Fuel shortages, inflation and high levels of poverty have plagued Nigeria in recent years. The 77 Percent travels to Lagos, where Edith Kimani meets young Nigerians who tell her how they view Nigeria's economy and why people in the oil-rich nation are still struggling to make ends meet.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Hello and welcome back to the 77%.
00:08 This week we are in Nigeria.
00:10 And this country's president,
00:12 when he was elected on 29th May of 2023,
00:15 inherited an economy in dire straits.
00:18 In the months since he's been in power,
00:20 Bola Tenobu has tried to take measures
00:21 to uplift or resuscitate that economy.
00:24 But the young people of this country
00:25 are saying that their pockets
00:26 are still not able to sustain what the country is demanding.
00:30 And so today we are asking,
00:31 is the government able to come to their aid
00:33 when they're in crisis?
00:35 So let me start this conversation
00:36 by introducing Tunji Andrews, who's an economist.
00:39 Can you just paint a picture
00:40 of what the economy looks like right now?
00:42 - Inflation is really high.
00:44 The dollar to the Naira is now close to a thousand Naira.
00:48 It used to be 200 Naira, maybe another six years ago.
00:53 So you can just imagine what it is,
00:55 the effects on the average everyday person's pocket.
00:58 So it is a situation where a lot of people
01:01 are really going through it.
01:02 And it doesn't look like there is any hope on the horizon
01:07 because the government in trying to get the funds
01:10 to be able to fix the issues
01:11 are also removing things like subsidies on petrol,
01:15 subsidies on gas, subsidies on electricity.
01:17 So it's making it more difficult
01:19 for Nigerians to actually exist.
01:21 - Okay, one of the reports I read said
01:24 that 12% of the population living in absolute poverty
01:27 is here in Nigeria.
01:29 And that really surprised me.
01:30 Idroma, are you seeing a difference since,
01:33 as life is getting tougher for people
01:35 and you're a journalist and you're covering these issues,
01:37 what is changing in the society?
01:39 - Now that for subsidies has been removed,
01:41 it's affecting the cost of production.
01:44 An entrepreneur that needs, that has little capital now,
01:48 can not even, that capital is not even enough
01:51 to do his business.
01:53 So it gets worse now.
01:55 People, the gap between the poor and the rich is widening.
01:59 People that used to be in the middle class
02:02 have gone now to the lower class
02:05 because of this change, the so-called change.
02:08 Something that was supposed to help us
02:11 has made everything worse.
02:13 - Let me hear from the people in the audience.
02:14 How has your life changed in the last couple of years?
02:17 Are you feeling the economic burden?
02:19 DJ Pretty, talk to me.
02:21 - Everything like when you go to the market
02:22 to get anything you want,
02:24 everything is just, just too expensive.
02:28 The house rent has increased.
02:29 We are staying, I used to pay 1.5 on the island,
02:34 but now they've increased it to 2 million.
02:37 Landlord, the caretakers, they don't care.
02:40 They all need to survive too, I understand that part.
02:42 But then where do we get those money from?
02:45 I have a son, I have to feed my son.
02:47 I have to, I have to just pick up three jobs
02:50 to be able to meet up.
02:52 - All right, Bisi, you wanted to say something to me.
02:53 - We just come out of COVID-19
02:55 and we all understand what's happened during that system.
02:59 A lot of Nigerians lost jobs.
03:01 You know, a lot of organization in there is closed down
03:04 because they couldn't continue to operate.
03:08 But then all these were not considered at all.
03:11 What did governments put in place?
03:13 What are the system governments put in place
03:15 to be able, you know, to help the masses
03:18 at a time like this?
03:20 But then there is nothing, nothing has been done.
03:22 - Yeah, Ayo, I'd like you to answer this for me
03:24 because you're in politics.
03:26 - The reality is that the government must first admit
03:30 that its political parties mismanagement of the economy
03:34 has created a situation
03:36 which has led to the fuel subsidy removal.
03:39 The argument that they have made
03:41 is that it is driven by theft
03:43 and the fact that they cannot fund projects.
03:46 But unfortunately, you haven't pursued these criminals
03:49 who have been stealing from our Commonwealth
03:51 and it has hardly been any prosecution
03:54 of these so-called criminals.
03:55 So living expenses have skyrocketed
03:58 because the biggest price shock that any economy can take,
04:02 it's its energy, right?
