A Nigerian man has lamented that ‘bad government’ made him to leave his country to another where he “eats grass like a goat” in his breakfast.
A Poland-based Nigerian, Ewa Ekuma, wrote in a Facebook post on Monday, January 15 that “Bad government has made me leave my country where I enjoy fufu in the morning to run to a faraway country where I now eat grass like a goat as breakfast.”
In a post seen by Straightnews, the morose man with a Rastafarian hairdo was seen with a plate containing Polish recipes: sliced hard cheese, scrambled eggs, and tomatoes garnished with leaves, a delicacy quite alien to Nigerians.
It is gathered that since the advent of democracy in 1999, Nigerians’ hope of enjoying better life has been truncated by different ”obnoxious but anti-people” policies enunciated and implemented by various administrations.
These policies, no doubt, have plagued Nigeria and forced many both old and young who lived below global poverty line to ‘japa’ flee to other countries in the world in search of succour.
Inflation: First, inflation has become endemic causing prices of goods and services to fly through the window. Nigeria’s headline inflation rose to 28.92 per cent in December 2023 from 28.20 per cent in November.
The National Bureau of Statistics disclosed its consumer price index and the CPI report for December.
The figure represents 12 consecutive times the country’s inflation soared in 2023.
Looking at the movement, the December 2023 headline inflation rate showed an increase of 0.72 percent points when compared to the November 2023 headline inflation rate.
On a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 7.58 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in December 2022, which was 21.34 per cent.
This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in December 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., December 2022).
Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the headline inflation rate in December 2023 was 2.29 per cent, which was 0.20 per cent higher than the rate recorded in November 2023 (2.09 per cent). This means that in December 2023, the rate of increase in the average price level is more than the rate of increase in the average price level in November 2023.
Insecurity: For some years now, kidnapping, banditry, robbery, rapes, defilements, and drug addiction, among others have dominated the society. For instance, the insecurity and terrorism index in Nigeria rose from 6.95 in 2011 to 7.96 in 2012; 8.2 in 2013; 9.21 in 2014; 9.31 in 2015; 9.10 in 2016; 8.66 in 2017; 8.6 in 2018, and 8.31 in 2019.
In the 2022 Global Peace Index produced by the Institute for Economics & Peace, Nigeria ranked Nigeria 143 among 163 independent nations and territories according to its level of peacefulness. As of 2021, the terrorism index in Nigeria indicator stood at 8.23.
Boko Haram and Banditry groups are mainly based in north-east Nigeria in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. Since 2021, there have also been attacks likely associated with terrorist groups in Niger, Kaduna, Kogi, Bauchi, Ondo, Zamfara, Taraba, Jigawa, Sokoto, Edo and Kano states, as well as the Federal Capital Territory.
Corruption: This isinsecurity another hydra-headed problem that crippled the morale, socio-economic and political values including infrastructural development. The 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) shows that most countries are failing to stop corruption. In Nigeria, the global average remains unchanged for over a decade at just 43 out of 100.
More than two-thirds of countries score below 50, while 26 countries have fallen to their lowest scores yet.
Despite concerted efforts and hard-won gains by some, 155 countries have made no significant progress against corruption or have declined since 2012.
The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories around the world by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, scoring on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).
Unemployment: Nigeria’s unemployment rate stood at 33.3 percent in Q4 of 2020. However, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently reported unemployment rates of 5.3 percent (Q4 2022) and 4.1 percent (Q1 2023), based on the new Nigeria Labour Force Survey (NLFS).
About three-quarters of working-age Nigerians were employed – 73.6% in Q4 2022 and 76.7% in Q1 2023.
Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose to 4.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics has said. The bureau said this in its Nigeria Labour Force Survey (NLFS) report for Q2 2023 released on Thursday.
Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose to 4.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
The bureau said this in its Nigeria Labour Force Survey (NLFS) report for Q2 2023.
The NBS said the rate is an increase of 0.1 per cent from the figure recorded in Q1 2023 (4.1 per cent).
“The unemployment rate in Q2 2023 was 4.2 per cent, this is an increase of 0.1 per cent from the figure recorded in Q1 2023 (4.1 per cent),” the NBS said.
A breakdown of the report showed that the labour force participation rate among the working-age population remained high at 80.4 per cent in Q2 2023.
It said the employment-to-population ratio was 77.1 per cent in Q2 2023.
“The combined rate of unemployment and time-related underemployment as a share of the labour force population (LU2) was 15.5 per cent in Q2 2023,” it said.
The report explained that most workers (around 88.0 per cent) were in self-employment in Q2 2023.
It added that the proportion of workers in Wage Employment in Q2 2023 was 12 per cent.
“The rate of unemployment among persons with post-secondary education was 8 per cent in Q2 2023. The Unemployment rate among youth aged (15-24 years) in Q2 2023 was 7.2 per cent having been at 6.9 per cent in Q1 2023,” the NBS said.
According to the bureau, the unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.9 per cent in Q2 2023, an increase from 5.4 per cent in Q1 2023.
It further explained that time-related underemployment in Q2 2023 was 11.8 per cent.
It noted that 4.8 per cent of the working-age population were in subsistence agriculture.
“Informal employment rate in Q2 2023 was 92.7 per cent. Percentage of youth Not in Employment, Education nor Training (NEET Rate) was 13.8 per cent,” it said.
These and a myriad of problems have forced many Nigerians to flee the country as the leaders look bereft of ideas in find lasting solutions to them.
