Tinubu’s Fight or Flight Economy

One year into the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration, Nigerians are faced with serious economic hardship leaving many to constantly worry about remaining in Nigeria or leaving for greener pastures.

The start of a new administration is crucial to the amount of trust citizens and investors will have in a government. Trust in an administration will determine how citizens perceive their future in the country, if they will continue to invest in the country or seek opportunities elsewhere. Nigeria is in the first year of a change of administration. The Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government came into power through a process some political analysts have described as electoral irregularities. Considering the doggedness and determination Tinubu put into securing the presidential seat, it is surprising to find that very little of that energy has been directed into ruling the country and making it a better place for Nigerian citizens. In many ways, Nigerians are worse off than they were a year ago. This reality cuts across various sectors, the most jarring of which is the dire economic state that Nigerians find themselves in just a year into a new administration.

For example, In January 2024, the inflation rate for essential items such as food rose to 40 per cent from its previous rate of 25 per cent last year. There are also downturns in other sectors including healthcare as prices of some foreign-made medications increasing by 1,000 per cent. Education has not been spared either, with universities and unity schools alike within the past year increasing tuition fees by up to 100 per cent, all of this in the backdrop of worsening economic conditions.

Nigerians often have had to adjust to a new wave of woes even in past administrations, but as far as the economic condition stands, it is becoming difficult, to the point of almost impossible for the average Nigerian to survive the reality of a country that seemingly became economically hostile overnight. To put things in context, the international poverty line set $2 a day as the recommended minimum spending for an average person. Anyone surviving below that is already living below the poverty margin. This amount is equivalent to about N3,000 and the minimum wage in Nigeria is only N30,000. What this translates to is that both government and private institutions are paying Nigerians a minimum wage that sets them up to live in a very precarious state: an income that in no way buoys them against the harsh inflation of everyday items. Until 2022, Nigeria was known as the poverty capital of the world only being surpassed in the same year by India. With the worsening economic condition, Nigeria’s state appears even more bleak than before...