Nigerians hopeful of bright new year

…Urge Tinubu to up ante on insecurity fight

…Say hunger should be wiped out

With just two days to wrap up, 2024 has been an unprecedented year for most Nigerians, who are now in a hurry to bid farewell to the year.

For many, 2024 is a year that will leave permanent scars on the citizens who doubled their struggles just to survive and organisations that managed to stay afloat despite the sustained battering by the harsh economy in the last 12 months.

Most importantly, it would be remembered as a year of hikes.

From an incessant hike in petrol pump price, hike in the prices of all commodities, especially food items, hike in transport fares, unbearable hike in airfare and hike in electricity tariff, the majority of the populace also witnessed a hike in their suffering.

But as anticipated at the beginning of every new year, Nigerians are hopeful of a bright 2025.

Their hope stems from the fact that the economic policies of the present administration, which are the reasons for the suffering in the land, are expected to, at least, begin to yield fruits from 2025, according to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Again, Nigerians were elated to celebrate Christmas and New Year for the first time in a long while without experiencing fuel scarcity.

While many say it is a pointer to the good things ahead, others attribute the positive development to the high cost of petrol, resulting in declining demand for the product.

Onyewuchi Akagbule, a senior lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, is hopeful of a better 2025, considering that the present administration, which demanded more time, has had enough time since last year and should be able to deliver some positive developments in 2025.

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“The CBN has tried all possible policies to strengthen the weak Naira, the president has also had some initiatives targeted at boosting the economy, other government bodies and the managers of the economy have also made several inputs in 2023 and 2024 to restore the economy.

“By now, they all know what works and what doesn’t work and should be guided accordingly to restore the economy. From below N500 in 2023 to now almost N1600 for a dollar is not impressive. As a lecturer, it is an automatic carryover for a student.

“The government has to deliver some goodies to us after the long panel beatings. It should start this year,” he insisted.

His hope is also hinged on the fact that the government has now had somewhat stability, investors’ confidence seems to be returning and the exchange rate is a bit more stable now than some months ago.

In the same vein, Ayokunle Jimoh, an auto engineer with Toyota Nigeria, sees light at the end of the tunnel in 2025 because some of the economic initiatives of the present administration will be maturing and bearing fruits, especially the CNG initiative.

“For any structure to stand and last long, the foundation has to be strong and needs time to set.

“I guess that is what the president and his team have done in their first year in office, and have continued doing in their second year.

“Let’s hope for the best as the foundation has been laid to secure our future,” he said.

Reviewing the CNG initiative, Jimoh noted that it comes with new opportunities for Nigerians aside from reducing the amount spent on the expensive petrol.

Yakubu Dashi, a lawyer and political analyst, thinks that 2027 is near the corner and the present administration will try to impress Nigerians starting from 2025 because of their votes.

“I see a better 2025. There is no way the passing year will be better than 2025 because elections will soon start calling again.

“Whether the opposition is weak or not, every ruling party does not take anything for granted and I see the APC making sincere efforts to make at least a small change in 2025,” Dashi said.

The areas he anticipated improvements include; insecurity, food security, economy, education and youth empowerment.

“For me, these are the areas of pressing needs and the politicians know us too well and will offer us a small amount of water to quench our thirst in 2025,” Dashi noted further.

But as much as he anticipates positive development in 2025, Dashi still doubts what the government will do differently to address the insecurity situation, especially in the North-West zone of the country.

“All we hear are the huge amounts expended by the previous administrations on security and padded budgetary allocations, yet with little results trailing these efforts. I wish President Bola Tinubu can do things differently because the several strategies deployed in the past did not work. The president should take charge of security issues, funding and monitoring of the funds, if he wants results in 2025,” Dashi said.

Chijioke Umelahi, an Abuja-based lawyer, foresees a rebounding economy in 2025, as long as the incessant hike in petrol pump price is curtailed.

