Business
Increasing unemployment marks Buhari’s 3rd anniversary in office
By Odunewu Segun
Deepening poverty and increasing unemployment marked President Muhammadu Buhari’s third year in office as on the aggregate Nigerians are poorer than when Buhari came into in May 2015 with more people thrown out of jobs.
While the administration listed its numerous achievements in the last three years, statistics at the disposal of National Daily say otherwise.
For instance, statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), shows that unemployment rate under Buhari’s administration hit the highest in recent times.
The administration met unemployment rate at 7.5% in the first quarter of May 2015, by end of 2017, it has risen to 18.2%.
inlfation
In its assessment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s 3-year scorecard, NOIPolls said the administration performed below average on its top ten indicators.
Despite the hype that the administration has done well in its fight against Boko Haram, the upsurge in the killing of innocent Nigerians orchestrated by killer herdsmen has remained an albatross for the administration.
In all NOIPolls scored the administration 43% in the area of security while its fight against corruption was rated a meagre 32%.
Agriculture and food security got 34% while performance in the power sector was still very low at 27%. Healthcare and infrastructure got 25% and 21% respectively.
The administration performance in the education sector was also rated very poor at 24% as well as the economy which got 16%. Job creation and poverty alleviation was at the bottom of the indicators with the administration being rated at 15% and 12% respectively.
The Naira, Nigeria’s local currency also suffered terrible hit in the last three years. In May 2015, it exchanged for N229 to a Dollar at the parallel market, by May 2017, it has risen to N429/$. At the moment the naira is oscillating between N363 and N366 to a Dollar at the BDC segment of the FX market.
Unemployment rate
Inflation which the administration met at 9% in May 2015 peaked at 18.72% in January 2017 before it started dropping. At the moment, inflation rate is put at 12.48%, still a far cry from the 9% it was before the administration came onboard in 2015.
Osilama Okuofu, a financial analysts told National Daily that theccelebration fifteen months of dwindling inflation without a corresponding outlook on unemployment is rather being smart by half.
He said one does not need to be a John Maynard Keynes to see that due to a sharp drop in disposable incomes & purchasing power, inflation would necessarily dip given that, by its very definition, too much money pursues too few goods.
Reacting to the improved performance of the stock market in 2017, Okuofu explained that Nigerians are yet to feel the impact for the simple reason that these were “hot money” portfolio investments from offshore with the sole purpose of short term profit-taking.
He said despite the hype, there are no tangible investment on ground, adding that those handling economy policies should be mindful of this kind of engagement gleaning from what happened to the South-East Asian economies in 1997.