Nigerian economy - The African Mirror

Mar

2024

Nigeria’s fuel subsidy removal was too sudden: why a gradual approach would have been better

NIGERIA removed fuel subsidies entirely in May 2023. This came as a surprise because of the political risks associated with subsidy removal. Previous administrations were reluctant to jettison the subsidies. The subsidies had been in place since the 1970s, when the government sold petrol to Nigerians at a price below cost – though most consumers weren’t aware of this. The 1977 Price Control Act made it illegal for some products (including petrol) to be sold above the regulated price. The Olusegun Obasanjo regime introduced this law to cushion the effects of inflation, caused by a worldwide increase in energy prices.…

Mar

2024

By STEPHEN ONYEIWU

Inflation in Nigeria is still climbing while it has slowed globally: here’s why

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

JUST as Nigerians were gradually digging out from the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, they were hit by high inflation. The Nigerian economy contracted by 6.1% at the peak of COVID-19 in the second quarter of 2020. Unemployment rate rose from 27% in the second quarter of 2020 to 33% in the fourth quarter of the same year. STEPHEN ONYEIWU, Professor of Economics & Business, Allegheny College The World Bank estimated that 11 million Nigerians were pushed into poverty during the pandemic, in addition to the 100 million (out of 200 million people in the country) who were already…

Mar

2024

By ABRAHAM ACHIRGA and SEUN SANNI

Hard times in Nigeria as reforms deepen cost of living crisis

BUSINESS

BLESSING Joseph has been weaving bags, sandals and jewellery earning enough money to feed her son and send him to school. But since November, she has fallen on hard times as customers have stopped coming and she and her son routinely go to bed hungry. She is among millions in Africa's largest economy, grappling with the worst cost of living crisis in decades, that has deepened since President Bola Tinubu introduced bold but unpopular economic reforms after he assumed office last May. Last year, Joseph could easily make 30,000 naira ($18.83) a week but now she will be lucky to…

May

2023

By FELIX ONUAH and MACDONALD DZIRUTWE

Nigeria: President Tinubu’s economy, security test

NEWS

NIGERIA'S new President Bola Tinubu vowed at his swearing-in to expand the economy by at least 6% a year, lift barriers to investment, create jobs and unify the exchange rate, while also tackling rampant insecurity. Tinubu inherits a struggling economy with record debt, shortages of foreign exchange and fuel, a weak naira currency, nearly two-decades-high inflation, skeletal power supplies and falling oil production due to crude theft and underinvestment. Protectionist policies and foreign currency interventions under predecessor Muhammadu Buhari spooked investors. "On the economy, we target a higher GDP growth and to significantly reduce unemployment," he said, adding that this…

Jul

2022

By The African Mirror

Nigeria lost $1 billion crude oil revenue to theft

BUSINESS

NIGERIA lost $1 billion in revenue during the first quarter of this year due to crude oil theft, the petroleum regulator said on Friday, warning the practice was a threat to the economy of Africa's top producer. Nigeria loses millions of barrels of crude oil a year because of theft and vandalism including the tapping of crude from a maze of pipelines owned by oil majors, underscoring how poor security causes vast financial losses for the country. Gbenga Komolafe, the head of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, said of the 141 million barrels of oil produced in the first…