Policymakers must focus on things that directly affect Nigerians-Elemo

It is three days to Christmas and Nigerians are busy getting all they need to celebrate the special season. But not many are smiling as the prices of food, stuff that drinks and other items they need have risen above their purchasing power.

A bag of rice currently sells for more than the country’s minimum wage.

Other items like tomatoes, onions, peppers, yam, chicken have almost doubled in price. Though the yuletide comes with a lot of merriment, it appears not many Nigerians will be merry, given the current market realities.

Speaking on the rising food prices on TVCBreakfast, Financial Analyst Olusegun Elemo stated that the situation of the economy is currently putting a lot of people under pressure especially as quite a lot of things happened this year.

Flooding, for example, not only killed people but also damaged property. It also put agricultural products at great risk.

Everything about the celebration of the Christmas or yuletide hovers around what people are able to afford in terms of food, clothing and the likes.

Mr Elemo noted that with the growing inflation in the country, the disposable income of the average Nigerian have been eroded and continues to be eroded on a daily basis.

A lot of Nigerians are suffering and not many many people can afford what they used to afford.

“The impact of the inflation between 25th December 2021 and now has really affected significantly the income that is available to the average Nigerian, and there’s been no increase in wage.

“A lot of people are living on the edge and I wonder how many people will survive.

“Inflation is real and eating into the income of the average Nigerian. People are going to struggle through this Christmas”, Mr Elemo added.

Speaking further, Mr Elemo added that Inflation in Nigeria is dire because policy makers have not been proactive enough.

Policy makers must focus on those things that affect Nigerians directly such as healthcare, education, food.

The reason why other countries are able to intervene in things like these better than Nigeria is because they target subsidies on things that affect the common people, not the elites.

“When you look at what has happened with petroleum subsidy in Nigeria, it’s the elite that benefits from it, not the common man.

“The government needs to reshape the implementation of subsidy and put subsidy where it should be, not where it is right now.