“Nigerians are suffering, food prices are on the increase every day, and fuel is now selling for over ₦1,000. A bag of rice is now selling for ₦120,000. How can we continue like this?
“Does the World Bank want Nigerians to continue to die? The government says it is sharing palliatives, but as a Federal Government retiree, I have never received any palliative, and it is not just me.
“Honestly, sharing palliative is not a solution to the hunger and challenges Nigerians are facing.
“The government removed fuel subsidy and did not provide decent subsidised or free transportation for citizens. These are some things you see governments of other countries do for their citizens.
“You must put things in place first to cushion the effects these policies will have on citizens.
“As a retiree, I need nothing less than ₦100,000 a month just for electricity bills, and I still have to switch off some heavy appliances because I was put on Band A by force.
“How much do I get at the end of the month as a retiree? The government is not empathising with the people.
“We must work out our salvation like the Bible says, not what the World Bank is saying or what Kenya or Britain is doing because we have our peculiar challenges,” she noted.
NAN recalls that Bala Mohammed, the Governor of Bauchi State said recently that the policies were causing untold hardship, especially at the sub-national level.
“I want to say with humility that there is a lot of pain beyond the sub-nationals. There is hunger, and the policies on agriculture, for instance, are not yielding the required fruits.
“We need to review some of these policies. At the sub-national level, we would continue to support the Federal Government, but these policies need to be friendly,” he said.
READ ALSO:
Prof. Uche Uwaleke, Head of the Banking and Finance Department at Nasarawa State University, said that the World Bank and IMF’s recommendations for Nigeria to further tighten its monetary policy would be suicidal.
According to him, it would be suicidal to have the interest rate go beyond the current elevated inflation rate. Uwaleke, however, said that some of their recommendations were good, such as cutting the cost of governance, infrastructure, and access to electricity, but there were other recommendations the government should not accept.
“I think in making these recommendations, the IMF and World Bank should know that in Nigeria, we have peculiar situations, and it is not one size fits all.
“These recommendations should suit our environment and circumstances.
“For example, in one breath, they say further tighten the monetary policy and in another breath, you are making recommendations about the ease of doing business and supporting households and businesses with credit.
“Does that not sound contradictory? How can they have access to credit in a country where the interest rate is high?”
Uwaleke said that in making their recommendations and forecasts, the IMF and World Bank should go beyond consultations with the CBN to include the private sector, academia, and the National Assembly, among others to make it inclusive.
Sunday Peter, an Economist and Agro Consultant, said the Federal Government needed to revisit its economic policies, especially on fuel subsidy, because of the hardship it was causing to Nigerians, especially with food inflation.
“If the government wants to have a serious impact on the reduction in the prices of commodities, the government need to reduce fuel prices and they are aware which policy will achieve this.”
Peter advised that the government open the market to enable more people to have a licence to import fuel, adding that the refineries should be fixed. According to him, the government should increase investment in the real sector, that is, the production/manufacturing sector, for a meaningful impact on the economy.
“Only a few people benefit from the oil sector, but production can create a lot of jobs and opportunities.
“The oil sector can only cater for 20% of the population while the real sector can cater for 80%,” he added.
Adjust economic policies to reflect current realities, Nigerians tell FG