrowing to fund the construction of highways and railways and to cover budget deficits has sent debt service costs skyrocketing.
Inflation Rises To 21.47% As World Bank Cuts Growth Forecast To 3.1%
Furthermore, the report also touches on oil production, the economy’s lifeblood. Oil production has nearly halved what it used to produce, inflation has nearly doubled, and economic growth has slowed and deteriorated, averaging only 1.1 per cent annually from 2015 to 2021, and the effects have necessitated much of the rise in crime and violence during President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years in office.
The BusinessWeek report , while quoting the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) Nigeria, shows that at least half of Nigerians are underemployed or unemployed, a figure that rises to two-thirds for young people, who make up the majority of the population.
“The nation is now, by at least one metric, the world’s poorest: According to government data released in November, 133 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty, more than in any other country, including India, which has seven times the population.
“Nigeria also scores low when compared to countries like Ethiopia, Ghana, and Kenya when it comes to purchasing power parity and this is the lack of economic prospects that fuels the brain drain witnessed in the country,” it pointed out.
