Nigeria’s Invidious Inflation

Inflation continues to rise in Nigeria, wiping food off countless tables to leave many hanging by a thread.The situation  has forced issues in Nigeria, driving poverty and leaving hitherto stable families standing on quick sand.

It is not immediately clear how much the government has contributed to the sorry state of things emblematized by soaring inflation which has shot hardship into the stratosphere for Nigerians.  However, given that the buck can have no other stop, and that it is the government that is responsible for the direction the country is going on any issue whatsoever, the questions about why Nigeria seems so firmly stuffed in the grasping  claws of inflation are best reserved for it.

  Broken hope

Before constantly returning to the past gets all boring, there is something to be said for the   heights from which Nigerians have fallen in the last seven years.

In 2015, reeling from the bitter disappointment of being under an administration that had done nothing to justify the mandate it had enjoyed for all of four years, Nigerians bought the ticket the All Progressives Congress was selling hook, line and sinker. With the benefit of hindsight, it was a conviction that was a bit too hasty. But it did not take time for did not take time for everything that is often said about marry in a haste, repent at leisure to come to fruition.

That in 2015, the new government took all of six months to constitute its cabinet set the pace for the administration. When the new cabinet was unveiled, even the staunchest apologists of the government who had argued that time equaled thoroughness sighed in disappointment when the cabinet which took more than six months to constitute crawled with many of those who had held different offices in the past, doing nothing notable beyond ruining those offices.

If governance in the country has been like a walk of snails, the economy has also just crawled along, hitting Nigerians very hard.

 A people stripped of everything.

 Nigeria became a country in 1914. But it was not until 1960 that the chains of colonialism fell away, at least physically. Mentally, there are just too many signs to indicate that some things can never change. However, in sixty-two years of being citizens of an independent country, Nigerians have had to experience what the citizens of no country should ever have to experience even if they lead a thousand lifetimes.

In fact, by November 2022, Nigeria`s rapidly growing population is predicted to hit 216 million. Yet, according to the World Bank, out of a that staggering figure, about 91 million people live in abject poverty, languishing just below the poverty line. For many Nigerians, it is misery that holds out the cup from which they sip every day. With the absolutely shocking statistics being posted in different areas of national life, it appears it will be a while before things change.

  A 17-year-high

In August 2022,Nigeria`s inflation rate surged to 20.52% which was the highest recorded surge since September 2005. According to data recently  released by the National Bureau of Statistics, this  was  a sharp spike  from the 19.64%   recorded in July 2022.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) report by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that  Nigeria`s CPI rose by 1.77% on a month-on-month basis, compared to the 1.82% increase  recorded in the previous months.

These may just be figures but these figures have far reaching implications. That these figures continue to climb climbing is evidence that poverty is burrowing deeper into the lives of Nigerians. It is also a sign that something is not just right.

It is unclear just how much longer Nigerians have to put up with their worsening fate under an administration that once promised so much but has so horribly failed to deliver.

If lessons are to be served by the fact that the food and other commodities are increasingly proving beyond the reach of   many Nigerians, it is that there is no limit to the incalculable harm that bad governance can do to a people over time.

But if past mistakes are repeated at any point in the future, these invaluable lessons would have failed to illuminate.

 Kene Obiezu,

Twitter: @kenobiezu

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