PLAGUE OF RECESSION HITS NIGERIA HARD

PLAGUE OF RECESSION HITS NIGERIA HARD

By Chima Onyekachi

The leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB and the Director of Radio Biafra/Biafra Television, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, had always echoed during his broadcasts that Somalia will be paradise compared to Nigeria if they refuse to allow the restoration of the sovereign state of Biafra. That statement is coming to fruition with several plagues that have befallen the country at the brink of collapse and the latest which is the plague of recession.

In 2014 and early 2015, Nigera was named the third fastest growing economies in the world after China and Qatar. In 2016, Nigeria is not even one of the 15 fastest growing economies in Africa. The fastest growing economies in Africa by GDP growth rate, as projected by International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 2016, are Cote D’Ivoire (8.5%), Tanzania (6.9%), Senegal (6.6%), Djibouti (6.5%), Rwanda (6.3%), Kenya (6.0%), Mozambique (6.0%), Central African Republic (5.7%), Sierra Leone (5.3%) and Uganda (5.3%). Nigeria is seeing its poorest GDP growth since 1999 with a poor growth of 2.3 percent. Foreign direct investment flows have slowed down and Nigeria is facing major threat which include commodities slump, currency devaluations and geo-security risks. The National Bureau of statistic said the inflation rate in Nigeria’s economy increased to 16.5 per cent from 15.6 percent, the highest inflation rate in almost 11 years according to data on the CBN’s website. The Nigeria naira straddles the base of currencies in Africa.

The official exchange rate of Naira weakened to more than N291 per dollar, compared with the fixed rate of N197-199, it trades at about 391 on the black market, increasing prices for consumers. Food prices rose 15.3 percent in June from a year earlier, compared with 14.9 percent in May. Most citizens can no longer afford fish, meat, fruit, vegetable, bread and cereals due to high cost and shortage. Nigeria faces fuel shortages as it imports at least 70 per cent of its refined fuel, despite pumping 1.6 million barrels of crude a day in June, according to the International Energy Agency. The Nigeria minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun said the government is largely borrowing from the domestic market to get the exchange rate sorted out in order to enable them borrow from the international market. The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, while briefing the senate said that Nigeria’s economy is in bad shape and there was no hope of arresting the downward turn.

Crude oil accounts for about 90% of exports and two-thirds of government revenue in Nigeria, but with the mission of the Avengers to economically cripple the country coming to fulfillment, that figure must have dwindled. The Avengers have demanded for the release of Nnamdi Kanu as ordered by competent courts of jurisdiction but Muhammadu Buhari has stubbornly refused. Buhari came into power to execute the rapid islamisation of Nigeria using money accrued from crude sales but he has met a brick wall. The incessant bombing of Nigeria’s oil and gas assets by the Avengers and other freedom fighters in the creeks of Biafraland have grossly affected oil production.  Nigeria’s economy has contracted and President Muhammadu Buhari has no plans in place to turn the slump around. From October, the federal government may not be able to pay its workers their salaries anymore. The implementation of the 2016 Budget will no longer be feasible. The crime rate is on the increase with prostitution, armed robbery and kidnapping thriving in major towns and cities. There is starvation in the country especially in the north as their governors can no longer afford to feed the alamajiris. Biafrans have braced up for the worst as we have breath and swallowed marginalization since the 1967-1970 Biafra genocide and we have survived.

The Avengers have stated that until Buhari takes their demands serious which include self-determination, they will continue to obstruct all avenues to export crude oil. The Avengers have also agreed to dialogue with government only with the presence of international community but Arewa elders in collaboration with retired and serving Northern military officers have coerced Buhari not to negotiate the sovereignty of Nigeria. Nigerians, especially those clergymen who were in the National Stadium, Abuja, to pray for “the release of Nigeria economy from prison”, must prevail on Buhari and the cabals in power to release Nnamdi Kanu and stop shedding innocent Biafran blood. The sovereignty of Nigeria will not withstand the plagues that has befallen it.

Authored by Chima Onyekachi, for the Great Biafra Journalists.

Published by Okpalaeze