By Blessing Raymond
Nigeria’s current economic situation has continued to shape the lives of people as well as their standards of living.The Nigerian economy remains as precarious as it was 10 years ago and probably worse for the same reasons of growing debts and debt servicing, deepening corruption, incompetence in economic management or preference of self-interest over national interest and political expediency overriding sound economic judgment.
Nigeria’s annual inflation rate climbed to 25.8% in August 2023, from 24.08% in July and marking the highest rate since September 2005, reflecting the impact of the removal of fuel subsidies, the devaluation of the official exchange rate and security issues in food-producing regions.
The free fall of naira in the official market has also contributed to inflation which is virtually causing increases in the price level of goods and services skyrocketing the prices of virtually everything. The increasing rate of food prices and transportation In Nigeria is nothing to write home about with little or no hope of reviewing fuel subsidy.
Fuel subsidy removal has also contributed in making life hard for Nigerians and affected every segment of people’s lives,causing closing down of several businesses who cannot continue operating due to high cost of living.
There is a need to stabilise Nigeria’s economy and work towards improving the standard of living in Nigeria by prioritizing Nigeria’s economy especially in the 2024 budget. Nigeria’s economy is struggling and it has become a matter that calls for urgent response as the matter continually gets worse.
Although there seems to be a little hope for Nigeria with the proposed budget for 2024, which stands at N26 trillion, represents a significant (19.1 percent) increase from the budget allocated for 2023 .However there are doubts to whether it will be possible or not because of the budget size which raises the critical question of where the funds to support this allocation will be derived, amid debt choking the economy and the government needs to do more because there are analyst and experts that are capable of stabilising and improving Nigeria’s economy.
I call on the leadership of his Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to put all hands on deck and work tirelessly in improving Nigeria’s economic situation soon.
Blessing Raymond, Department of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri.
