Inflation is running at 18%. For food it is 23%, the highest in two decades. More than half of Nigerians are underemployed or unemployed. Before covid-19 about 80m of Nigeria’s 200m people lived on less than the equivalent of $1.90 a day. The pandemic and population growth could see that figure rise to almost 100m by 2023, says the World Bank. Rising oil prices will bring short-term relief, but may delay essential reforms. Nigeria’s economic woes also help explain a vertiginous rise in crime. More people were kidnapped in the first four months of this year than all of last year, according to Jose Luengo-Cabrera of the World Bank. This has added to worsening violence around three flashpoints: the jihadists of Boko Haram in the north-east; a long-standing conflict between farmers and cattle-herders across central Nigeria; and fighting between government forces and Igbo separatists in the south-east.
SOURCE: THE ECONOMIST
More Stories
Movie Review: Refugees Turned Sommeliers
Helping African Tourism Companies and Experiences Space Do Business Online Cheaper
The Largest Tech Hub in Africa Creates an Enabling Tech Ecosystem for Innovators
CAF Launches Lucrative Super League
Nigeria has Promised to Legalize Local Refineries and Set Up Refining Hubs in the Niger Delta
Acclaimed Novelist and Filmmaker Biyi Bandele has Died
Central African Ministers Agree to Merge Two Regional Blocs to Boost Trade and Growth
Arrests Made after Mass Rape in South Africa
Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo Make for Very Unhappy Neighbours
Kenya’s Two Leading Candidates are Running Neck and Neck
China Aims to Overtake the EU as Africa’s Biggest Trade Partner by 2030
A Special Program for African Startups