As Poverty Deepens In Nigeria

 By Adekunle Adekoya

Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime. — Aristotle (384-322 BC).

The state of affairs in our dear country, Nigeria, as at now, is simply bothersome. When an Ijebu man is finding it difficult to afford garri, which he wants to soak in water and gulp down with either a piece of meat, a cutlet of fish or a handful of groundnuts, then there is a hell of a lot of things to worry about. Two weeks ago, I was at home, in Ijebu-Ode for the burial of an in-law. Returning after the affair, I detoured to the popular Oke-Aje Market, near the Moslem Praying Ground to buy garri, which I really can’t do without.

Other Ijebu people reading this will understand, especially if they are used to eating garri made at home, like me. I cherish the garri whose sour-sweet taste grips your palate and gums when you soak it in water. I was stupefied when the seller told me that a paint bucket measure of the garri now goes for N2,500.

That paint bucket measure was about N450, BC. Get that? BC now means Before Change, or properly spelt out, before 2015 when we were promised Change. Between 2015 and now, the price steadily climbed from N450, to N600, thence to N800, where it stayed for some time. By 2019 it was around N1,500, and by 2023 it was N1,800. After the elections, it was N2,000, and now, N2,500. Something tells me that by December, it will be N3,000, or more. So, we will not be able to drink garri again?

With the price of one 50-kilogramme bag of rice now at N90,000, affordability will elude most Nigerians. In any case, you will need more to eat the rice — a sauce, made from pepper and tomatoes, whose prices are really unaffordable at the moment. If you factor in the protein content of your rice meal, your bill goes up further for just one meal, and you need at least two per day to stay alive and remain useful to yourself and society.

Commuting to and from the workplace is now costing an arm and a leg; those who drive their cars to work and back pay through their noses for petrol, whose price, we fear, has not berthed, as there are indications on the horizon for higher prices of petrol. It is boring that we have to come back to this issue of subsidy.

But it is unavoidable since that word, used in a sentence by the President in his inaugural address, sent our economy to Golgotha. Rescuing the economy, and by extension, rescuing Nigerians from misery has become a herculean task since ours is a petro-state where economic activities are driven by the availability of petrol at affordable prices.

In response, government launched a series of what they called palliatives to mitigate the effects of subsidy removal. The problem, which the people in government have obstinately refused to see, is that the palliatives are not working for one simple reason: they cannot work because they are knee-jerk, fire brigade reactions to a thoughtlessly generated situation.

Distribution of bags of rice, where it has been done, has not percolated to the vulnerable segments in society. And in any case, how does the possession of a bag of rice help pay for risen and rising cost of transport, or hiked school fees, rent, food items, and others?

Then, the CNG initiative. Ordinarily a good development if properly planned and executed in a structured economy by a government that is alive to its responsibilities to the people, it is bedevilled by snail-pace uptake, scepticism, low awareness, and general apprehension by motorists on conversion. The foremost enterprise dealing in the CNG business is an oil and gas firm, NIPCO. So far, according to information on its website, about 5,600 vehicles have been converted in Benin City and environs, with plans to roll out to other parts of the country. Just 5,600, in a country with over 16 million registered vehicles? Piss in the ocean, if you ask me.

It is curious that other oil and gas firms are not coming aboard the CNG project. I think their fear is about feedstock availability, which is also another thing bothering motorists. In any case, the question comes again: how does a cylinder of CNG in a converted car or SUV help pay for rice at N90,000 for a 50kg bag, or paint bucket measure of garri at N2,500? The CNG buses promised are nowhere in sight; there are more of words and less action on the palliatives.

As a result, people are exploring ALL means by which they can make money to battle daily existential issues. That probably explains the rise in ritual killings, resort to internet scamming, or “yahoo-yahoo”, and other nefarious, undesirable money-making activities, especially by youths.

There will be more corrupt acts by those in government; while other anti-social activities in pursuit of money will continue to rise. To curtail these and reflate the economy, so that people like me can be able to afford garri again, I advise the President to order allocation of the 450,000 barrels of crude set aside for local refining to Dangote Refinery at half the international price of crude, in Naira.

This will have the cascade effect of crashing the current high price of petrol, food commodities and other goods and services. If this can be done, the economy will nose up again, as productivity will be re-energised. The president should also rethink the Naira flotation policy. 

You can’t float on nothing. We are a consuming country producing very little, which means our currency cannot float in the global economic ocean. At the moment, the Naira is like a piece of paper dropped from the top of the Burj Khalifa. It is headed for the ground. While at it, the President should tell the Bretton Woods institutions that he is working for the Nigerian people, not them.

*Adekoya is a commentator on public issues