A Christmas to Remember or Forget?

It just dawned on me that, after all the anticipation for coming of the Christmas holidays, in 2days’ time, it will all be over Whew! What an end to it? It birthed this important question: Will you look back at this Christmas period and have sweet memories of it or just try to chalk it off your memory as a very uneventful moment? The question is of particular interest to Nigerians, and they understand what I mean.

About a year and a half ago, the country’s Presidential election supposedly ushered in the ‘people’s choice,’ Bola Tinubu. Since then, I can factually say that it has been a rollercoaster ride. The first sign of danger was when Mr. Bola removed subsidy immediately after swearing his oath of office. Call it “no-nonsense;” I call it “insensitivity” to the plight of the suffering masses. If I was under any illusions, before, of an economic turnaround, I buried that thought six feet in the ground after that directive.

The ripple effect this removal of fuel subsidy has had reaches across all sectors—from transportation, manufacturing etc. Instantly, prices of food stuffs have skyrocketed to unimaginable heights. For the common man to feed has now become a nightmare. Three square meals? You must be kidding?

While all this was happening, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in all its wisdom, decided that the way to go is by hiking the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) every other market day. Imagine you are an entrepreneur looking to access loans, you will now have to pay two or three times more in interest than you would have normally paid. It’s a real mess.

Foreign Exchange (forex)! Aha! That one is another problematic iroko tree that grows thicker every day. A friend of mine, sometime in May, this year, went to price a smart television to buy. He was quoted N400,000 for it. Fair enough. He proceeded to pay for the item. Then came the Nigerian banking nightmare of faulty transactions. He was debited, yet the vendors were never credited. After a month of back and forth with his bank, the fund was reversed, and he hurried back to the television store to purchase the T.V. Alas! He was informed that the same TV now costs N800,000, a 200 percent increase! The man almost lost his mind.

Now, what caused this hike? It’s the depreciation of the Naira against the dollar. Since Tinubu arrived, the Naira has tumbled against the dollar like an amateur boxer facing prime Mike Tyson. Every day, the business news rings out about how the Naira has fallen again. Of course, by virtue of past governments’ ineptitude, Nigeria has become a largely importing countries. To import, you rely on forex and that’s how you arrive at goods surging to such abnormal heights.

The price of local rice in Nigeria right now eclipses the N100, 000 mark. In the past, when foreign rice becomes too expensive, the people take refuge in our locally produced rice, which is usually very cheap. That is no longer the case. The guys producing it will tell you of how costly they buy pesticides, fertilizers and other things which, of course, the giant of Africa, strangely, imports.

This brings me to the issue of taxation, another nightmare not only plaguing rice manufacturers, but all persons involved in trade and commerce as well as all sectors. Yes, I realize that there is the tax reform bill being looked at by the Senate, but the truth is, business people are dying under the country’s current tax rules. To do business in Nigeria is like walking on thorns. Mr. A, Mr. B and Mr. C will tax you for the same thing—multiple taxation. What do you take home afterwards as revenue? Peanuts. No wonder Glaxo Smithkline and a large number of foreign companies have left the Nigerian market. A few others have resorted to setting up production bases in Ghana and export to Nigeria from there. The business climate is unbearable and the tax laws is the devil’s cane.

My dear, I would need to stop now for there are a myriad of problems plaguing this country all at the same time. Do I speak of the rising costs of electricity tariffs and how Mr. President’s insensitive response was for Nigerians to “off their lights” to mitigate the costs? It’s crazy really. To think all of this happened within just a year and half, I hate to imagine how things will look like after 4years of government.

Also Read: ‘Embrace Gratitude Despite Hardship’ – Atiku Urges Nigerians at Christmas

Ehen! How much did you buy a live cock or fowl this Christmas? I bought mine for N30, 000 and it wasn’t even enough. I had to patch it up with our local ‘kpomo’ to lend the cooking pot more weight! Imagine? Price of fowl for N30, 000 and Christmas is supposed to have brought fond memories afterwards? Certainly not.

You step into a bar with friends to drink and have some festive fun and they tell you the price of one bottle of beer is N1, 000. Unbelievable. For a regular drinker, you would need at least 4 bottles before any form of real highness starts to kick in. That means you would have paid N4, 000 just to get high on cheap alcohol. I choose to laugh at this point. I’d rather use that money to buy something close to half a paint of rice and feast. Oh! I forgot. You’d still have to buy groundnut oil, pepper, tomatoes and other condiments at rather insane prices. My, oh my! There’s no escaping this, is there?

Now, after all of the aforementioned, I beg to ask again: Has this Christmas been one to remember or forget? I think many will choose the latter. The season is supposed to bring cheer; however, the economic reality has cast a large gloom on it. This has been a Christmas to forget, and I really wish I didn’t have to say this blunt truth. Hopefully, the New Year brings better tidings, and normalcy returns to the land by next Christmas. Wishing thinking? Yeah, I know.