This is Why Nigeria's Covid-19 Economic Plan Disappoints

Determined to blunt the economic trauma of Covid-19 and minimise its impact on poverty, unemployment, insecurity, and violence, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari launched an economic plan designed to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, Nigeria recorded 208,154 cases of infection and 2,756 deaths as of October 13, 2021. The economic effects were devastating. Economic growth turned negative in 2020, unemployment and poverty rates increased, and companies went out of business, writes Stephen Onyeiwu for The Conversation.

Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, the Nigerian economy faced a lingering crisis for years with inflation reaching a four-year high by February 2021. With flat economic growth and rising inflation, Nigeria risks running into what economists refer to as "stagflation". Stagflation is a lethal combination of high unemployment and inflation rates. Rising food prices and steep depreciation of the Nigerian currency are the main causes of inflation in Nigeria. The coronavirus pandemic that hit in 2020, slashing the country's oil revenue and lead to businesses shutting down and the retrenchment of employees.  

Nigeria is yet to see a recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and the slump in the oil price, a commodity on which the country's economy rests. The World Bank estimates that 11 million Nigerians will be pushed into poverty by 2022, in addition to the 100 million (out of 200 million people in the country) who are already classified as poor.