BY KENNETH EZE
Many Nigerians are concerned that the Federal Government might have resorted to mere propaganda in desperation to tender positive scorecards for the President Muhammadu Buhari administration by allegedly masking real reports on the economy.
Some of the people who spoke to The Point were worried that the government of the day was concentrating on creating or simulating incredible reports in the bid to engineer positive public perceptions, instead of staying focused on results-oriented governance.
According to them, the National Bureau of Statistics is confusing Nigerians by churning out positive growth figures as against harsh realities.
On the streets, Nigerians are venting frustration at being confronted with harsh realities as against the rosy pictures being painted by recent reports on the national economy from the National Bureau of Statistics, which is being applauded by various quarters of government, including the President and the Central Bank of Nigeria.
NBS ACCUSED OF WINDOW DRESSING
A media personality and small-scale entrepreneur, Anne Oboho, is one of those decrying the variance between the statistics being brandished by government agencies and the tough realities confronting Nigerians on a daily basis.
She criticised the Gross Domestic Product and inflation figures being flaunted by the NBS, describing them as fruits of ‘voodoo economics’, which would have no impact on the citizens’ standard of living and market forces.
Oboho wrote on her Facebook page, “The market is no respecter of voodoo economics.”
She warned that ‘creating figures’ to display before the public would do no one any good, beyond offering ‘feel good’ effect to those in power because the published statistics would not force down the prices of items in the market.
“If you like, cook up GDP and inflation figures to make yourself feel good. The market will give you the real prices of goods and services. The market will tell you whether you have a strong currency or toilet paper currency”
“If you like, cook up GDP and inflation figures to make yourself feel good. The market will give you the real prices of goods and services. The market will tell you whether you have a strong currency or toilet paper currency,” Oboho stated.
Various citizens joined their voices with her to assert that the reports about growth of 5.01 per cent in GDP for Q2 2021 and the drop of inflation rate from 17.38 per cent to 17.01 per cent for July and August, respectively, as reported by the NBS, was nothing short of window dressing.
The NBS in the inflation report also claimed that rates dropped for the fifth consecutive period.
However, many Nigerians, like Oboho do not just disagree with the NBS over the figures, they query the authenticity.
Joseph Udoh in a comment on Oboho’s post accused the NBS of armchair research and advertising. He pointed out that the NBS, in the bid to sway public perception, merely dusted up an existing template, which it populated with imaginary figures to suit its fancy and that of its paymasters.
For Udoh and others who held similar views, the NBS was working towards an answer and merely used existing reporting templates as compass.
“This is serious. They (NBS) have a precedent copy of inflation and GDP data. All they do is, sit down in the comfort of their offices, fix data (on the template) and share to financial reporters without the actual visit to the markets,” Udoh stated.
However, for Oboho and many other Nigerians, the market would always be sovereign of what NBS does, what the Presidency and Central Bank of Nigeria say, and would only respond to the forces of supply and demand.
Oboho counselled the government to pay more attention to what transpires in the marketplace, as a way of showing genuine interest in refloating the economy.
“The market is the king and any sensible government will work on the market, if its economy must work,” she added.
And Udoh in tandem with Oboho stated, “The open market is true and real.”
He lamented that “things are really so expensive now in the market and (there is) no end in sight. Lord have mercy on us with our vague government.”
PRICES OF GOODS SKYROCKETING
Information gathered by The Point at various markets in Lagos and Ogun States, South West Nigeria, believed to be a fair reflection of the true position across the country, support the views conveyed by Oboho and Udoh.
From Ketu, Mile 12, Ikeja, Oshodi, Mushin, Agege, Ogba in Lagos State to Magboro, Ofada, Mowe/Ibafo, Ifo, Otta, and Shagamu in Ogun State, where The Point sampled prices of regular household items, ranging from food to toiletries and confectionaries, prices were reported to have skyrocketed in the period covered by the NBS reports.
