Nigerians are on a long road to recovery as the prices of food in the country have hit a 4 year high. The prices of food such as rice, yam, beans, and even chicken have more than doubled in some cases as the nation struggles with a 20.1% inflation rate.
Indeed the pandemic was a major culprit, however, the economy has not been able to rebound fully with the paucity of forex, increasing insecurity due to the farmer/herder crisis which contributes its fair share to the rising cost of farm produce and of course the aftermath of the ban on foreign produce which appears to have been counterproductive.
As many as 23.3 million Nigerians within the employable age bracket are unemployed whilst an additional 15 million are underemployed. These statistics help to understand why a large percentage of Nigerians may fall below the poverty line in the shortest possible time.
The recent policy on cryptocurrency further drove a wedge as knowing Nigerians who could not trade due to a recent policy found other sustainable means to continue to remain ahead of the curve in garnering as much profit the blockchain application would allow
Currently, the world bank predicts that the national poverty rate in Nigeria is set to fall from 40.1% to 45% by the year 2022. This implies that almost half of the population will be below the poverty level.
The situation appears bleak as foreign capital inflow seems to be evading the nation due to her unsustainable costs of Enterprise while seeking her African counterparts such as Ghana and South Africa as alternatives.
Despite holding the highest human resource, Nigeria may be unable to help herself if much is not done to avert the looming crisis.