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“I commend the government for ensuring that there is no fuel scarcity this festive period and also the NNPC for the recent reduction in petrol pump price. But the government, NNPC, Dangote and the oil marketers need to work together, bearing the poor masses in mind, to ensure further reduction in petrol pump price and curb the unnecessary hike in everything that marred 2024,” Umelahi said.

The former Abia lawmaker also sees stability in the exchange rate in 2025, with the Naira gaining strength.

“I will say that we were at our lowest point, in terms of the economy, in 2024. We have fallen enough and 2025 is a year to begin to rise again.

“This is not to sound prophetic; the reality is that the economy will rebound in 2025 because Nigeria has religiously followed the instructions of the World Bank and the IMF on the economic recovery plans.

“There has to be something to show for the policies and I see that happening in 2025, especially from the second quarter,” Umelahi said.

On security, Dashi insisted that the government has not done enough in 2024 as hoodlums, criminal elements and non-state-actors seemed more emboldened in their nefarious activities.

“If the efforts the government has been making to curb insecurity are working, we would not have heard of a new terror group emerging in the North West this year, kidnapping would not have been a thriving enterprise it is today and farmers would have been in their farms to ensure food security.

“So, the government needs to take security seriously in 2025. We have played enough politics with the insecurity and need to address it squarely because there are more unemployed youth out there who are vulnerable, the funds deployed in fighting insecurity could be used for developmental projects if we curb insecurity,” he said.

Umelahi thinks that the government and the military should restrategise the approach for the security fight to ensure better result, safer environment for businesses and peaceful neighbourhoods for Nigerians.

“I call on President Bola Tinubu to be firmer in handling the security challenge in 2025. Despite relocating key military formations to trouble zones in the North West and North East, little result has been achieved. Despite the huge budgetary allocations, Lakurawa, a new terrorist group, still emerged in the North West. Bandits are still rampaging and kidnapping for ransom has thrived.

“The increasing rate of insecurity across the country makes one to question how security budgetary allocations are used or are they diverted,” Umelahi noted.

Speaking further on security, the lawyer called on President Tinubu to up the ante, ensure strick monitoring of the budget, investigate and prosecute diversion of security funds.

While stepping up the fight against insecurity is necessary, Akagbule is calling on the government to address unemployment, which is one of the root causes of insecurity.

“We keep churning out graduates every year from our universities, many whose parents cannot afford higher education are also in the job market and school dropouts are increasing every day.

“These people are unhappy and sadly vulnerable. They are easy recruits for terrorism,” the lecturer lamented.

For Moji Akani, a serial entrepreneur, a sure way to fight insecurity is to create jobs for the idle hands and that is difficult now because of the harsh economy, which is suffocating small scale businesses that create the most jobs, after the government.

“As long as the soaring inflation is unchecked, exchange rate still volatile, multiple taxes regime still in place and bank interest rates still very high, most SMEs will struggle, some will pack up and a few in business will not impact much on employment.

“The government should, as a matter of urgency, offer respite to businesses in 2025 through many incentives,” Akani said.

But the most important things for the SMEs, according to him, are for the government to stabilise the economy and strengthen the weak Naira, then businesses will find their bearings.

Also considering the high cost of living, especially soaring prices of food items, many are urging the government to make genuine efforts at wiping out hunger in the land.

They insisted that hunger and crime go hand in hand, hence wiping out hunger is a sure way of curbing insecurity.

“If many who earn well struggled to buy a bag of 50 kg rice at over N100,000 this December, then masses, who couldn’t afford it are hungry.

“Also imagine how much the same bag of rice will go by December 2025 and the increasing number of families that will not be able to afford it then. The government needs to address hunger, it is an emergency now,” Bunmi Okikiola, a school proprietress and mother of three, said.

But a major part of addressing hunger, according to Iliya Idris, a carrot and onion farmer in Vom, Plateau State, is by providing security for farmers to farm, especially in the rural areas.

“You need security in rural areas to encourage farmers to return to their farms, cultivate and produce food to feed the hungry.

“So, if the government wants food security, it has to ensure farmers’ safety in 2025,” Idris noted.