04:04 If the cost of energy continues to hit the roof,
04:08 we'll continue to create poverty upon poverty, right?
04:12 - But you've said something really interesting
04:14 which is that the knock-on effects of this,
04:16 it's driving people into desperation,
04:19 into serious, serious poverty.
04:21 But Tunji, I'm coming back to you
04:22 with the same question I started with.
04:24 Why is this happening in Nigeria?
04:28 How is it possible that we're still talking, again,
04:30 subsidizing fuel in an oil-rich country?
04:33 Those two things don't seem to belong in the same sentence.
04:35 - The general context is when an economy is in a bad state
04:40 like the one Nigeria is in,
04:42 from years and decades of bad mismanagement,
04:46 policy mismatch, brazen theft,
04:50 it will need to take some hard, hard decisions.
04:52 Nigeria has gotten here not by one decision,
04:55 not by one bad president.
04:57 It's gotten here by several bad actors
04:59 bringing us here continuously.
05:02 So the question is, what do we do to fix it?
05:05 If we're really as excited or really as passionate
05:10 about making Nigeria better,
05:11 I think the real job is in holding government accountable.
05:14 - Hold on, let me actually ask the person
05:16 who's in opposition.
05:17 How do you hold the government accountable?
05:19 You are relaxing here, wait.
05:21 - Relaxing.
05:22 I mean, we're joking.
05:24 You can't hold these people to account.
05:26 - So what's the point?
05:28 - So the people shouting,
05:29 "Let's hold government accountable,"
05:31 are just singing songs.
05:32 You can't hold them to account.
05:34 They are still driving their SUVs with their convoys.
05:37 They're still flying first class.
05:39 They're still appointing hundreds of aides
05:41 and flying them across the world for meetings.
05:43 So we're joking.
05:44 - So if it's really a joke,
05:46 why are you in opposition politics
05:48 if you really think nothing can change?
05:49 - First, my argument is we need to begin to think
05:53 in our own self-interest as citizens
05:55 because the politicians take care of themselves
05:57 every time, seven days a week, twice on Sunday.
06:00 We have to think selfishly for ourselves
06:02 and understand where our own self-interest lies.
06:05 That's why I'm excited about the young people
06:07 who are fighting for low school fees.
06:10 They are pursuing their own self-interest
06:12 because the politicians will always take care of themselves.
06:15 - Let me hear from, give me a second.
06:17 Just give me a second to hear from Martin
06:19 because you mentioned self-interest
06:21 and Martin has actually been arrested
06:22 for criticizing the government, correct?
06:25 - So, correct, that's correct.
06:26 But I want to totally disagree with Ayo
06:29 because when you talk about accountable--
06:32 - Hey, he's even removed his glasses.
06:33 He's serious now.
06:34 - When you talk about holding governments accountable,
06:36 we've seen a lot of progress
06:38 in terms of holding governments accountable.
06:39 So for example, what we are doing here
06:41 and expressing ourselves,
06:43 if government listens,
06:44 we are also holding governments accountable,
06:46 saying, listen, the subsidy you removed,
06:48 you did it in a very bad and hogwash way.
06:51 You should have fixed refineries, first of all,
06:54 so that we can produce petroleum locally.
06:57 - So I like that because it brings us really nicely
06:59 into some solutions, right?
07:01 If you had the chance to be in those top offices today,
07:04 what would you do to change things around?
07:07 It's giving Gen Z.
07:08 Let's hear what you have to say.
07:10 - You know, there's something known
07:10 as constructive criticism
07:12 and I feel like we as citizens should be allowed
07:15 to constructively criticize the government
07:17 without being condemned.
07:18 - Bisi?
07:19 - What the public is saying should be considered as need
07:24 and not to be seen as threats.
07:27 - And finally?
07:28 - The people, which is the most important factor
07:32 in this entire conversation,
07:34 need to realize that the people who are in government
07:37 are not gods.
07:38 They came out from us.
07:40 They need to be held accountable.
07:42 - Okay, I think that is a beautiful place to wind up.
07:45 It was a very complex question that I asked,
07:47 but I think Tunji has tried to sum it up really nicely
07:50 and I don't dare add anything there.
07:53 For you, for watching, I thank you always
07:55 and see you next time.
07:57 (upbeat music)
08:00 (upbeat music)
08:02 (upbeat music)