The Muhammadu Buhari leg of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Federal Government failed to wave the magic wand they had promised during the campaigns towards the 2015 presidential election. Instead, the economy was left in utter ruins as Buhari handed over to Bola Ahmed Tinubu on May 29, 2023.
From Day One, Tinubu deftly transferred the burden of petrol subsidy removal to Nigerians one month ahead of the supposed take-off time, skyrocketing pump price above 300 per cent. The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, floated the Naira against its foreign counterparts, thus eliminating the differential between the official and black market rates. Within weeks, the Naira tumbled to almost N2,000 to the Dollar.
Businesses - the big, small and multinationals - started closing down or leaving the economy because of the astronomical cost of production. Unemployment and hunger worsened. Inflation hit the highest point in our living memory.
Not done yet, the Federal Government announced the hike of electricity tariff from 68kwH to 225kwH as from April 1, 2024. The CBN has also instructed the banks to collect 0.5 per cent levies on transactions. As a result of these and other government-induced price increases, other service providers, notably Multichoice, have announced their own price increases.
The people are being mindlessly burdened without any consideration for their dwindling sources of income and loss in the value of their assets occasioned by harsh government policies. The level of multidimensional poverty of 135 million people which Tinubu met has opened wider and swallowed the struggling middle class, the social safety buffer between the rich and poor.
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All the "palliative" measures announced by the Federal Government - salary awards, cash transfers, introduction of gas-powered public transport vehicles and release of food from the strategic reserves - have been more on paper than making any meaningful impact.
The annoying irony is that the Tinubu-led Federal Government has failed to comport itself to the austere economic atmosphere it has imposed on the people. He appointed the highest number of ministers ever in Nigeria's history, moves in intimidating cavalcade of motorcades, made National Assembly and the Judiciary comfortable and made abundant budgetary provisions for Aso Villa.
Judging from the foreign economic trips and elements of the controversial Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway contract, the controllers of governance live in a different world of their own than the one they defined for the ruled.
This disparity has not gone unnoticed. If we must tighten our belts to rebuild the economy, the leaders ought to set the example. Without being a part of the travail, how will our leaders be inspired or motivated to lead well and get us out of this mess?
The president must scale back on these price increases to avoid widespread social unrest which will worsen our situation.
