Uncertainties as Buhari govt’s Monetary Policies fail to tackle rising inflation

The three months of rising inflation in 2023, with the recent figure standing at 22.04 per cent, has put pain, frustration and agony in the faces of Nigerians and the country’s economy.

Track news reports that like a drowning person, Nigerians are overwhelmed by the rising food prices and the cost of goods and services. It is now a commonly accepted reality that there is no time one visits the market without an increase in the prices of goods and services.

The prices of foods, goods and services keep jumping, ballooning without a commensurate increase in the purchasing power of Nigerians. The implication is that more Nigerians would likely slip into poverty as their ability to access basic needs shrinks due to declining purchasing power.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics’ March Inflation report, the country’s inflation increased by 6.12 from 15.92 per cent in 2022 despite the government’s effort to tackle the trend.

Retrospectively, when President Muhammadu Buhari was elected into Office in 2015, Nigeria’s inflation stood at 9.01 per cent, representing a 13.03 per cent increase compared to today’s 22.04 per cent.

This means that prices of goods and services have increased more than 160 per cent over the eight years of Buhari’s administration.

Mr Michael Abdul, a teacher in the Federal Capital Territory, said it is most painful that salaries have remained stagnant amid rising inflation.

Abdul said the situation was immensely frustrating.

“It is terrible that Nigeria’s inflation rate keeps increasing without any visible efforts by the government to address the situation. Earlier, Ghana’s February inflation went up as high as 52.8 per cent, but it dropped to 45 per cent in March. What did they do? I believe there is something fundamentally wrong with Nigeria”, he said.

Also, Adebayo Yusuf, a trader in Abuja, said there is no day he goes to market that he does not meet price increase in goods.

“Majority of the time I go to the market, there is always an increase in prices. It ranges from N50-N200 price increase, coupled with an increase in the transportation cost, it is regrettable, this is Nigeria”, he said.

Although the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, speaking in the ongoing World Bank/International Monetary Fund Spring Meeting taking place in Washington, had said that CBN would not relent in efforts to fix inflation and stabilize the country’s banking sector, Nigerians and some experts have ran out of patience.

Emefiele had never hesitated in explaining to Nigerians what CBN is doing to tame inflation, including its recent move to increase the Monetary Policy Rate to 18 per cent. Still, the substance of the activities by the apex bank is not felt as the consequences of rising inflation beat Nigerians differently