Worsening economic indices trouble stakeholders

… current protest beyond #ENDSARS, signals frustration

The thought of Nigeria entering another recession shortly after a recent one is truly freighting to say the least. But, considering the worsening picture of the economy amid many negative indices, exacerbated by Covid-19 pandemic, Nigeria is obviously near economic collapse, a sad reality that worries the populace, especially many economic stakeholders.

Again, the apprehension is heightened by the very dismal rankings of the most populous West African nation in many economic indices and other global standards used in measuring development, particularly Human Development Index (HDI).

From high level of insecurity, huge infrastructure deficit, struggling foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and to poor GDP growth at 2.7 percent against population growth at 3.5 percent, high external debt profile of over $27 billion, 27.1 percent unemployment rate to inflation, which stands at over 13 percent, among others, the odds are against Nigeria.

Moreover, over 93 million Nigerians are not connected to electricity, while the country holds the record for extreme poor people in the world, according to the World Poverty Clock report published in 2018.

The report further revealed that over 86.9 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty; a figure that represents about 48 percent of the country’s estimated 200 million population. The most frightening fact about the report is that six Nigerians enter poverty bracket every minute, a figure that has increased since two years the report was released.

As well, with 15 million children out of school, Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children globally, while infant and under 5 years mortality rate, according statistics, is high in Nigeria.

Again, insecurity has stripped the country the little respect it has in the international community.

Nigeria is regarded as the third most terrorised country in the world after Afganistan and Iraq and, according to Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State, who spoke at University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) 60 years lecture recently, saying it is speculated that Nigeria would soon overtake the two countries in terrorism.

Also, inequality is high in Nigeria as less than 1 percent of the population controls over 90 percent of the nation’s wealth. “Inequality impacts negatively on health, education and the economy, but government is incapable of fighting it,” Peter Obi said.

These statistics are enough to cause anxiety considering that Nigeria had fallen deeply from its annual GDP growth rate of 25 percent in 1970s with FDI inflows now accounting for 0.5 percent of the GDP, and food exports, which accounted for 31.34 percent in 1970s, have crashed to 1.95 percent in 2018.