Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with skyrocketing inflation, a national currency in free-fall and millions of people struggling to buy food
Olayomi Koiki
Afe Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and founder of the Afe Babalola University, says President Bola Tinubu’s administration is plunging Nigeria into poverty and turning citizens into beggars with its palliatives initiative.
During his visit to Prestige Sisters League over the weekend, Mr Babalola expressed concern over hunger in the country, condemning Mr Tinubu’s approach to addressing the crisis.
“It is wrong for the government to be sharing garri, beans and rice as palliatives. They are turning the people into beggars. The government that is giving the people rice and beans is leading us to poverty,” the senior attorney said.
“The government is discouraging people from working, whereas the government must provide an enabling environment for people to work and feed themselves.”
Mr Babalola attributed the hunger crisis in Nigeria to the government’s failure to ensure safety, barring citizens from engaging in agricultural activities.
“The duty of the government is the welfare of the people. The problem we have now is that people cannot move freely. They have abandoned the farms. People are being killed on their farms, and everybody wants to stay where they are safe. It is because the government has failed in this regard that we have hunger,” he said.
Amnesty International had accused Nigerian security forces of killing at least 21 protesters during a week of economic hardship protests.
Police and other security agencies clamped down on protests after thousands of people joined rallies against government policies and the high cost of living from August 1st to 10th.
Security forces denied responsibility for deaths during the protests.
Speaking on the nationwide demonstration, the legal luminary said, “The protest was genuine, and the government should listen to them (demonstrators).”
Mr Babalola’s critique mirrors the Financial Times editorial of July, which dismissed Mr Tinubu’s policies as “disjointed” and detrimental, driving millions into poverty.
Nigeria is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with skyrocketing inflation, a national currency in free-fall and millions of people struggling to buy food. Only two years ago Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria is projected to drop to fourth place this year.
The pain is widespread. Unions strike to protest salaries of around $20 a month. People die in stampedes, desperate for free sacks of rice. Hospitals are overrun with women wracked by spasms from calcium deficiencies.
Although President Bola Tinubu increased the minimum wage — after strike action and months-long negotiations with labour unions — from N30,000 to N70,000, his government has increased spending for officials at a time of nationwide starvation.
For workers earning the new N70,000, or $43, per month minimum wage, capricious inflation and naira value have inflicted too much damage for the changes to make any difference in their lives.
The crisis is largely believed to be rooted in two major changes implemented by Mr Tinubu, elected 14 months ago: the partial removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the currency, which together have caused major price rises.
A nation of entrepreneurs, Nigeria’s more than 200 million citizens are skilled at managing in tough circumstances, without the services states usually provide. They generate their own electricity and source their own water. They take up arms and defend their communities when the armed forces cannot. They negotiate with armed kidnappers when family members are abducted.
But right now, their resourcefulness is being stretched to the limit.