Nigeria imports food and fuel and was buffeted by high global prices due to the Russia-Ukraine war, just as it had exited a COVID-19-induced recession in 2020.




Nigeria, Africa's largest economy is grappling with the worst cost of living crisis in decades, which has deepened since President Bola Tinubu introduced bold but unpopular economic reforms after he assumed office last May.




Nigeria imports food and fuel and was buffeted by high global prices due to the Russia-Ukraine war, just as it had exited a COVID-19-induced recession in 2020.




President Bola Tinubu, who campaigned on a "Renewed Hope" slogan, removed a costly petrol subsidy and foreign currency controls, to improve government finances, restore credibility with investors and kick-start the economy.



But inflation has soared to its highest in three decades and the naira currency is slumping to record lows, pressured by acute dollar shortages. Prices of food, cooking gas, medicines, fuel, and public transport have shot up, squeezing household budgets.



Reuters reports that Tinubu inherited an economy that was already struggling with record debt, high unemployment, low oil output, subsidies that drained government finances and power shortages that have crimped growth.



"With about 8 percent of Nigerians deemed food insecure, addressing rising food insecurity is the immediate policy priority," the International Monetary Fund said on March 4 after a staff visit.





An Abuja resident, Blessing Joseph has been weaving bags, sandals and jewellery earning enough money to feed her son and send him to school. But since November, she has fallen on hard times as customers have stopped coming and she and her son routinely go to bed hungry.



Last year, Joseph could easily make N30,000 a week but now she will be lucky to get N5,000, she said.



"People used to place orders. I'll design for them, sometimes even (for) weddings I'll make souvenirs for them, but now those orders are not coming," said the 29-year-old Abuja resident.



"It has been very, very difficult, especially that I have a son and he needs to go to school, he needs to eat."



According to Reuters, Nigeria's problems have also rippled through company boardrooms.



Foreign companies like Procter & Gamble will stop manufacturing in Nigeria, while drug makers GSK PLC and Bayer AG will contract third parties to distribute their products, in part due to tough operating conditions and the naira slump.



Africa's biggest telecoms operator MTN Group posted a big fall in full-year profit citing naira devaluation, which also prompted soap maker PZ Cussons Plc to issue a profit warning.



At Agodo market in Lagos, tomato seller Farouk Dalhatu has just served his first customer in eight hours. The market is unusually quiet for the time of day when there is often a cacophonous din of traders and customers haggling over prices.



A basket of tomatoes now costs N55,000 - about double the national minimum wage - up from N12,000 in December.



That has forced many of Dalhatu's friends to quit the business.



"They are just trying to find what they can eat now and not do the tomatoes business," he said, pointing to several empty stalls.



Widespread insecurity in food growing areas - including abduction for ransom by armed gangs, a long-running Islamist insurgency and farmer-herder clashes - is adding to the woes by keeping many farmers away from their fields.



"We have an emergency on our hands in terms of the social consequences of this reform, in terms of this food insecurity," said Muda Yusuf, CEO at business advocacy firm Promotion of Private Enterprise, referring to the currency and fuel subsidy reforms.



Labour unions led some protests last month and have threatened to shut down the country to demand a tenfold rise in the minimum wage.



In response, the government on Thursday started national consultations on a new monthly minimum wage, which has been pegged at N30,000 since 2019.



A presidency spokesman declined to comment, but Tinubu's administration has announced handouts of cash, grains, fertiliser and seed to vulnerable groups.



Unions say this is not enough and that the focus should be on "substantive issues" that have been under discussion with the government since June 2023.



"These include critical matters such as wage increases, social welfare programs, infrastructure development, and the revitalisation of key sectors such as education and healthcare," the Nigeria Labour Congress said in a statement.



For Joseph in Abuja, a thriving business and providing for her son is all she wants.



"I am just thinking about what he will eat if he comes back (from school)," she said while shuffling through empty pots.


https://saharareporters.com/2024/03/11/hard-times-nigeria-tinubus-reforms-deepen-cost-living-crisis-reuters

This is a well researched and documented report unlike the rubbish Bloomberg reported

the population of nigeria is increasing and tinubu need to act fast to reduce it

The ones here in APC stipends are enjoying. They now regenerating likes again. The only thing they post about is Peter Obi living the issues in Nigeria.

Insecurity, no power supply, no schools, no healthcare.

They can never talk about this one.

Its well oo

Redoil:
the population of nigeria is increasing and tinubu need to act fast to reduce it

reduce it by killing the people with starvation and hunger? Shen gbo werey

We don dey chop statistics

Hehehe! Renewed shege promax still loading. Meanwhile Tinubu’s zombies are still tweeting lies and propaganda.

Buhari had ear problem and couldn't hear the cry of the people then some miscreants after evaluating the mental damage of a renowned human drug storage decided he will make a better president.

Some of the fools or drug enabled retards were busy issuing quit notice to foreigners in Lagos just to install a pipe Piper.

Thank God my hustle is secured from this carnage.

Smithkafors:
The ones here in APC stipends are enjoying. They now regenerating likes again.

They can never talk about this one.

It's their handwork. Seun needs to step up his game in handling them and their numerous fake accounts they use in liking each others posts.

All this big big English is not the solutions. Nigeria govt n Nigerian people knows the solutions.

All we asked is enabling n secure environment to make product in diversity to oil

Tinubu's policies are not reform policies; they are calamitous, draconian policies aimed at inflicting hunger and starvation on the citizens.

kettykin:
This is a well researched and documented report unlike the rubbish Bloomberg reported

Bloomberg found the Bullion vans at Bourdillon

The devil cometh to steal, impoverish and destroy.