Food Scarcity: What Tinubu, Cardoso Have To Do -By Toheeb Babalola

It saddens the hearts when the producer of mineral resources hardly drives its 200 million population out of the economic crisis. The price and demand for  commodities continues skyrocketing, which sets inflation in. You know, the more Nigerians demand for products, the more production sector hoards.

Apart from the imported and mechanised products, the local foodstuffs and farm products which many people relied on as their last hope, have also inflated. Garri was popularly called “Poor Man Food’’ which is often stored at home as a thirst-killer before any meal. For instance, when your children arrive from school, they’d first drink Garri to ease the school struggle before taking their lunch.

As of today, Garri is being sold at ₦800 and ₦1600 per bowl in the Southwest and Southeast respectively. This low rated Nigerian food has affirmed the predicament in the market which deserved critical and urgent intervention. Unlike before, a ₦100 note can no longer purchase a tin of any goods.

Economically, when there’s galloping inflation, the price of goods and services becomes uncontrollable and the value of Naira will keep declining rapidly. It shows that our currency has been totally relegated from international trade when the same can’t withstand a dollar. At the black market, the exchange of a dollar is now ₦1,500 which means the country is in the hands of economic-dullards.

Nigerians are agitating, crying and pleading to their policy makers in the media. However, Tinubu and his cabinet are moving in and out of the country with the indigent taxes generated nationwide, turning deaf ears to the masses. 

Democracy, which lies on the will of the people, seems different and inapplicable in Nigeria. Nigerians are powerless to control the hardship from the few people that governed them. Well, I must say as a citizen and victim of this economic downfall to let our people aware of the causes and possible resolution to inflation.

Incessant kidnapping within the nation fuels inflation. You know when farmers no longer produce locally due to the fear of  abduction, there will be shortage of goods which will also be exchanged with the volume of Nairas. 

Inflation and Insecurity works hand in hand, if you failed to address one, the other would be unsettled. Within the space of eight months after his inauguration as 16th President, Tinubu’s administration has recorded less than 100 abduction cases.

Also, corruption and mismanagement of public funds is alive and living in the Federal Government’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and if the menace isn’t totally dealt with, the nation’s wealth will continue to walk into faceless wallets rather than circulation. 

Nigerians will be free from the economic crisis, when there is a shortage in Internal Generated Revenue (IGR) than expenditure, economic disaster will surface from nowhere. Cutting off the expenses of the National Assembly and Mr President’s travelling spree, is a good way to go.

The plan of Mr President to relocate the Central Bank’s headquarters to his nose,to me, is not a sustainable effort to rescue the country from its state. Reports had it the week that staff are excusing themselves from the Apex bank because of this, which might also fuel the unemployment rate in the country. Unemployment does nothing but increase poverty.

Though it is not easy to curb inflation in Nigeria, it can be reduced if the FG will listen. It is a norm in Nigeria that whatever goes up can never come down. Inflation brings lots of problems to salary earners as they spend it on costly goods and services, leading to a falling standard of living.

Succinctly, the government of the day should increase the wages and pensions of workers. The initial ₦35, 000, proposed minimum wage is not enough at the moment. How will a family of five manage such an amount in a month? It’s kinda hard. As it stands, if the FG and the States agreed on  ₦200,000 for the lower cadre, though it might cause inflationary spirals but still better.

Solving the dollar rate in the Nigerian black market, to me, is a dream that will never come true. The Federal Government and private organisations have to be on a round table to cut down the level of imports not only to lift the indigenous product but also reduce the cost of production.

Lastly, Tinubu should be courageous enough to denounce his appointment as the Commander-in-chief of Armed Forces, if he failed to curb the incessant killings and abduction of farmers in the country, within a month.

Ibadan, Oyo State.

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