The prices, according to survey, will also keep rising in obedience to the pull of demand and supply.
“Members of the public know that they are paying more for less, irrespective of the strategy deployed by the manufacturers”
The striking difference, which supports the autonomy of market forces, was noticed in packaged confectionaries and toiletries. What changed was that in the bid to retain market share, the manufacturers have resorted to strategic quantity and quality rationing, by offering reduced quantities and/or qualities at established prices.
For instance, a family-size loaf of bread sold for between N450 and N500 within the period. Now, a loaf of bread being sold at that rate would neither be of the same quantity nor quality. The bakers have had to find a way to reduce both quality and quantity, so as to sell at the rate of N450-N500 per loaf.
Members of the public know that they are paying more for less, irrespective of the strategy deployed by the manufacturers.
A master baker, Ntieno Otero, told The Point that if the bakeries should comply with the standard set by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, for baking, ordinary citizens would not afford bread anymore; neither would the bakers remain in business.
“We had to find a way to feed the people and stay in business. Costs of things are spiraling and everybody knows. We are looking for inputs to use to produce what people can afford, so that we (the bakers) can remain in business and people can see what to eat,” Otero said.
He explained that their ingenuity was being tasked by the rate of inflation, as they were being forced to look for ways to stay afloat.
PRICE OF COOKING GAS MAY RISE FURTHER
Last week, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency reported that the volume of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, also known as cooking gas, supplied in August fell by 20.5 per cent to 85,264.803 metric tonnes, compared to 107,224.584MT supplied in the month of July.
The volume supplied in the month of June was 102,787.234MT.
This sharp decline, according to dealers, may lead to further upward pressure on the retail prices of the product.
Meanwhile, the NBS also said the average price of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol, dropped month-on-month by 0.58 per cent to N164.91 in August 2021 from N165.91 in July 2021.
However, the price of kerosene increased by 0.6 per cent, MoM, to N400.01 in August 2021 from N397.34 in July 2021.
The price of LPG has risen significantly in the past nine months, with 12.5kg cylinder rising from about N4, 000 in January to about N6, 900 early last week.
The PPPRA, in a statement signed by its Executive Secretary, Abdulkadir Saidu, explained that 38,040.457 MT was sourced locally by Ever Oil, Stockgap, NIPCO, 11 Plc, Greenville Natural Gas, PNG Gas Limited, NPDC and Ashtavinayak Hydrocarbon Limited, while 47,224.346 MT was imported by NIPCO, Matrix, Algasco, Techno Oil, Prudent, A.A Rano, and Stockgap.
Additionally, the agency disclosed that the data on importation in the month of August, showed that 21,606.301 MT was imported from the USA, while 13,044.266 was imported from Algeria and 12,573.779 MT was brought into the country from Equatorial Guinea.
The PPPRA boss, however, stated, “Since the declaration of the ‘Decade of Gas’, by President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, the nation has witnessed a significant increase in the volume of LPG produced locally.
“This is due to the commitment of the Federal Government in promoting gas penetration, to ensure a clean source of energy for cooking, power generation and transportation.”
In its Petrol and kerosene Prices Watches for August 2021 released recently, the NBS stated, “States with the highest average price per litre of kerosene were Enugu (N494.05), Ebonyi (N489.17) and Cross River (N487.50).
“Similarly, the average price per gallon paid by consumers for National Household Kerosene increased by 1.8 per cent MoM and by 8.8 per cent YoY to N1, 325.39 in August 2021 from N1, 302.56 in July 2021.
“Average price paid by consumers for premium motor spirit (petrol) increased YoY by 10.9 per cent and decreased MoM by -0.58 per cent to N164.91 in August 2021 from N165.91 in July 2021.
“States with the highest average price of premium motor spirit (petrol) were Abia (N173.14), Ebonyi (N170.13) and Lagos (N168.31). States with the lowest average price of premium motor spirit (petrol) were Niger (N162), Borno(N161.71) and Kano (N158.75).”
