Rising unemployment, inflation, others characterises Tinubu’s one year anniversary

As president Bola Tinubu marks his one-year in office as president of Nigeria, the country’s economy has continued to grapple with persistent challenges such as high inflation rates, soaring unemployment levels, and sluggish overall growth.

A year ago, President Bola Tinubu assumed the coveted duty as the 16th president of Nigeria, succeeding former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Despite repeated assurances, insecurity remains a pervasive and pressing challenge in the nation, characterised by the alarming escalation of threats posed by insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, and other forms of criminal activities.

The pervasive issue of corruption and governance challenges has plagued the nation, eroding public trust, compromising the rule of law, and impeding socio-economic development.

The state of infrastructure in the country has reached a critical point, with inadequate transportation networks, unstable power supply, and limited access to clean water, hindering economic growth and impacting the quality of life for citizens.

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At the Ministerial Sectoral Update, Minister for Solid Minerals, Dele Alake said Nigeria has failed to utilise revenue from the oil sector in the many years when the economy depended solely on income from oil and petroleum.

He stated that the country also failed to use its humongous “petro-dollars” to develop other sectors of the economy, particularly the solid minerals industry, and the agricultural sector, adding that while other countries diversified their economies to generate greater revenue across sectors, Nigeria failed to do the same.

In the wake of the economic challenges,  Tinubu campaigning on the Renewed Hope Agenda assured Nigerians of sweeping economic reforms aimed at revitalising the nation’s financial landscape. However, as his first year in office draws to a close, many Nigerians appear to have found themselves grappling with deteriorating living standards and increased economic hardships.

Tinubu’s economic reforms were met with initial optimism, with promises to tackle corruption, streamline government spending, and attract foreign investment.

Yet, the reality on the ground seems to paint a starkly different picture. While some progress has been made in certain sectors, the overall impact on the living standards of ordinary Nigerians appears to have been predominantly negative, according to some economic analysts.

One of the key aspects of Tinubu’s economic agenda was the restructuring of key sectors such as oil and gas, agriculture, and infrastructure. However, the implementation of these reforms has been marred by inefficiencies, bureaucratic red tape, and a lack of transparency. As a result, some critical sectors continue to underperform, exacerbating unemployment and poverty levels across the country.

READ ALSO: Obasanjo knocks Tinubu over subsidy removal, exchange rate unification

In one year, the headline inflation rate increased by 31.2 per cent from 22.41 to 33.69 as of April 2024, making basic goods and services increasingly unaffordable for ordinary citizens.

Tinubu’s first anniversary could be compared to the first year of past presidents, with Buhari at a 12.48 per cent inflation rate, Goodluck Jonathan at an 11.85 per cent inflation rate, Umaru Yar’Adua at a 7.66 per cent, and Olusegun Obasanjo at 0.95 per cent.

The former Lagos governor, in his inaugural speech, promised to “remodel, reform and diversify the Nigerian economy to bring about growth and development through job creation, food security and an end to extreme poverty.”

Despite garnering recognition from international agencies and leaders, Tinubu’s policy reforms have indeed bolstered the gross national product while simultaneously inflicting economic hardships on the workforce responsible for its production.

In one year, the food inflation rate increased by 15.17 per cent from 24.82 recorded in May 2023 to 40.01 per cent as of March 2024.

The aftermath of the petrol subsidy’s removal increased the transportation cost. Before the removal, the average cost of a single journey on a motorcycle was N464.55.

When compared after one year, the price increased by 1.6 per cent to N472.16. Also, the cost of a bus journey within a city increased by 46.2 per cent from N649.59 to N969.32.

Commenting, the Chief Executive Officer of Cowry Treasurers Limited, Charles Sanni, stated that the unveiling of inconsistent policies within a year indicated that the government was merely experimenting without a defined strategy for policy implementation and consideration of their social impacts.

He said, “The first anniversary of the new government is an experimental one in the sense that a lot of economic issues need to be dealt with in line with reforms and the restructuring of the economy.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Muda Yusuf, urged the government to ease the inflationary pains pushed down on citizens by the various reforms.

He added that the fluctuations in the foreign exchange market have negatively impacted businesses due to the accompanying uncertainty.

“There is also a need to address the volatility in the foreign exchange market. Frequent swings in the exchange rate are very detrimental to business because of the uncertainty that comes with it.

Also, a professor of Economics at Babcock University, Segun Ajibola, urged the current administration to rethink its palliative distribution process and called for investment in education, health, transport and other critical sectors to alleviate the suffering of Nigerians.

“There should be a better way to make use of the funds available and ensure to improve education, and health care, providing some other facilities as little as they may be rather than sharing money that people would just spend and forget the next morning. But if something enduring can be provided with such things it would lessen the pains of the reforms,” he stated.