The worst economic crisis in decades in Nigeria has citizens sacrificing to make ends meet. Economic reforms are on the cards but for now medicines, food and other basic commodities are priced beyond the reach of many.
Toyin Ogundeko, a resident of Lagos and a caterer by profession, lives with asthma. Her son has the condition too.
Medicines have become so expensive in Nigeria that they can’t afford the inhalers they need.
Amid a worsening economic crisis, Ogundeko isn’t sure how they will get by.
“With the way the economy is going things are really getting tough. You’re struggling to buy foodstuff and you’re also trying to stock up on your medication,” she told DW.
“So, for me I can cut down on the inhaler for myself. I won’t cut it for my child.”
What’s causing the crisis?
The worst economic crisis in Nigeria in decades has cost it the ranking as Africa’s biggest economy. Inflation and a volatile exchange rate is driving the cost of living up in the nation of more than 200 million people.
Higher drug import prices have led to local price hikes and a scarcity of basic medicines. Pharmacist Emmanuel Olaogun Oladeji says Nigerian drug manufacturers simply can’t plug the gap.
“There is a limit to what local manufacturers can do. We are grateful to have the likes of Emzor Pharmaceuticals, and some other indigenous manufacturers in the country, but there is a limit to what they can do,” Oladeji told DW.
Analysts predict that Nigeria could plunge to fourth position on the list of African economies in 2024. Businesses are struggling to stay afloat.
“What caused our problem in Nigeria today is the devaluation of our national currency as against the US dollar,” Alhaji Sani Nasidi, a veteran businessman, told DW.
The high cost of essential commodities citizens are facing is as a direct result, he said. As a way out of the current crisis, Nasidi suggested: “Nigeria needs to run away from a dollar economy.”
Economic reforms bite hard
President Bola Tinubu has embarked on a bold set of economic reforms that he argues are necessary and will bear fruit in the future.
His decision to remove fuel subsidies was seen as abrupt. It leading to the doubling of fuel prices, rising food and transport costs and an increase in the price of imported products.
According to financial analyst and former banker, Aminu Philip Yado, the high fuel costs are impacting Nigerians broadly.
“Transportation is one of the major factors that affects cost of produce in the market,” Yado said. “When you go to the farm and you have to harvest and transport at a very high cost, there is no way you can come to the market and charge low. You would certainly have to charge profitably and sustainably.”
Nigerian labor unions have called several nationwide strikes over salaries that are too low to keep up with inflation.
“The same inflation is what caused companies to run away from Nigeria because they would not be making profit,” said Alhaji Sani Nasidi, the businessman.
“The quality of goods and services they normally produce would be reduced and people would not have money to buy it.”
Aminu Philip Yado, the financial analyst, believes that the economy needs innovation.
“What is basically wrong with the economy is that the managers of the economy themselves are not really having the economy at heart. Everybody that gets there struggles for his own and not the Nigerian people,” Yado told DW.
Yado sees the lack of investment in major infrastructure that could grow the economy and create jobs for the youth especially as a key factor in the deepening economic crisis.
“When they talk of borrowing, in fact how much of the process of this borrowing that they want to invest in the Nigerian infrastructure that actually goes into the investment in that infrastructure in Nigeria?”
Energy crisis with devastating impact
Nigeria also faces an energy crisis. a troubling power generation situation. Tinubu is trying to rejuvenate the national power grid by pouring in public money instead of subsidizing electricity for those who cannot afford to pay.
After he scrapped fuel subsidies, Tinubu scrapped a series of elecriticy subsidies.
“If there is power in Nigeria today, all artisans that depend on power to do their business will go back to doing their business at the cheapest cost than they are doing now,” said Yado.
Most business owners are forced to buy generators to keep operations going. This trend, the financial analyst told DW, is not sustainable.
In the meantime, citizens like Toyin Ogundeko and her son, are desperate. “People have all sorts of complicated conditions and imagine how they’re coping?” she told DW.
“So, for me it’s a plea to the government: whatever needs to be done, first, find a way to stabilize this economy, things are getting out of hand.”
Edited by: Benita van Eyssen
