Bye to 2016; So what‘s next?

For many of us the end of the year 2016 could not have come soon enough especially in view of the very harsh clime in which the majority of us have found ourselves in.

However, I’m also quite sure that we are in 2017 with some trepidation wondering what highs and lows the New Year holds for us.

Unknown too many of us, perhaps an indication of how things would turn out in 2016 was there for all to see, when at this time last year rather than relaxing to enjoy the festive period we were busy waking up at ungodly hours to get petrol, an essential commodity.

The fuel scarcity issue had actually begun before the Christmas and New Year festivities and despite various claims by top government officials that it would have abated before the holiday period; it actually did drag for a few weeks into 2016.

The scarcity meant that people travelling during the period of the festivities had to pay through their noses to get to their destinations, while a sizeable number also used the scarcity not to make the journey home.

However, luckily history did not repeat itself and that has not been the case this time around, but instead of fuel scarcity; ‘recession’ has taken over with perhaps more devastating impact on Nigerians.

‘Recession’ was a word government officials were very reluctant to admit even when all the indices pointed to such and even when the World Bank and other international finance organisations had alluded to such.

Sadly even though government finally officially acknowledge the country was in recession in the third quarter; so far efforts to mitigate the effects have been very negligible with most Nigerians still lamenting how things have become very difficult in the country.

But one must also acknowledge that one of the fallouts of ‘recession’ was the attention given to the hitherto neglected farming in the country.

And thus just before the festivities kicked in a number of states, like Ebonyi, Lagos and Kebbi flooded the country with locally produced rice.

Although at between N12, 000 and N15, 000 a bag, it is still higher than the N10, 000/ bag we were used to last year; it is still much cheaper than the over N20, 000 a bag which the imported version had hit a few months ago.

Besides, many that have eaten the local rice, swear that it is ‘sweeter’ and even more nutritious than the imported variety!

It is also being reported that other essential food commodities like tomatoes, pepper and onions, which had all shot up earlier in the year, are now more affordable as their prices are now within the reach of many more people.

This is very good news, especially for those workers who had to eat outside and often had to make do with various forms of soups and stews as the caterers battled to come up with concoctions which had very little tomatoes and pepper in it.

The year 2016 was also the year that the ‘almighty dollar’ (Dolapo to some), became a household name in the country with even the tomato seller blaming the high price of her goods on the American green back.

I still remember vividly how one day on my way back home from the office I stopped at my fruitiest place to buy my regular apples only for the woman to warm me that the price had change.

“Why?” was my predictable retort “You no hear say dollar don cost?” was her instant reply. And that was the beginning of the sudden rise in virtually everything in the country to the consternation of many who insist that they have never seen it this bad before.

The scarcity of the American greenback in the country brought about mainly by external forces – the crash in crude oil prices – has also taken its toll on many businesses, both large and small, which has led to massive job losses across the land.

Ironically a feeble attempt by the Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige to stop the massive sacking in the financially sector, especially by banks, went ignored – after all neither he nor government was giving them money to keep the workers on their payrolls.

Even the oil majors, Shell, Chevron etc were not immune to the down turn in the country with them also massively laying off staff. In fact an in-law of mine, who works with one of the majors, admitted that this had been his ‘worst’ Decembers in recent times because the usual allowances – hous-ing, furniture and so on – were not paid this time around.

“We were only given our normal salaries; they (oil firm) had already warned that the working environment is tough and as such cannot afford the usual bonuses,” he explained, although he was also quick to point out that he was still happy to have a job which could pay him regularly.

The rising cost of goods and services, brought about by the lack of dollars in the country, also took its toll on the usual overseas summer holidays by Nigerians as they prices of airline tickets shot through the roof.

Many were forced to either cancel their overseas trips outright or had to travel to places closer by, like Ghana and Dubai, which were less expensive on their pockets.

At least they were still able to leave Nigeria, even for a short while, many people complained that even travelling home for the Christmas and New Year festivities was beyond them because of paucity of funds.

Different strokes for different folks one might say; but both are indications of how tough things are in the country and while many will say the rich are not feeling it as much as the poor – at the end of the day both are suffering from the effects of recession.

However, even in these tough times it has not been all doom and gloom in 2016 for instance like I pointed out earlier, even though we are paying more for petrol at least we are not sleeping at petrol stations to buy the commodity.

Besides our gallant military have been able to roll back the Boko Haram insurgents and have even cleared their last stronghold in the Sambisa Forest.

And so as we look forward to 2017, may I wish everyone a happy New Year in advance and pray that may we all see more good tidings IJNA. Happy New Year!