Pains of the Masses
The depreciating value of the naira on the parallel market is taking its toll on firms, retailers and consumers, writes Peter Uzoho
Today, the most dominant issue in Nigeria is the steady fall of the naira against the dollar and other foreign currencies on the streets of Lagos including major cities across the country. Nigeria is majorly an import-dependent country with very little goods being produced at home. As a result of this, the exchange rate situation has clearly affected the cost of goods and services, which has automatically been passed on to consumers.
As at last Thursday, some currency changers who hawk dollars on major streets of Lagos put the value of the naira on the black market at N390 to a dollar. To this end, traders are faced with the problem of fixing and gaining little profit margin amid the exchange rate situation. This was evident from the looks on the faces of some retailers visited by THISDAY, as they looked confused with the steady decline of their customer base.
In his shop he was found seated on a plastic chair with face resting on a wooden office table, while taking a nap. Maybe tired and ruminating over the whole situation and perhaps waiting for an opportunity for him to vocally express his anger. On sighting THISDAY, Mr Micheal Onukwue, a provision retailer, blurted “we’re suffering in this country, the price of everything has increased,” Onukwue said.
He pointed that he used to buy up to 20 cartons of goods with hundred thousand naira, but now he cannot buy 10 cartons with the same amount. He also said that when he buys at a high cost price and wants to add a little amount to his own selling price, his customers will not want to buy from him.
“Before I used to go to market with hundred thousand and buy 20 cartons but now, if I go with that hundred thousand I will not buy up to 10 cartons. And if I buy at high price and I want to add something to my own selling price, my customers will not want to buy again,” he explained.
Explaining further, Onukwue said: “When we ask why it is so they say naira is depreciating. In fact, we are not benefitting anything from this government instead; it is the government that is benefitting from our sweat. Imagine, I used to pay N4000 as permit for my shop, but now government has increased it to N7000 without considering our predicament. There is no electricity, no road and we are taxed heavily,“he further said disappointingly.
THISDAY visited the popular Anjorin Market, Apapa, and traders and consumers could not hesitate to express their own hit of the economic hardship.
Kemi Ayode, sitting helplessly in her shop, said that market was not moving again and that everybody was complaining .” Market is not moving again; everybody is complaining”, she said.”The price of everything has gone high and customers are finding it difficult to buy again”. As it is now, we cannot eat to satisfy ourselves anymore, rather we only manage to have something in our stomach‘, Kemi said.She however called on the government to do something to change the situation as they promised.
Mrs. Temitope Animasaun found packing her goods to mark the end of the day’s trading, told her own story. “Market is very dull; people are not buying again”, she said. She revealed that part of the cause of the increment was that those that had surplus goods before have raised their own price so that the effect of the dollar would not affect them so much. She equally pleaded with the government to intervene to save the poor masses.
Another trader in the market, Alhaja Iya Hassan, a rice seller, told THISDAY that before last December, she bought a bag of rice at the rate of N9,300,but currently it is sold at N13000, adding that government should try and do something to save them from their present ordeal.
Sharing similar experience, Mr. Bayo Williams, an artisan told THISDAY that he did not feel the impact of the crash in naira value until recently, when he needed to buy plastic chairs.
Narrating his experience, he said: “I wanted to buy plastic chairs for my church and had priced it at N1000 each before, but I had to travel and when I came back to pay for the chairs, I was told that the price has risen to N1,300 because of the exchange rate. So, instead of buying two dozens that I earlier budgeted for, I had to buy just one.”
But with the effect of the economic crunch biting hard on consumers, most Nigerians have been forced to embrace a low key life as they now buy less than what they used to. A lot of Nigerians have adjusted to the present economic reality.
The balanced daily meal is no longer a guarantee obligation. Some parents have gone to the extent of withdrawing their wards from expensive schools to cheaper ones, as revealed by an anonymous source.
“Things are so hard now, to give children three square meals in a day is not guaranteed now. Even some parents are removing their children from the expensive schools they were attending and putting them in cheaper ones.
“We’re tired of this country. Every time it’s one problem or the other. I came to buy polish and they said it’s now N180 instead of N150, what are we going to do in this country?” he asked.
However, the most commonly asked question by the ordinary man regarding the country’s economic misfortune has been ‘why Nigeria’s case is always a far cry from other countries?’.
Traders are faced with the problem of fixing and gaining little profit margin amid the exchange rate situation. This was evident from the looks on the faces of some retailers visited by THISDAY, as they looked confused with the steady decline of their customer base