VAGARIES OF HARSH ECONOMIC REALITIES
Staple food items have also been subject of politics, particularly with recent discussions around value added tax and open grazing. Discussions around this in marketplaces have made some people believe that the policy is targeted against certain segments of the population and parts of the country.
Chairman, Yam Traders Association, Ketu, Funtua Karo, told The Point that “no one can talk of lower prices (drop in inflation figures), unless the person is living in a country, other than Nigeria.”
From his explanation, Karo, who spoke in pidgin English, highlighted that there could have been no reduction in inflation because, “when traders buy and are selling, they would be crosschecking with one another just to be sure that when they exhaust their present stock, the money realised can be enough to restock.”
He made it clear that whoever blindly sold-off his or her stock would find it difficult to repurchase the same quantity he or she sold.
He admonished those close to the government to try and let them know that the masses are suffering “instead of going there to do eye service.”
For Karo, the problem is there for all to see. No one is spared the vagaries of the harsh economic realities.
“The problem is everywhere. If you are selling yam or beans, you are buying other things, including crayfish for spicing up the food you are selling, if you must eat from it. Traders are struggling to survive. Just imagine the cost of transportation alone from the Middle Belt to Lagos, for example,” he added.
The yam traders’ chairman maintained that government officials could not stay in the comfort of their offices and be legislating what would happen in the markets.
A middle-aged housewife, who gave her name as Iya Tope, told The Point that everyone had to admit that things were no longer the same.
Using toiletries to buttress her point, she said, “Almost all items have been tinkered with. What the manufacturers of powdered detergents have resorted to, is to enlarge the nylon packs and inflate it with air in the bid to trick the public. When you buy a pack at N20 it can only serve to do the dish once, whereas that same N20 pack was serving for weeks before being exhausted.”
Iya Tope, who said she had been in the labour market, 12 years after youth service, wondered why the government was no longer interested in the standard of things being sold in the markets.
She added that the toothpastes and bar soaps now come in extremely watery formats, “which leaves the public shortchanged, irrespective of the prices at which the items go for. Bar soaps used to be hard and dry but today, they are almost watery, so the moment the bar of soaps come in contact with water, they melt.”
She explained that the manufacturers would have had a “closed-door meeting,” on “how to be dealing with the public,” and might have been getting away with it because the government doesn’t seem to have any interest in consumer protection.
She opined that government should look away from storytelling and face realities.
“The people are not interested in any economic rhetoric, what counts is the standard of living of common Nigerians,” she added.
A member of the Peoples Democratic Party in Edo State, Kazeem Afegbua, said it was gradually becoming exposed to Nigerians that the real problems of President Muhammadu Buhari were those of his aides who misled the public.
Afegbua, who was also an aide to former governor of Edo State and ex-national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole, said, “The President’s real problems are his coterie of aides who have become sycophants from the pit of hell, announcing President Buhari’s so-called achievements in the gale of several rivers of blood.
“The real jinxes that President Buhari should break are the vexatious incidents of kidnapping and terrorism that have ravaged us for too long. He should break the jinx of growing and unsustainable unemployment rate of 33.8 per cent in a country that is still heavily dependent on imports. He should break the jinx of nepotism that makes some citizens second and third class citizens in their country by the sheer fact of their state of origin. He should break the jinx of disunity that has created fractures in the walls of unity that hitherto bind us.
“He should break the jinx of selective amnesia that dominates public discourse on anti-corruption fight. He should break the bogey of corruption and financial malfeasance that is still being treated with kid gloves right before the very eyes of the President.”
“He should break the jinx of hunger, poverty, Internally Displace Persons, deprivations, and want occasioned by poor economic policies that are neither here nor there. He should break the jinx of armed banditry and terrorism that have made life most devastating for the average Nigerian,” he added.
