Lagos – As the year 2017 finally rolls away today and Nigerians preparing for 2018, an election year, the expectations of the average Nigerian for economic prosperity will be heightened. There will be more propaganda than analysis and it is expected that the citizens will have the ability to decipher the noise from the substance and the facts from the fake news.
However, this is not to forget that 2017 was half politics and half economics. The outcome was slow and fragile recovery, lower inflation and a boost in external reserves. The naira stabilized in the forex market after a precipitous crash in 2016. However, the annual GDP growth at 1% was definitely below expectations and optimality, according to analysts at the Financial Derivatives Company, (FDC).
Some Nigerians have shared their views about the gains and pains that accompanied the year. On the whole, most respondents told Sunday INDEPENDENT that Nigerians suffered more hardships than they expected. Human rights activists scored the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government below average, saying it could not deliver what it promised the nation. It was observed that most Nigerians that were gainfully employed in the previous year lost their jobs in 2017, making life unbearable to them. Others, especially from the Nigeria Bar observed tremendous injustices and misplacement of priorities as part of slacks of the administration.
For instance, Yinka Odumakin, right activist and spokesperson of the Pan Yoruba Socio-cultural group, Afenifere said the dwindling of Nigeria economy in 2017 has threatened the sovereignty of the country, contrary to the promises of the All Progressive Congress (APC)-led government during its campaign. He insisted that Nigeria needs to be restructured.
His words: “2017 has been the greatest year for this country. It was the year, herdsmen were on rampage and inability of the government to put them in check and it was also a year of economic hardship and we can also see the millions of jobs that were lost as against the few that were created. It was also a year in which Nigerians were not allowed to celebrate Christmas. You remember that on Christmas day, people were queuing and struggling for fuel. It was a year of history where so many families were in severe pains. We hope that the government would realise this and let us get out of these things. We need to restructure this country so as to go back to productivity. The economy is dwindling and none of proposed policies of the government has been sustained. We must expand the economy base, go back to productivity, create jobs, and the government should stop all these indolence or laziness and sharing of money at the end of each month. What they are sharing is increasing every day. The latest budget by President Buhari for 2018 is N8.6trillion; that is about $28billion for 200million people. If you go back to Shagari budget in 1983, it was $25billion for 18million people so what we are doing now will not work until we restructure this country.”
Barrister Wale Ogunade, a lawyer observed that the economic environment was harsh and unbearable for common citizens.
“Year 2017 has been a great year. It was a great year in the sense that it was full of ups and downs. A lot of people had gone under and few people gone up in terms of financial attainments. The economic environment was very harsh, businesses were dying and collapsing and of course, a whole lot of government’s plans and projections did not come to fulfillment. It is either the government did not put the structures on ground or that they were not caring about it to the extent that people all over were just shouting about their business activities coming down and of course the purchasing power was very low. It took some people the grace of God for them to survive and some families are in disarray. It has been a year of economic hardship to the people and I hope 2018 will not be like that. I think government is putting in place for us to have a wonderful and great year economically because obviously it is the eve of the general elections.”
Ogunade said the trend at which politicians crossed from one party to another in 2017 was worrisome. “Then on the political front, obviously 2017 was the beginning of all political activities coming up in 2019. So we started seeing people moving from one party to the other. We saw people forming alliances and INEC itself recognizing 27 new political parties and with that the political tension was very high. 2018, is the eve of the elections, so a lot of political activities and candidates are springing up. Government should be up and doing in 2018 so that people will be happy and even for once, they will have a sense of belonging that yes, Nigeria belongs to us all.”
Bishop Erumaka, General Overseer of Wordbase Assembly also said the government should reappraise the way it has been fighting corruption, saying it has to be holistic.
“We expected more from the present dispensation, since the government projected so much of a face for sincerity but we need more of it in visibility. Talk is cheap, we need to see substance; there seems to be so much happening within this same period – even the last budget, I did not expect that the state house should still be spending N75 million on cutleries. I expected something better than that. So, we need more visibility of their sincerity.
“Fighting corruption must be holistic. I do not perceive them as fighting corruption because too many arrests have been made without conviction; even the way the government appointed its officers was absurd. If you concentrate on government’s appointments and give all the juicy offices to a certain set of people in the country against others, it is corruption in itself. So, once there is no equity, fair play and justice, there is no corruption in the system.
“So over all, Nigerians should expect more – 2018 is a year for political preparations, the most important year for us would be 2019 when we will install a new government. However in the year 2018 Nigerians should make up their mind to put the right government with right conscience. It does not necessarily mean that it would be a Christian or Muslim to have right conscience.”
Ikeogu Oke, public commentator and winner, 2017 Nigeria Prize for Literature (NPL) said the government has done well but there is room for improvement. He suggested that Nigerians need to work together in unity to achieve its dream.
“I would sum up literary engagements this year with two words: vibrant insufficiency, or insufficient vibrancy. The current government has performed well considering where we are coming from. But it could do better. I expect Nigerians to decide to work with greater unity and support their government to create a better country for all its citizens in the New Year.”
Denja Abdullahi, President, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) said the government should get closer to the citizens.
“2017 was an average year for Nigerian writers. The usual literary activities took place but on a keener level. Great books were published in 2017 and new literary events were birthed. It was not a bad year but writers still need more support from government and other allied institutions.”
It is therefore believed that if the government looks into some of these observations holistically and makes necessary amendments in policy formulation and implementation, the New Year is expected to be awesome.
Q3 2017, SNAPSHOT
As Nigerians wind down their activities for 2017, the news of a spike in the misery index to 55.9 came to many as a surprise. The state by state breakdown with Rivers State having the highest misery rate was also equally confounding. This means that high prices plus unemployment is taking its toll on most Nigerians, according FDC.
Consequently, Unemployment + Underemployment jumped to 40% in Q3, according to the National Bureau Of Statistics, (NBS)
Also, National misery index spiked 3.7% to 55.90 (53.92/16)
• Rivers state has the highest misery index in Nigeria ( 79.37)
• Taraba lowest at 29.59
The post 2017, Year Of Mixed Fortunes, Say Nigerians appeared first on Independent Nigeria.
Source: Daily Independent
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