Still on GDP data and realities facing Nigerians, by Adekunle Adekoya

OUR government, especially the one in office now, is fond of reeling out data, particularly data from multilateral institutions and global rating agencies to justify their performance in office. As you may know, government officials have been throwing macro-economic data at us to show that they they have been working in our interest. The latest in this regard is data about re-basing the country’s Gross Domestic Product, or GDP.

The re-basing has generated a figure of N372.8 trillion as the overall value of the Nigerian economy. In fact, Minister of State for Industry, John Owan Enoh spoke during the week on this, and averred that the country has the challenge of translating the country’s N372.8 trillion re-based economy into higher manufacturing output, jobs and value addition, warning that a bigger economy on paper means little without stronger industrial capacity. “The rebasing made Nigeria statistically larger.

It did not make Nigeria more industrial. We got a bigger mirror; we did not yet get a stronger body,” Enoh stated. That seems the closest thing to a truth that a top government official has said.

Truth is, government has a challenge, and this challenge has a lot to do with the policies preferred by the president, which are generating more challenges for government and the governed. I do not want to believe that people in government do not know that the single most potent driver of inflation in Nigeria today is cost of fuel energy. Whenever the pump prices of petrol and diesel rise, prices of food and other commodities needed in daily life and living rise after them.

Earlier in the week, the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN, held the 19th Annual Banking and Finance Conference in Abuja. At the event, President/Chairman of the institute’s council, Dr. Dele Alabi said that the country’s improving macroeconomic indicators will amount to little if they failed to translate into lower living costs, more jobs, higher incomes and better living standards for citizens.

I surmise that Alabi’s assertions were in response to the many statements made by top government officials, including the president, that the economic indicators show a trajectory to recovery. Good for government, but not so good on the side of the people; purchasing power is at its lowest ebb, while disposable income has completely vanished.