Tackle food crisis as subsidy goes, Nigerians demand

From the farmers in the northern city of Borno to the business owners and working-class down south in Lagos and Aba, there is a growing demand on President Bola Tinubu to lead from the front after subsidy removal by addressing the current food crisis and the inefficiencies of a bloated cabinet.

Nigerians said the removal of petrol subsidies coincides with a perfect opportunity for Tinubu, who is rounding up his two-week annual vacation in the United Kingdom to tackle spiralling prices of foods that are causing the worst economic hardship in the country, where half of the population is younger than 18.

Like her fellow youths around her armed with strength, education and creativity, Blessing Usman hopes to escape from poverty and give her unborn children a better life. However, as the Nigerian economy continues to falter, there is justifiable fear that more families will continue to fall into poverty and remain trapped in it, perhaps for more generations, perpetuating a vicious cycle of poverty.

“Every week, prices go up,” she says, her brow furrowed with concern. “Petrol subsidy is a chorus we hear yearly, but my biggest headache is rice, beans and every basic thing is getting more expensive. How will I feed my family?”

Usman’s worries reflect a broader sentiment shared by countless Nigerians who feel the weight of rising costs in their daily lives.

Last year, Michael Adewale could easily make N30,000 naira a week from his shoe-making business in Ejigbo, a sub-hub in Nigeria’s commercial capital, but now he will be lucky to get N5,000, he said.

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“People used to place orders. I’ll design for them, sometimes even (for) weddings, I’ll make souvenirs for them, but now those orders are not coming,” says Adewale, a 29-year-old Lagos resident.

“It has been very difficult, especially that I have a son and he needs to go to school, he needs to eat.”

“Food is life,” Adewale emphasises. “Without affordable food, we can’t survive. We need the government to act quickly.”

Her plea resonates with the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets at the last EndBadGovernance protest, demanding immediate government action to address the rising food prices and the need for a more efficient governance structure.

Although some Nigerians realistically agree that resources are thin considering an out-sized population, many admitted that poverty and inequality in Nigeria are largely due to misallocation and misappropriation of resources, a development that has fuelled extreme hunger in the country with over 95.9 million people living in extreme poverty — that is, people living below the poverty line of $1.90 per day.

“The current cabinet, perceived as bloated and inefficient, contributes to the country’s struggles,” Tunde Ayeni, a senior research analyst with the Lagos-based Centre for Development Studies, said.

“It’s time for a streamlined government that prioritises the people over politics” he adds.

Call for more urgent action

From a lack of jobs, down to failing health care, failing education, bad roads, insecurity in various parts of the country and an epileptic power supply, Africa’s largest economy is tottering on the brink, and the situation appears not to be getting any better.

Prices of food, cooking gas, medicines, fuel, and public transport have shot up, squeezing household budgets while inflation hovered at 32.15 percent last August amid the naira slumping to record lows, pressured by acute dollar shortages.

Many poor Nigerians have either given up or rationed goods considered a luxury, such as meat, eggs and milk.

“We need strong leadership now more than ever,” Martins Odion, head of research at the Society for Sustainable Development says. “If they don’t listen, many of us will suffer,”