Sadly, the world body, International Monetary Fund (IMF) has placed Nigeria at the forefront of African economy. Even though our country is in serious economic crisis, IMF will aver the nation is doing well! Paradoxically, the economy is improving according to the IMF report but many families are complaining about the poverty in which they live. IMF are we a parvenu or social climber?
Without sufficient match to our national minimum wage side, food prices, electricity bill, etc keep soaring under the influence of imbalance. The general consensus is that the situation is dire and looking bleaker everyday. Everyone concerned is worried of the mammoth expensive food price and suffice it to say that correcting the situation is not the major thrust of this present government.
Even worse is the fact that companies are bleeding cash and desperately seeking for novel ways to eke out a living. Job seekers are not getting jobs as a result of that. Voices have risen in crescendo chanting for this regime to fall. IMF what are the criterion for your ranking? The crux of our graduates inability to get job is the dismal condition of labour market and anaemic job growth in our nation. What then is placing us at the forefront of economy in Africa?
I am completely unmoved by every blandishment IMF could think of to make me feel that all is well. We are in serious economic recess. Food prices are rising everyday and suffice it to say matching civil servants salaries with the situation is not the major thrust of this present regime.
IMF must accept some blames for promoting this our economic fiasco. Since we have lost many companies and still the economy is teethering on the edge of deflation, the IMF rankings is in question! Yes because I consider the IMF rankings to be incredibly stupid, I'm dumbfounded by the commercial success they've placed us. We cannot imagine the enormity of the sufferings the Nigerian plebeians have endured. There is no way I could describe the enormity of the hunger I had just observed. With such a preponderance of evidence, I'm sure IMF have wrongly placed the wrong nation at the forefront of African economy. Back in the years, in between work and school, we were able to further our education. Today it is a very grueling scheduled as working and paying for ones school fees is not working again. Go to part-time schools and see a drop in their yearly admission of new students. What about the low income earners? They can no longer pay their bills. Before now the plebeians among us used to live comfortably without going bankrupt. Now it is a thing of the past. Those who can afford one room apartment as a tenant can no longer cope because of the "killer" bills that is being foisted on them by electricity service provider. Some tenants using postpaid meters are now paying electricity bill that is far above their house rent. Try as they might, the plebeians could not afford the mammoth expensive price. Unfortunately, most of these plebeians have the national minimum wage as their predominant source of income.
While there may be extenuating circumstances, there is no excuse for the low minimum wage. There are no different markets for the plebeians. We are all using the same market in Nigeria. Trying to create parity between what is clearly wrong and what is clearly correct is nothing more than madness. For allowing the situation to deteriorate into chaos, it is hardly adequate to absolve our government of the blames.
Once upon a time, undergraduates had a three-course meal in the Nigerian university cafeteria. Today we are not asking for one course meal but an enabling environment that will be favourable to the plebeians. Isn't it ironic that in the vicinity of African largest economy, the poverty rate is very high. The chasm between the rich and the poor has grown wider. Is it not an indication that the economy has worsened as against the IMF ranking of improvement? The populace are suffering and not happy with the rankings of IMF. Even a layman in the street knows that the ranking does not correlate with the situation of economy in Nigeria.
Even our government know it though they loathe to admit it. The government has been beset by a flood of complaints from the populace and IMF that is outside that does not wear the shoe to know where it is pinching is there promoting our economy. This epitomises the proverbial "big name that can kill a dog.