Perceptions of a Poorer More badly Managed Economy

It is not so much that the standard of living is falling drastically, but that Nigerians are not earning enough income to satisfy new and more sophisticated needs. Basically, the needs of Nigerians have expanded geometrically in the last few years. 

For instance, increased access and subscription to cable and the use of expensive cellular phones and recharge cards are new expenses being faced by everyone that was not obtainable in the past, so also are market-based school fees at universities and enrollment of children into private schools at all levels unlike in the past. These expenses all reduce disposable income. 

Even historical out of pocket expenses including taking care of relatives through the extended family system, health care expenses, burial expenses and weddings expenses are now prohibitive. The rise of burial and wedding expenses is so high that certain religious institutions have restricted they length of time a corpse can remain unburied and some traditional rulers have called for a reduction in bride prices respectively. 

The perceptions of a more badly managed economy also come from the reality of diminishing sources of earning a living through hustling or being dashed money. Those sources have dried up or are restricted to an even more narrow group of people especially under this administration that has reduced graft at the base level at public institutions. There are fewer free lunches compared to the Jonathan era at the base level and they source of greater resentment of the present administration. 

All this is connected to a minimum wage that is grossly out of touch with even the most minimal expenses faced by the average Nigeria. The government has tried to address this issue in the public sector, a small fraction of the economy, by attempting to increase the minimum wage, but it is not a base wage that can provide a standard of living unless it is supplemented by additional income from hustling.

A secondary reality is that no Nigerian worker survives on that minimum wage, everyone is involved in all manners of wheeling and dealing to earn additional income in the shadow economy without declaring their real income or paying taxes to the government to arm it to provide better services and benefit.

A debilitating reality is that even if the government wanted to give out benefits to all Nigerians it has no mechanism for disbursement as most Nigerians have no national identification numbers or bank accounts to receive benefits.

Most Nigerian operate in the informal or shadow economy outside the control of the government from nonpayment of taxes, to cash payments for everything from health care to paying for raw food commodities, they government has extremely limited tools to improve the lives of Nigerians except at the macro level of trying to create a less dysfunctional system and trying to expand and maintain stressed infrastructure for a growing percentage of non-tax paying citizens. 

The problems facing Nigeria are two-fold, firstly the government needs to initiate an orientation campaign to disabuse itself and citizens about its true capacity and adjust the expectations of citizens and sensitize them about the limitations of government at improving their lives. 

The government also needs to pour more resources and budget palliatives, such as fixing public schools, paying salaries and introducing welfare packages to increase disposable income of citizens.

Citizens on the other hand need to be educated about they rise in their personal and new expenses and increased tastes unrelated to government control or mismanagement and how their shadow activities and nonpayment of taxes or fees is crippling governments ability to fund palliatives.

If this orientation does not occur no Nigerian government or leader can escape the utter contempt and damnation of its citizens who will blame a limited under-resourced government and a non-capitalized economy for rising individual and collective poverty.

By Terhemba Osuji

Shadow Minister of National Planning and Re-Orientation.


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