
What exactly are these economic reforms you’re alluding to? Possibly the removal of fuel subsidy and unification of the exchange rates, without any plan to mitigate the effect of these measures. In addition to that, electricity tariffs were increased. We’re going to 4yrs of these policies, yet nothing tangible to show as rewards. We’ve deregulated the oil sector, yet nothing tangible to show in terms of benefits to the sector and economy. The only benefit the subsidy removal has brought, is increased money for the federation, which inflation has rendered useless, and yet, our appetite for more borrowings has not abated.
Four years down the line, we’re not self sufficient in food production. We’ve imported more food than we did before the reforms in question, yet, we’re still grappling with food inflation.
Electricity tariffs have gone up, but power supply have gone down. We’re paying more for darkness now than we did before the reforms. Power generation has dropped, just like the national grid falls every now and then. No investments in the sector, no infrastructure upgrade, but we have increased tariffs.
Ajaokuta Steel and our refineries are moribund, yet we talk about economic reforms. No single tangible investment in the rail sector to improve infrastructure development for industrialization, yet we celebrate reforms that have no economic impact on the country. Rather than fix the existing roads that link major cities, we embarked on a new elephant project that has still not added any economic benefits to the country, over 3yrs down the line.
We think removing fuel subsidy and unifying the exchange rate will be the magic wand that will solve our economic woes, and so we keep celebrating them and making statements like they’re going to come good eventually. Everyday, we keep having promises of better days ahead when the reforms begin to yield dividends, but our leaders aren’t waiting to reap from these reforms, they’re reaping theirs now, awarding major contracts to their cronies without competitive biddings. While we hope, they’re enjoying now.
The truth is, these reforms (subsidy removal and FX unification) won’t change much.
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