The Economy: A Challenge To Tinubu

With the tenure of President    Muhammadu Buhari expiring in a matter of days, Nigerians are analysing the period of his rule that brings mixed feelings.

For most, the eight-year administration on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) may easily be remembered by Nigerians perhaps as the most difficult in recent memory judging by the economic hardship and the agony it unleashed on the people.

The economic indices point to an inexorable fact that the administration didn’t quite live up to its hype at inception with varied perspectives showing signs that the in-coming government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu may face a herculean task reviving and revamping the near prostrate economy.

We recall that in 2015, the party and the administration promised to build an economy that will be the envy of the world. That didn’t quite happen. This may explain why  the ‘Renewed Hope’ mantra of the incoming administration on the platform of APC is not inspiring much confidence.

For the records, we note that the ruling party had promised to make one naira equal to one dollar. Though it did not give the strategies for achieving this in an environment of dwindling  production and manufacturing  capacities, Nigerians still gave them the benefit of the doubt. Painfully, in our opinion, Nigerians wonder what hit them as the naira is exchanging for about N740 to the dollar.  This is just as the outgoing administration met the naira at an official price of about N190.

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According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), unemployment under the outgoing administration, hit 33.3 per cent.  Again, NBS disclosed that inflation, which was at single digit of nine per cent under the previous administration, is now 22.04 per cent as of March 2023, one of the highest in the world.

The cost of living is so high such that prices of basic food items have gone beyond the reach of the ordinary people. For instance, a 50kg bag of rice that used to sell for N10, 000 under the previous administration is now over N30, 000. Still under the administration, bags of cassava flour(Gari) , beans, cooking oil, cooking gas, kerosene, beverages, and the prices of many other household items have gone up at over 200 per cent  amid dwindling disposable income of the people.

As we perceive it, The situation was compounded by the fact that the poverty figure under  Buhari raised  global alarm  when it was announced by the NBS late last year that 133.3 million Nigerians have been plunged into Multi-dimensional poverty in  eight years. This is 63 per cent of the estimated 216 million Nigerian population figures. What that means is that Nigeria remains the poverty capital of the world, following the two recessions in quick succession and the devastating impacts of COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

The outgoing administration has borrowed so much and put Nigeria in a debt trap.  Nigeria is currently reeling under a debt of N77 trillion from about N12 trillion  it inherited in 2015 even as Foreign Direct Investment (FID) and capital inflow have plummeted.

Nigerian legislators covering the ECOWAS Parliament further painted a gloomy picture of the situation when they presented their Country Report to the Parliament last week. In it, they expressed worries that Nigeria used 96.3 percent of its revenue generated in 2022 to service debt and the constant fiscal deficit has aggravated the nation’s public debt stock.

In our considered opinion, the situation in the country is not as it should be. However, there is a glimmer of hope and optimism that, perhaps,  from the ashes of these difficult moments, Nigeria can rise to realise its full potential and build an inclusive and prosperous economy.

We are encourage to indulge in this exultant feeling based on the expectation that the incoming administration will put the right people in the right places who will design implementable policies with an appropriate determination to drive the process in the right direction and hopefully rejuvenate the economy.

It is our expectation that the federal government would leverage the country’s international partnerships to stabilize the economy. In this regard, we suggest that the country deepens its relationship with her international friends and allies to improve its bilateral trade relations in agriculture and agro-allied industries, mining, and investments in gas development as well as the digital economy.

To do this, the incoming administration owes Nigerians a duty to implement reforms and reflate the economy by investing massively in the small and medium scale businesses. We believe that there should be seamless public and private sector partnerships, thereby improving domestic businesses and attracting foreign investments while extensively impacting the economy.

We must admit that in the past eight years or so,  Buhari administration made great strides in the area of infrastructure, which are capable triggerIng  a fundamental change. However, there must be a nexus between providing  infrastructure and regeneration the economy.

In our considered opinion, the government ought to strengthen the war against corruption, make it more effective and efficient so as to plug all the leakages and wastefulness in government. Similarly, the government should also challenge the security operatives equip and put them in the right place to fight and defeat insecurity’ just it must address the lingering crisis between farmers and herders to ensure food security.