The World Bank, of late, has replaced its negativity towards Nigeria with an attitude that is altogether healthy and helpful. Take, for instance, the bank’s recent commendation of the country’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. We did not miss that and said so in our June 29 editorial “A rare World Bank surprise”. We said, “The World Bank, in a rare goodwill gesture, had commended the level of implementation of Nigeria’s COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES), describing it as “impressive”, “wonderful” and “exciting”.”
Today, the bank shares the citizenry’s concerns over Nigeria’s runaway inflation and the Federal Government’s seeming inadequate response to the menace of the bug. According to the global lending bank, a two digit inflation rate (17.71% in May 2022) “is pushing many Nigerians into poverty and food insecurity”.
The Washington-based bank’s latest Nigeria Development Update report titled ‘The Continuing Urgency of Business Unusual’ reads in part: “Despite the urgency, the authorities’ response over the last two years has not been adequate, and inflation has increased and fuelled poverty and food insecurity.” It feared that “the inflation shock is projected to push about 15 million more Nigerians into poverty between 2020 and 2022”.
In another report, the bank said the number of Nigeria’s poor was projected to hit 95.1 million this year, warning that “many non-poor Nigerians are only one small shock away from falling into poverty.” It explained that “such a shock can be induced by the issues of climate and conflict which could further threaten Nigeria’s poverty reduction efforts.
This is no scare mongering but a reality stated as it is. Our own National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) admitted in its latest report that the country’s inflation rate rose to 17.71 percent on a year-on-year basis in May 2022, up by 2 percentage points over the 15.92% recorded in March. But it played down the gravity of the situation by pointing out that the May figure was lower than the 18.17 percent in March 2021.
The figure juggling, however, does not fool the average Nigerian who feels the pinch of inflation the most. And a double digit rate is a serious matter. What more, it can only get worse as we go into general elections next year when politicians will open their purses of ill gotten wealth to buy votes. Inflation will hit the roof and the economy and the poor will be the worse for it.
However, the government can avert that by heeding the warning of the World Bank, expressed in good faith. Its agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) must see through its commitment to probe politicians’ sources of campaign funds. This will be a good start.
