By Justice-godfrey Okamgba
Tighten your seat belts, things will get tougher after the coronavirus pandemic. It doesn’t matter if crude oil prices finally regain momentum in the global market. Nigeria is spending big, buying trailers of grains and fighting the pandemic.
One thing is certain, any member of the NCDC who doesn’t get killed by the virus will become a big or bigger boy. Before that happens, maybe, it’s time to get all Nigerians on a Zoom conference call. Obviously, we need help.
One thing that really needs to change in the polity is our wanton profligacy and perpetual decadence. Take a critical look at the National Budget again and ask yourself if this item is really needed or not, just as Alhaji Atiku Abubakar suggested in his well thought out lengthy article. A lot need to be removed. A lot!
Whatever impending doom that awaits Nigeria’s oil sector, it was predicted a long time ago. Professor Godwin Igwebueze, University of Port Harcourt in his article published on the Guardian Newspaper, February 17th, 2014, warned that issues of alternative oil, climate change, more nations discovering oil were all potential threats. I’m sure there were many fora and conferences where these issues were discussed. So, how far?
According to the 2019 OPEC Annual Statistical Bulletin, Nigeria earned $236.15bn in five years. $75.196bn in 2014; $41.168bn in 2015; $27.295bn in 2016; $37.983bn in 2017, and $54.513bn in 2018.
Remember, Nigeria has been exporting crude oil for over 50 years but has failed to fix its refineries. That same money we earn from export still goes out whenever we import PMS (53million liters of daily on the average)
Just imagine if those abandoned oil refineries were fixed. It means Nigerian won’t have to cough out a whopping sum to import PMS. We all know what happens in this country when the price of fuel skyrockets. Those at the bottom of the pyramids always bear the brunt.
Now, imagine if well-equipped world-class hospitals were built. Lots of money would have been saved over the years. How about constructing roads and fixing dilapidated ones? If you are hoping to see your LGA Chairman fix that particular major road, that may not happen soon.
Nevertheless, in critical situations like this some senior citizens will still cash out, it doesn’t matter how gloomy the economy is. On the global scale, for instance, some American Billionaires are getting richer, it’s also happening here on the low key.
The economy cannot be bad for everybody. Some people will smile while the middle class and the poor will suffer. It has been like that, nobody can change it, not even the fraudulent democracy.
Many Industry Analysts already predicted massive job loss and it’s happening already. The Group Managing Director of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe in a viral video said the bank may sack some of its members of staff as a result of the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Yesterday, forty-six staff of Gotel Communication Company, a media outfit owned by Nigeria’s former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, got sacked. They should be counted as lucky because their monetary benefits are guaranteed. Many private companies will follow the same pattern. Smaller business will struggle and eventually crumble. The negative impact will be massive