Nigeria has officially entered a recession, its first since 2004 and its worst in the last 29 years. Details of this was announced by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday. Nigerians have weighed in on the news and the hate-your-president games have officially resumed.
President Muhammad Buhari’s administration, as expected, has got the largest share of the blame while the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun has also gotten her fair share.
The opposition party, PDP have demanded that the President tenders his resignation for lacking in competence and skills. In a series of tweets sent by the PDP Twitter handle, the party accused President Buhari of “destroying the Nigerian economy and our collective future.”
Before all of that information sinks in, here’s a brief summary of some of the things that have wrong since President Buhari became president of Nigeria:
- A major economic recession: The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) yesterday confirmed the month-long speculations of a recession in Nigeria. The finance minister, Kemi Adeosun and CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele had erstwhile denied or let’s say watered down the possibilities of this recession. Reality caught up with us yesterday when the stats were made public. Now we know that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) took a -2.06 percent downward spin at the end of the second quarter of 2016. Inflation rose from 16.5 percent in June to 17.1 percent in July. The crisis in the Niger-Delta region is largely to be blamed for these figures as crude oil production has been hardly possible since the Niger-Delta Avengers unleashed hell on the region. Nigerians know there is a recession but the presidency has made us believe that it is a “temporary recession” and finance minister, Kemi Adeosun has said that “recession is a word”. So, maybe we should not be worried. Yet!
- The aviation sector has crashed: Just last week, Nigeria lost its status as the aviation hub of West Africa to Ghana, international airlines have packed up and left the country, aviation fuel prices are at an all-time high because importation has reduced, flights from Nigeria are rerouting to purchase oil in Ghana and just when we thought we had gotten all the hits, Aero Contractors is closing down indefinitely. Aero Contractors is the oldest working airline in Nigeria and it has survived through all the harsh economic seasons Nigeria has been through. This time though, it looks like Aero Contractors just like many other businesses in Nigeria cannot handle the crisis. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has advised local airlines to cut down their operations. Air travellers face flight delays and cancellations and it looks a lot now like, many Nigerians are going to be grounded for as long as this lasts.
- Unemployment is on the rise: You do not have to be an economist to figure out that the resultant effect of the crisis facing businesses is loss of jobs. Aero Contractors fired 100 members in staff in April but since it’s had to close shop, over 1000 staff have been placed on an indefinite leave. The future of these people’s jobs with the airline is as uncertain as the future of Aero itself. This is the same fate that many Nigerians who work with top multinationals have had to and will continue to suffer if this economic situation persists. The companies that cannot stand the heat will pack up and leave and their staff will be left to seek alternative employment that hardly even exists. Unemployment figures have gone up over 5 percent between the second-quarter of 2015 and now. The banking sector, insurance sector and manufacturing sector have also seen the worst of this tide.
- Nigeria has had it bad in sports: Nigeria’s outing at the 2016 Olympics in Rio and all the attendant misfortunes are proofs that this administration has utterly failed. It’s hard to forget that Nigerian athletes were urged to personally fund themselves to Rio. Our soccer team was stranded in Atlanta and arrived at the games 7 hours before kickoff of their first game due to a delayed payment transfer (blame it on the NFF); Team Nigeria showed up at the opening ceremony in cheap tracksuits but the original kits arrived Rio 3 days to the end of the Olympics and they were still hideous; our sports minister, Solomon Dalung sent two players back home from Rio on accounts of lack of funds while he (Dalung himself) lounged in Rio; Samson Siasia, coach who led to the U-23 football team to their bronze victory is yet to be paid his salaries; Solomon Dalung in a public speech referred to Nigeria as “United States of Nigeria”….*sighs* we’re all talked out!
- The dollar has gone through the roof: The Naira’s historic crash against the dollar is the root of most of what Nigerians have to face now. As of yesterday, the naira sold for 415 against a dollar. The naira has not only lost its value but its pride and dignity too. This is the first of its kind in Nigerian history and it is happening now.
Well, to be honest, they did promise us change.
