When Gbenga Oladejo, a 42-year-old carpenter in Lagos, rejoiced over Muhammad Buhari’s victory in the 2015 presidential election, he was looking forward to a better life under a leader who had made promises to end corruption, overhaul a petrodollar-dependent economy, lessen poverty, and generate jobs.
Seven years later, however, his optimism for a better life has diminished as a result of having to close his carpenter business. He was forced out of business due to low customer traffic and his inability to keep up with the sharp increase in the rental charge, combined with his children’s school tuition and all other expenses that keep rising for a family of four.
“The prices of everything are constantly rising, which is making life very challenging for us. Since I closed my shop, we rarely have enough to eat, and the cost of living is rising constantly,” he remarked.
“I regret voting and supporting Buhari in 2015 because this wasn’t the change he promised us,” he remarked.
Chinedu Okafor, 37, was reared in Ikeja, Lagos, and currently resides in an independent flat in a nearby neighborhood of Ikorodu. His landlord raised his rent from N120,000 to N200,000 in March.
His monthly rent now represents 40% of his salary as a teacher. It’s difficult for me right now, he admitted.
“My recent landlord-imposed rent rise has been a major setback for me. I have nothing to save after paying for food, energy, and other expenditures, he bemoaned. I hope I stay healthy because I can’t even afford medical care.
Accountant Benedicta Denedo is covered by health insurance through her employment, an engineering firm in Ikeja. Denedo covers all medical expenses for her mother, who has rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes.
“My wage hasn’t changed, but the expense of transportation to the hospital and the cost of all the medications my mother needs to treat her diabetes have virtually doubled,” she said. We’ve had a hard time, and my mother is dependent exclusively on me.
The terrible part of it all is that the government is doing nothing at all to assist its people. Because they are all the same, I won’t be casting a ballot in 2023. After victory, they never keep any of their promises that they make.
Due to stagnating salaries and rising prices, many people and companies in the nation have been floundering for decades. However, the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war and the COVID-19 pandemic’s rising inflation have led to a surge of annoyance among Nigerians.
In the past six years, there have been two recessions that have worsened the nation’s poverty and unemployment rates.
The average cost of basic necessities has increased by more than 200 percent across the nation’s largest cities since 2015, pushing inflation to a record high of 17.71 percent in May.
According to SB Morgen, after reaching just one percent in 2015, inflation in Africa’s largest economy has consistently been in the double digits, wiping off a major percentage of Nigeria’s middle class.
From 9.01 percent in 2015 to 15.68 percent in 2016, 16.52 percent in 2017, and then slowed to 12.09 percent in 2018, the inflation rate increased. According to a recent SB Morgen research, it further decreased to 11.40 percent in 2019 before rising to 15.75 percent in 2020 and 15.63 percent in 2021.
The level of insecurity in the nation has increased, and homicides and kidnappings are on the rise. The naira has fallen, and foreign investments have plummeted.
Nigerians have been forced to bear the brunt of a failing economy. Businesses are wailing about growing production expenses this year as a result of spiraling inflation, rising diesel and energy prices.
According to data from the Brookings Institute’s World Poverty Clock, nearly 105 million Nigerians still endure extreme poverty. By the end of 2022, an additional 7 million people would live in poverty, according to the World Bank’s most recent Nigeria Development Update report.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the country’s unemployment and underemployment rate was 56.1% in the fourth quarter of 2020, with 14 million young people without jobs fighting for a better life.
Since 2016, its GDP per capita has been falling, a warning that the economy is unable to accommodate the country’s fast expanding population.
In 2015, 2016, and 2017, the GDP per capita decreased by 0.02 percent, 4.16 percent, and 1.78 percent, respectively. According to the most recent World Bank data, it decreased by 0.68 percent, 0.38 percent, and 4.57 percent in 2018, 2019, and 2020, respectively.
